First Day of School

Many years ago, when I was 6 or 7, that was something to look forward to. No more. Nowdays it is about checking to see if the guys have shaved and that the girls have their midriff covered. It's hall patrol and after school duty, and explaining all the rules.

We are on a modified block schedule, which means we have first and eighth periods every day, then 2,3 and 4 one day, and 5,6,7th the next. We started with 5-6-7, so I have not met all my students. The only class where all the students showed up was my honors Geography class. I have 25 desks and 31 students, so 6 sat on the floor. They said they all preregistered for honors last spring, so why the counselors thought we needed only one section is a mystery to me. I talked to the principal after I finished afternoon duty, and there is a chance some of them will be moved to 8th period, my smallest class. We'll rename it honors, and try to get 8 or 10 kids moved in there. I know there are some special ed kids already in 8th period that cannot do even the simplest work (I've had them before) so making the work more in-depth is not going to make any difference to them, and may inspire them to think differently (or at least think).

I do have one poor guy both 1st, for IPC, and 8th for geography. I had him one semester last year before I asked that he be removed from my class. Now he is back, and very unhappy about having me for 2 periods, especially ones that meet every day - little does he know he is not the only unhappy person in the room.

I read the riot act to 5th period - a large IPC class. Mrs Crisp said she heard me telling them " and you'll go straight to AEP (the disciplinary school)." I was pretty hard on them. I hope I made an impression on the 9th graders. Mean, strict, unyielding. We'll see if I pulled it off. I do have several kids that flunked my class last year, but most of them don't seem to mind. The majority have a different geography teacher.

Hope tomorrow goes as well as today. And I hope we get the honors classes straightened out - they seemed like a good group of kids, the kind I remember from school, who don't mind doing their work. Or even if they mind, they do it anyway.