phew!

Wow! What a day! What a week!
Well I found out a few things that soothe the mean soul. First my students have up to six times to take the CAHSEE. The student I was most concerned about, of course, could not pass right now, but the master teacher in the class had everyone take the test, knowing the impossibility of it. She explained that she instructed them to just see what is involved in taking the test without trying to pass it. Experience is good. My ADHD student who I felt had no advocate is getting tested for special needs. I feel like I had a small hand in that. Hurray! And I've been assured a spot for my student teaching when I reach the high school level next spring. There was an article in a magazine for women over forty (shhhh) about women changing careers midlife. It listed all of the little and huge insecurities involved. I have them all. I put on a confident front, but sometimes I feel like the littlest kid in the class, and I wonder what I'm doing to myself. So every little accomplishment is so precious to me.
I had a couple interesting experiences with the students last week. They had to write a short essay from the POV of a character in a book they are reading. I noticed ADHD was having trouble getting started. I told him to pretend he was telling a friend what had happened to him as this character. The kid wrote two pages. Write on. I have little catch phrases I use like, Write, write like the wind. A little humor please. One of the students was especially tired that day. I told him he should have had a cup of coffee (it's okay, it's culturally acceptable for him). I asked him if he worked. He told me yes, I assumed as much. I told him I knew it was hard because I work and go to school (among other things). He said yeah, he felt that was why most kids in his culture dropped out of school. It's more important to work. I said "But you're not going to drop out, Right?" He said "No Way!" So much good stuff for the meanie. Still love these kids.
From the six disc: Just picked up Beck's newest stuff Guerro . It's his best output for a long while. Also picked up Moby's Hotel Loved it. He really took a different road.
Rented the first two episodes of HBO's new western, hated it, disgusting language and content. Also totally unrealistic. I felt like I needed to wash my eyeballs after watching it. Never more.
Ptui. Trash. Ugly. Ick.
Well back to the grind. The mean one is off ( in more ways than one).