I was greeted first thing in the morning with a barrage of complaints, followed by disciplinary issues. Several minutes later came, “Fuck this school!” Then, I stepped out of the room briefly with a 16 year old student who I (later in the day) found out is pregnant, only to return to a fight involving a boy with Asperger’s and a 14 year old girl with the mentality of a 7 year old. That fight ended with the boy being restrained and later carried out of the classroom by another (male) teacher. Oh and the 14 year old girl who acts more like a 7 year old had an abortion last Friday. As the day progressed, I was called a bitch a couple of times, while breaking up arguments, chiding students about their use of profanity, was told “fuck you,” while trying to keep two boys in rival gangs from going at it with each other and once that situation was diffused, there were more arguments to break up, a foster mother to call to come and pick up a kid who kept cursing and swearing at staff while pacing the room and later strolling around the school and throughout the day, I had to struggle with kids to either enter the classroom or to remain seated once they were inside. . . . . and that was the abbreviated version of my day. Take a deep breath. Now exhale. That’s what I had to tell myself. To say that Thursday was a tough day would be an understatement.
Side note: I was still tired from activities on Monday and then Tuesday, when the entire school walked to a park approximately 1.72 miles away (yes, I mapped it out on Mapquest) for a school wide Park Day. Yes, we walked THAT far with a bunch of special ed students! Once we arrived, I roamed all over this huge park with a walkie talkie supervising kids that didn’t want to be supervised for about three hours until school buses arrived to take them home.
Anyway, I stopped off at Subway to get something to eat before heading home. Once I got home, I ate, fell asleep, woke up briefly at 10:00, went back to sleep and was wide awake at 3:00 this morning. And then it hit me. I posted on Wednesday, but I didn’t post for a second, consecutive day (on Thursday) as required by the NaBloPoMo contest (see www.fussy.org/nablopomo.html). I felt and still feel like a failure. I couldn’t even make it past day two! Anyway, although I’m sure that I am no longer eligible to compete for those nifty prizes, I’m still going to try to post each day in the spirit of NaBloPoMo.
On a positive note, after all that sleep on Thursday night, I walked into work this morning well rested and ready for another day of breaking up fights, preventing more fights, chiding teenagers taller and larger than me about their potty mouths, struggling with unmotivated students and praising others for doing their work without giving me a hard time about it . . . and I was happy all day. No, not because I got a full 8 hours of sleep and then some. Was it because I got paid this past Tuesday? Nope. Perhaps I was happy all day today because I’m blessed to live in a nice, safe community. Nah. Was it because I am blessed with enough food to eat? No, that wasn’t it either. Could it be that I was happy all day today because I am blessed with the love and support of Dr. Man, my wonderful partner in life. Even though he makes life sweeter, Nope he was not the reason either. Well, then why was I happy all day today? Simply because it’s Friday. Today is Friday and that means , no work, no students, no co-workers - nothing school related for two whole days! Thank God It’s Friday!
Posted by School Teacher 
