2001-10-23
Crummy Monday, posted at 7:59 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Yesterday was terrible. I got out of here at 3:54, one of my earliest afternoons yet.I was sick, the kids were terrible, and I was in a surly mood all day.
First things first - I think I'm getting a cold. A bad one. Maybe even the flu. I feel it coming on like a mack truck. It hasn't hit me yet, and I tried to fend it off by taking a three hour nap when I came home, then take Ny-Quill and sleeping from 10:30pm-7am last night. I may have beat it, but I'm not sure. I'm feeling a bit groggy this morning and my throat is still a bit scratchy, but the former may still be the aftereffects of the Ny-Quill and the latter may be as bad as it's going to get. Actually being sick wouldn't be so bad. I am allotted ten sick days a year. We'll see.
Secondly, the kids. I guess the four days off made the kids extra squirrelly yesterday. They were awful. Period 2/3 is killer right now. I love my 5/6 class and 7th is going pretty good even though they're freshmen. But I actually handed out a detention yesterday to a kid in 2/3. I hate handing out detention for the simple fact that it loads work upon the end of my day. But I had to do it. This little kid is a butthead. He didn't listen to me when I told him to get back to his seat, so I said, "Okay, please head to the hallway instead." After class, I spoke to him, and told him something like, "I know you can't stand not to be the center of attention and you're wishing everyone would look at you and not me, but I can't have it in here." Actually, I didn't say that to him, but I wanted to. Instead, I told him he'd have to make up the time spent in the hallway during detention tonight. I do need to get better about consequences, so maybe this will be a good thing for my teaching.
Oh, and the mood thing was a combination of how I felt and how the kids were acting. It was the sort of day that made me question my career choice. My head is all cloudy this morning and I'm not sure things will be a whole lot better. I feel like going back to bed.