Fails...

I got halfway through the disaster that has been my room for the past two-ish weeks and decided it doesn't matter. Lisa won't be home for another three days.

Triumphs..

My 9th graders finished reading Night by Elie Wiesel last week. One of my students, self proclaimed anti-reader, said he loved the book. He told me, "Ms. Buie, this is the first book that I was excited to read and I want to read it again."

That is why I teach.

The little darlings...

In the past three days...

1. have been told by my students I "wasn't getting any younger and you need to hurry and get married."
2. have been told by my students that I "have an old face"
3. one student offered to set me up with his 19 year old brother because "it would be legal" (meaning his brother wasn't underage)
4. had car trouble
5. physically broke up a fight between two male students
6. worked with the counselors to stop a fight from happening between three male students
7. tried to figure out why three of my female students are suddenly shooting daggers at each other and muttering under their breath
8. reported two students for flashing gang signs...in class...right in front of me...do they think that I just don't exist?
9. had to stop three football players from chasing another football player because he had to find a doorknob to touch due to some flatulence on his part.
10. had two peer evaluations in two days
11. was "good-naturedly" teased in the faculty room because I went to a private school. The question "what are you doing here?" was asked in a somewhat joking manner

It's been a long three days and there are still two more to go... I think I'm going to drug myself and go to bed because I haven't been sleeping well either.

Why I love my job...

It was definitely a difficult week but it ended on a high note. I got to go to the UCTE (Utah Council for Teachers of English) Conference in Salt Lake on Friday. We had some pretty incredible guest speakers, as well as break out sessions. I heard from Francisco Stork, Shannon Hale, Teri Lesesne, and Taylor Mali. I left the conference with quite the long list of books I need to pick up, new strategies for teaching my students, and generally re-energized to go back to the classroom next week. The day ended by Taylor Mali performing some of his poetry. I had never heard of him before but I am now a huge fan. Some of his stuff is a bit bawdy but there are a couple that I absolutely LOVE!