JT commented on my last blog post with some advice: "Just don't turn into what you used to loathe." He followed it up with "haha" but all day I have been thinking about how I did just that- in one day.
In the past two weeks I have learned that "challenging" is what teachers say about students, or entire grades of students, who are sent from hell to torture us. "She's...challenging" or "They are a challenging group..." They say it because they don't want to get caught saying, "That kid is a GDMFer!" in front of their boss.
Today was definitely a challenge.
My mentor teacher called me at 715. It's NEVER a good sign when the teacher calls you at 715. It means she's not coming in to work. And she wasn't. And she didn't. Today was my first day with those challenging eighth graders and then I had to Surprise! teach the rest of the day, too. I didn't even get a sub, even though that's actually illegal.
And the eighth graders, despite giving me a "challenging" headache due to their nonstop talking and really testing my limits created their own rules, consequences, and rewards. The conversation didn't go the way I imagined, or have experienced in the past, but it got done. And then I got compliments from TWO separate teachers who said, "The eighth graders were much quieter than usual!"
I made up lesson plans that sorta worked for the rest of the day. I saw fifth and sixth graders. I had my first fire drill. It was stressful. The day lasted forever. I betrayed myself by thinking things, saying things, and doing things I never thought I would do. It was CHALLENGING.
But- and very likely because I was told by a sixth grader how pretty I look- I lived to tell about it.
Until tomorrow.
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