"Yo Girlfriend"

I'll put it this way: it could have been disastrous, but I survived just fine. It's clear now that my problem will be remembering to put on my teacher face and keep a safe, professional distance between my 20-something self and my class full of spirited little pre-teens. I'm not Ms. Miller, not ma'am (like we do it the south), I'm officially "girlfriend." "Yo girlfriend, where you from?" "Yo girlfriend, get out the way you're blockin' my view." Respect is lacking at this point, but I'm thinking there's still time to turn it around. I can't help but laugh at their witty jokes and think it's cute when they get sassy, so I may have given my kids the impression that I wanted to be their "girlfriend" and not their teacher. But when it comes to math, teacher don't play; so tomorrow, I'm going to lay down the law. Out of class, I'll double dutch and do the "Single Ladies" dance with them as many times as they wish, but in my classroom, they will learn to love (or at least tolerate) math.

Just to give you a little taste of what I'm up against, the kids took their diagnostic exam today. The results were nauseating. The average score on the remediated material was, if you can believe it, 31%. That's an intimidating statistic. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there (as Jerry Reed would say), so the pressure is on to get these babies ready for the 8th grade.

And this little tid-bit is for Andi..who I think will fully understand and appreciate the awkwardness of the situation: My first, foot-in-mouth moment as a teacher...
So we were playing the name game. I had the students stand up, say their name then one physical activity they enjoyed. Dymond likes to play basketball, Tekeya likes to double dutch, and then we get to Gregory...who proudly announces he likes to spend his free time "jerking." The class burst into laughter as I naively asked him if he'd be willing to demonstrate a move or two on the fly. I mean, I just assumed he meant the dance, right? Nope, apparently little Gregory meant "jerking" in the 12-year-old pre-pubescent boy sense of the word. He was visibly proud of his ballsy comment before my team teacher jumped in and gave Gregory an official "verbal warning" for his "blatant disrespect." The handful of minutes that passed before I realized what was going on were beyond awkward...but then I just couldn't stop laughing! Who says that? In class?!? Needless to say Gregory sits in a secluded corner of the classroom now and will rejoin his classmates when he proves he can keep his comments G rated and school appropriate. He's a rascal, that's for sure...and I'm counting on this one to keep me laughing.
ok, I have 4 Lesson Plans to write and I can't put it off any longer...apparently teaching is an 18- hour-a-day job. Who knew?