Friday, December 30, 2005
Heya everyone!! I hope you all enjoyed your christmas or whatever you celebrate and I wish you all a very happy new years!!!
I am loving Calgary.. and I haven't even been out boarding yet.. i think it's just that it's so relaxing so far... hurray for trips!!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
This past week has been hell at school. The kids have been great (concidering it's the week before christmas) but the administration is getting on my nerves. For those of you who read my blogs, i have sometimes mentioned the horrible shi*t going on in our school. Well, this week was my turn to get picked on. Thing is I don't let people push me around, so whenever I am confronted, I answer back. I am pretty quick on my feet and have caught the principal off guard. She gets pissed off because she can't come back with a quick enough response, so she leaves, and goes to pick on someone else. The next day she'll come back and think of something else to pick apart. Finally she asked me to come to the office because of an incident that happened at the end of school yesterday. Apparently there are all these issues going on between 3 students... it is happening in the school yard... and apparently i'm supposed to be responsible for dealing with this. First, I am not on the yard where they are, so I have no idea what really happed, second it happend last week, and third, i'm the f*cken french teacher, not their homeroom teacher. So why is it my fault.. because she decided it should be.
Apparently all the issues that are happening on the school yard are due to my bad class management. I'm sorry, but you do realize that I see these kids for 4 days a week and for only 50 minutes... and I have another 7 classes, and don't have any issues in those classes. I think that if it was really my classroom discipline, then i'd be having issues in all of my classes wouldn't I? And why is this being brought to me and not to their real teacher? I'd like to think i have more power over them, but I really don't! 3 f*cken students and I see 176 a day!! yup, all my fault I tell you!
So i told the principal that if she wanted to deal with it I would.. but only this one specific issue (it involves some homophobic issues, and some teachers aren't comfortable talking about it). But I also told her that the issues that are happening on the yard are not my responsibility and she needs to step up to the plate and dish out some consequences. The kids are tired of the way things are being delt with.. they are sick of being pushed around and want it to be delt with, and I agree with them. However the principal will not do it, so here I am responsible for all this crap. I also told her that i am not changing what I do in my class cause i think it is working, and she cannot tell me how to run my class.
I felt like shi*t after that talk tho.. she pretty much told me i was a horrible teacher/person, and that she regretted hiring me. I told her that I'd be more than happy to leave.. this is a perfect time to fire me.. it's snowboarding time. But we both know she cannot fire me, and won't be able to find a replacement if I do leave! However, she did remind me that she was evaluating me this year and that with a bad evaluation I would have trouble getting into the schools I want to teach at. I refuse to stay at this school another year. I was in tears and could not stop while I was teaching... I told the kids I was having a bad day, and they fed me butter tarts to keep me happy... They are the only reason i won't leave. grrrrrrrrrrr this isn't even the entire story.. but i'm tired of typing.
Bring on the holidays.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
There was a steady stream of student through my room today.. more than usual.. And most of them came bearing food. From drinks, to desserts to a full turkey dinner, pie and homemade butter tarts. Most of the classes had their christmas parties today. And because I teach most of the kids in the school, when they are asked who they should share with, my name always comes up. I actually had to bring some desrts home I had so many. And that was just today! More to come with the other christmas parties tomorrow! I need to start working out if i'm going to keep eating all this crap!
Friday, December 16, 2005
The kids in my class know me too well....
Today being yet another snow day, i was left with classes ranging between 3 and 6 students... when I walked in to my grade 6-7 split class (a little late) they all looked at me in shock!
-What are you doing here?
Me- Um, this is my class?
-No, but i'ts a snow day!! Why didn't you call is sick? You should be snowboarding right now!!
-Yeah, we would have totally covered for you! Did you see Ms A yesterday, she wasn't looking too good!
Me- Thanks guys, now i'll know for next time!
But I did get a ton of stuff done, and took the grade 4-5 class out snowshoeing along with the grade 2 and 3s. It was great.. but it made me realize how lazy kids are these days!! I was racing around, and after an hour when they had finally gotten used to walking around in the snowshoes, I was ready to get a game of tag going.. and they were all ready to go in for some quiet reading time!!! what the?? its a snow day have some fun!!! So i went in and traded them in for the kidergarten class and we went and made snow angels and built a fort!!
I heart beautiful sunny winter days!
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Here are some stories form the past couple days at school...
One of the boys in the grade 7 class, Zac, is an avid snowboarder.. he's about a foot taller than me, and looks older than me, and we usually get along really well when i'm not failling him. Anyway, we were talking about the slopes and how we'd probably end up at he same hill and how he'd kick my ass, until we started to actually talk about boarding and he ralized i,d probably kick his... so long story short, he ended up stealing my keys, digging up my cell phone and trying to call the school to get us out of class so that we could go boarding!
