A Ride Home and a Milkshake

I woke up in a bad mood today.  I don't know why.  I don't have a good excuse.  I just didn't feel like getting out of bed, and I was grouchy when I finally did.

We've had a lot of heavy rain here, and the electricity went out during the night at school.  The internet was slow (if it worked at all) all day, which just added to my general feeling of ick this morning.

My first period class, though, was wonderful as usual.  Yesterday they wrote a play, acting out the process of cell division.  They called the principal and invited him in to watch, and it was really impressive, especially for 7th graders.

Tonight we had Literacy Night at school.  The other science teachers and I had just planned on just setting out writing samples and talking to parents as they stop by.  Well, Mrs. Mike decided that she wanted to get really creative.  She brought in plastic table clothes to drape from the ceiling to hide the back half of her room, Christmas lights, strung across the room, to which examples of student writing were pinned with clothes pins.  She had not one, not two, but three Christmas trees.  Plus she brought in a Snowman birdbath the filled with candy and pencils.  And, of course, a life-sized nutcracker soldier.  She spent all day getting her classroom ready and it looked absolutely amazing.  While I totally applaud her efforts, it totally wrecked all the plans I had for my classes for today, because she needed my help and my students help at random times all day.  But, in the end, the classroom did look totally fabulous!

I had trouble with some kids after school today, too.  It's getting close to the end of the nine-week grading period, and several students have a ton of missing work.  This is the last week for work to be made up, so I have some students who are trying to do the entire nine-weeks' work in two days.  Needless to say, it's not working for them.  I don't mean to be mean to these kids, but I'm not accepting crap for work and giving out good grades.  That wouldn't be fair to the students who did the work well and on time.  

Literacy night went well.  The kids who have supportive families were all there.  These are generally the kids who have all their work turned in on time, if nothing else.  The kids who need the most support were noticeably absent.  But I guess that's not unusual.  Mrs. Mike and I spent a little time talking as the event started to wind down.  She was exhausted, and for good reason!  She worked so hard today!  

Mrs. Mike had two students who helped her out all day today.  Tyler and Jason are kids who try really hard, but are really lacking in support from home.  When they aren't busy, both have a tendency to get into trouble, but they will work hard if they know you care about them, and Mrs. Mike cares about them both very much.  At the end of the event, Tyler and Jason called from Mrs. Mike's room to get rides home.  A few minutes later, Jason came back to Mrs. Mike's room.  Apparently, his uncle was coming to get him at school and was pulled over and arrested about half a block down the road from school.  Jason asked Mrs. Mike for a ride home, but she lives in the opposite direction, so I volunteered.

On the way, Jason and I stopped at McDonald's and I got him a milkshake.  You should have seen the look on his face when he got to choose chocolate or vanilla!  I wonder how many times in his thirteen years someone has bought him a milkshake.  Or maybe more importantly, allowed him to choose what he preferred in a given situation.  Anyway, Jason made it home safe and sound.  He's such a good kid.  I hope he's able to find a way through the maze of unfortunate circumstances that he's up against and grow into a good man.  

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

~Mrs. Mike's hard work and creativity

~My little car that gets me wherever I need to go, whenever I need to go

~Vanilla milkshakes for little boys who deserve a treat once in a while

~Comfortable shoes that I can wear for thirteen hours on my feet without feeling sore

~My warm, soft, comfy bed, which I will crash into in T  - 5 minutes.