On familiar faces

One of the things I most look forward to every week is Friday afternoons. Not only because it signals the weekend, but because I know that my room will welcome at least a handful of my former students. I have such a great time catching up with them, and even just hanging back and silently observing, laughing to myself at the funny things they say and do. I know that as they get older and become more independent, making friends with older kids who have cars and then eventually driving themselves, their visits may become fewer or even stop altogether. So for now, I'll cherish the time they are willing to spend with me. 😃

Sh!t My Kids Say

R (an extremely avid reader), to three of his (male) friends, "We're going to start a book club.  Have you guys read Twilight?  We're all going to read Twilight." And then he distributed copies of Twilight from my bookshelf to his friends.

Maybe it's only funny to me, but I think this kid is absolutely hilarious.

On the past...

One of my students bought an old copy of LIFE magazine featuring Anne Frank (we happen to be reading The Diary of Anne Frank right now). The article was really interesting, but what was more interesting were the ads from back when cigarettes didn't have Surgeon Generals Warnings. And, oh yeah, we needed to teach our "chubby girls" that they better have a good personality to fall back on!

Sh!t My AVID Kids Say

Today while my 7th grade AVID class was having free time for Fun Friday, a couple of students had their phones out.  I was about to say something when I heard, "Ugh, she hasn't updated it.  I still have a C in science!" Only AVID kids are using their phones in class to check their grades :)

On misconceptions

Saw this Buzzfeed article and had to share it here. So much yes. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/antwaunsargent/lies-people-tell-about-teaching-that-simply-arent-true?s=mobile

Sh!t my kids say...

"Ew, I'm so sweaty. I hate puberty!!!" -Nate

Paige:(When illustrating the reason she doesn't like cats), My friend's cat gets mad when she neglects it and pees in her purse and on her bed and everywhere else.

Robert: That's what I do when my parents neglect me. I just pee everywhere.

On Halloween

I love Halloween.  I usually end up choosing a costume for the next year, as soon as the Halloween festivities have ended for the current year.  This year, I planned to go to as Gemma from Sons of Anarchy.  I had the wig and the skateboard (die hard fans will understand the relevance of the skateboard), but I was super broke. October was a rough month.  I didn't have money to go buy Gemma-eque clothes and accessories.  I didn't get paid until Halloween, so I pretty much gave up on dressing up.  I also ended up sleeping past my alarm until 8:30 am and was late to work, so I didn't have time to throw anything together for school either. All of my students and coworkers kept asking why I wasn't dressed up, because I live for Spirit Weeks and dress-up days. I also have had my classroom decorated for Halloween since October 1st.  I was bummed that I didn't get to dress up for school, but this week was so busy, it didn't really phase me.
     The real excitement happened on Friday night.  It was my league's annual Derby Prom and Envy and I had an awesome costume planned.

We got Honorable Mention in the costume contest, and we believe we were robbed.  Who says Halloween is a kids' holiday?  I hope I dress up until I can no longer dress myself.  And even then, I hope one of my kids will dress me up like Katniss Everdeen without batting an eye.