Nuts and Bolts

Yesterday I had such lofty ideas of bringing our character education in my lesson. Today, the first day back from a winter break, I deal with reality.

It's raining in AZ and that never happens - almost never. Makes it worse since we have a "campus" school, in other words not all the classes are in one building. As I make jaunt to the other side of the campus in the rain to Registration .... I am wondering, why are these registration rosters for the classes only ready in the wee hours of the first day back? I see all the other teachers streaming to the nest to pick up thier rosters - we're all getting wet.

We do our grades online here. Over the break they installed a new version of the grade book software on all the computers. AND, they also sent out the instructions on how to install the serial number before lunch.

The server with the with online attendance was down - non operational - for the morning ... that's five classes. So much for comparing the students who show up with that info source.

Almost comical ... the bells aren't working today. All these energetic teenagers with no place to go .... fresh from break with no place to go. This one is a first in my teaching - an entire day no bells to signal its time to start/end a periods/class.

Hey, at least I got my seating charts done in the nick of time this morning, so the battle to thwart chaos was definitely won there. Oh yeah, those registration sheets ... the students on each one were listed n random order .... not alphabetical. Go figure.

I was amazed today by a student. Walking down the hall, she was late to class but looked oddly familiar. The scar across her forehead stood out ... I tried not to stare. Click. She was in my class last semester when over a weekend she was in a terrible car accident - they thought she would have brain damage or not live at all ... that scary scar says it all. We never saw her again.

I had organized students to donate money to her flowers … and when they didn't produce enough -I put my money in. Not going to let one of my students pass without some beautiful flowers.

As she settled in her seat, I was passing out papers to students. When I arrived at her table I told her I was glad she was back. Her face lit up - literally lit up - she smiled ... then said thanks for the flowers. After all she had been through she remembered those flowers - amazing.

Moving on ... from the lofty to the nuts and bolts. Leaving the corporate world to enter high school teaching is the most self rewarding effort I’ve made yet.