Copy that?!

Quick rant:

I have to be at school for zero period (before school class) every day but Friday. It kills me.  I love the class, enjoy the students and the coteachers, but getting up that early and then teaching a full day is tough.  I have literally had days when I want to stay on the subway an extra stop just so I miss mine and may "accidentally" miss the class.

I have also had a day when I suddenly started crying during my walk from the subway to the school because I started thinking about how much I dislike getting to school early and having to still teach a full load of classes and than have teacher meetings or an additional (mandatory) student help session at the end of the day.

Today, was a day the students took a Regents exam so there was no zero period day.

So wonderful!!!

Words cannot express my joy knowing that today I did not have to get up early to teach that class!

I got to sleep a little later, eat breakfast, leave for work with my boif, and just be relaxed in the morning.

One benefit of getting to school for zero period is that I am always the first person to get to one of the two copy machines for teacher use.  I can copy to my hearts content until it is time to get to class.

Because I knew that today was a late arrival day for me, I made all my copies yesterday. However, after grading a class's work last night, I decided that I wanted to print their progress reports so they could see their current grades.  (Yes, NYC is still in school and won't be finished until June 26 - that is not a typo.  June 26)

I got to school 20 minutes before school started (instead of an hour and a half early like zero period days) and went to the copy room to print my 26 single-sided copies.

When I got there, both machines were in use and one teacher was almost finished with one of the machines.

Before I could print my items, the teacher that was on the machine what was nowhere near finished said that she was about to start copying a shit-load of stuff on the other machine, too.

I almost screamed at her.  How can you use BOTH machines in the copy room?  I asked her fairly calmly, but in my head I was screaming.  This made absolutely no sense to me.

There are two copiers for 30+ staff.  You can't gank both of them to make your last minute copies to do something you have known about for over a week.  You also shouldn't be making hundreds of copies early in the morning that you need them anyway -- copiers jam and you may not get what you are trying to get copied.

I'm just saying.  That's what preps and lunch and after school are for.

She said that since she got to school earlier, she had the right to take up both machines.

I said that I also had the right to get ready for my first period class and to be able to print 26 pages.

She said something jokingly to me and pushed my head a bit. I'm not sure what she said because I not only was pissed about the copies, but also don't like my head being touched, let alone pushed - and, I'm a strong son-of-a-gun, but this one does not know her strength.  I restrained myself from putting a hand on her - it was still before 8:15am, and I like getting paid for work.

She allowed me to get in on one of the machines after a little while and I finally got to print my reports before the start of the day, but was still kind of pissed about the whole situation.

Not a good start to my Tuesday.

I tried to go back to this motto about good ish and breathe easy.

Getting my replacement ink cartridge in the mail today makes it easier to breathe it all out since I will be able to make more copies at home again.

And it is only Tuesday, despite my thinking it feels as though at least half a week has passed since Sunday and that it could be Thursday...

Do people consume their monthly flow?!?

Sometimes 6th grade students smell so bad they need to have a nurse and a counselor and teachers come in to have hygiene talks with them.  Sometimes a student in said talk asks if you are supposed to eat or drink your menstrual fluid.

Work relationships

A good friend had a beautiful wedding and continuously speaks highly of her husband and their relationship. Our work colleague is still obsessed and seems to think there may still be hope for him; at this point I can't stand to be around him when he's near her.

Tomorrow, I wear a haz-mat suit to school

Today started wonderfully!

Since the kids are doing state testing (required for graduation in NY) I am proctoring.  The exam I was proctoring went from 1:15-4:15, so I didn’t have to be at school until 10.  I woke up, went to the gym, stopped to get some fruit on the way home, took a shower, took a nap, got up, went and had breakfast at a place that is normally closed when I go to work at the normal time, got to work by 9:15.

I sat from 10-12:45 cleaning, organizing, packing, and getting a travel list ready for my upcoming Europe trip, which somehow keeps getting closer and closer.

Kids started arriving to my room around 12:45.

Sample test I found online

 We started the test on time.

Even with all my years of experience teaching, there are still days that I see things I have never seen before.  Today there were two such events in the three short hours that I proctored the state science exam.

First, students were not allowed to leave sooner than 90 minutes into the exam.  One girl called me to her table 28 minutes into the test and said she was finished – with all 60+ multiple choice and 13+ short answer, written responses.  I looked at her multiple-choice sheet and saw that she had marked each answer with 3 (instead of a, b, c, d they do 1, 2, 3, 4).  I told her to double-check her answers since, “I’m pretty sure every answer is not three and also that you may be able to answer some of the short answer questions.”

She continued to call me back to her in 12 minute intervals until I finally told her that she could not leave until at least 90 minutes into the exam and that I would not let her leave if she was not trying on the exam. 

In the end, she did not change her 3’s, but did complete 3 short answer questions. 

Second new teaching scenario: Later, as students who cared about and actually tried on the test started to finish, turn in their work, and sign out of the testing room, I noticed something on the floor.

I do not allow food in my classroom since NYC is a city of rats and mice and other critters. 

But, I saw some jelly on the floor in three places.

I didn’t want to get upset since the culprit had probably left the room since the other students were still testing and had not gotten up from their seats.  I figured a student must have dropped one of those fast-food condiment packets on the floor and stepped on it.  I gathered several napkins from my desk and quietly bent over to wipe up the mess – first the smaller one and then the larger one.

After the first wipe, I realized that it may not be jelly.

No, it was definitely not jelly.

It was way, way worse.

It was way, way, way worse than jelly.

It was an excretion.

It was blood and chunky mucous from a menstruating girl.

It was on the floor of in my classroom, and on a napkin I was holding in front of me.

Complete shock and awe!!!!

It took a lot for me to take the napkin quietly to the trash, calmly open the classroom door, and quietly signal for the hallway proctor to come to my door so that she could watch the students while I went to find the nearest chemistry lab to take a full body shower.

I only found a bathroom, and had to settle for hand washing scrubbing as though prepping to perform surgery.

I went back to the room and immediately emailed the administration about the incident and requested that my room be haz-mat-ed (I’m not sure if that is an actually term, but that is what I would like done to my room!)

I’m still trying to wrap my head around how this huge chunk and two streaks could have fallen out of a person wearing clothes.  Did she not notice?  Did she realize it was going on and just let it happen   Did she see the mess she left?  How did it get out of her underwear and onto my floor?

I wanted one of these

anyway?  Did she see the mess she left?  How did it get out of her underwear and onto my floor?

Sorry if you are sensitive to the grossness of this, but I really don’t understand how a person could just let this happen.  How she could not tell this was going on and not request to go to the bathroom.

I get that the test is required for graduating, but this was a situation that should have superseded the exam for at least a little while.

She needed to give this situation some immediate attention!

I may need to start keeping a suit like the one pictured handy in my classroom.