What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[ElkinFencer10]

Okay, now that I've met all of my classes this semester, I think this semester will a good one. First period and third period are my academic classes (what we call regular and/or lower level classes) whereas second period is my honors class. First period seems like a good group of kids, pretty quiet and respectful. Second period is a more talkative bunch, but they seem like bright kids who will listen and work when they need to. Third period doesn't seem bad, but I can tell that they'll definitely be the class that tries my nerves. I know a few of the kids in there already, so I know I've got a couple of REALLY good kids, but this seems to be the class where they put my troublemakers. Overall, though, I think it'll be a good semester.

This is, however, just the first day of the semester, so they have plenty of time to turn into pieces of shit, but I'm typically pretty good at gauging how good or bad a class will be.

[jp1]

Okay, now that I've met all of my classes this semester, I think this semester will a good one. First period and third period are my academic classes (what we call regular and/or lower level classes) whereas second period is my honors class. First period seems like a good group of kids, pretty quiet and respectful. Second period is a more talkative bunch, but they seem like bright kids who will listen and work when they need to. Third period doesn't seem bad, but I can tell that they'll definitely be the class that tries my nerves. I know a few of the kids in there already, so I know I've got a couple of REALLY good kids, but this seems to be the class where they put my troublemakers. Overall, though, I think it'll be a good semester.

This is, however, just the first day of the semester, so they have plenty of time to turn into pieces of shit, but I'm typically pretty good at gauging how good or bad a class will be.

So, here is what I wonder...

I was an honors student until my junior year or so. I was also a smart ass and a generally unreliable student. I skipped classes, talked back (OMG!), had a rather piss poor attitude in general. Hold on! I'm not done bragging.

I also always had my homework done, crushed exams, scored high on everything. I wasn't about the hand holding from the teacher. As you can imagine, the aforementioned behavior landed me in the office often. My question to you as a teacher is, should it? If I'm skating your class and you want to burn me on technicalities isn't that just you being a dick? I always thought so.

I had one or two cool teachers that didn't care, less work for them. Then I had a few, often Math and English, that just couldn't stand it. Anything they could do to undermine my flippant attitude as if it were a challenge. I had an English teacher who gave me a 50% on a paper because I wrote small and she asked for a full page. I mean I wrote small, like print, if I wrote like other students it would have been a page and a half. It was certainly at least a 'B' paper as well. So, I say she was just being a bitch. I turned in my next "full page assignment" with three large words on the page expecting to earn full credit. Tell me, from a teachers perspective what makes a student a "piece of shit"?

I've got a feeling I probably qualified if you surveyed my high school teachers. I see them now and they don't even want to laugh about the good times we shared. They are all jaded and embittered with years of abuse and shitty wages. Funny enough they sound much like you do when you speak about teaching. (Mostly fooling with you here.)

Anyway, it was a genuine curiosity of mine. Both things actually, the asshole kid situation (me), and the grumpy curmudgeon teacher situation (you). Yanking your chain again, but honestly first and second year teachers were always so positive when I was in school. Has the landscape changed so much? Are you already beaten down about the noble undertaking of being an educator? I ask this because, all the shit I'm giving you aside, I do have a lot of respect for teachers and it saddens me a bit that the longer they teach the more pissed off and nasty they generally become.

I always figured that those first five years or so were the best they had, and maybe the best they had to give as well. It's sad but that is the way it looked to me as a student.

Battle wounds I guess.

[ElkinFencer10]

Okay, now that I've met all of my classes this semester, I think this semester will a good one. First period and third period are my academic classes (what we call regular and/or lower level classes) whereas second period is my honors class. First period seems like a good group of kids, pretty quiet and respectful. Second period is a more talkative bunch, but they seem like bright kids who will listen and work when they need to. Third period doesn't seem bad, but I can tell that they'll definitely be the class that tries my nerves. I know a few of the kids in there already, so I know I've got a couple of REALLY good kids, but this seems to be the class where they put my troublemakers. Overall, though, I think it'll be a good semester.

This is, however, just the first day of the semester, so they have plenty of time to turn into pieces of shit, but I'm typically pretty good at gauging how good or bad a class will be.

So, here is what I wonder...

I was an honors student until my junior year or so. I was also a smart ass and a generally unreliable student. I skipped classes, talked back (OMG!), had a rather piss poor attitude in general. Hold on! I'm not done bragging.

I also always had my homework done, crushed exams, scored high on everything. I wasn't about the hand holding from the teacher. As you can imagine, the aforementioned behavior landed me in the office often. My question to you as a teacher is, should it? If I'm skating your class and you want to burn me on technicalities isn't that just you being a dick? I always thought so.

