a not so fun week

So this week has been tough for several reasons, but I'm growing less and less pleased with the way my last period is going. They just are disrespectful to me and mean to each other. And of course I'm feeling like a failure because I can't find a way to get them to happily do their work. Pretty much everyone will do some semblance of what I ask in the classroom, except for being quiet or polite. But they do their work. However, they don't study for tests, about half of them do their homework. It's been frustrating me for a while how apathetic some of them are. There is one girl in this room who never speaks. And then I have the 3 really badly behaved kids in this room. One of them is about to be removed from my room.

For me, this came to a head on Wednesday and I just felt really defeated at the end of the day. I had 7 periods where I felt like everything went great, but I ended the day with this group of students.

I closed my door, cried for a few minutes and then decided to go to the Volleyball game where some of my girls were playing. Where I saw my principal. Who proceeded to walk by me 4 or 5 times. Without speaking to me. I was the only teacher there, besides the coaches, and he didn't speak to me. This was only slightly surprising because he doesn't speak to me on a daily basis, but I always assume he's busy. There was just no excuse for it at the game. I went home not feeling great about my choice to work at Actis, move to Bakersfield, all of that.

Today was a better day for sure. I talked to one of the members of my department, and she and the other teachers bought me flowers and were totally supportive. My vice- principal is totally cool and is going to move one of my problem kids out of my class. It's not my favorite solution, but it may be what I need for right now. I sent my most disruptive kid out of the class today to another teacher's room and he was so awful that she immediately sent him to the office. That amused me. She told me that it wasn't me, and that she couldn't believe I had put up with him for as long as I had. Interesting...

All in all, not a great week, but I have to remember the other kids who are doing great and seem to be learning.