Dislocated Leg

I've been teaching for over seven years now, going on number four in eighth grade and I had my first dislocated leg. I never thought that doing problems on the board was dangerous and may require a waiver or permission slip, but today is making me rethink that. My poor student was coming back to her seat when something happened and she claimed that her leg bone was now pointing in the wrong direction. She couldn't use the leg, so she couldn't go to the nurses office. It hurt too much to move, so she couldn't even sit down. She was at the front of the room facing everybody else trying as hard as she could not to cry. Now our nurses office is in another building, and would take a full minute of walking at a good pace to reach. The nurse came to my room and was about as unsure what to do as I was. She went to get a wheelchair, which was an entire other ordeal involving multiple sets of stairs that needed to be circumvented by various forms of lifts and elevators. After this poor girl was stuck in this position for over half an hour and a class switch, she was finally wheeled out. I can honestly say, that has never happened in my classroom before.

That was followed by my whack-a-mole class (with a fire drill thrown in for some good clean fun). Seriously, teaching that class feels like playing whack-a-mole. There are just enough "lively" students in there that the moment you get one on task, three others pop up who need a friendly reminder as to what they are supposed to be doing.

Also, way to go Vikes. I'm glad we got a win. I feel bad for Jackson. I don't think he was ever really given a chance to learn and be ready to be an NFL starter. His days in Minnesota, I believe, are numbered. I wish him no ill, but I really don't want to let him go and see him turn into a megastar.

Heroes started last night!

New Crop of Kids

Well, almost done with three weeks of school already and I'm getting a real sense of what the kids are like this year. We have some real assets to the class and I'm already assigning detentions for behavior! That's not to say that there aren't great kids too, which reminds me of a goal of mine. I am trying not to dwell on the challenge kids as much and try to remember the others in their place. We really do have a lot of great kids.

Renaissance week is just around the corner and it won't be long until we are costumed up, doing crafts, and dancing for an entire week. I know my predecessor hated this week, but I guess I haven't been there long enough to get to that point. I wouldn't choose this for every week, but it is interesting and you get a chance to interact with students in a different way. I just wish there were a way to have a break from them throughout the day. We go about the whole week without a plan period, which is tough on the kids and us. I think it's worth it, but I may not be thinking the same thing after with the homeroom I've got this year.

This blog's been a bit tame recently. I haven't had any corporations to rage against lately. I guess I could turn my attention to the BPA epidemic. Because we have a newborn, my wife is hyper-alert to health threats, and this seems like a big one. We have gone through a great BPA purge. We all have new water bottles coming from REI (I wish there were a local store) and are replacing as much plastic (suspect or not) with metal and glass. I'm sure next year we'll find out about an odd isotope used in these products that is linked with 3rd nipple growth, but for now, things are calming down.