On a Day Like Today . . . How Can I NOT Post?

Seriously. Everything random (and funny) decided to happen today.

1 - Rewind to Tuesday when punk-ish student Josh was texting while I was teaching. I took his phone away and told him it was going to the administration (per school policy). 2 classes later when I finally remembered to take it up there, I opened my drawer and it was GONE. Josh took it when I was busy helping my other students. What a woofer. When he walked into class today I told him we were going to have a "chat" later, just to make him scared (it worked - he was behaved for the 1st time in weeks). I pulled him out at the end of class fully prepared to give him 5 hours of detention and a good lecture about what an idiot he is . . . in not so many words. He never fessed up and promised on the grave of his dead dog (or something close to that) that he had not seen his phone for the last 48 hours and assumed it was in the office. He seemed VERY unconcerned when I told him if that were the case then his phone was missing. I think his nose was growing by the second! I told him I was going to have to do some research and would "look into it." Before I got a chance to track down a vice principal, he came in after school to tell me, "Spjute - I called my parents during lunch. They said it's totally fine that the phone is missing because they were going to buy me a new one anyway. So you don't even have to worry about it!" Oh really, Josh? That's great news! Glad they weren't upset! The little swearword. Tomorrow when I (hopefully) have the principal call him in to tell him it's a mandatory procedure that when a phone goes missing we have to call the parents to notify them, that he'll be sweating maybe a little bit with the principal starts dialing his parents phone number. I wonder what story he'll concoct. Maybe this kid really shouldn't be graduating in 3 weeks if he can't even come up with a decent story.

2 - While I was in the office waiting to speak to said administrator, the hall pass monitor came in with a student who had been dress-coded. (She was dressed like a shameless hussy.) Girl gets on the phone to call Dad to tell him he needs to bring her something else to wear. Obviously Dad isn't happy that he has to leave work for this, so he asks to speak with an adult. The hall pass monitor kindly told him that it is against school dress code to wear black nylons (NOT leggings - they were very see-through ish) with just a sweatshirt and nothing else to cover her upper-upper-upper-legs, and the school will gladly provide her with clean, school-issued scrubs for the rest of the day (keep in mind that girl is missing a huge standardized test at this point). Girl gets back on the phone and is crying. "But I don't WANT to wear the scrubs!" Dad must have asked why, because this was her next line: "Because they don't even go with my top!" "Boo hoo hoo!" The secretaries and I couldn't hold back our laughter at that point. Dad gave in to his girl though and just checked her out of school and let her walk home. What lesson did she learn? If she cries to Dad she gets whatever she wants, and she'll probably wear the same outfit next week. What lesson did I learn? Hang out in the office more. It's totally worth it.

3 - Happy iPad day! A few of the teachers in the district were given iPads today. Don't worry, it's not mine to keep forever - it belongs to the school. And I'm beginning to wonder if the hours of training I have to attend to get it are going to be worth it. (But I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of already addicted to "Words with Friends.") Said training started today. Sharla, our beloved trainer, came in wearing an authentic Star-Trek suit. Complete with the "hardware" on her collar showing that she is an officer of "higher ranking than us!" To help us bond with the other iPad-ers, she passed around laminated star trek "pins" for us to wear. They weren't name tags. Just awkwardness. I didn't pin mine on (too cool for school). Then Sharla told us about how iPads have so many great apps and that she's addicted to them. She even has one for her cat!!! Her cat loves it SO much that if Sharla is using her iPad when the cat is in the room, the cat will come and jump on her and start pawing at the iPad to play the cat game. Oh dear. How did I not laugh out loud! I must have some amazing self-control. And please bless I never become the crazy cat lady.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

ps - 19 more school days. 30 full days til Hawaii. Don't act like you're not jealous. (Julia - we're staying in a condo on the North Shore. I'll be in touch!)