terrible blogger

that is what I am...a terrible blogger. oh well. make due with what you get huh?

I am currently in my second 6 wks of school. My schedule has changed twice and I have sifted down from 183 kids in 6 classes to 145. I have about 20-27 in each class which is actually incredibly good odds. :) I love my kids. most days they drive me completely bonkers, but I love them.

what am i teaching? 20 9th grade language center kids (been in the US 1-2 years) and 125 TAKs prep kids. I have every remedial student in the 11th and 12th grade. Every student who didn't respond to my or the other 10th grade teacher's proddings last year to pass the state test, yes every single student. :) but i love them .... I keep telling myself that.

here are some of the kiddos I have:
-a kid who invariably, without fail, is completely rude to me, appologizes, lays down on my floor to "take a nap" then gets up to do his work. won't quit talking, i spend 1/3 of the class focusing on him alone.
-3 boys in the same class who can not talk in inside voices. literally. i ask them to bring it down about 3 times a day when we have class discussions. all are late, all skip repeatedly. :)
-2 boys who every time they do something wrong they wink at me. and say "come on ms!"
-1 boy who "teaches" me spanish. i can't repeat anything he teaches me because most of it remains unconfirmed. tests me daily by coming up and speaking in spanish just to see if i understand yet.
-2 girls who assure me the boys behind are not being flirted with. "trust me, ms. we are not flirting with *them*" i get the distinct impression that these boys aren't interested in the cute girls sitting in front of them....
-one boy who apparently was a pick-pocket in mexico on the streets as a child. i really like the kid and cant get mad at him. however he can't stay in his seat, talks nearly exclusively in spanish if it isn't with me (problem during small group discussions).
-a kid from auto tech who assures me that i should have let them fix the alternator in my car when it went out last week and shook his head with the most fatherly shake saying i should have known. :)

and a million sweet kids who actually try to do their work. it is fun...but stressful.