Thursday January 4, 2001
School has started after a super relaxing winter break and it sure feels like the same old place. The vibe is still strong there and I feel as though I have been there forever. Sunnyland rocks.

Friday January 5, 2001
I started to feel my first tightness in the chest today at work. There was this girl, Chaka, who definitely thinks that she is 'all that' and has a major attitude. Anyway, she threatened another student in someone elses's class. This student complained and Chaka was called to the guidance office. When Chaka returned to class her attitude was totally different. Over the past several weeks prior to break, I had noticed that Chaka's progress had slowed and her conduct problems increased. Chaka began being pretty confrontational with me and her conduct resulted in a private conference with me. I explained to her that her she was a leader and not a follower, and basically gave her the whole speech about what I expected from her. Chaka began arguing with me and getting real loud. I showed her where the door was and told her to improve her behavior. Later, I went down to the counselor to ask what was going on with this girl and the counselor told me all about the problems that she had been having. I later called Chaka back up to class and asked her if we could start all over again. She insisted on continuing with her rudeness and I can see that this girl is going to be a problem for the rest of the year. She is pretty bright and wise enough to see through a lot of things so I will have to walk on thin ice with this girl until she returns to her old self. The end result of this whole encounter was that I just started to feel real uptight and felt anxiety and tightness in my chest. I guess I had been kind of on cruise control for a while but I need to be on my toes at all times around these kids.

On a lighter note, during my 6th period class, this kid named Wilfredo told the members of his group that he was 'tired of some girls fucking shit.' When I asked him to come up front, his beeper went off wildly. I asked him for his beeper and wanted to know who would be beeping him in class. With a straight face he tells me 'it's a Jehovah's Witness beep telling me that Jesus loves me.' I just had to laugh because here is this kid cursing one minute and telling me about Jesus the next.

Friday January 12, 2001
A long week ended on a good note with a 3 day weekend upcoming. There is nothing better than a 3 day weekend. I gave most of the midterm exams this week and for the most part the kids did a pretty decent job. The week was a pretty wild one with kids taking their exams and conflicts everywhere you looked.

The fire alarms had been pulled on purpose 4 times this week. They finally caught the kids who did it right in front of my door during lunchtime. Another group of kids got expelled because they were smoking cigarettes (gasp!) during school. I recall my 8th grade days and I remember lots of kids smoking cigarettes in the boys room, but I guess that just isn't cool anymore. Other kids were suspended for writing on the walls of the bathroom, and for fighting. Its going to get stranger…

Yesterday we were talking in class about the changes that students undergo during their middle school years and one girl shouted out, 'You mean like, I've got titties or something?' The whole class lost it and I had to take a minute to compose myself.

On an academic note, I've been working really hard with the kids on their writing skills for the upcoming competency tests that measure student performance. My kids writing is pretty bad but is capable of improving. The thing about teaching this group of kids at this age is that you constantly have to repeat the same things over and over again to make it sink in, regardless of whether it is class rules, expectations, or just how to complete a simple assignment. After a while of telling the same kids for the 58th time to correct the same mistakes, it is kind of frustrating, but I've learned to just go with it and exercise patience and do a bit of hoping that they will just 'get it' after a while.