Week two ends with a holiday!

Well... this was the week of faux pas and sad stories.

One day this week, as I attempted to draw a story map, (looks like a skinny mountain), I asked my class what it reminded them of in nature. Well, immediately they started snickering. Undaunted, and for emphasis, I circled the introduction on the bottom left hand side, the conclusion on the right hand side, and the climax (yikes!) on the top. You can imagine their reaction, as I had quickly made a bad situation worse. Now I had a very accurate picture of the male anatomy on my board. I was verrry embarrassed, but pretended to not notice by erasing it quickly with my hand. I don't think I'm very subtle.

Another time this week, I was trying to convince my honors class to be creative with the story they were writing. They always ask me, "Is this right?" " "Is this OK?" So I announced, loudly and with flourish, "It's your baby! You create it!" Ohhhh boy. You can imagine the laughs with that one. Luckily it was my honors class, so they are a little bit more respectful, but if it had been my other classes, I would have never heard the end of it. They probably would have asked me where babies come from, just for spite. I made a mental note not to say that one again.

For the sad stories, there are so many kids that just have such bad home lives. It just makes me so sad. I caught one kid smoking in the bathroom this week, and later this month, he will leave to go to live in a foster home (not because of that incident, but because of other family issues). Another girl told me she had been up all night at the hospital with her mom who ran out of her anxiety and depression meds, so they had to take her to the ER. There are rumors flying around that a 7th grader is pregnant. Another boy showed me his wrists where he had cut himself with scissors the night before. There are countless other stories, but it makes me just want to give them all a hug and tell them it's going to be allright.

The good news is... it's a three day weekend! I looove that! I'm going to cook, have picnics outside, shop a little and swim. It's amazing how much less stressful the week is minus one day at work. Happy Labor Day!