September 21, 2010
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The Daily News
1 So yesterday I was in the midst of having the first of my "days that fall a bit short of my expectations".
2 Translation in Real Time: I was having a bad day.
3 But you see, I don't believe in bad days. I believe that when things run a bit astray, that it is a random thing, and that I simply need to give it closer analysis, and work to make it work.
4 If you don't do that in this profession, you get eaten alive.
5 It's a great philosophy, even in life out there beyond all this folderol. But it still doesn't always work, not in this profession, not in any profession, not in life.
6 Anyway, it was an okay day, to a point, and then we had a break.
7 I slammed about fourteen bananas, and a glass of water.
8 Right near the end of that, the door to my room swung open, and this really neat kid from last year walked into my room.
9 The guy said very little, and then reached into his bag, and pulled out this old Christmas pencil, about half-size and with one of those flat red erasers. It had snowmen on it.
10 He looked at me almost ashamedly and said, " "I borrowed this from you last year for finals, Mr. Harrington, and I feel bad that I never returned it."
11 I looked up and smiled. He's a nice student, and I said, "Wow! Thank you!" I was tempted to go way overboard on my accolades, but decided just to smile. He shyly said, "Well...bye." And then he left.
12 I'm glad I didn't say something stupid like, "Wow, I've been looking for this all summer!" because it just occurred to me what an amazing thing that was. I can't keep a pencil around my desk for more than five minutes without misplacing it. How that kid hung on to that one pencil all summer is beyond me. Pretty cute, when you get right down to it.
13 So that was the good part of the morning. My next class came in, and a bit of Hell broke loose.
14 We have Back-to-School night tonight, so I was going to have my students take their vocabulary sentences and in groups, choose the best ones and then have their groups write them on the whiteboard, using multi-colored markers.
15 The students had just turned in magazines about themselves the day before, so they were displayed, so I figured that if they weren't at the board, they could share their magazines with one another. The two periods before that one I did that, and played some Ben Harper music softly in the background. I figured it was a perfect lesson that would keep them occupied while I cleaned and organized my classroom, and give them a bit of a break as well. I told them that today would be Bud Lite. About two kids got it, which is about all I wanted. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
16 Except THIS next class didn't do their homework. All bets were off. I had forgotten that this was one class that simply can't seem to remember to do that. It has been frustrating, but I had adapted their lessons so they wouldn't all be failing, and thought they had enough time the day before yesterday to do those sentences in class and finish them up at night.
17 <Basketball buzzer>
18 I had about two kids who had finished, and all the rest had only gotten about half the assignment done. They aren't bad kids at all, but I'm used to four English 1A classes, most of whom do ALL their homework ALL the time.
19 So I allowed them simply to finish up their assignments, and I could maybe get some grading done at my desk.
20 <Basketball buzzer>
21 They decided they were going to get goofy and grab things, try to mark each other with markers, and act like kindergartners.
22 Yup.
23 It even happens to this Old Brown Shoe.
24 As some finished, others played around, and I found myself being a tad wagged around. Tail. Dog.
25 That usually doesn't last, but several students sincerely had trouble finishing the assignment. Some students were interested in the magazines, but something was just not quite right. They were in a screw-around mood. This happens to the best of us.
26 Those sorts of periods go through high mischief to moments of calm. During a moment of calm, one student came to my desk and asked if I could make a copy for him. I was actually happy to help, because that will usually keep things a bit calm too.
27 Well, my printer was out of color ink, but for some reason, it refused to print in black-and-white, something that it has done consistently for four years. But yesterday this big letter E for "error" came on, and the color print picture started flashing. As I fiddled and fuddled with that, I could hear the mischief that was waiting to go afoot.
28 One student kept swearing, even though I pulled him over and told him to stop. Others started grabbing backpacks and just acting up.
29 I finally had them all shut up, calmed them down, reprimanded them, and then put them into their sentence groups. I said, "You are to work in your groups, and choose sentences you will put on the board tomorrow." I called the groups, but somehow forgot to tell them which desks to sit in, and just told them to get with one another and start working.
30 <Basketball buzzer> Party foul. They didn't even move. Finally, the kid who kept swearing swore again, so I sent him out of the room. The class got instantly quiet as I walked out the door to confront the student.
31 He's actually a nice kid, and I really don't think he even knew he was cussing so much. He just cusses a lot. So I asked him if he knew WHY I booted him out of the room. He had no idea. He just recently was added to the class. As I said, not a bad kid, just a little mischievous.
32 I said, "You need to watch the incessant cussing. It's okay to slip now and again, but you go a bit overboard. I don't appreciate that." He smiled and said, "Okay."
33 I said, "Now let's go back in." And we did.
34 The class was quieted down, and one spokesperson said, "We'll work tomorrow Mr. H. We was just sort of goofing around."
35 I almost pulled a Singletary, but decided maybe a simple statement would work.
36 "The lunatics cannot run the asylum. Do you guys get that?" And then I smiled. They smiled too, so it wasn't that bad.
37 Still.
38 The second the bell rang, they shuffled out, and I was absolutely exhausted. I haven't had a class do that to me since 2006, so I was a bit out of practice.
39 Just as the door almost closed, this really awesome student I had two years ago popped her head in and gave me a little wave. Her name is Winnie, which is such a perfect name. She was named after Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years.
40 So between the kid with the snowman pencil and Winnie's winning smile, I had a bit of a bump-in-the-road yesterday.
41 I have lunch and then prep, so I had an hour-and-a half to re-group. My last class of the day came in, and I gave the same, identical lesson. They jumped all over the magazines, laughed, shared, and got WAY into reading them. Almost everyone had done their homework, and the groups went to the board with awesome sentences. As they did, some read, some shared, others loved writing on the board. Ben Harper played wonderfully in the background, and two students not in my class came in to join the fun!
42 I cleaned and organized, sparkled up the room, and by day's end, the place looked great, and the day completely turned around.
43 And as they left, I had a lot of, "Have a great day, Mr. H's!"
44 So I used to believe in bad days. I used to believe that a day can go wrong, wronger, and wrongest.
45 I just don't believe that anymore. I do believe that several random things can go wrong, but that several random things can go right just as easily. And that we have a lot more control over making things go right, with the right attitude and with the right approach.
46 And if something isn't working, then it needs to be changed so that it does. That's my challenge with that one class. The very fact that they said they would work today was a good thing. Can I depend on that? Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see today.
47 But I can make a plan, have a back-up plan, and even a tertiary plan today. Yesterday I was caught off-guard. You can't do that in this profession. It's like turning your back on the ocean, or some such nonsense.
48 So that was a day in the life. It isn't always rosy, but I still love the job, and I think I always will. But every now and again, it can get you.
49 But it also has a thousand little moments, and a million little memories.
50 Most of them are really pretty nice.
51 Well, gottago. Thought you might like a little glimpse into the classroom. It isn't always pretty, but it can be challenging. I thought I was moving towards being untouchable up at the Chill, but got a little snake bit yesterday.
52 Good to know.
53 You guys have a GREAT day, or perhaps CREATE a great day!
54 See ya again.
55 Peace.
~H~
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