Thanks

For those of you who read last night's complain fest/mini-freak out and responded with emails, texts, and phone calls--thank you.

Although I did have a mini-breakdown over the walk throughs, they went well. My wonderful principal and stellar department chair saved the day and explained the group that they COULD NOT come into my second period because it was only the second day of class. They did, in fact, come in waves throughout third (SELA) and fourth (Intro to Lit) and we did, in fact, knock their socks off with our wonderfulness (we=students and me)

Part of my mini-breakdown is that I do take the opinions of these people seriously and I know (because I've been apart of them) that the "debriefing" session that happens when they walk outside of the door can be good, bad, or ugly. I'd prefer to stay away from the ugly comments; I do have to see these people one day and they could very well be my future boss in the administrative job waiting for me.

Also, thanks to my mini-breakdown expression of frustration, my stellar department chair actually sat down with me for 15 minutes and helped me devise a plan for my "new" CAHSEE prep class of 8 students. We're going to spend awhile getting to know each other with a high interest novel (Bluford) and build up some critical thinking skills over the next two weeks. By then, she hopes to have an answer for me about the curriculum.

Whew, I can do cultural building and state standards through a high interest novel, that I think I'm pretty good at. You cannot beat a book where the main character's brother is killed in a drive-by shooting by page five and he is jumped into a gang by page eleven. I can do critical thinking... and I can do it well :) Ahhh, the feeling of peace again.

Too bad that feeling of peace didn't last as I prepare sub plans for the next two days of writing trainings... but that is a whole new complainfest for another day :)