Back to life, but I haven't fully accepted this as my reality.

After a beautiful week and a day vacation (and another week because of the strike, but that's another story entirely) it was back to work as usual. But if you're a high school student in Harlem, (or any other neighborhood from what I hear) you set out with even more resolve to make your teachers crazy. It's always hard to come back from a break. I was particularly unenthusiastic to come back because my break was so much fun. But school makes the vacations worth it:) We're counting down to the end of the semester. I can't believe I'm almost halfway through the year. I'll tell you, time flies whether you're having fun or not. (except that first month was seriously long.)

I'm still in a quandry about the whole gum thing. Gum in their mouths is bad. The chomping and popping is irritating, but not nearly as bad as gum out of their mouths. They chew gum in the most repulsive colors, and without fail 2-3 pieces are on the floor of my classroom at the end of the day. I'm usually the one to step in it. Gross! Keep it in your mouth for crying out loud. The worst is when they put it in the books. My hate for gum increases daily.

Things in my reality are pretty good. I have several students who are trying to test out of my class second semester. Not because they don't like me. (In fact I think they are the only ones who do like me.) But if they pass the Regents test in January, which is scheduled for them in June, they can move on to the next class without wasting a semester in my class. I'm sad to lose them, and actually terrified at the idea of an entire classroom full of students uninterested in learning. But it will be good for them to jump to the next level and I can start teaching to the level that the other kids will understand.