I Don't Like Monday

I don't like this Monday. I thought I had the day free; I was trying to finish up a nice dream in the early morning, when the shriek of the phone came through the fog. Of course there was no phone in its cradle, so I had to stagger around the house in search of one. Luckily, my knees, ankles, and plantar fascia all were in agreement this morning, and I was able to walk.

I missed the call and tried to return it, but dialed the wrong exchange. I should have known when I had to unblock my private number to call the sub caller that something was wrong, but it wasn't until the groggy voice of some poor woman came on the other end that I fully realized the error of my ways. But in the end, I got the job.

I showed up to find that the teacher didn't know she was going to be out. She left a lot of busy work, and there were many breaks - the first day of library, their art class, lunch, and an assembly. It seemed like a really easy day. Note to self: never believe that.

On the way to library, we got in trouble from the Principal for talking in the halls. The nurse took kids two at a time to screen them. Everyone acted like they didn't know what they were supposed to do for the assignment that was written as if they'd all know exactly what to do. But the morning was fairly ok.

After lunch we had to do a Scholastic News (formerly known as Weekly Reader) on the new seven wonders of the world. People voted on them, and I had never heard of most of them. The Great Wall of China is one, and the Taj Mahal is another. During this time, the students began their rebellion. ADHD reared its head, and one girl put her head down and went to sleep on her desk. Thankfully it was time for the assembly. Which was an experience.

The man running the show was exactly like John Belushi. His show involved a lot of dry ice steam demonstrations and a lot of screaming and running around the room. He was definitely the right man for the job, but part of the allure was the amazement of watching him. He was sweating bullets within minutes. He had the kids up and screaming half the time, and then they had to calm back down, and come back to do math.

Because of this, I am not getting up from the couch, hence this update. Tomorrow I am working in the morning. I'll float for the child study team meetings, so I can't have this class again. It's funny how on the days when I feel like I have screwed up the most, the kids ask me if I will be back tomorrow, and write "You rock!" on the board.