Hurricane Gustav Stephen Spielberg Boudanza

That's right, the hurricane is headed straight for Liziana this weekend. We have water, poptarts, several Stephen Spielberg movies (David has never seen Jaws, Close Encounters or Poltergiest!!!!!!!!!), batteries, car chargers, boudin, dominoes and a boombox. David doesn't have school Tuesday, and it's looking like I won't either. Ryan is staying with us because he recently moved to New Orleans. We are taping up the windows, lighting up the flashlights and candles and trying to turn it into a scary/fun/poptart filled/relaxing weekend. I've never been in a storm before that you could prepare for days in advance. Walmart was like the day before Christmas, if you wanted to get your kid a generator or bottled water. We are totally safe and if things get bad, we'll all hold the fort down in the bathroom. I'll keep you posted.

We found this at walmart; it looks EXACTLY like Boomer!

Teaching

This week was tough. I had to refer a child to social services because one of my kids is definitely experiencing neglect and possibly experiencing abuse. On Thursday when school let out, getting him to go home took 20 minutes and broke my heart in the process. On Friday one of my students told me he loved me in the morning and in the afternoon he hated me. Also one of my students kicked me because I wanted him to do his language worksheet. I called his guardian and she got so upset when she got to the school she began to have medical problems and we had to call an ambulance. Needless to say, on Friday I came home exhausted, had a good cry, and picked myself up again.

Despite all of this, I'm really happy this is where I ended up. This is where I need to be. A lot of people told me not to take this job because it was a rough school, but I think that's why I took it.

Teaching is a misunderstood profession. When you are a teacher, you're a nurse, a parent, an advocate, a judge, and a counselor. People are quick to blame the parents, but I know that's not it. Poverty is rampant and desperation causes people to loose sight, give up, or kill themselves trying. With the cost of food, energy and gasoline things that were already hard are getting dangerously worse.

My school has a health clinic on campus and is working on getting a dentist. My school understands that we have to tackle the whole problem. You can't teach a child that is hungry or a child with a toothache or a child whose relative has just been shot. Because of all of this, I'm proud to be a teacher in my school. I am also profoundly glad to have my Masters from the Clinton School. I know I could have taught without my Master's degree, but I also know that I would have had no idea how to fix any of the problems my 10 year olds deal with everyday.

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I couldn't help it

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from dawn til dusk

Sorry Sorry Sorry. I've been way to busy to post. I really hope that in a few weeks this work from 6am to 10pm thing is going to end. I'm worn out. My school ended up hiring another teacher so now my class is 4 students. We had one kid get socially promoted so there are 8 total. I took the older kids, because I'm good with them. I've been planning and trying to get organized constantly. Last week was open house. I had to be at school until 8pm and none of my parents could come. I was even on the committee! Regardless, I think my classroom is finally in good shape and my kids are going to start getting somewhere now that we've settled in. Here are some pictures of a bulletin board David helped me make and my classroom. I really like my job, and I think I'm good at it. I just have this little issue where I have a tendency to work too hard. I'd write more, but I need to go to sleep. Our air conditioner broke last night, so it's been a hot weekend.

Last minute change

Okay, so Thursday I found out through a happenstance conversation that they never hired another self-contained teacher, and that I am the only one, leaving me with all grades and all 12 kids thus far. I also found out that almost all of the kids are 4-5th grade and are all boys. As most of you know, I was gung-ho ready for K-2. It's been a pretty big shock. Overnight I have to move from writing letters to writing essays and addition to geometry. Needless to say some of my Clifford decorations are a little kiddish since a lot of my kids may be teenagers. I'm taking the news surprisingly well though. I can use a lot of stuff that I couldn't with the little ones like interests surveys and, well anything with written word. Also, now I can read aloud fun books like Mania Magee and The Chronicles of Narnia. David helped me set my classroom up but it still needs a lot of work. For instance, I have about 12 kids and about 22 desks. This is a little annoying. Also I don't have a schedule, any of their individual education plans. I start school on Monday and the kids start on Thursday so wish me luck. I feel really unprepared now, and you know that makes me nervous :).