The Other Shoe.

Of course, the day after I have the "I-love-my-job" moment, I have the worst day yet. Honestly, everything was chaos today.

The guest reader showed up twenty minutes late -- two seconds after I decided that the reader would not be showing up and therefore had began my lesson.

Alexis.

I got called out of my class to attend an IEP meeting (for a special ed kid) -- right as I sit down to read our comprehension story to my kids. We are already behind two days in reading comp. As I walk down the hall, I pass my Johns Hopkins advisor who did not get my message about said meeting and was on her way in to do my official observation. She was not pleased.

Came in all flustered because the meeting was chaotic. Did not know where to pick up with my kids who had been left in the hands of a substitute. Botched the rest of my observation.

Missed my lunch because I was busy lecturing children about respect. Made three students burst out crying when I told the class that "it hurt my heart that they could be so disrespectful to each other and to me after I work so hard for them". Missed my planning period because I was busy holding resource detention and calling parents. Am hungry. One grandparent comes to my classroom and proceeds to beat his grandson's ass in the boys bathroom across the hall. I finally shed a tear on schoolgrounds.

I now have no voice whatsoever and a fever. Any pipe dreams of skipping work tomorrow are out the window as another teacher just walked out of her classroom today and quit. We had no substitutes before...we have negative substitutes now. Those kids are going to be dispersed among different classrooms until we get one. Not looking forward to having 1st graders sitting in the back of my classroom tomorrow.

I have to redo several report cards now.

P.S. Isn't it funny how I assumed I would be too busy to post on this, the day of my blog's birthday, a few days ago. I have no faith. Happy birthday blog.