I had one or two cool teachers that didn't care, less work for them. Then I had a few, often Math and English, that just couldn't stand it. Anything they could do to undermine my flippant attitude as if it were a challenge. I had an English teacher who gave me a 50% on a paper because I wrote small and she asked for a full page. I mean I wrote small, like print, if I wrote like other students it would have been a page and a half. It was certainly at least a 'B' paper as well. So, I say she was just being a bitch. I turned in my next "full page assignment" with three large words on the page expecting to earn full credit. Tell me, from a teachers perspective what makes a student a "piece of shit"?

I've got a feeling I probably qualified if you surveyed my high school teachers. I see them now and they don't even want to laugh about the good times we shared. They are all jaded and embittered with years of abuse and shitty wages. Funny enough they sound much like you do when you speak about teaching. (Mostly fooling with you here.)

Anyway, it was a genuine curiosity of mine. Both things actually, the asshole kid situation (me), and the grumpy curmudgeon teacher situation (you). Yanking your chain again, but honestly first and second year teachers were always so positive when I was in school. Has the landscape changed so much? Are you already beaten down about the noble undertaking of being an educator? I ask this because, all the shit I'm giving you aside, I do have a lot of respect for teachers and it saddens me a bit that the longer they teach the more pissed off and nasty they generally become.

I always figured that those first five years or so were the best they had, and maybe the best they had to give as well. It's sad but that is the way it looked to me as a student.

Battle wounds I guess.

I'll address your questions piece by piece starting with the ass hole kid situation. My general philosophy is that if you let me get through my actual teaching, we'll probably be okay. My class is usually half lecture, half individual or group work. As long as you don't try to talk over me during my lecture, I don't care if you goof off during the classwork part of class. If you can prove that you know the stuff, why should I care whether or not you take notes? If you do your work and pass your tests, you're good in my book. Behavior, however, is a separate issue. Not trying to talk over me is a common decency thing, both to me and to classmates who might not pick things up as easily as you. We might have some words if you got a particularly distasteful attitude with me, but as long as you didn't disrupt my lecture, we'd probably have been cool.

Now with the crotchety teacher attitude thing, that's a multi-layered thing. Part of it is that I just bitch about shit, usually with a hefty helping of hyperbole. I'm just a dramatic person. Another part of it is systemic abuse I deal with - the low wages, continually slashed benefits and threatened retirement, never knowing if my job stays in the budget, so on and so forth. Part of it is environmental issues - I teach in a high poverty area that has, for years, been known for its low test scores and poorly behaved students above anything else (we had a kid get busted with 10 grams of heroin and over $500 cash last year). The school I'm teaching in now is NOT the "average" high school, and a lot of my kids aren't the "average" high school kid (I've been told to "Shut the fuck up, white bitch faggot" by a student). Especially with a beginning teacher still figuring stuff out, that stress gets overwhelming at times.

Truthfully, though, I love teaching. I love my kids (with only a couple of exceptions). They grate on my nerves, but I love them. When I bitch about my kids, it's usually the same two or three kids, honestly, and when I bitch about "I don't get paid enough for this shit," that honestly is more an expression of general feelings of being taken for granted and unappreciated by the state legislators. I'm not going to say there's no job I'd rather have - video game tester, video game reviewer, and porn star all come to mind - but there's no career I feel is more worth my time. What I do is a service to my state and to my country, and I know that I'm making a difference in kids' lives. No matter how much I may complain, no matter how little I may get paid, no matter how pointless my efforts may feel on bad days, I know that I'm doing something worthwhile with my life, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

[jp1]

*Snip*

Well, now that sounds pretty good to me! See you sound more like a new teacher already.

To clarify, I was not a disrespectful little shit in that I didn't have manners. I wouldn't have been barking over teacher at all. My problem was when I was confronted, I was not exactly the "yes sir or madam" type unless said teacher had treated me with the same sort of common decency. The English teacher I mentioned for instance. We had a conference over that event. A bit dramatic, I say, but she didn't take those three big words as well as I'd hoped. I expected to lighten the mood, instead I permanently damaged our working relationship (or she did, depending on your perspective). It's a sad situation when something stupid like that interferes with a productive environment.

I'll admit to never hearing a teacher called something quite so harsh as that though, so maybe we weren't the school of hard knocks. A little weed and malt liquor was all that made it's way on campus to my knowledge. Anyway, I appreciate you answering my question and not taking it too much to heart. It was in fact a genuine inquiry and something that I often ponder whenever I run into one of my old teachers. The prods were in jest, as I mentioned. Figure I'd reiterate that since you addressed them.

