Well this week was a lot better. On Wednesday I caught my first note and my first cell phone in class— a truly momentous occasion I think because up until this point I have been too absorbed in my lessons and the presentation to notice all the crap taking place around me. After I caught my first offenders, I apprehended five other notes this week and one more cell phone. Today I told the kids that I was thoroughly enjoying all the things I’ve discovered about their love lives, and that they were welcome to keep entertaining me in this manner, so long as they were willing to buy it at the steep price of $50 citizenship for the first note and $100 for every note thereafter. I let them know that I keep a “special file” for notes, and that if it continues to be a problem then we can call their parents and read through all the notes they’ve written with their parents too. Some of my students turned sheet white at this and a few of them exclaimed, “Oh!” at their desks. It was really quite satisfying. Then one boy, who prides himself in being a funny guy, told me a funny story about how he and a friend wrote a note that said, “Hi teacher” and made a big deal out of passing it so that it would get caught. I thought I gave an especially clever response when I said, “That’s a really cute idea, Nate, and if you try it in here, I’ll probably still be laughing while I subtract at least fifty dollars from your citizenship account.”
I’ve been working hard to stay on top of entering grades in the grade book, and it’s been hard to do. Last night I was determined that I would get at least half of the grading I needed to do over the weekend completed in advance so that I would be able to spend more time with my husband. Around 9:30pm last night, I left my room to use the restroom and accidentally locked myself out of my classroom. Sadly, I’d also locked my car keys and cell phone in the room as well and there was no one else in the school to help me. At first I tried picking the lock, but of course that didn’t work. Then I walked down the street about four blocks (blasphemously stuffing a small American flag in the front door of the school to avoid being locked out of the building) to my mentor’s house praying that someone would be there, but no one was. I walked back to the school and created a long winding contraption with a loop of rope at the end in an attempt to stick it under my door and open it from the inside. Around 11pm I gave up and went back to my mentor, who was at home and rather surprised to see me there. It was completely humiliating, but she was very kind about it and helped me get back into my room.
After being locked out of my room for two hours I was a little drained and frustrated to have not ever been able to get anything done. So I got in my car and went home and my husband felt so badly for me that he graded vocabulary tests while I graded some of the midterms until one o’clock in the morning. I just didn’t feel like I could rest until I’d gotten more of what I had intended to accomplish that evening finished. It was an adventure to say the least, and I doubt I will ever forget my keys when I walk out of the room again.
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