Apparently, I'm beast.

I was standing in the hall the other day, ushering students into classrooms (most notably mine). There were two boys standing outside the room across from mine and one of my own students was walking toward them. I wanted to make sure they all made it safely inside, (I didn't want them to get lost when they were so close). As I was standing there, one of them said to me, "Miss, I be hearin' you beast." Caught off guard by this new information I wondered how they could be so brave as to say that to my face. My brow furrowed in a look of consternation, and they realized that I needed a translation. It seems that beast is a good thing. It's not at all related to "beastin'" which is a bad thing. It means I'm a good teacher and that word is getting around. They went on to share with me other Boston slang that was largely unfamiliar to me. I smiled as I saw them into their classes and then proceeded into my own.

It turns out that either slang changes quickly or Boston slang and NYC slang aren't the same. One word that I hear almost all the time is force. "It's a force," or "You forcin' it," means that you're trying to hard for a meaningless outcome. When I hear it, it usually means that I'm giving them too much work to do.

Year two is going really well. I still love the school. We had professional development today and it was useful! I spent an entire day with co-workers and didn't roll my eyes once. (okay, maybe once) I have a lot of respect for the staff and students that I work with and find myself eager to improve my craft. Who would have thought?