Monday, September 27, 2004
Desperately seeking calamine lotion
I spent last weekend celebrating Yom Kippur and lesson planning, a dire combination if ever there were one. Somehow the holiest of holy days loses something of its appeal when it steals away the only truly free day one has during the week. Nonetheless, Saturday was by no means depressing, especially compared to the prior week which featured student impersonators, flying paper towel projectiles, and being referred to as a "funky-ass clown" during a test. I had the chance to visit some relatives, which is always fun.
My grandmother asked how the year had been proceeding. She claimed that I seemed much more mellow and asked if there were fewer classroom disruptions. Obviously, with twice as many students, the answer to that could only be no. So she asked me how I deal with it.
I told her that student disruptions are like mosquito bites. The best you can hope to do is ignore them, because if you scratch them, it only itches more.
The metaphor seemed worth recording, so here we are.
I spent last weekend celebrating Yom Kippur and lesson planning, a dire combination if ever there were one. Somehow the holiest of holy days loses something of its appeal when it steals away the only truly free day one has during the week. Nonetheless, Saturday was by no means depressing, especially compared to the prior week which featured student impersonators, flying paper towel projectiles, and being referred to as a "funky-ass clown" during a test. I had the chance to visit some relatives, which is always fun.
My grandmother asked how the year had been proceeding. She claimed that I seemed much more mellow and asked if there were fewer classroom disruptions. Obviously, with twice as many students, the answer to that could only be no. So she asked me how I deal with it.
I told her that student disruptions are like mosquito bites. The best you can hope to do is ignore them, because if you scratch them, it only itches more.
The metaphor seemed worth recording, so here we are.
