Kids are hilarious.

The second full week is behind us! I have now seen each of my classes six times, and I know most, if not all, of the names. We are testing at the beginning of the week, and I think/hope my kids are ready for it. I am back in the full swing of teaching now and couldn't be happier!

I have had a few hilarious moments with my kids. Here are the kids who are really standing out to me right now...

Deitrich Eichelburger. This kid is about 6' tall, 250 pounds, very dark skinned, well groomed, polite, sweet, bubbly, and has the best name of the year. It really makes me giggle every time! Earlier this week, a lady came in to ask me about a student who has a truancy problem, and as she was leaving, Deitrich asked if she was my sister. I giggled and, lest, he think I was crazy, explained that in Baltimore all of my students were black and they assumed that all of the white people in the building were either related, dating, or best friends. He told me that the same thing happens here - except with his sister, because she has light skin, so no one will believe they are related.

Juan - this is a kiddo in my honors class who talks nonstop. He's the one who likes to try and get off topic by asking millions of loosely related questions. He came in from lunch on Friday telling me he was going to join the wrestling team because he'd just thrown down some hard-core wrestling move. I told him "that's nice" and he asked if I thought he could be on the team. I told him I wasn't sure he had the discipline, and he got very offended. "I can keep from talking if I want to!" I told him it was funny that he started right away with talking as his main problem, but I made a bet with him. Since he's taking a test the next time he comes in, I told him that I bet he couldn't go the whole period without saying a word. I agreed that he could ask 3 questions, and if he had anything else to say he'd have to write it down. His class is even split by lunch, so he's got time to have a break. I suspect he'll be cleaning my room for 5 days straight when I win.

Cesar and Saul - these two are in my first period on "blue" days. They are both kind of preppy, smart kids. On Thursday they asked if "the guy in that picture back there" was my husband. They asked if he still had his goatee, and I told them he has a beard now. They told me he looked like the guy from The 300 - "got a little Girard Butler action going on!" Then, I came back by their table a few minutes later to find that they had both drawn beards like Matt's on their pictures on their IDs. But, they did it with magic marker so they could shave.

Ryan - another kid in my honors class. On Wednesday, he asked me to call him Black Mamba for the rest of the year. I told him "no" and he asked if I even knew where that was from. I told him "Kill Bill," of course, and he got really upset, correcting me that it was from "that commercial with Kobe." I told him I didn't care because Kobe looks like Voldemort. He acted hurt. When he came back from lunch, he asked me his name, and I said "Ryan." He said, "no, what's my REAL name?" and I said "David" (because that's his first name). Then he said, "no, what's my NICKNAME??" and I said "Ryan." He was very frustrated. He tried again later and I said, "wasn't it like purple viper or something?" The kids all started calling him White Mamba. On Friday, he came up to the door while I was talking with Juan and asked "Mrs. Lebsack, what's my name?" and I said, "isn't it green python or something?" Juan interjected "Yellow Anaconda!" He went in feeling dejected. This same kid told me one day, "You know, I play for the Broncos." I asked him if his other nickname was Tim Tebow. He's a pretty funny kid.

Ok, so I realize that all the kids I talked about so far were boys, but that's just a coincidence. It takes girls longer to show their silly sides, so I'm sure I'll have stories about them soon.

In other news, our regular chemistry classes were starting to get a little full. In one of my classes, the chairs were 100% taken (including my desk chair), so that meant that 36 were showing up. I think there were 37 on roster. I mentioned this to my department chair after school one day, and she freaked out that it was so unsafe to have that many in a Chemistry lab and she told me she'd talk to the AP (assistant principal) who does the scheduling. The next day by 10 am we had opened a new section of Chemistry and leveled all my classes - so now I only have 32 in each. I was utterly amazed!!!

We also had 2 fire drills, but they were so uneventful that I don't even have any comment about them. I've had to take away 1 ipod and yell at 3 kids for food. That's pretty much it in terms of discipline. So now I guess I have to actually be a good teacher....

Now, off to relax....

No drama = short update

The first full week is over, and still everything is going pretty well. We have had more schedule changes than I thought we would, but everything else is running smoothly. I have concluded that I love my "silver" kids (the B day part of the alternating block schedule) and kind of hate my "blue" kids. Luckily, next week is a mostly silver week.

This is Matt's last weekend before he starts medical school officially, so we are going to try and spend some time hanging out and relaxing! Wish us luck, and I'll write more next week...

And So It Begins...

There are a lot of things that go through a teacher's mind before the first day of school. "What if the kids don't like me?" "Will I have a lot of discipline problems?" "Who will my favorite student be?" "What if I don't have enough chairs?" "When can I find time to pee?" The anxiety builds and builds as the new year approaches, and then the first morning comes...the clock counts down...the first bell rings and all bets are off. Anxiety is gone and the year has officially begun.

