My brother and I had a mini competition to decide this post’s title.

This weekend was a whirlwind. I took a 5,000 mile adventure for a friend’s wedding back in Maine and was back in time for school to start on Monday, leaving me not nearly prepared enough to start this week. The project I had assigned for students to complete by Monday was not even close to being finished so I gave most students an extension which also allowed me to get caught up with some of the teaching requirements that also didn’t get done.

Coming back to the teacher trailer there was a very nasty surprise. From the moment I stepped out of the car I could smell the distinct odor of dead animal. I looked around for a small victim of the lawnmower incident, since the grass had been recently cut. There was no obvious offender of the smell in sight. A little further away from the car it became easy to locate the source of the foul stench, our trashcan next to the front door.

Bravely, and stupidly, I opened and looked into the trashcan, and witnessed what looked like a fur coat writhing in maggots. Retching, and with burning eyes, I managed to stumble into the trailer and light every candle in the place. The trailer didn’t even smell, I would later realize, but the stench had so filled my nostrils that it seemed the whole world reeked of death.

After some time, a second examination, with a plugged nose and careful holding of breath, revealed that the fur coat was the bodies of two raccoons that have been cooking in the hot, black trashcan for several days. All that could be done was to drag the can to the curb and hope that the trash people would take care of it, which they did, guaranteeing them a substantial tip at Christmas time.

Immediately, I assumed the animals were a prank, since experiences last year have made me overly sensitive to everything. Either students had killed the animals and dumped them in our trashcan, or worse, they had put the animals in the can alive in hopes that they would, at best, attack us, or at worst, scare the heck out of us. After two days with no mention of student shenanigans, it seems the real scenario must have been that the two unfortunate animals managed to get into the trashcan late last week, looking for some sort of trash, and were unable to get out. It wouldn’t have taken much for them to overheat.

Late yesterday, after an evening of planning in the classroom, I scared three more raccoons out of the school walkway on my short trip back home, helping to confirm the boldness and pervasiveness of the animals. The whole thing was a disgusting discovery but it was a good thing that it was not a purposeful act. I still feel bad for the raccoons.

On our second period of the day the winds were just the perfect south to north direction to bring with it the stench of shrimp from shrimping business down the point. The smell reminded me of a algae covered fish tank and a dumpster from a sea food restaurant. Trust me, both can be pretty disgusting.

Watching the students pass through the hallway was Hilarious! They were a collection of covered noses, people running to their destinations, excessive showmanship of coughing and gagging, and insults flying back and forth.

“You need to shower, man, you stink!”

“Girl, close your legs!”

“Who farted? Who farted?”

The winds changed, mercifully, and we never really dealt with the smell inside the classroom. Otherwise, it might have been a very different sort of day.

The second amusing part of the day was listening to students inform me that what I was teaching was not social studies. They were right, it wasn’t technically social studies. We were learning about the earth, which makes since to get out of the way before focusing on regions of the earth later in Geography. I made sure to have them refer back to the list of grade level expectations the state wants us to learn about so they could see it was all part of the curriculum.

In fact, with the English lessons for my ACT prep kids, very little of what I taught today would be considered social studies. It was nice for a change to branch out and teach some other subject areas.

This time last year I was commuting a LOT. In the mornings I’d be out of the house by 6am, at the latest, to drive an hour from New Orleans to school and be in my classroom a little after 7. In the afternoons we battled the traffic that was absent at during the predawn commute. Early in the week it wouldn’t be so bad and we’d be back after about 1 hour and 15 minutes after leaving. Towards the end of the week, and especially on Fridays, commutes were 1.5 hours at the earliest. Any day could push to 2 hours if accidents, breakdowns, or Saint’s game traffic clogged the roads. On average we figured my carpool and I would spend about 12-13 hours a week in a car. If you do the math, that means about 2 days of each month was spent commuting. It was brutal.

This year things are very different. Late in July, as I was setting up my classroom, I got word that a couple of the teachers and I would be getting one of the “teacher trailers” that are next to the school. When I say next to I literally mean right on campus. I can step out into the walkway outside my classroom and see the trailers. We didn’t really know what to expect since we had only seen the trailers from the outside but a couple weeks ago we were able to get in to check out the place. The digs are VERY nice. Our trailer has all the amenities that we needed including a washer and dryer. There was a new set of living room furniture and bedroom furniture was provided. 

