The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Sad

The Good - my students worked on quizzes all day yesterday, so there was basically no teaching for me. yay! everybody deserves a day off now and then, especially when they don't take their birthdays (thursday) off. birthday thursday was great. so, one of my second-period students found out from ms. spradley that it was my birthday, so she organized this whole "classroom activity" in which one girl asks to talk to me outside ("i just wanted to let you know that even though it sometimes seems like i'm not paying attention, i listen to you all the time and i'm learning a lot from you." very sweet) and when i walked back in, all 30 students sing "happy birthday" to me at the top of their lungs. the whole thing was awesome. third period tried to sing, and it kind of fell flat. fourth period was upset that i hadn't told them ahead of time so they could get me cards and gifts (one student gave me a dollar for my birthday - a delta tradition of celebrating your friends' birthdays is to pin a dollar to their shirts after they've received the proper number of licks - the spanking kind, not the tongue kind). fifth period really could have given a rat's ass. that's about par for the course though. sixth period decided to have a free day, no matter how much i wanted to teach, but at least they were funny about it. seventh period was very similar to fourth, except that i gave out candy and had double the class that i normally do, because a bunch of football players decided they wanted to come and hang out and hear the lesson again (fine by me, as long as they participate and don't disrupt the class). OH! and i received beautiful flowers from my parents, and margaret & i went to dinner, and then john & erin & i went to amy's for survivor thursday, after they delivered my birthday cupcakes (TA DA!). all in all, a great way to usher in the second quarter of my life.

The Bad - grading papers this weekend (alas, when the kids take the quizzes, that means i have to actually grade them too)

The Ugly - my classroom, which is a MESS - staring me in the face, hoping i'll clean it before i leave to go to MVSU's library.

The Sad - still no arrival of darling family. was i expecting them? nope. did a part of me still wish they would have magically shirked all responsibilities and come for a weekend visit (after a 12 hour drive) to the majestic delta? of course.