My school year started off with my dog puking on the bed. At 5:35 am (10 minutes before my alarm), I heard him yarfing and got to get up early to and clean it. I didn't get delayed because his timing was impeccable, but I certainly didn't have the beginning I'd hoped for.

This is my first year in Aurora Public Schools. My previous 3 years of teaching experience were in Baltimore in a small break-out school with a visual arts focus. To say that my school was dysfunctional is something akin to saying that the Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground - it doesn't even begin to describe it. My new school in Aurora has a reputation in the district for being a "rough" school, but I had my suspicions that it was not even comparable to my experience in Baltimore. So far, I feel like I am living in a different decade. I have experienced all of the following minor miracles...

• The district's "new teacher orientation" was not a total waste of time. In fact, they actually had a facilitator work with us instead of just locking us in a room to waste away the afternoon and forgetting about us!
• My school knew I was coming and even had my keys ready for me. My classroom was clean, too!
• During my technology orientation, no one tried to explain to me how to open internet explorer or describe how to "double click."
• I have a pacing guide, a curriculum, and a teacher's edition of my textbook. Oh, and if that wasn't enough to make me happy...I also have a Promethean Smart Board in my classroom and my whole room is wired with infrared for microphones. My computer is in excellent shape (except that the "N" key sticks). Oh, and all of this technology WORKS PROPERLY.
• There is a copier that I can use any time I want. I do have a copy code and a limited number of copies...but when I asked a colleague how many we got, she said "I don't know, I've never run out."
• We have a laminator. The librarians happily laminated my stuff for me...in a timely fashion and without ruining anything. Don't even get me started on the other resources available...an enlarger?? Letter cutters? PAPER CUTTERS?? What is this place?
• Did I mention...we ACTUALLY HAVE a library!!!
• There is a staff work room with printers and computers in it. They work. There is also a staff lounge with a water cooler AND an ice maker in the fridge. Ridiculous.
• I have a key to the building.
• We have policies. And procedures. And we started following them on DAY 1.
• Every kid got a schedule before the first day of school. And an ID. And a locker. The schedules were correct and their IDs are to be worn around their necks - and none of the lockers were broken.
• Teachers had access to their rosters at least two weeks in advance. They also have access to all of the students' test results and grades for their entire academic career, as well as all parent information, red flags for truancy, IEPs, schedules, and even pictures via the internet.
• I have school email. My administration uses it regularly. I feel informed. I also have a phone in my room.
• We have an automated phone system that has called me twice now - once to tell me about parent/teacher night and once to tell me about excused absences. Parents are also getting this call - and the opportunity to listen to a podcast of the morning announcements.
• Our science department has a budget. That's surprise #1. Surprise #2 is that it's big - like $30K big. We can get reimbursed for classroom expenses.

I feel pretty confident that I could go on and on, but I am certain that it will just get more boring from here. Suffice it to say, I think I might be learning what it feels like to work in a "real" school - and I'm imagining what my kids in Baltimore could have gained from having a semi-functional environment to work in.

The first two days went off without a hitch. My classes are extremely diverse - if I had to give a ballpark I'd say that my classes are 40% hispanic, 30% black, 20% white, 5% asian, and 5% "other." There are supposedly somewhere between 70 and 90 languages spoken by our students. Many of them are refugees.

We work on an A Day/B Day block schedule. I teach 5 sections of regular chemistry (Juniors and Seniors) and one section of Pre-IB (Honors) Chemistry (Sophomores). Our classes are 100 minutes long, except on Wednesdays. My classes vary from about 25 to about 35 kids - and supposedly they have about 80% attendance.

I LOVE the rest of the Science department and most of the teachers I've met already. I'll mention more about them in the future, but for now we can say that they are amazing people. My kids have all been great so far and I'm already excited to get to know their little quirks while they get to know mine. I have already picked out a few to watch for...and oddly, several of them chose the seats in the front of the room to sit in. What's up with that?

I may have made my school sound like a glorious place, but lest ye be led astray, let me tell you that it is not a great school. We are consistent low performers with less than 50% of students passing CSAPs (the state testing) and also most students getting low ACT scores. Our graduation rate is low, our pregnancy rate is high, and fewer than 50% of our kids speak English as a first language. We do have Teach For America corps members in the building. I am just so heartened to see that many of the supports are in place to make a change for the kids and actually step in to help them!! We might actually be able to close the achievement gap in Aurora...

At the end of Day 2 (which, on the A/B schedule is really like Day 1, Round 2), I feel like I'm a teacher again. My feet are absolutely killing me, my bladder is starting to expand back to its former 8 hour capacity, and I'm adjusting to the idea of giving up daytime facebooking. I'm remembering how goofy kids can be, can already spot a text message being sent under the table, and my voice is scratchy from talking too much. "Miss!" is ringing in my ears. I have my first lab planned for Monday and the whole weekend stretched in front of me to prepare and unwind.

So...here's to an excellent year!