The Man Plan take 2

Hey everyone,
I know it's been a long time since I've updated, and I apologize. I will say in my defense that it's been a long couple of weeks. I've been insanely busy and sick, so that makes for little to no time for any writing. Sorry. Today, however, I'm feeling pretty good, so I thought I'd update.

I am happy to say that as of yesterday morning I've hired 3 AVID tutors. This makes for a much happier me, and for fewer insomniac nights. That's a good thing for everyone, since I'm apparently as pleasant as Sasquatch with a head cold when I don't sleep. This was helpfully pointed out to me by my lovely students last year, so I'm trying to sleep at night for their sakes.

My AVID kids are continuing to behave beautifully, and I'm trying to trust in this miraculous change rather than waiting for the other shoe to fall. Of course, there's always a fly in the ointment, and for me, it's Cody (not his real name). Cody is a kid who I really wanted to kick out of AVID last year, but didn't have enough documentation to do so. Anyway, two of my students came to me this week and told me that he was goofing off during Chemistry instead of working on the lab and they were ticked off. I called him back to talk to him about it, and even though I had the word of two different students and could tell him exactly what he had done, he would NOT cop to it. I could not get a straight answer out of him no matter what I did. In fact, I even phrased questions so that the only possible answers would be yes or no. All to no avail. I think the thing that makes me the craziest about this is that he thinks he's outsmarted me. Let me just tell you that the day that Cody outsmarts me is the day that I will quite simply have to leap off a bridge or very tall building and fall to my very gruesome and bloody death, because I won't have anything left to live for. Rocket scientist he ain't. Added to this is the fact that two other teachers have emailed me to let me know that he refuses to follow directions and isn't completing his work. FUN FOR ME!

I've begun the great Jane Eyre experiment with my English classes. Every year I try to do something that's new and a little scary, and this year it's tackling Jane Eyre in a boy heavy school. I decided that the curriculum for 10th grade is just so male and dire that I had to throw in something by and about a woman with a happy ending. So there. Plus, I love Jane and the book to little bits and pieces. So far, although some of my students hate it (mostly boys) I'm getting positive feedback, and I love hearing from my female students how much they love the book and admire Jane as a person. We'll see how it goes.

My friend is still on the "let's get you a nice fella" idea, which she has now dubbed "The Man Plan". Her most recent idea is that I should come to the school at night and not turn off the alarm to see if any cute, single Mormon police officers show up to arrest me. She did admit that there were flaws in the plan but felt it was worth a shot. I thought differently.