the ups and downs....

well i already have a new level of respect for any and every teacher that i ever had throughout school. this job is no kind of easy. i just calculated it, and couting today i worked about 85 hours this past week. haha, that is including football practice though so i don't know if that actually counts. things are going pretty well, its a very much up and down kind of job. monday-wendesday were not too hot, with wednesday being especially challenging. on wednesday the kids had to take this state test that covered an entire year's worth of information that they had not been taught. i would probably be in a bad mood too. but luckily, they got to take it all out on me. hahaha. thursday was definitely the best day of teaching so far and many of the kids almost seemed to actually enjoy my class that day. days like thursday will have to carry me through the rough times. i really did not realize until this week exactly what i had gotten myself into, but i'm still convinced that i am where i need to be doing exactly what i need to be doing. so many of my students here are so jaded and it definitely comes across in their attitudes in class. its like i've asked them to haul cement blocks up a mountain in 110 degree heat when i ask them to take their heads off of their desks in class. and oh dear goodness when i gave a homework assignment on friday i swear i thought they were going to punch me. its going to be a challenging couple of years, but no doubt a good couple of years. i also had no idea how tiring being a teacher is. haha, i now understand why my mother goes to bed every night at 8:00 (its true erin.) last night was the second friday night in a row that i passed out before 9. hahaha. tonight i swear i'm going to try to stay awake past 10, we'll see if i can handle that. first football game this friday, ohhh i'm pumped. we had a scrimmage on tuesday and we destroyed the opposition. friday is the rematch from last year's state championship. pulaski academy. ohhh we better destroy those fools. ok, i'm gonna go to wal-mart now. peace.

every range of emotion possible.

ok so i can't write too much because its 4 in the morning, and i need to quickly figure out just exactly what i am doing today. so yesterday was the first day and it was nuts to say the least. my first and second period classes were more or less out of control and did not listen to a word i said from the minute they walked in the door. third through seventh period were not nearly as bad but still seemed more or less uninterested in me in general. however, there were a few bright spots during the day. a couple of conversations with kids after class let me see that they really did want to learn despite their generally unpleasent demeanor in my class. one kid about made me cry because she was so sweet, shy, timid, and noticably scarred from the obvious effects of a rough life. this job is going to be tough. i can already see that after day one. i am nonetheless excited about going forward. just wanted to do a quick update. it will likely be awhile before i can get to another. life will be hectic starting right now. thanks for all the support. i hope all is well with everyone. peace.

the time draws near....

just realized i haven't updated in awhile. i've been doing inservice, football practice, getting my room set up, and all of those fun type activities. just wanted to say that the kids are getting here on wednesday. pray for me. i'm feeling pretty good about it at this point; we'll see what happens when wednesday rolls around. i'll be sure to give an update after school starts. peace.