[ElkinFencer10]

*Snip*

Well, now that sounds pretty good to me! See you sound more like a new teacher already.

To clarify, I was not a disrespectful little shit in that I didn't have manners. I wouldn't have been barking over teacher at all. My problem was when I was confronted, I was not exactly the "yes sir or madam" type unless said teacher had treated me with the same sort of common decency. The English teacher I mentioned for instance. We had a conference over that event. A bit dramatic, I say, but she didn't take those three big words as well as I'd hoped. I expected to lighten the mood, instead I permanently damaged our working relationship (or she did, depending on your perspective). It's a sad situation when something stupid like that interferes with a productive environment.

I'll admit to never hearing a teacher called something quite so harsh as that though, so maybe we weren't the school of hard knocks. A little weed and malt liquor was all that made it's way on campus to my knowledge. Anyway, I appreciate you answering my question and not taking it too much to heart. It was in fact a genuine inquiry and something that I often ponder whenever I run into one of my old teachers. The prods were in jest, as I mentioned. Figure I'd reiterate that since you addressed them.

Haha, no worries. I knew you were joking. Being a teacher is a VERY different perspective than being a student - more so than I ever realized before I started teaching. I'm always glad to share a peek into what it's like, so feel free to ask if you've ever got a question about it.

[Fragems]

:X tracking down tire chains/wire has been a pain in the ass today. First off none of the local Autozones, Advanced Auto Parts, or O'Reillys carry them aside from Napa which has them but wants $140 for a set of 2 and then an extra $3 for the tightener .

Walmart was my first stop because online it showed they had a good inventory of chains in the $40-60 range but when I got there there were only 5-6 sets left and none of them seemed to be the right size according to the box. However the boxes had a nice notice that not all sizes were printed on the packaging and to consult the parts guide which was no where to be found. So I tried to get some customer assistance for 15 minutes before saying fudge it. So then I shopped around at around the auto parts stores I mentioned all of which aside from NAPA didn't carry any chains or wire but could order them and have them in later next week . Went to the second walmart but didn't have any luck there so I finally tried a Tractor Supply since some of the Advanced Auto guys said they had them, but no luck.

So I end up coming back home getting online and ordering some cables for pick up at the Walmart I started my hunt at hopefully they actually have them and it's not a inventory error . Looks like the nearest place that has actual chains in my size is one of the Walmarts in Ashland. KY but I don't feel wasting another hour driving down there and back.

[Erik_Twice]

My article on This War of Mine is getting a lot of traction

There's nothing worthwhile on the first page of my blog and people who read it and wanted to check another article just left.

[Tanooki]

We got like about 3" of snow the other day (with another 3-5 all day tomorrow.) Took the kid outside at 3, and while I had it going before that, by 4 I had this huge 3-4" high sled slope out on the front grass by clearing the remaining driveway junk and some that wa sthrown on the neighbors grass. I had my 4 year old daughter going on her pink sled down the thing and I got it angled enough she cleared the entire front grass, the sidewalk, and into the outer strip of grass so I put a snow break there to stop/tilt the sled over. She had a blast and now I'm tired.

A couple neighbors were checking it out saying it was a genius idea.

[KalessinDB]

officially closed on my new house
can't move in until 2/6
that's because I leave on vacation tomorrow!!

So yeah. The people I bought it from are renting it through Sunday to give them time to close on their new house, move, and clean. Monday my dad will go out there to meet the meter readers and get utilities into my name. I leave for New Orleans tomorrow bright and early, then Sunday to Sunday I'm on a cruise, coming back Monday the 1st pretty late. That week I'll spend moving boxes from my dad's basement to the new house and then ASSUMING there isn't a major storm I'll move my furniture over on the 6th and finally be done after like 8 months since I started packing up.

Feels amazing. I know there's gonna be plenty more to do once I move in (painting, organizing, little bit of plumbing)... But I don't care. So excited to have my new place and stop living out of boxes and PLAY SOME DAMN VIDEO GAMES!!

[Fragems]

: Well Walmart after 3 hours just canceled my order so I guess I'll be driving to Ashland tonight to pick up some tire chains . Sucks that they dumped tomorrow on me or else I could wait and actually test them out. Really it's not supposed to snow till around 12pm and most of the roads I will be on are cleared so I'm not sure if I want to try and put them on in the dark tonight or just wait till I'm on the route tomorrow. Not a fun situation either way .