Staying at the trailer has been a huge benefit already, saving time, effort and provided a bit extra sleep each night. It promotes working since I always found it difficult to re-start schoolwork after the hour plus commute home. Already I have seen a difference in my efficiency in the classroom and, as you can tell, an increase in the post rate of blogs.

There are only a few downsides in trailer living. The biggest is that I am paying for a place with people back in the city who I would like to see more of. Had I known early I could have a rent-free trailer next to school I would not have rented a place in New Orleans, but too late now. The costs are very low for utilities down in the trailer but it does mean paying for certain things at both places. The money saved in gas and the extra hour of sleep in the morning is worth any of those expenses. 

My goal was to not tell any of the kids I was living at the trailer, but they identified my license plates today. There are no other teachers from Maine. Since it is so close I have been leaving the car parked at the trailer and will walk to my classroom. It would have been a better plan for keeping up appearances to move it. I am just going to double check to make sure all doors are securely locked at all times.

The trailer also means that I can scoot on over to it, eat some food, drink some coffee and come back to finish some work in my classroom. I am going to do all of that right now!

What a change from this time last year. I am tougher, stricter, more consistent and I actually am having success right from the start! This is not to say that things are going perfect. Some challenging students are still challenging but others are more falling in line.

The kid I have deemed most challenging was testing how much he could get away with. Today he took out his cell phone and started texting outright. There was no stealth in his plan, no attempt to conceal the phone, just out and texting in front of his face. This is a strict offense of the school rule. So I tried to take his phone, which he was none too fond of since our administration now hold confiscated phones for 24 hours. He refused and went to the office. What he (and I) didn’t know that if the student refuses to give up the phone then they are given a day of in school suspension. We are not messing around.

Everything else is coming along, I think the students and I are both ready to be done talking about rules and procedures and get into some content, but on the other hand they were pretty upset about the Geography homework.

HOMEWORK ON THE SECOND DAY?!

The school still has no bells, announcements or intercom but that isn’t too bad. The worst part of the day was loosing my A/C 30 minutes before the end of the the last class. This shot the room up to about 80 and then pushing 90 and oh boy there was complaining! It should be fixed by tomorrow morning, at least that is what I am told. Thank goodness it didn’t happen earlier in the day!

Taken with instagram

Today I welcomed the students back to school, literally, since about 80% of my students this year were my students last year. I moved up to the 9th Grade and am teaching World Geography and ACT prep in the High School. I had some upset middle schoolers who came to visit today once they realized that they would not be having me as a teacher this year. There was mixed messages coming from the 9th graders about the change.

Today was a half day already, and shortened by an hour long assembly addressing dress code changes and other start of year topics. The day went smoothly even without class change bells, knocked out after a building crucial to the PA system was struck by lightening. With the seemingly daily lightening storms I am surprised that this hadn’t happened before today.

In the short amount of time in class we went over the class syllabus, parental forms that needed to be signed, class rules and expectations and other odds and ends. (Most of) the students filled out a brief survey that was a mix of questions about themselves, their interests, and about school. Below are some facts from the surveys and some of the most interesting and amusing answers given by the 9th, 10th and 11th graders:

Facts-
25 percent of students list Lil’ Wayne as their favorite artist (I suspect the percentage is actually higher)

One student shares my birthday

Most common favorite snack- Hot Fries

Questions and Answers

What is something fun or exciting that you do this summer?

            “I don’t do anything. I take care of my daughter.”

What is your favorite subject in school? Why is it your favorite?

            “P.E.”

            “Lunch”

What is your least favorite subject in school? Why is it your least favorite?

            “This class”

            “World Geography”

            “School”

What is your favorite snack?

            “Hot fries” (as mentioned above)

            “Pickle Flavored Chips!!”

            “Ramen Noodles”

What would be your perfect job? Why would you like to do this job?

            “NFL player because it’s easy just doing what I love and getting paid for               it.”

            “Crime Scene Investigator since I love to solve cases”

What would be a backup job? Why would you like to do this job?

           “Modeling because I’m beautiful and the cameras love me.”

I learn best when teachers….

            “Leave me alone”

I don’t like it when teachers….

            “I don’t like you already”

Oh boy, it’s going to be an interesting year.

The whiteboard knows the middle school crushes (Taken with instagram)