I had originally (as in last night) planned on not going into work today. I had taken Monday off and slept until noon, but I still taught at Baker that evening. As I contemplated taking a second day, I realized that I did not feel fully rested to face the hour drive there, the frustrations at school, and an hour drive back. Still, Tuesdays are now advisory days, which would be even more difficult to try and explain to a substitute through hastily written plans. For that reason, and the guilt of missing any school, I readied both my clothes and lunch for today "just in case."
Unfortunately, I woke up feeling quite a bit better. I still had a mental discussion, listing the pros and cons of staying at home. I got so far as to pull out the computer to start writing my plans, but something stopped me there and instead I got dressed and headed to work (after taking some daytime cold medication) [Note: This has happened often throughout my teaching career, usually with my deciding that typing up lesson plans is not worth the effort. Thus, when I do stay home, it is a BIG deal. Hmm … I left about a hundred unused sick days from my ten years at Lincoln, and that's even after taking some paternity leave for Rowen's birth].
Nothing terrible happened (sorry to disappoint), but it was a rotten day. I had to deal with poorly behaved students (one class in particular) that disappointed me terribly by having the substitute put their names to paper. I took two students' phones during my new E2020 class (as is laid out in the policy I gave them) and had the second one go more than a little crazy on me. While throwing F-bombs in my direction, he actually put his hand in my pocket (VERY briefly) in an attempt to take it back [Note: I still remember this event clearly. I told him to hand over the phone and, when he reluctantly did, I put it in my pocket rather than keep it in my hand. It is at this point that he went from zero to crazy]. When I made it clear that his behavior and language were not appropriate or respectful, he said that I was the one being disrespectful because I had taken his phone. He was crying and left for the office. I was later told that he said he wants to kill me [Spoiler alert: he didn't … or he did and the past few years are a figment of a dying brain--which would explain a lot].
I got into a minor yelling match with another student about his hat. So mature ... [Note: To be clear, this sarcasm was directed at myself; although, it could apply to the student too. I'm so glad that I no longer have to enforce an anti-hat dress code].
I then forced an entire class to do a long, difficult busy-work assignment as punishment for the report given to me by the substitute, even though I knew the problem was probably only with a few people [Note: I'm pretty sure that I felt bad enough to make the assignment extra credit soon after].
AND Jon was feeling ill too, so we could have played StarCraft!
If I could hit the reset button on today, I would. I would have written my plans, gone back to bed, and maybe played some StarCraft later. I think the world would have been better for it.
I realize due to some of the content, that this would not be appropriate to publish publicly at this time, so it's going to sit in electronic limbo for a while [Note: As I said before, "a while" would come to mean over eight and a half years].