Fourteen hours

I've been having a series of fourteen hour days with work, which explains my long time-no post situation. I'll be brief as I need to shower and not be horrifyingly late today. Some highlights:

- Saturday was the One Act competition. I woke at 5:30 and didn't get home until 11:30. (That's am and pm, folks.) We rented a UHaul, which is stressful, but we got everything there, despite my locking the keys in my glove compartment half an hour away (good thing for K, he's such a good sport). The kids were phenomenal and took second place, even though they were "good enough" to win it. The judges were impressed and had nothing but great things to say, but the "other play" was also great as well...

- My last observation occurred yesterday. Aside from some kids wrestling, one telling the whole class that I "used to let us eat food in here at the beginning of last semester" (totally against school rules and totally untrue) and some kids having troubles with chatting while we were supposed to have a large group discussion, it went OK. I think I handled some of the "bad" situations gracefully, and that's what it's mostly about. I'll be interested to see how the conversation goes in our post-observation meeting this afternoon. It's the last of three, and I'll have a summative evaluation at the end of next month. I hope I "pass."

- We spent the beginning of this week auditioning, calling back, and casting (we had 120 kids audition) the musical. We posted it yesterday, and I couldn't sneak away... there were about a dozen kids waiting outside the orchestra room to see. Not another night of sleep lost, as one girl put it, though she was the one in tears. Her part is fantastic, but it's not the lead. One of the nastier things about being any kind of "coach"--the cuts and the rankings. The deserving kids don't always have the most talent or the talent that fits into a "lead" position. This girl has talent, but her character isn't what we need for our lead--she has a better personality for this fun part we gave her, which has solos and such. We've already had one angry mom call too. I hope that's the last one, but I suppose that won't be the case. Apparently this little girl didn't get enough audition time--we tested out about six girls, and we had her daughter read once for a part compared to some of the others who read a few times. But we were testing the chemistry of what we thought would be the final lineup of the family.

- We're now in a new semester (this is the end of the second week?) and I like my schedule better. The juniors are done by second hour, which is a good thing. Of course, freshmen aren't always a treat at the end of the day--their energy and anxiousness has risen tenfold. It's back to that whole "I don't have a good hour to be observed with" problem. I keep hoping for next year.

OK, really. It snowed last night, so I suppose I shouldn't have done this, but I miss it. When I was student teaching, I did this every day. Ah well--c'est la vie.

Happy Friday! (They're always my most difficult, though I don't have anything going on this Saturday and Sunday, so for once, I'm excited about the weekend...)