Lights go out in Elizabeth

On Tuesday, September 21, 2010 the power went out about 1:00 P.M. I was in my class with twenty-five of the most obnoxious 6th graders on planet Earth. For the duration of the outage (about two+ hours)the school went into lock down. This means no one in the hallways. No bathrooms, no water fountain, now if I could have got them to do some school work things might have gone better, but they were too far gone way too soon.

One girl packed up and started walking towards the door. When I asked her where she thought she was going, she replied, "Home". Now that may have been a good idea, except that we were stuck in a lock down. One boy continually demanded that he be allowed out of the room to get water. The worst of it was that even though they were sitting across a table from each other, they found the need to shout their business at the top of their lungs.

When the lights came back on at 3:00 we remained in lock down because the third floor houses a classroom of handicapped children who needed the Elizabeth Fire Department to carry them down the stairs because the elevator was not operating.

Oh what a day!

First Full Week of School

The first full week of school is history. That is, if anyone would care to remember this, rather unmemorable week.

My students arrived unhappy and unwilling to learn. I arrived dazed and confused and no one has stepped forward to help, least of all the Math and Language Arts coaches, whose job it is to help me.

I think this will be my last year.

Deck gets decked out

Anthony came over early this morning to help me with the deck. After hours of scraping and painting, the deck at 985 looks presentable again.

On another note, the deck is 20 years old. I remember getting books and planning and getting the necessary permits from the town. I remember John Bianchini helping me and insisting on adding supports not required by the town code. I am so glad we did. The deck is still strong enough to drive a car onto it!!!

Thank you Anthony!

In with the new . . .

Christine made it official today.

September

September arrived while my attention was on something else. The dreaded trip back north is now imminent. I am just not ready to leave paradise -- and my angel.