Monday, Feb. 10, 2003

I'm nice, posted at 6:33 p.m.

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

Long day. My mind was all set for at least a snow delay, but it wasn't in the cards.

My 7th period, for the 3rd of 4 semesters teaching, is looking to be a bear again. Just once, I'm going to go off on them, and yell something like, "YOU KNOW, I'M PROBABLY ONE OF THE NICEST TEACHERS AT THIS SCHOOL. I'M LIGHT-HEARTED, I ENJOY WHAT I DO. YOU'LL LEARN A HELL OF A LOT IN HERE, TOO. BUT YOU'RE WELL ON YOUR WAY TO TURNING ME INTO AN ASSHOLE IF YOU DO NOT CHANGE THE WAY YOU ARE ACTING IN THIS CLASS."

I won't, but I feel like it. They are getting a new seating chart tomorrow, and I'll probably have to give at least one detention.

Lou Piniella, when his team needs swift kick in the butt after a stretch of not playing well, often informs the umpires before a game that during that particular contest, one of them will have to throw him out of the game. His team needs a wakeup call, and no matter if all the calls are perfect, he's going to need to argue something tonight that puts him over the edge.

I think that, no matter what, one of those kids is going to get a detention tomorrow. The class needs a swift kick in the ass.

I forgot to mention that the 9th grade guidance counselor looked at my class list for that particular class before the semester started. He saw the names of the students, shook his head mournfully, patted me on the shoulder, and said, "That's a real, um, interesting mix there, Epiphany."

Also, 13% of the class passed their reading and writing milestone test that they took the first day of class with me. This is going to be a challenging class.

A big shout-out to Ms. Boombastic, who mailed her copy of Holler If You Can Hear Me across the country to let me borrow. Hopefully I'll glean some inspiration from it, as well. Sorry I haven't thanked you personally yet, Ms. B - thank you very much!