Both Guns Blazing

Week 1 is officially over. All the joys associated with the school year are coming back to me: the relief when the kids run out of the school on Friday, the satisfying taste of beer at happy hour, the uninterrupted journaling and coffee on Saturday morning. It's the little things, you know?

I am going to take an optimistic leap and say that the year is off to a pretty good start. The new administration isn't cutting corners and I think that's awesome and essential to having a functional school environment. The kids notice that things are different this year; not only in the school at large, but also in my classroom. Thursday I made some 8th graders stay in from recess and walk up and down the stairs in lines until they got it right. Isaiah, furious that he had missed recess two days in a row, spat venomously, "Georgia changed you!" I grinned. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but that's how I took it.

I guess I've turned the whole compliment system on its head. These are the comments that make me blush these days: "This class is BORING!," "Mr. Yaster, can we come be in your line? Ms. Linton is irkin'!" "Ugh! Why are you giving us work? I hate this class!"

Being a hard ass is exhausting, though. Come noon on Friday I was spent; I started getting sloppy in my classroom management and have been a little anxious about it since. I hope I didn't undo everything. Can't sweat it now, I guess. Just got to go in Monday with both guns blazing.

On a lighter note, here are my favorite responses that I got on a survey this week:

Some things you particularly value or cherish: My aunt's neckelness and ring

Something that bothers you (a question, a mystery, a problem): If you keep me in for recess. (that was Isaiah's)

Some unusual or interesting things you have seen: A raccoon got hit by a car and his family pulled him out the street. (which I think really is unusual, don't you? I love that he wrote that. What a sweet boy.)

Something you daydream about: is being a ninja

Some things that you oppose or reject: The thing that I reject is fresh little girls.