Reason # 1 million why I am not in a position of authority at my job

I had a completely craptastic day today at work.  Well, the morning started out fine and the kids were doing their work and I was returning papers and all was well.  Okay, the kids were cutting words out of magazines to make "found poetry" and one of the kids told me he could do that activity all day.  I think I could let my students do that activity all day.  All I do is walk around with  my broom and sweep up magazine detritus.  Very peaceful.  Then before lunch we went outside and something happened while the boys were throwing my giant playground ball at the brick wall.  Seventh grade boys are the biggest homophobes on the planet and will look for any excuse to call another kid gay, yet they cannot keep their hands off each other.  It drives me CRAZY.    Anyway, I failed to notice that something had happened and we went off to lunch.  I dropped the kids off and I went and ate lunch with some other teachers.  Then when we came back to my room, the kids were all, "Why is R (not his real initial) crying?  What's the matter with R?"  Of course, I had no idea why he was crying.  So the kids went off to their next block and I kept R back so I could talk to him.  In addition to being homophobes, seventh grade boys are also crybabies.  I don't think I have seen a single girl cry this year.  Why?  Because seventh grade girls are heartless wenches.  So, I had to take R down the hall because my classroom is being used for "abstinence training"  (BAHAHA) during my planning period.  I let R calm down in the room with the Coke machine and then I went in to talk to him.  Seriously, he was sobbing.  He told me that no one had done anything to him and no one had said anything to him and he was just really stressed out about school and home and his voice was so squeaky I could hardly understand him.  Really, I felt for him.  It sucks when you're upset and then someone is being nice to you and of course, that just makes you cry harder.  I let him pull himself together and then I made him go back to class.  Then I emailed his mom.  I quizzed a few kids later and tried to find out what happened but they were all, "Uhhh, I don't know.  I think  this might have happened and maybe this happened but I don't really know."  Not helpful.  Then someone insinuated that perhaps someone had made a racial comment to him. (R is Jewish).  I think flames shot out of my eyes when I heard that.  I GOT SO MAD.   I hate that kind of crap.  I know Maggie will probably have to deal with comments like that and I know it's going to take everything I have not to drive up to the school and snatch some kid bald-headed.  Grr.  So, that whole situation kind of sucked. 

Then, there has been a lot of dissent among the kids because they feel like we haven't gotten to do anything fun this year and boo hoo, no field trips, whatever.  So, one of my teammates and I decided to plan a trip to Carowinds, which is this stupid amusement park around here.  We did a LOT of paperwork and a lot of running around and made a lot of phone calls and met with the principal and frankly, it took up a lot of time.  We planned out some lessons for the kids to do (which is being required by our principal) and sent home notes asking if kids would go given the opportunity to go.  We held a grade level meeting today to present this info to our co-workers and I knew there would be disagreement and reluctance and complaining.  But planning for that kind of thing and the reality of it are really two different things and it was a horrible meeting.  You know it's not going to go well when you say, "We've been working on this field..." and someone raises his hand and announces, "I'm not going."  Also, another co-worker thought there might be pedophiles there when we go.  WHAT?  That is, without a doubt, one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.  I said that there were probably pedophiles at the local grocery store and she responded that she wasn't taking the kids to the grocery store.  Okay.  Thanks.  So, I got PISSED at the end and almost started crying and I want to trash this entire plan and do nothing but school for the rest of the year.  I hate that mess and I hate stupid, rude, ungrateful people who complain about everything but do NOTHING.  Then I went down to my classroom and my voice cracked when I told my kids to have a seat and I know they could tell I was about to cry because one of the girls asked me if I was okay. (see above: being upset, people being nice)  So, fun times all around.

I have a workday tomorrow and after I go in and do my grades and meet with a parent, I'm leaving and going to the mall and spending a thousand dollars (not really) at the Gymboree sale. And then everything will be all better.

I may take this post down in a couple of days because I feel nervous about it even though I don't think I said anything incriminating.  And I know neither of the co-workers I referenced above will see my blog because they are MORONS.  And if they do, they can kiss my ass.  The end.