Last night I unloaded all my frustrations on Donna. She is a good supportive listener. I look at it this way: One quarter of the pie is finished of this crazy busy year. I had a talk with Joe Hile, one of the counselors. He had all of the Freshmen last year and knows the trouble makers. He said to me talking of sixth period, "That's an unbelievable class. I cannot imagine the greatest teacher being able to handle that class. It has all the 'bad guys' from last there except..." So we agreed to meet with the principal and see if we can make some modifications.
The quarter means time to change seating. I feel so powerful. Some complain, some like the results. Overall I feel bad putting some the good kids in the back because they may miss a little. I buffer the real problems. So Mark in Period 4 is in the front, surrounded by "good girls". My sixth period having 4 major problems and 5 minor problems is a little more difficult to rearrange. I find out today how my plan worked.
My first essays and stories of the year are starting to come. I must prepare for the major part of my weekends taken up reading and correcting papers. I am trying to forstall some of the process by having students check each others papers and I have a valuable and clear checklist they go by.
Second quarter- here I come.
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