Bang Bang

...goes the door to my room every day at 11:00 as students pester me to let them drop their bookbags off during lunch.

...goes the door in the morning as kids roll up to Central 30, 45 minutes late.

...goes my head on my desk during 5th period Wednesday, as the children lose any semblance of order, causing TWO students to receive the following instructions: "Do not touch anyone's desk. Do not touch any other people. Do not touch anyone else's belongings."

...went THREE cars on SW 112 Avenue on Tuesday night, turning FIU's campus into a traffic jam, and lengthening the 20 minute commute to an epic THREE HOURS.

...two more sets of paperwork down: I've officially applied to Florida International University's graduate program, and reminded the Internal Revenue Service that they owe me a fat chunk of change from last year.

...two kids who've been skipping my class since DECEMBER got caught, resulting in two parent conferences with two very angry grandmothers.

Everything seems to be happening twofold as of late, and I'm in a rhythmically repetitious mood since we're doing lyric poetry in English class this week. The big unit test is next Thursday, and I'm actually really excited to see if some of the kids have learned anything about poetic structure and figurative langauge. These past couple of weeks during the poetry unit, I've had several moments when I really do like my job.

They are usually fleeting, and usually shot down quite effectively when the children's attention lags. In every class, there are two or three (or six or seven) students who literally have no listening comprehension. A strained or strident "What did I JUST say 30 seconds ago?" has absolutely no effect on the cognitive absorption of details or directions. It's pretty impressive actually. But they're never going to listen, and I'm just going to have to keep repeating myself, or telling them to find out on their own. Everyone has their breaking point.

However, Miami in the wintertime is enough to rejuvenate even the most humbug spirits: how many people can have dinner at an outdoor cafe with friends on a Wednesday night in February? That's what I'm talking about.

Well, planning time is just about up, and I've got to get mentally prepared for 5th, 7th and 8th periods so that I can end Friday with a Bang and get started with my weekend. Shopping, a sojurn to the bead store in Kendall, and a Valentine's date with Virginia to the Red and Black Ball are all in store, and I'm ready to peace out