i heart my india

volume iv: "keepin' it realer" (subtitled: the cubicle-less profession)

i've already been over the whole spectrum theory. my vocation is yet another example of the sour and the sweet. one improvement over my views on teaching since last year are that my sweets most certainly outweigh my sours. (this doesn't mean that i don't need a cigarette and diet coke occassionally over lunch. and, hey, how 'bout that american flag on brian's couch?) the candy moments: the students who ask for hugs or come over for dinner, "rock on" inside jokes, staff-student dodgeball, simon says and dance breaks, kidding around with students and having way too much fun in class. the sours are mainly pragmatic: late-night study hall duty, working in the teacher's lounge, mornings without coffee, paperwork hoops and hurdles. reecently, the sweet has virtually obliterated the sour, reminding me, again, why i heart my india.

many of these photos were taken on "friendship day," a.k.a. initiation of freshmen. the senior dressed all of the ninth graders in costumes, my favorites were mulletted-aditya, barbie-hannah, stitch-dai, jolly green giant-louis, and teletubby-ennuri, most of which are featured here. god, i love these kids...

in many ways, i am no different in the classroom then i am outside. there is of course some line of "business," but my laugh and voice often boom through the halls, my students and i sometimes talk like napoleon and loud music isn't unfound. i gave my kids teacher evaluations to fill out after first quarter and one of my favorite comments concerning the environment in my classroom was, "ms. humm's class is warm and welcoming, i never feel bored and i usually walk out of class with a smile on my face. overall, it's a friendly, studious atmosphere with a few minor screwups." i love that, a few minor screwups. those would likely include when i hit a kid in the head with a marker that was meant to land in the garbage can, ms. humm's occassional no-tolerance-for-anything temper and the ever-present "technical difficulties" with frickin' computers and projectors.

a few fridays ago, a.k.a. friendship day, i found this red hat in the hall and realized that i absolutely couldn't get through the day without it-- and some sunglasses. so my ninth graders, including frakensein and a knight, and i discussed the differences between medieval and renaissance art with ms. humm playing the role of dumbledore (with a knight's sword as a pointer). at the end of the day, my friend dave played a few ben folds songs in the quad, and jamie and i danced it up. dancing, laughing, listening and analyzing music and art, discussing interesting things.... not a bad profession. i think i'll keep it.

footnote: ella, one of my students, is to thank for the "keepin' it realer," which her preffered greeting. and my friend chris for the "cubicle-less profession" thing... a reason in-and-of-itself to stick with my current career choice.