Requests

I had a student actually ask, "When are we going to start writing in our journals again, Ms. Sutton?" (I was gone on Monday for the job fair, didn't have them graded until this morning, and they had a big project and needed as much of the hour as possible today.) I asked him why, did he like the prompts and he said, "I just need to write." I'm going to have to put that quote on an index card and stick it in my little box to cheer me up... (mostly e-mails and other little mementos that I will return to when I am feeling blue about other things--and believe me, there have already been plenty of those!)

I have been having a pretty frustrating problem with cell phones in my Journalism class. I said something to two students, but one of them (ZJ, no surprise) kept sneaking it back out to text message his friends. This means I'm going to have to say something tomorrow. As in, "Next time, I'm taking it. You can get it back in a few days." They know they're not supposed to have them in the classrooms. And I asked him three times after I asked one girl once.

High point and low point. The high point is kind of fun. :) The low point is just another in the list of annoyances that occur in that classroom. The thing that strikes me is that most of those kids are really well-behaved, and the rest are really great kids, but are fairly easily distracted by one another and such. I have only worked with a small number of students thus far in my career, but it is my experience that students are essentially good, and in most cases it is obvious, but in others, it requires knowing them as individuals.

For example. There are a pair of boys in my 10th grade English class that generally amuse me, JR and MH. They are both failing right now because they're missing work, but I have a feeling that might change. They have come in after school a few times, and I get a kick out of their banter. They chat with me and each other, and I know I wouldn't have had that opportunity if they hadn't stayed after. There is clearly a better relationship between me and these two students because I have spent this time with them (hmm, good indication that class sizes should be much smaller--and my classes are at 29 each, which is fairly small--ugh!) and I feel that I can ask things of them that I might not have felt the confidence to ask before.

Places I have officially submitted applications/sent resumes/cover letters (my first born--ha ha):

Fargo
New York City Schools
Hamilton County Schools (Chattanooga)
Baylor High School
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
NW Colorado BOCES
Lame Deer, MT

Places where I am in the process of applying:
Rochester
Stillwater
WECAN

Need to apply ASAP:
Winona
St. Charles
Stewartville
G.E.T.