We're Back... a dinosaur's teacher's story.
*Sorry about the crude Photoshop. I'm tired.

So I'm officially in week two of teaching, and although today was labor day and most of America is spending its Monday filled with Gustav updates, TV marathons, BLTs and cans of soda, I was at school teaching a group of kids how to write personal narratives. Yeah... I'm a little concerned that my PUBLIC SCHOOL doesn't follow national holidays, but I did just come off of a 2 1/2 month long summer break, so I'm not complaining.

This year is a very big change from last year's setting. I'm still in the same classroom and still teaching 9th grade, but I have a year of experience under my belt, I'm teaching 2 Pre-AP English classes, I helped designed the curriculum over the summer, and our school is on block schedules. Block Schedules, if you don't know, are an ELA teacher's dream. Even though I still teach for the same amount of time during the day and I have the same amount of time off, it's all roughly in the same time slot, so I normally have 1.5 hour to 2.25 hour off periods depending on the day. I can grade, plan for the next day, make copies, and catch up on the news while making parent phone calls and meeting with the administration. I've never felt more productive as a teacher than coming home and knowing that I have absolutely nothing to do at night in order to get ready for the next day.

The Kids
I'm really enjoying this new group of kids. There have been some minor behavioral issues, but the students seem genuinely interested in learning for the most part, and as long as I acknowledge that they want to hang out and talk with their friends and give them assignments that allows them to do just that but with guidance and a purpose, they're all ears. I've also not had a problem adjusting to the block schedule either. I feel that some of the kids get done early and have 5-10 minutes of free-time for the longer projects, but this frees them up to do peer tutoring while I am performing one-on-one instruction to the students that need it. Basically, the same type of kids that would get their work done are still getting their work done, and those that struggle or goof off are doing roughly the same, but they often have a teacher or peer to guide them back on track, which was often lacking last year due to time constraints (hey, I can only help so many people in 45 minutes and have it be meaningful).

Bad News
It looks as if my dad has finally proven karma right, and my years of getting up late have come back to bite me. Last year, I used to get to school 30-40 minutes early until the end of the year when I realized it just wasn't necessary. This year, I left at roughly the same time as last year, which would put me at school about 5-10 minutes early and provide me with about a half-hour more of sleep. It worked out well for the first two days, and then the amount of traffic on the roads exploded into numbers that could only be matched by New Orleans evacuees, ballooning my commute to about 30 minutes. I was late two days in my first week, both times by less than a minute. Now, in each of these situations, I was still there before students made it in the building, as teachers are supposed to show up 15 minutes before school starts and the kids are let in 5 minutes before. I already had all of my materials ready, so the students were not affected in the slightest. However, this year the school is cracking down on tardies, as in previous years a few of the teachers would show up 10-20 minutes into class that was only 45 minutes long. So, if any teacher is late by even a minute, they get an e-mail and a note put on their record.

The first day I was late, I immediately e-mailed my administration apologizing for the tardiness, and met with them after-school informally to again seek forgiveness. I promised that it wouldn't happen again, and the next day, I left 5 minutes earlier (still thinking traffic could in no way be worse). I got to school on-time, but apparently did not sign the attendance log before it was sent away, and as such received a second letter until the principal vouched for me. (I had spoken with him when I first came in the school, and had gone to my room first with an armful of materials instead of signing in). This transgression on my part was taken off my record, but I still apologized and felt truly ashamed. I left the next day 5 minutes earlier than the day before.

For those of you keeping track, I'm now leaving 10 minutes earlier than the time that used to get me to school 10 minutes early. School was pushed back from 7:50 start times to 8:00 this year, so I should be getting there about 30 minutes early. Well, since I'm rounding with averages, really it's more like 20-25 minutes early. On Friday, however, I managed to be late by about oh... 15 seconds, receiving my second official letter. I felt, and still do feel like I'm letting down my school and my administration, as they were also shocked to see that they had to send me any warnings. Luckily, it doesn't look like they have lost much faith in me, and I was at school today a solid 30 minutes early. On Labor Day. When no one else has to work.

I feel as if this one week of bad luck is going to turn me into the guy that is consistently early despite all reason. I'm becoming my dad. (Not a bad thing, mind you).