Case of the Mondays

10/25/10

After one of the most fun/soul fulfilling weekends in a long time, I had a serious "Case of the Mondays" today. I woke up and decided that I had not gotten enough work done over the weekend, that I was behind in every front, and that I was doomed to not pass this semester. Amy told me I was being too hard on myself, but I just couldn't shake the guilt and the stress that's been piling up.

Onward and upward with the day.

I transitioned the students from the beginning of the day to Art class - only to be treated so poorly by the Art teacher, that I left her room fuming. Normally, I walk the students down to the room and she takes over from there. Today, she chased after me in the hallway yelling, "Ummm...EXCUSE ME!" I didn't realize that she was talking to me so I kept walking - she said it again and added, "You need to get in here - we're having a little trouble with seating arrangements, AND I need you to drop of a computer to a teacher for me."

Ah, okay. Never once did she use my name OR treat me with respect. She explained with a huge attitude that the students were sitting at the wrong tables. I explained that we had recently changed table partners and they probably just sat in their new seating arrangements. She looked at me like I was dumb, and then said, "Well, what are you going to do about it?" Though I was fuming inside, I was very polite and handled the situation. Took an survey of who wanted to revert to old seating arrangements or stick with the new seating arrangements. They all wanted the new arrangements. I thought I was done, but the teacher insisted that I "Go ahead and fix it." I fixed it in an orderly fashion, then began to walk out. She once again said, "UMMMM EXCUSE ME!" and insisted that I rewrite the names of the students on her seating chart. I left again - thinking that all of my duties were finished, but she chased me down in the hallway, "EXCUSE ME!", and threw a laptop computer into my hands, saying, "Bring this to so and so..." I smiled and said, "Absolutely, no problem!" and left.

I got back to the room and was fuming. I explained to Amy how I felt and she was very upset at the behavior of the Art teacher. She is going to talk to her about her inappropriate tone that she used with me. I really wanted to look at the Art teacher and just say, "Listen, I worked at the Art Institute of Chicago and know a thing or two about art. Treat me with some respect - I'm a future peer - not your servant." But, of course, I didn't say that and kept it professional.

When students came back, I taught "R Controlled" Spelling. When an R is directly after a vowel, it controlls the sound of the vowel (fur, car, sir, etc.). I told them that they were pirates for the day and we practiced saying "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" It was cute and they loved it!

I stayed after school super late today to work on the magnet science lesson with Jen, and to help Amy file all of the student assessments into binders for parent conferences this week. After working in reslife for the past 12 years, I know a thing or two about organizing binders efficiently! I had a system all set up and ready to go for us to power through the documents - we finished in less than 20 minutes! Must be a new record!

I feel good about the magnets lesson for tomorrow. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

The BC 2007-2010 Crew - Back Row: Austin, Luis, Daymyen, Conor. Middle Row: Lenny, Alison, Denise, Judette, Kate, Cameron. Front Row: Me, Tanika, Colleen, Taryn.

Such amazing people!