Picture Day

    Wednesday was picture day. The excitement in the air was almost palpable. All the kids had new haircuts and were dressed up in new outfits with new shoes and fancy bling. Up until Wednesday, I'd thought picture day would be fun. I quickly discovered it wasn't. Any change in routine throws everything into chaos, and picture day was chaos. It felt like the first day of school all over again.
    But it seemed like every teacher in the building had a bad day because of pictures, not just me. Ms. Storm came into my room on Thursday, slumped her shoulders and said, "I hate my job."
    It was a twisted comfort to hear that she was just as miserable as me. It's nice to know you're not alone.
    Tiffany on the other hand had a fantastic picture day. She also didn't teach at all. Instead, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Cannons took over her classroom while she filled out paperwork in the office. One of her kids, Raymon, kicked her in the back on Tuesday, then proceeded to punch her in the gut and go for her throat with both his hands. Apparently a kid can actually get suspended for that (though stuff like that's been going on all year with no suspensions to date), so she had all sorts of paperwork to fill out.
    Driving home that night, I told Tiffany I wished a kid would kick me in the back so I could get out of teaching for a day. Tiffany just shook her head.
from September 23, 2012