I'm sorry it has been so long since I last posted. In order to make sure I did not do any work at home during orientation week, I left my computer at school every day. It accomplished my goal, but it also meant no time for updating (bc I also made sure to leave school as soon as possible each day during orientation). Regardless, I am here now, so let's get caught up, shall we?
Orientation week was okay. It felt longer than usual, but that had nothing to do with the kids. I taught five classes of incoming seventh grade boys every day for 45 minutes. It was a lot of day, but the boys, for the most part, were polite and funny and aiming to please. Hard to complain about that, really. I don't have a ton of entertaining quotes and interactions like I usually do, but here are two that I enjoyed.
1: In the cafeteria foyer. I am directing my boys into the lunchroom silently, thereby disrupting their chance to talk with any of the girls, who are also walking through the foyer on their way to gym.
Me: In a line, gentlemen. A line. A single file line. No, no talking. The girls will be here next year. Keep walking. (Mind you, I'm saying this as I'm essentially herding them into the cafeteria).
::boys are in and seated::
M: (overheard) Man, Ms. Miller be wreckin' our game!
That's me, ladies and gentlemen, a game wrecker.
2: Thursday morning, waiting in the gym to be directed to our bus for the day-long field trip to Univ of MD. I have just laughed at something my friend Amy has said.
T: Ms. Miller, you have a pretty smile.
Me: Thank you. ::smile::
T: Yeah. You have a pretty smile, but you never do smile.
Me: You know, the other day I was walking down the street and a stranger asked me if things were really so bad (true story, kids...I was tempted to yell that they were). Maybe I should work on smiling more.
Amy: You're very observant.
T: Yeah. Ms. Maxwell, are you related to Ms. Miller?
Melanie: No. Why?
T: You have a pretty smile too, but you never smile either.
Melanie: That's because I'm angry.
I like Melanie's answer best.
Midway through orientation week my principal told me that the seventh grade will be smaller this coming year. This is great news bc it means that our upper grades are leveling out and fewer kids are leaving/being held back. It is less great news bc it means we no longer need to teach seven sections of Civics (Ian taught five, I taught two). She offered me the chance to keep my schedule as is and have Ian take on two sections of ninth grade world history or to leave Ian with five sections of Civics and for me to become a dedicated high school teacher, taking on two sections of ninth grade world history. I struggled with it for awhile, but in the end decided to keep my schedule as is. There are practical reasons (not having to prep a new class) as well as idealistic ones (my passion is for government, not social studies, and I really do enjoy teaching middle school in addition to twelfth grade), but it was a challenging and interesting thought process to go through; I really pushed myself to make sure I wasnt taking the easy way out and avoiding a new career challenge.
After orientation, it was time to prepare for my trip to California. (The subject line, P.S., is a reference to what I can see from the small patio on which I am currently sitting.) My preparations included buying new sandals and a new swimsuit and then not thinking much about the trip at all. I baby sat on Saturday and Brian and I saw the new Die Hard (if you liked the other ones or you like movies where things go fast and blow up (in implausible, but visually awesome, ways), I'd recommend it). There was a lot of surreal-ness to the trip for me. Not that I didn't recognize I was going, but that the length of the trip would hit me at odd times. Still, Monday I packed enough clothes for twenty-six days and a lot of different occasions into a suitcase and small bag and dropped my car with Brian's mom. Brian dropped me at the airport Tuesday morning (I held it together pretty well, but there were definitely some intermittent tears on my part throughout the airport) and after five hours on a plane, I met Maggie at baggage claim.
So far, the vacation part of the trip has been great. We have a much bigger SUV than we bargained for to tool around in (sometimes, folks, the upgrade is not really an improvement), but I managed to only get it stuck in the covered, below ground parking at our hotel once. Yesterday we had our first celebrity sighting (James Gandolfini! Tony Soprano! In baggage claim? I guess...) and then wandered through Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Today the plan is for a lot of beach time and then, maybe, Transformers or maybe shopping. Tomorrow, a little touristy stuff if we don't get to it today, and then a trip down to San Diego to rendezvous with my family. All in all, it should be good.
I'm thinking Maggie might be awake now (it's seven am and I've been up for an hour), so I'm going to go start getting ready. The three hour time difference sure makes getting an early start easy! Have a very happy Independence Day everyone!
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