God is so good.

i stayed out WAY too late last night...b-day celebrations even in the midst of finals are still fun where there's good friends, fun games, and of course: baskin robbins cookies n'cream ice cream cake! i think i only slept 4 hours. easy when you're in college but when you're dealing with crazy 12 to 13-year-olds all day long, it's rough to be so tired.

And today, thank you God!, half the kids are absent. literally like 15 in each class. why? because of the Latino protest against Arnold's repeal of the law to allow immigrants to attain driver's licenses. the form of protest they chose was to have all their kids boycott school for a day.

due to my credentialling program, i am much more of an advocate for social justice. not that i'm that active about issues outside my personal classroom (that's where i'm best able to practice social justice), but i am definitely more aware of things. I don't know where i stand on the immigrants' inability to get licenses, but i do know that i don't agree with the form of protest latinos chose in this scenario. First of all, the population who ends up enacting the protest are people who can't get licenses anyways - they're 12 or 13 years old! and 2nd, every absent kid means less dollars for the school. the school is one of the free public institutions that aid and benefit everyone including immigrants, so why take the protest out on something that is (at least in theory) fair and just? i think there are other ways to make the protest much more effective.

it's interesting, though, that my students are facing issues of ethnic identity so vividly. like, the ones who came to school were accused of abandoning their "family" b/c they were not in unison with the other latinos who are in protest. But those students mentioned that they were confused at how sitting in front of the tv all day could help those accusing them in any way.

but back to my original point, it's such a nice "coincidence" that today ended up being so nice and easy. having only 17-25 kids to deal with in each class is SO much more pleasant. everyone is in such a good mood (students and teachers)!

a few weeks ago, my honors kids did powerpoint presentations on different genetic disorders. i still hadn't graded them and i decided to take advantage of my time in the computer lab today to try to get that done. my non-honors kids were in the lab going through an interactive website on plants - they have a simple list of questions that can be answered from the colorful, information-filled pages of this site. this is a snapshot of 60 seconds of my day:

-students' hands raise up to ask a question
-two other kids don't bother raising their hands and just yell out "MISS!!" across the room
-i have to memorize where i am in grading the powerpoint presentation and get up and tell students not to yell across the room
-a boy (who is sitting on my brisk walk to help students) starts hitting the kid next to him and i have to give him the "Look" which basically is eyes that widen, lips that press together tightly and quietly but effectively says, "WHAT are you doing?" and "If you don't stop now, just you wait to see what I do..."
-three students suddenly get out of their chairs to get miscellaneous junk from their backpacks at the front of the room, and i have to dodge them
-as i arrive at the first student who has raised their hand, she whines that her "computer is broken" - when I look at the screen, i realize that the problem is a simple typo in the url of the website - she's put commas instead of periods into the address and has typed "wwww.urban"
-the next student says "This question is too hard. I don't get it." The question on the sheet is "What are the 6 parts of a plant?" (answer: leaves, stem, roots, seed, flower, fruit). When I look at his computer screen, he's ON the correct page with a labeled picture of all 6 of these items but still doesn't "get it." i just quickly point to the picture and while doing so, I notice the student next to him has "accidentally" landed on the WB website and looking at pictures of her favorite stars and tries to click out to pretend she wasn't there. i have to close that window for her to ensure that she begins her work while i hand the student next to her a pencil because doesn't have a writing utensil and is staring off into space instead of working

all this while two teachers at the back of the room carry on a loud conversation about the high prices of homes... AAHHHH!

there are 56 min in each of my periods - that means that this craziness recurred 56 times in each of my 3 periods of non-honors students today. okay, a slight exaggeration because i gave the last 5 min of the period to clean up and get their backpacks but still. you get the point.

i would DIE if i couldn't multitask. amazingly, i somehow did end up grading those powerpoint presentations and even worked through nutrition and lunch to listen to the oral presentations of the honors kids who didn't get to give it earlier in the week.

i was grumpy grumpy by the time 4th period rolled around (right before lunch). i remembered how stressful the day had been and noticed that i hadn't had anything to eat. i told the kids that i didn't want any who were coming during lunch time to present to starve since they wouldn't get a chance to eat in the computer lab - and i mentioned that i was pretty hungry and allowed eating in the last 15 min of the period. they thought it was SO cool. something as simple as getting to eat DURING class was somehow far superior to eating during lunch. weird. but it saved my day. the instant my blueberry yogurt hit my mouth, my nerves settled down and i was back to myself again.

what a day. 35+ kids on 35+ separate computers that are all "broken" just adds to madness. but i think the cost is worth it - some of these kids (obviously) don't get enough time on these machines. their hunting and pecking at the keys is insanely irritating at times. at least they know how to double click, though, which is more than i can say for my mom. =)

i thought of something else i'm still passionate about - kids. particularly little ones. yay! they're so cute and so much fun! i notice ANY little kid that walks by and i just want to go play with them. the bigger ones are pretty cool too but just not all the time. especially in groups of 35 or 36 or 37 like i get in my classroom. a few at a time, and they're not so bad. heehee. just kidding, i love my kids. at least i want to. i'm trying.