Halfway there!

Today we were chatting and realized we're halfway through the first week of summer school! It's been kind of a weird week so far. A bit disorganized because kids who were scheduled to come to summer school didn't and some who weren't scheduled did. 

We originally had 57 kids on our list between my co-teacher and myself! Today, when all was said and done, I believe that we have maybe 28 or 30 total. It's not too bad. The worst part is, all of the technology seems to be having issues throughout the school. Considering that the social studies/ELA stuff is all supposed to basically be online...it's been a bit of an issue! We aren't teachers for nothing. We make due with what we have and go with it.

We had about six kids come today in our second group that weren't there yesterday and some of them likely won't make it to the end of the program. The principal is really awesome about putting kids out who can't handle it. He even told them, "if you aren't here to work, you can go home". I ♥ that. Obviously during the normal year that's not so good (unless really necessary) but in summer school with such a short time, you can't keep kids in the classroom who are just trying to ruin it for others.

I have several kiddos from my school that are in my blocks. One of my girls from fifth grade was gone yesterday but made it today and one of the boys tried to be all up in my face and I set him straight. I heard this little lady (one of my personal favorites) say to the gal next to her, "Yep, that's Mrs. ---- alright!" Ha!

I am bummed because our Write Source stuff doesn't seem to be accessible right now either. I don't want to do paper-pencil type of stuff all the time. That's BORING. And we heard that it is basically what schools have done in the past. They have just given the kids packets of work and let them have at it. If the kids did the work (or pretended to do the work), they passed. That is soooo wrong. I understand why the principal at this school said no way, we aren't doing that. I think I could totally work for this man in real life. I sent the same sassy young lady down to the office both yesterday and today and he wouldn't allow her to come back to class. Considering that she failed her classes the last semester, you'd think she'd clean up her attitude so she could pass. She just doesn't care. 

I will never understand how you can be twelve years old and just not care that much. It's sad. It solidifies for me why I teach elementary school--I do like middle schoolers, "big kids", but at least at the elementary level, it feels more like you can still save them. I give major kudos to the teachers at this school. Our push-in resource teacher told us that the 7th and 8th grade groups are having a tough time already. I'm glad I got sixth grade then because I would quit. No job is worth that crap. Been there, done that.

One of the reasons I've been so absent is because I have been finishing my book! I have spent the weekend and every spare moment I've had so far this week editing it and having lots of friends read it to catch typos and errors I missed. It is all set and ready to upload to my printer! I decided to use a pen name to protect the privacy of my own kids...and because I sort of diss my district a bit, in a round-about way and thought it best to not put my name on it while I work there. It isn't anything they could really fire me over but its enough that I'd rather be cautious.

My proof copy should be coming my way soon and then I can officially put it out for publication. So exciting!