i think i'll buy a magazine or two

Spring break has finally arrived.  And it could not have come at a better time.  I'm not going home as planned because my mother will be out of town visiting my sick grandmother, and so why would I ever chose to be home alone in SC when I can finally enjoy the City.  It feels soooooooooo good to have a break from teaching and to lounge around in my PJs and watch Oprah.

Anyway, Wednesday was not only the final day of school (before the break), but also the day report cards came out.  I think it's funny that the teachers are often as nervous about report cards as the students.  But it's safe to say that it's probably for different reasons.  We want to end our work week on a happy note and not with teenagers in our face angry or crying about their grades.  I purposefully gave report cards at the last possible minute and then shooed the kids out of the classroom on to their next class where that teacher can deal with the fall out.  Yeah, I 'm nice :)  

Though our school uses an online grading system some students are still shocked when they see their final grades.  I slinked around corners and classrooms just trying to make it out of the building without any awkward conversations with students.  I was found by some students and was approached with thank yous and apologies.  I couldn't believe it.  Was I being punked? Were the kids actually thanking me?  I was totally caught off guard by these random acts of kindness and thank yous and didn't know what to say.  

I don't know exactly how the kids feel about me (though I can imagine: mean, tough, obsessive compulsive, "doesn't let us smoke pot" (a direct quote)...) but I know I'm not as loved as the other teachers... I'm new and different, I get it... it'll take time. My form of compassion comes from tough love, which is new for most of the kids but some get me.  At the end of the day my methods work and students that aren't "Englishy" (that's edu-talk for: Kids who don't like English) can do just as well as kids who love English in my class if they trust me and do what I assign and ask them to do.  On Wednesday they saw that.  

It was nice to end the school week on a sweet note.  Now that I'm on Spring Break my to-do list is a mile long.  I want to start writing again, clean the apt. more often, learn some new dishes, read, read, and read, buy magazines un-school related and sit a coffee shop and lose myself in the glossy pages.  

Oh, and as you can probably see... I've changed the  name of my blog... a product of finally having free time :)