Eight seconds left in overtime

[Over My Head (Cable Car), The Fray]

What a day. I realized today that if I weren't in TF*A then I'd almost certainly be looking for a different job so I wouldn't have to come back here next year. Here's the thing- I love my kids. Aboslutely love them. If it weren't for them then I know I wouldn't be coming back next year. But these kids are absolutely amazing and I know they need me to have their back. Here's reason #1 why I am so frustrated (amongst a sick and twisted myriad of other things):

So I had this student we'll call DJ. He was in two history classes this semester- mine and then with a man we'll call Mr. Jack... short for a colorful word you can guess at. He's normally a pretty low student. But he worked SO hard this semester and a lot of stuff overlaps between U*S and Wo*rld history, so he got his first taste of success and realized that he was rockin' it in both classes. He came to tutoring for four hours every week for the last month plus. He was so inspired that he said he wants to take A*P U*S History next year and even go on to become a history teacher.

Is that not AMAZING? That's the reason why people teach in T*FA! To have those kinds of inspirational stories is what gives us our drive.

So, today Mr. Jack told me that JD scored a really high 3 on his EOC (it's on a scale of 1-4, and schools have to get 3's and 4's to be successful in the terms of NCLB- No Child Left Behind) and actually almost scored a 4. So I told him about JD's high ambitions, and Mr. Jack had a fast- and harsh- physical reaction. Here are his nearly exact words-

"Oh, no no no no no. Nuh-uh. There's no way he'll take AP. His writing is just atrocious. Him, a teacher? It would be horrifying. I won't allow a kid like him into AP"

I LITERALLY had to bite my tongue to hold back a long string of expletives. Well, not really on the expletives part but I was so ridiculously angry. This is one of my kids he was talking about. You just don't talk about my kids that way. I wanted to just tell him exactly what I thought, but I held back, knowing he'll still likely be my superior next year and I can't afford to burn bridges. Teaching is so stinking political and I hate politics.

So that- in addition to a school filled with people that can't do their freaking jobs, or at least stay long enough to get them done- was my day at school. I came home, watched a movie, did a little packing, went skinny dipping with my roommates (oh the joy of female roomies and basically having our own lake!), and now I'm installing some stuff on my roomie's computer for her.

Oh, and they said my name's not on the list of recommended teachers for summer school. Basically, they only need one social studies teacher and the other guy that applied has seniority. Nice of them to let me know now so that I'm stuck in the Middle of Nowhere, North Freaking-Cackalacky with nothing to do for two and a half months. Ode to freaking joy.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be closer to my normally happy self. For now, I am going to go to bed and hope that I wake up less frustrated... and less tired... leave some love, huh?