"We work in a zoo."

Quipped the woman I share a classroom with.

There is a new "You can't make this shit up" story.

Here it is, as told to me by another member of my department, Mrs. Months.
"So this girl apparently used her phone to take a picture of her..." pause for effect, "...crotch and then proceeded to send it to 'a boy.' Now, we're not sure if this boy was her boyfriend or not, but it proceeded to spread like wildfire throughout the student body. There is a claim going around that it was her boyfriend, and one of his friends took his phone and sent it around before he could do anything. That part is unresolved."

I'm fortunate that I don't have this girl in class. I'm also fortunate I don't even know who this girl is. If that weren't the case, how could I possibly look at her in class and respond to her without this action coming to my mind? This is something most certainly that will follow her around for the rest of her high school career. Fast-forward two years to her senior prom.
Guy: "So you're taking her to the prom?"
Other guy: "Yea..."
Guy: "You know what she did?"

The above story exemplifies the insanity that has spread throughout the school in the past few weeks. There are countless more stories I could relate, but none of them compare to that one. No one is exempt - students or faculty - from the growing frustration and angst throughout the school. So I feel as if it's not my place to complain about students' erratic, lazy, or whiny behavior to my colleagues. However, someone said to me not too long ago - "Man, this is one of the worst years for student behavior that I can remember. And this must be doubly hard for you, having to still battle through your first year."

Earlier this week I decided to take a personal day on Friday. I was torn on this - I felt odd taking a day for myself. It felt so out of place to be that selfish, in a job where I'm responsible for 110 or so people. Where my absence, in a way, lets them down for a day. I'm not there for them. Granted, most of them upon walking in the door and seeing a sub, grin widely and let out a sigh of relief. Just as I did when I was in high school. It was nothing against my absent teacher, just that it meant a light period. Maybe there was some work to do, but there was no class lecture.

Still, it took me a while to accept the fact that it was in everyone's best interest for me to take that day to myself. It's easy to rationalize that if I'm not at my best, the problems will be magnified. Students will sense something is off, and when they act out, I will likely not respond in the most professional way. Or my lecture of new material will not be as clear as it would if I were fresh. But however it can be rationalized, the feeling of guilt that stems from putting my own wants before my students' (particularly for someone who has made a concerted effort, for years, to be more considerate of others' feelings, wants, needs...) is hard to shake.

Once that decision was made, I was hoping the week would be easier to deal with, because I knew that I was there only through Thursday. However...
Wednesday morning the bipolar head-case star athlete of the school, who I had issue with the first day of school, and who later transferred out of my class, transferred into my SAT Prep class.

I berated two of my classes Thursday morning because they have chosen the typical teenage path of whining and complaining over studying and earnest effort. I basically told them that although they think the end of the year is near, things are going to get harder. The math we're going to be working on is going to get more complicated, and the concepts I am going to take for granted they have mastered is going to continue to grow. Clearly that applies to me as well - the rest of my year is not going to get easier... nay, the challenges I will face will continue to grow and become more complex, building on the knowledge the first 7 months of this job have taught me.

In any case, the third term of the school year ended yesterday. 45 days left.