At least I thought I was. Before we left school for the holiday break, I had worked tirelessly to prepare for the first week (nay, the first month) back at school. I typed. I copied. I stapled. I filed. I did all the things needful for me to be prepared to walk back into that school on Tuesday and greet my students. I got to my 2nd period class; lo and behold, no "Prepare to Read Moby Dick" worksheet. I didn't panic. I was prepared. I could easily start the movie that day and then do the Prepare to Read the next day and they would still get all their information regarding Herman Melville. So, without missing a beat, I put the movie in and got it going. What? What are these subtitles. No, Caleb, it isn't Chinese. No, Dalton, it isn't Japanese. I believe it is Korean. Where is the remote? No, the DVD remote is not here. The two remotes are for the TV and VCR only. The people were speaking English but the subtitles were in Korean! I went to look at the DVD case and sure enough, I had ordered the Korean version. How on God's green earth did I do that? The kids found the subtitles distracting. I handed out the study guide that goes with the movie and the kids started yelling "this is stapled wrong, " "why is it stapled like a book?" "I don't like it stapled like this." When copying the study guide, I hit the wrong staple option. So much for being prepared. In my next class we were able to turn the subtitles off and we put it on the "Englsish" subtitles (that is how it is spelled on the DVD menu). Also, the subtitles were obviously done by someone in Korea as the words and spelling are horrible. Oftentimes, there will be two or more words for the one spoken word. I just shake my head.
But good news, one of our very low level reading girls who had no hope to pass the state tests passed the ACT with a score that the state will allow to substitute for the FCAT. We are so happy, there were tears. She will graduate.
The week went by quickly and wasn't all that bad. A friend of Rozzie's who is in the chorus and the school musical asked Rozzie to join the dance ensemble for the play ("The Oz"). She had all the answers ready for me when she presented the idea. As she told me about it, she said that Emily's mom can drive in the morning and there are only two rehearsals that conflict with violin. She already has the black leotard, black tights, and jazz shoes that are necessary. So she is going to be involved with that and it very excited.
That is what I have, thank you for reading.
4 comments:
man, give yourself a big pat on the back for sticking with it that day! I would have walked out of the classroom, got in my car, and driven home to hide under the blankets with a package of oreos. And emailed my letter of resignation to the school once I woke up from my depression induced sleep.
And give that girl a big hug for passing that test! (I bet a certain English teacher is a big part of that) :)
Think Murphy's Law
Awww, I think everyone needs to have a day like that once in a while. Otherwise, life would be just too easy, huh? We certainly can't have that. I'm glad it all worked out for you and that the kids were understanding.
That's good news about your student who passed the test and can now graduate. Good for her to work so hard to reach that goal.
Stories like yours convince me that God likes a good laugh once in while. No real harm done, but enough of a kerfuffle to make us run around like headless chickens.
Yay for happy tears!
And yay for dancing! Especially if the child has worked out all the potential problems ahead of time.
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