Kickball, Basketball, and...a Language Arts teacher?

I got to cover 6th/7th grade Girls P.E. today. That was interesting. I got a call during 1st period that I needed to cover the class during my planning, 6th period. I actually laughed. I laughed and said, "Are you kidding?" And the office lady kindly said, "No." Oh, man. So I nervously marched down to the gym a few minutes before the kids were to arrive, to figure out what the heck I was gonna do with them. Luckily I located the Boys' P.E. coach, and he told me what to do with them. They were to play this Kickball/Basketball combination game. They had played it before. It wasn't that bad at all. I just stood on the sidelines and watched. Actually, it ended up being easier than covering a Math class, since the P.E. class is predictable and pretty independent. No biggie.

A fun little anecdote: my pregnant girl (I really don't want to officially give her that nickname, since I'm still not absolutely sure she is) blew my mind today. She handed me her Author Report, since she was suspended when it was due. That in itself was a mind blower, since I honestly didn't think she'd have it. But she did. But there was one teensy weensy problem: I was reading the Final Draft of her report, and something looked funny. Not funny haha, funny strange. Her first paragraph was in different font than the rest of the paper, and it was in bold. And it was worded in collegiate terminology. I have a feeling she doesn't know what half of those words even mean. I sighed, and gently went over and asked her, "Did you really write this?", to which she replied without hesitation, "Yeah, I did. I remembered what you told me when I was writing the Rough Draft that I shouldn't copy word for word, so I didn't", to which I said, "but this looks like you copied and pasted from a website." She nodded and said, "I did, but I moved the sentences around, so they're in a different order." Oh my gracious. I smiled and said as calmly as I could, "Hon, that's still copying." My hubby thinks I should start a blog of just things kids have said to me, or at least in my presence. I'm working on that. For now, I'm gonna have her re-write the paper IN HER OWN WORDS, and tell her that next time it's a zero and a Referral for cheating. I'll let you know how that goes over.

Oh Baby!!

One of my students might be pregnant. Isn't that nice? She's an 8th grader, but still. This is not that much of a surprise for this particular student though, trust me. Among her offenses, she has been suspended twice for fighting (once at school and once on the bus) and yesterday she was suspended for trying to "stab" another student with a filed down piece of wood from WoodShop class. She's always been nice to me, but she scares the bejeesus out of most of our kids. She has the stereotypical "Latina" girl look--shaved off, penciled-in eyebrows, dark makeup and a bit slutty clothes. Her chin is pierced and she just looks tough. I've never been intimidated or even worried by her, but I see why the kids are. Anyways, her tummy is a bit round and I always just sluffed it off as she was a bit pudgy around the middle. But it's getting bigger. And kids are talking. (Perhaps that's why she tried to "stab" a kid in the hall?) I talked to the vice principal, and they'll look into it. I'm sure not going to go up to a girl and say, "Are you pregnant?" because we all know that if you're wrong, you look like an ass. I just hope I'm wrong. I know it happens in middle school, but you never are prepared for it, as a teacher. I don't know how to deal with that. She's absent enough as it is!! I just pray that if she is, no girls admire her or aspire to be like her. That's all we need.

There's nothing like a good fistfight!

I bet you're thinking, "Oh no! Some students must have gotten into a fight at her school!" Nope. Sorry. Although that does happen around here on occassion, that's not what I was going to tell you.

My hubby and I went to a hockey game last night. What an awesome show.

It all happened very quickly. Not the fight--well, yes the fight, but I meant how we ended up going to the game. I have a 7th grader who's father is the coach of the Minor League hockey team that just came to our town. Yesterday during 1st period, an envelope came for him. He opened it, and brought me a ticket for last night's game. I was surprised and appreciative, but with only one ticket, I didn't think I'd go. I figured I'd just give my ticket to one of his other teachers, so they'd have two. Then my student Hockey Boy's science teacher came up with the idea of one of us buying two tickets in another section and giving their single ticket to someone else so they can go as a couple and so could the other person, and we could all split the price of the two purchased tickets. So that's exactly what we did. And so I emailed my hubby at work yesterday and told him we were going to the new arena (just opened last Wednesday!!). I started getting really excited, because I've never been to a hockey game and I wanted to see the new arena and it was a chance for my hubby and I to have a date night, doing something we never do.