Today, the grade 6/7 class got a little rough, and one guy went to jump on another, in the process throwing his agenda on the ground. So there I go to jump in and stop my second fist fight of the day, and slip on that gawd damn agenda and smash right into the counter. Everyone in the class just froze, I calmly got up, with tears in my eyes, and said 'so who's failing french this year' as i picked up the agenda... 'Clinton, sucks for you doesn't it!'. Clinton being the smart ass he is replies with a 'Yeah but it's snowing!! aren't you happy???" (I usually get overly excited when it snows and do my snow dance!!) and I replied 'I would be happy, except now that my wrist is broken i can't go boarding now can I?' He felt so bad i had to tell him i was really okay, just a little bruised and swollen, but i'd live.. and he won't fail french if he brings me lots of chocolate! haha
anyway, i,m happy about the 45 cms of snow we're supposed to get overnight... but with all the people planning on it being a snow day tomorrow, you know it won't be :(
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Things you would have overheard today and yesterday if you were a fly on my classroom wall... yeah one of these days I'm going to get my ass kicked for my responses.
New From Today
-Me: Can anyone tell me what the word for fast is in french?.
- cody- Check the dictionary!
-Me: Pardon me?
-Cody- Well you always tell us to look up a word if we don't know it!
-Me: Congrats Mr. Holt, you have just been nominated to be our official dictionary looker upper for the entire class! First word for you to translate: rude.
You know, if I spoke french i'd so have a crush on that chick!! (overheard from one of the boys who was checking out the sleeve of the French CD that was playing in class)
-Ms A, you're like, wow, you know!
Me: Um, okay thanks I guess.
-No it's a good thing... i swear!
-Why are you giving us the 'I'm dissapointed in you look?'.
Me: Since when are fist fights allowed in class?
-This is class... my bad i thought this was the wrestling ring!
-Me: You are testing my patience and it is failling. It is in your best interest to get out of this class and not to come back until you realize that this is class and not your WWF fantasy.
-Ms A, your shirt is way too cool for a french teacher!
From Yesterday
-I don't have to listen to you cause you're not old enough to be a teacher anyway!
Me-Really, well I'm not too young to send you to the office!
-Are you in a good mood.
Me- Yes, why?
- We have bets going to see who can put you in a bad mood and i was just making sure noone from the other class won.
-Sorry Ms A, but I can't be in this group anymore.. Abby and me broke up and i'm not talking to her anymore.
Me- laughing-Sorry buddy, next time choose a partner you're not dating.
Me- what is the rule about trowing bean bags around the class?
them- If you stand up out of your chair, it's your fault if you get pegged off in the head!
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Snowboarding, drinking, smoking, sleeping, movies, video games (which i suck at), good friends... Can a weekend get any better?
That is exactly what I needed to put me in a good enough mood to face the next 2 weeks.... so thanks guys! We'll have to do it again sometime!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
I have one thing to say to all the parents who called or wrote me angry letters today...
F U C K OFF!!!
Yes, i understand that your son/daughter did not get an A in french this, year. Yes I understand that your child didn't do shi*t in french for the past 3 years and that is why i expect them to do work this year so they can catch up to where they are supposed to be. Yes I understand that you think that french is useless and your child will never need it. But... you must now understand that it is my first language and altho I don't expect everyone to love french, or even like it, i do expect them to learn to respect other cultures and languages. I teach french because i want to share my culture with your children... and they need to pass it to get their high school diploma. You must also understand that your child is an ambassador of the school when on a sports team, and his or her behaviour in class should be that of an ambassador, and if it is not, they have been cut from my soccer/volleyball teams... i will also cut them from my basketball, 3pitch and track team, so they better smarten up if they want to actually paly sports this year.
Lastly, you cannot expect me to take you seriously when the letter you send me comes back with the stench of pot that can be smelt a class away, or when you come to talk to me and start off your speach, with 'excuse me, i'm a little hung over today'.
Tursday night and friday are parent teacher interviews.. i'm going to have to get fall off my chair drunk this weekend.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
After 3 months of filing reports and meetings, they have finally decided to add an extra staff member to help deal with the grade 6 class. I can't believe it took them 3 full months to realize this class was special. I'm still pissed off that it's not because of the teachers that we got this help... it's because of a cop!
Every wednesday Const. Darren comes in to talk to the grde 6s. Finally last week he snaped... if a police cannot get respect from the kids, and he has his cuffs and night stick and actually threatened to cuff a kid to his chair once, how can I get it?? It is rediculous! But i'm happy that he had so much pull cause it really helps me out in class with the extra person in the room to deal with the disipline. Altho there were still 5 kids that got kicked out of class...
On another note, the little hellion in the grade 3 class that I teach gym to got caught breaking into the police station for the 4th time. And they finally figured out how he did it.. cause he's a cute little kid (he's 8) he can just stand around and no one suspects him... well he watches as they punch in the code, memorizes it, then goes in and plays with all their shi*t!
But.... only 14 class days until Christmas!!
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