The Insanity and the Depressing

The past few days have been absolutely insane. Or so it feels, anyway. Between meetings, kids acting a little nuts, some personal odds and ends that needed to be dealt with, my head feels like it is positively spinning.

There is so much more to being a teacher. The odd thing is, I knew about a lot of it. I knew about the faculty meetings, the team meetings, the parent-teacher conferences, the club meetings, the side activities...(I haven't YET been asked to chaperone the upcoming school dances....but I figure it is only a matter of time, since my CCT is the sponsor for Student Council, who is sponsoring at least one of the dances.) My CCT plans to be absent this Friday for a personal day (I get the feeling that many of the teachers take personal days after report cards go out. I swear there were 2-3 teachers out in the team my CCT and I are a part of alone.) And on this Friday, we have a parent-teacher conference. Guess who gets to fly solo on his first time out. She has confidence in me, which makes me feel great. Doesn't do anything for my nervousness though.

Today was one of those rough days, where the kids were wound up and all the little insecurities they have kind of crept out to play. There was a lot of sniping and misbehaving going on, but I was amazed at how quickly my CCT dealt with it. And more to the point, how the kids responded. I guess that was something I was always worried about. I mean, if you get after a student, he hates you forever, right? But no, not true. They love her, and respect her. I can learn a lot from her. Especially on discipline.

The depressing part of the day was also something I realized a long time ago went hand in hand with teaching. The kids you teach end up seeing you as an adult they can trust. And sometimes, it is with their deepest, darkest secrets and problems. Now, I haven't had to deal with a student telling me something I would have to react to, that's already been done. But one of my favorite thorns in my side, (or, a student I like as a person, even if the student is difficult and lazy) was apparently the victim of abuse. Long story short, the full text of what this student is going through breaks my heart.

I wish I could do something for this student, but strickly speaking, I'm NOT supposed to know everything. So all I can do is to continue to treat the student as a valued member of the class, and pray it all turns out alright for her.

Ah well. Tomorrow is another day. I can't wait.