Back to Reality

Well my Italian adventures ended and I went back to work yesterday. Actually I went back on the weekend and worked about 8 hours on the weekend first. I was really nervous for this first day back because of all the complications we have been having as a grade level lately. We spent our entire PD week before the break trying to revamp the 7th grade to give these kids the best classroom management we could. The fact of the matter is that the 7th grade boys have gotten so out of hand that all of the administration is now involved in our grade, and unfortunately one teacher was let go. And on the first day back all of the 7th graders were forced to go to an assembly with our principal and administration leading it.

Anyways as you can guess things are getting pretty serious with my grade which can make it more stressful. But what makes it the most stressful is how all of us teachers really want to find solutions that will WORK for these specific boys and how so far nothing seems to be working. It feels like we are all barely keeping our heads above the water. But I am positive that we will find some sort of solution soon. And when I saw all the kids walking into the assembly I couldn't stop smiling. It was so nice to see all my kiddos again I didn't even realize how much I missed them! The boys were cracking me up the entire day with stories and questions about my vacation. Two boys especially, Fares and Abdulla, kept talking to me about their "girlfriends" who they hung out with all break. They even wrote their journal in class all about how it. I laugh because neither boy has a girlfriend and I know that for a fact. But it was cracking me up that their interpretation of American boys is and I quote, "Miss my friend in America. He have 16 girlfriends! Wala! And he lies to them all about the others. Miss this why I go to America someday." I forgot how funny the boys could be. It was especially cute to see how sad they were when my class was over and how they kept calling out to me whenever they saw me. They missed me too :).

The girls were also really great to see. It was so sweet several girls brought me flowers the first day back and another girl, named May, brought me a bracelet with my name carved into it. It was so delicate and pretty it made my day. I know that having the oldest kids at the school has a lot of disadvantages. They are the furtherest behind academically and probably always will be due to their late arrival in the school (5th grade), they have raging hormones, most of them are bigger than me, they tend to not listen and can be violent. But the little moments like what I just described make it worth it. They are great kids. Even though they think their adults.

I have to turn in my letter of intent for next year this week and I am going to sign for another year. I don't care much where I will be or what I teach, but since they are moving all the females out of the male campus and to their own campus I think I will be there. The administration wants the middle school boys to only be with male teachers as they get older (7th and 8th grade). And as the girls get older they don't really want male teachers either. So, who knows what next year will hold for me as far as positions go, either way boys or girls it will be a fun challenge. I figured if I could kind of survive this year I might be able to thrive next year. Plus, there is so much left of the world to see!