Can you believe that it is almost 11:30 p.m. and I am still up? The wind outside is noisy and I can't really sleep at all. I think if I went and stood outside that the sheer velocity and force of the air would whip me upside down and carry me to the other side. But, aside form the weather, all is actually quite well. I finally had my conference with my vice principal today about what she observed about my teaching more than 2 weeks ago. Now, waiting for that long to get an observation can be nervewracking, but because both of us were very busy and I got sick for one whole week, it was impossible to meet earlier. But, anyhow, it went well. I did have a lot of questions, but she answered a lot of them and I felt better after having talked with her about my concerns about teaching and about the students and their inherrent desire not to learn.
When we were talking, the topic came up about the irony of the 9th grade situation. Most of these students have been socially promoted in one way or another all their life and they have this belief that they will always skate by and not have to work for their grades or earn their credits. When they get to high school, they suddenly have to take all these things over again just to promote due to a lack of units and a general lax atmosphere caused by a nonchalance developed through their earlier ease of passing classes. It is a rather sad and I wish that schools and even some parents would take better control of their clases or find ways to motivate the students to actually want to learn. That is the one thing I still lack in abundance. My charm wears thin most of the time and my students and friends can see it. I have the most terrible temper...!