Good news

1--In one week from today, I (and all you other NYC teachers out there) will be FREEEEEE for two whole months. Hallefreakinglujah.

2--I slept well for the second night in a row! Let's celebrate...with pajamas.

3--Thursdays are always good (well, decent, at least) days with the Evil class, because I get them the two periods before lunch.

4--Today I kicked this one asshole out of the Evil class (for the first time all year!) and it made such a difference. (Don't judge. The rest of the troublesome kids are pretty sweet at heart and as individuals, and even though I don't bother remembering it often, I do know it. This one, however, is NOT a nice person, is a liar and an instigator. His crazy parent is also a liar and not a nice person, so even if technically it's not the child's fault, I still cannot stand him. And the math teacher feels the same way, and she's so much nicer than I am and he's not as bad in her class.)

5--I taught an actual lesson today, and it went well. I handed out sentence strips (they always love using those, so it was a clever ploy on my part to get them participating and interested) and dictated dialogue. They had to punctuate it correctly. I gave several examples of each type (speaker tags before and after), verifying as they held up the sentence strips, and having a student tell me how to write it correctly on the board. They did very well and I was proud of them. Even the Evil class got into it and did well. Still a bit loud and rowdy, but participating.

6--Thanks again for the supportive comments, guys. :)

7--The other day I remembered that it was the time for awards, so last night I made some certificates on PrintShop (it cost fifty bucks back in 2004! I still lived in Brooklyn and I hadn't even started teaching yet! Weird.) Today I made the lists of who will get what. There are several 'good job' ones I will hand out so that all the hardworking kids will get some validation and have something to bring home to parents. I'm also giving out a Most Improved and a Most Potential, for the students who have worked hard but aren't necessarily on grade level, and the kids who are smart but aren't applying themselves, respectively. This is in hope to give them all some positive reinforcement for this year and next year.
Last night I printed out three copies of each certificate on my own printer, but my lists are more than ten each. After school, I drove to a nearby Office Max and made some color copies, so I feel all prepared and satisfied now. Also, for eight freaking dollars, I bought a ream of 100% recycled copy paper. Made me feel proud for another moment. :)

8--Three and a half school days, y'all. God.

9--The itinerary for our Aussie trip is out now and I'm still not positive I'll get to go. But it's exciting to see the places on the list. For now I'm pretending it's not happening (denial is always fun, people), so that I won't be too disappointed when it doesn't happen. It's kind of an unreal thing anyway, flying for an entire day to the other side of the planet. Think good thoughts for me.

10--On my last trip to the neighborhood C-Town I randomly got an Entenmenn's cinnamon danish, heated it for twenty seconds, and holy CRAP it was heavenly. This afternoon I picked up another one and I'm going to eat it soon and I'm really excited.

Hey look, ten things on my lame list. Nice even numbers are our friends!

PS--Three and a half days!