My Spanish Highschool Nightmare

It is January 17. Somehow I have survived a full semester of teaching high school Spanish (plus a few weeks). I decided to start writing again so that I'll have written record of this insane year I've had.

August and September - got to school every day at 5:30 a.m. to plan, organize, etc. Took home work every weekend to grade. Wrote up my first student within the first week of school. Wore heels that day-- the last day I ever taught in heels. Must work on being more calm when things like that happen... the adrenaline coursing through my body made me feel like my legs were about to topple out of the heels. Learned how to turn in copies, give quizzes, make tests, run the scan tron machine, and keep up with attendance and assignments. Met other teachers. Took every bit of advice offered in the halls or over drinks. Sunday rolled around and I had an overwhelming feeling that I would NOT make it through the week... let alone the year. That feeling would start to subside on Wednesday afternoon.

October- was finally able to fathom going out of town for a weekend (but not til the end of the month). Started getting to school at 6:00 a.m. Can't even describe the disastrous state of my apartment. Was sleeping in the guest room (bed more comfortable) but living out of my real room. Which equaled clothes littered all over each room. Finally started doing more grading during the week instead of all day Saturday. But Sunday was still primarily dedicated to grading and lesson planning. Wrote up a few more kids. One had a game boy in class. One wasn't even my student. Became a pro at taking cell phones up. I would definitely be able to do that in heels. Learned how to go on a field trip. Still had overwhelming feeling of dread and not making it... but it began to subside on Tuesday instead of Wed.

Nov-Dec --- Couldn't believe I made it to my birthday. Couldn't believe I was turning 28. Couldn't thank some students enough for thinking I was 24. Still didn't believe I'd make it to Christmas, but also took the evidence of survival up until this point as a sign that indeed I would make it. Learned how to make exams. Learned how to give exams. Learned that exam week is nice (no lesson plans or teaching) but also learned that I'm not so keen on being trapped in a room with the same high school kids for 3 straight hours. . . . with a heater running full throttle. I wore a summer, sleeveless dress in mid December and still needed a box fan running in my classroom. Fell in love with our high school basketball games. Went to an away game on a school night. Went to an away game on the Friday school was out. Realized we might have an obsession on our hands.

Loved Christmas break and started to see the bright sides of teaching. Not excited about going back. But after surrendering to the return, I realized the first day students were back that I was ok being back. No. More than that. I was kinda glad to see some of the little boogers. Maybe this isn't a nightmare after all. But I wouldn't exactly call it a pipedream. Here goes 2012.