Last Week of School

Monday - holidays are great for catching up on laundry. We had a BBQ last Saturday and visited with Cousin Lisa.

Tuesday - Technology hated me that day. As a teacher, there are certain days when technology karma hates you. I am absolutely serious. (It's the karma to balance out all the good technology days I have.) If one thing breaks, expect that others will too, and you need to come up with an alternative lesson FAST. First thing to break was the DVD player during the first class of the day. Oh, it would play the DVD, but it wouldn't eject the DVD. When you hit "open" it started playing again instead. Since I teach different subjects, I couldn't show the same thing to each class. (It was the last day students have to attend, and once they finish the final test, I was supposed to correct tests while they watched a video for the last half of class - that way I have final grades for seniors ready and can sign their clearance forms). So, I had to run the DVDs off my laptop instead - making it impossible to enter grades during the video. Then my classroom IP phone went berserk - cutting people off, going offline, not letting me call out, and randomly going to speakerphone and not turning off for a full minute. I think there is a short in the board - you pressed one button and either nothing happened, or it thought you pressed another button. Lastly, with all the other teachers also entering grades, the internet kept going out. (That might not sound like a huge problem, but GradeBook is a web-based program, so it won't let you enter in scores unless there is a continuous internet connection. The old program used to have a 'work offline' option, but not the new one.)

Wednesday - Werty came to work with me in the morning, took apart the DVD player and saved the DVD. Then he also joined me for lunch later. It was so nice to spend time together, even if I was working. I finished my last batch of tests and grade entries. My department head authorized me to purchase a new DVD/VCR combo. Happy day! That kind of turn around never happens in public schools. I also told him about my pregnancy, and he pretended to be surprised, even though I could tell that he has known for a while but was too polite to say anything until I did.

Today - a blessed half day. I had my final evaluation with the asst principal. I picked up my hood and gown for graduation tomorrow. I found out what I should do before taking maternity leave in the Fall to make sure I have a sub. (I can take up to 6 weeks off - relief!) The stress of letting the principals know about my pregnancy is now off my shoulders. I started going through the ESL files, making copies of materials I will need next year before the other teacher takes them all away next week. Tomorrow I will finish with the files, hopefully. Oh, and I helped some students make up work and bring their grade up to passing today. I also signed a number of yearbooks, one kid said my class was his favorite because I was "the only teacher with a sense of humor." Funny how the kids that sometimes drive you crazy are the ones that come back to visit you.