DonorsChoose.org

Hey Team,

Quick post time. There is a neat organization called Donors Choose that is focused on helping teachers in poorer areas of the country with classroom supplies. They service all grades and subjects and you can support an array of projects through it. I have a project for a laser printer that I am trying to get funded right now and if any of you would want to donate toward it or think you might know someone who would, I would be incredibly thankful. Just click on the link below for more details. More later, hope all is well with you and yours!

http://www.donorschoose.org/mr.ware

Murphy's Law - Tuesday

After monday’s charades, there was a noticeable tension in the air. Again first, second, third, fourth periods and first lunch went fine, and second lunch, during my planning period I had to go to a professional development seminar. When it concluded, I was walking back to my classroom when one of the hall monitors, one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met, said with a smile from ear to ear, "Mr. Ware, you wear your running shoes again today?" to which I said somewhat jokingly, "haha why Ms. Campbell, they fightin' again?" and she replied, "sure are, look at 'em". Suddenly I realized they were in fact fightin' again, so I bolted out to the scene to find a recently ended girl fight. As I tried dissipate the crowd and herd the students toward their classes, another girl fight broke out of equal magnitude, thus sending things into frenzy again.

This would have all been enough for tuesday, except Tuesday morning I noticed that the air my cooling unit was blowing was not exactly cold. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that a relatively common thread throughout my time here is non-trustworthy air conditioning. Some places that would be fine, maybe even pleasant. Mississippi in August is not one of those places.

The first four periods were still “cool” enough that the students didn’t complain (and sweat). After lunch it was definitely hot enough outside for my classroom to be downright uncomfortable.

So with fighting on the mind and an abundance of heat and humidity in the air, I tried to teach trigonometry. Most of my students put up with it and things were going ok until the academic coach came by my room and told me that the school was temporarily on lockdown. “Oh lockdown? How splendid” I thought to myself. Turns out these girl fights were related and the police were in the process of investigating it. While they did so, we were to hold our students where they were to prevent further fighting from taking place.

Luckily, ingenuity kicked in in the form of manilla folders (or vanilla folders as one of my students said). Manilla folders are not only helpful for general storage, but can also serve as a makeshift fan quite easily. Before long I had my students determining the cosecant of 7π/6 with as much of a breeze as their wrist could afford. All in all, there were two fights, 0 air conditionings, who knows how many tardies and many frazzled teachers.

Murphy's Law - Monday

Week two was an opportunity to explain Murphy's Law to my students. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Murphy's Law is an adage that simply states "anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Such was the case with week two at our "new" school.

Monday started off the way most mondays do, alarm clock ringing to early and the mosquito-filled august air too muggy. First, second, third, and fourth period went along relatively smoothly, along with a nice warm lunch duty for the first lunch serving. My planning period is during the second lunch serving, so I was in the office trying to work out some paperwork, when I heard a commotion outside. I ran around the corner to see the JROTC teacher dragging a child away from a recent fight that had taken place in the courtyard. I say dragging because it was all the Major could do to hold the boy, as he was squirming like a recently hooked fish, still trying to get in on the action. This is relatively common, so I thought "no big deal". Eventually the kid even started adhering to the direction he was being yanked and walked under his own strength. As they approached me, the Major asked me to grab the child, but with my poor hearing, I didn't quite make that out, and as soon as the kid passed me, he ran around the corner then back toward the courtyard. As soon as he did this, I realized the err of my ways, and was then in hot pursuit of the recent combatant. He made it about four doors down before I caught him and literally carried him back to the office. This was the first of 2-3 fights that day.

Later, new teachers who had seen my heroic act of justice made sure to say, "Way to go", and "great job" as it is not everyday a teacher gets to run down a student and get away with it. "Aww shucks" I said, "just another day on the job".