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This is a continuation of my journal from my 2001-2002 school year.  Please read the previous posts to give this entry context. 

“Stop that.  You’re driving me crazy.  And it’s a short drive.”  That’s one of my favorite things to say when a student persists in an annoying behavior. 

One of my current favorites is to stand outside my classroom and act like a carnival barker.  “Free education!  Right this way!  Be a lucky winner!”

One of my former colleagues used to have a tee-shirt that he would wear on essay days that said, “This ain’t a weiner roast.”  Now that he’s gone, I use the saying in my class.

Last year I tried out a saying from one of the bottom feeders of reality shows.  “Save the drama for your Mama,” I told a whining student.

“You can’t say that,” one of my students said.  “That’s from Boot Camp.”Apparently he thought my repetition of the phrase constituted some crime like plagiarism and being an English teacher, I ought to be above breaking the law.

The poetry fest has been postponed.  Our scheduled day in the Career Center was rearranged to be today. 

Wednesday – September 26th

 Ivan was finally moved from my College Prep English I class.  Hopefully he went to the Advanced English Language Development class for which he was recommended.  I feel sure his move has less to do with his misplacement than my over enrollment in period three.

I’m pleased with the results of the poetry workshop.  Here were a few of my favorites from sixth period:

Evelia’s Poem

 Light and darkness are balanced

In the night

Bringing great beauty and the

Rise of the libra sign

A sign of great power with a sword

    in one hand and a scale in the other.

 

Sheridan’s Poem

Halloween Night

 

On a small broom in flight

flew a lady in the night,

past the moon

and through the air.

Her cackle and scream

sent a chill up my spine.

Her black dress whipped in the wind

and her hat pointed at the sky.

Oh, what a night.

Oh, what a night.

 

When I saw the smirk on his face

I hurried to pick up my pace.

This round orange man

with his face aglow,

his eyes seemed to follow

wherever I went.

As I walked down the street

more and more appeared.

Oh, what a night.

Oh, what a night.

 

The air and wind was crisp and chilly.

I wish I was with my friend Billy.

The trees seemed to whisper

and drop leaves on my head.

I stepped on them and jumped

when they crackled.

I could see shapes in the dark

but when I tried to figure out what they were

they disappeared

Oh, what a night.

Oh, what a night.

 

Walking with caution up my driveway

so glad it was the end of the day;

someone blew by.

A person in white.

I screamed and ran.

He was cold and his eyes were red.

I felt faint and my stomach hurt.

Oh, what a night.

Oh, what a night.

 

I was so glad to be home.

Away from them . . . all alone.

I went to get ready for bed.

Tomorrow will be better

no worries, no frights.

I’m glad to be home.

Oh, what a night!

 

Mindy’s Poem 

Light & Dark

 

The balance between light

and dark has begun.

The days will grow short and

the nights will grow long.

The sun has become tired

and needs its rest, so the

moon will take over by

bringing night time to all

of us.

 More bomb threats.  Tomorrow we evacuate again.  In the meantime, two of my slower students stayed behind after second period to ask if they could borrow books from me for their book reports.  I had to explain that other students had already snapped up my copies of Holes.  “Maybe you could ask your reading teacher for a book.”  At this juncture I learned that these two students with reading scores of 4.5 and 5.0 had no reading class.  Sometimes the scheduling snafus are enough to make a person cry.