It was a blast. Our seats were over near the corner, but near our team's goal. The arena is pretty small, so everyone has good seats. I'd have to say that even though I'm not really a sports fan at all, I really enjoyed hockey. It's easy to understand and it's always exciting. I found myself cheering like a crazy person when our team scored.

And the fights, oh, the fights. There were a few of them on the ice, but one was really awesome. About half of both teams got involved, and there were hockey sticks and fists flying every direction. It ended up with a player from each team duking it out without their facegear on. Wow. No other game lets that happen. Probably not very Christian of me to enjoy fighting, but when you're at a hockey game, it's just expected. What fun.

It was a blast. Oh, and Hockey Boy is also the Stick Boy for the team, so he was on the ice before the game started, helping prep the rink. And he gets to sit with the players. We sat in front of a row of the player's wives. That's interesting. They're all very pretty and very high maintenance. I can't imagine the players make that much, since it's Minor League, but they sure look like they're well taken care of. It's just funny to see someone wearing leopard print spiked heels to a hockey game.

Anyways, that was my evening. Very crazy and unexpected. Not my usual thing, but I enjoyed it. A lot.

'Tis the Season...

I know, I know there's still like 6 weeks until Christmas. And I know that there's a conspiracy surrounding the insaneness of stores shoving out Halloween and pushing Christmas down everyone's throat in October. But I can't help it! I love Christmas time!! And I can't wait for it to actually be Christmas! This year is already fun, with a toddler that actually comprehends what he's seeing in the stores. He gets so excited when we walk through Fry's or Target or Sears or Walmart and he sees the big inflatable snowing displays and the light-up snowmen and the sparkly colored present displays and the singing santas and snowmen. He wants to push all the buttons (and I'm sure the store clerks love us for it!) and watch them all dance and wiggle. We can't wait to take him to the local light display at the park. He'll "ooh" and "ahhh" and say "Mommy, lights!" I can't wait!! And it'll be so fun to get out the tree and the ornaments and house decorations so he can gasp at every last one...I think God gave me a child the day after Christmas on purpose. It just gives me another reason to love this time of year, how ever determined the commercialism is trying to ruin it...

And my new love this season: Peppermint Mocha Frappucinos! I had one today at the mall. Yum!!

I haven't had time for you...

Sorry for being a negligent blogger. This past week has been filled with the regular antics of working with teenagers, caring for our soon-to-be-two year old and attempting a home existence. But on top of those things that keep me busy as it is, I was attacked with some kind of nasty virus that acted like Strep, but with a cough. I was miserable this time last week. I took off that Wednesday and Thursday, because I could barely swallow, speak or breathe. My throat was so raw that I was in tears a few times whenever I coughed so hard I almost threw up. It was glorious. I went to the doctor last Friday and he gave me some meds, but they didn't help. He even gave me a nighttime cough medicine with Codeine and I still spent all night hacking and coughing and feeling feverish. Good times. Needless to say, I really haven't started feeling better until yesterday. I still cough a little, but nothing compared to what it was, and at least my throat has healed.

So, being off two days last week pretty much put my whole swing of things off for a week after. I hate being out. It's stressful and frustrating. At least I had a real sub (and the same sub!) those two days, instead of teachers covering during their Prep period.

My kids have been my kids. Yesterday, my 7/8 Period kids really pissed me off. I took them to the library to research authors for a report, and they were so clueless. I told them where the Biography section was, and how to find their author. I walk over to a group of my kids and question why they're just standing around. One says, "I can't find my author. He's not in here!" I sigh and say, "You look up Edgar Allen Poe by P, not E." Grrrr.. Sometimes I just don't know what to do with those kids. Hormones shrivel brains, I am convinced. Plus, they preferred to goof around with their friends and talk about whatever they darned well felt like talking about, instead of getting their work done. Anyways, long story short, I told them if they act up this way again, I will have them do all the research and work for the report on their own, without class time. I don't have to give them time in class. Besides, they're 8th graders, they need to learn how to navigate the library, without me holding their hands. I mean, really.

Good news is we get tomorrow off, for Veteran's Day. So today felt like Friday and tomorrow will feel like Saturday. That always weirds me out, but it's a good thing. Daddy still has to work, so Mason and I will probably go over to The Babysitter's house and hang with her and her kids for the day. Nothing else to do. We'll see.

So that's it. Sorry I've been slacking, but hopefully reading my explanation causes you to forgive me. :) Have a good weekend and Happy Veteran's Day everyone!