Coffee, Lemon Chicken, and students who run into doors

The beginning of week three.

It took all of my energy to get out of bed this morning. I had to stop at a McDonalds for an egg McMuffin and coffee. I guess I just had a case of the Mondays (yay “Office Space”!). Anyway, by the time I had my coffee and ate my breakfast, I began to look forward to the day. I guess that’s how the “real world” works.

School went well today. Nothing too major. I bragged to my coworkers that I made lemon chicken this weekend. They were proud of me! They said that I am going to turn into a chef. Well, I guess I am getting there bit by bit. Though I made the chicken, I used boxed mashed potatoes and frozen vegetables. This is a long way from my hamburger helper dinners that I started out with. I am already tired of eating sandwiches and Doritos for lunch. I think I will buy some hot wings this week…

Today was my day in my inclusion classes. My first period class went well, and, per usual, my last period class had some interesting moments. Where should I begin?

Let’s see, like many of the other problems that take place inside (or rather, outside) of the classroom, today’s problems stemmed from the fact that there is no door to the classroom. A few students in the classroom next door had gotten put out of class, and they were making loud noises in the hall. Between working with students, I had to tell them to quiet down. As if that was not annoying enough, they decided to do something else even more ridiculous.

I was working on graphing transformations of quadratic equations with some students when I noticed two boys (who are not in my class) come INSIDE of the classroom with their fists up having a play fight. Pause.

I would like to take a moment to thank TFA for training me to take a deep breath during moments like this. I was so shocked that I almost said something that I might have regretted.
Okay, back to the story. I jumped up and opened my mouth; however, I then paused and took a deep breath—weirdly, I think my mouth stayed open that entire time. I just walked toward them with my eyes and mouth both wide open, and finally said get out of my classroom. I then just stood outside and stared at them before telling them that I better not ever see them do that again.

Then, I heard a loud BOOM! I saw a boy run from around the corner. My first instinct was to run toward the noise to figure out what was going on. I noticed that the boy who was running turned around and went in the same direction as me—he was also laughing. When I turned the corner, I saw a boy lying on the ground in front of a door. The loud noise I heard was from him running into a door. I was flabbergasted. As soon as I found out he was alright, I asked him, “Where are you supposed to be?” He just laughed and said “in class.” I simply told him to “get there.”

On the other hand, both classes went well. I talked to the student today who cursed at me last week. I told him that I did not keep grudges and that I was there to make sure he succeeded. I was happy to see that he was doing work today. I think tomorrow will be a good day of instruction also.