Fresh Beats and Inappropriate Introductions

Today was the first day of school in the Hampton Roads area.

Any good teacher is nervous, anxious, and excited all at once before and on the first day. If they are not one or all of these emotions they are either lying or in my humble opinion, a teacher for the wrong reasons.

The night before the first day I usually do two things: IRON EVERYTHING and wrestle ALL night in bed. In the past I have even ironed my underwear and socks. This year, I got smart. I bought a really cute suit that required no ironing and I bought new underwear. No socks this time. Ironically enough I didn't toss and turn either. Maybe this has to do with the lack of ironing I had to do, maybe it has to do with the exhaustion of having my own little student: a 3 year old who asks why to EVERYTHING!

Speaking of 3 year olds...has anyone caught the show on Nick Jr called The Fresh Beat Band? The premise is not new. 4 characters that have a problem that solves itself within 23 minutes. All the while, Twist, Shout, and two really bad lip-synching girls sing and dance in perfect unison. It is annoying, yet the hubs and I have caught ourselves singing the songs on more than one occasion. The sad part is, the show might not even be on the TV or even that day.

But I digress...

Today was a good day. Make that a great day. A lot of my students from last year (now juniors) came and visited. That was the best feeling. When I taught in Hell, also known as my last school, I was in the mobiles or portables or trailers (depending where you're from). The students were not allowed to go outside unless they had a class outside. For the most part I only saw past students when I was catching them with a cigarette or skipping PE.

Again, I digress...

Block 1- REALLY, REALLY, REALLY quiet! I couldn't shake the words from them. Maybe because it was 7 in the morning, but they would not talk, participate, volunteer, NOTHING. During their 1 minute introductions, I had to beat their info out of them. I did meet my 18 year old Fresman. Fabulous. (In his defense he seems to be a nice kid, even if he claims to be from a planet thousands of mile away from here).

Block 2- This group was actually entertaining. My favorite quote from the 1 minute introductions came from a young, black male: "My favorite color is black." Looks to me quickly and raises up his hand, "Ms. S, I swear I'm not a racist." I think he thought I was going to turn him in for a crime.

Block 3- From the getgo I had a feeling about this group. The 2 phone calls out to parents later in the day proved me right. After returning from lunch, 1 girl was 25 minutes late. Now I know this is not ridiculous, but REALLY? REALLY? you are going to attempt to skip the first day? This girl's 1 minute introduction was made up of her telling me how much she hated everything. PE, running, lunch (ironic huh?), English, Writiing...the list went on and on.

But it gets better...

Another young lady stands up to give her 1 minute introduction. She had also returned from lunch late and then tried to fall asleep earlier. Anyways, I could barely make through the mumbling, but I did catch that so and so is her real (insert n word here) for real yo. Nice. But again it gets better. After redirection, she proceeds to tell me that her summer consisted of her smoking and drinking with her (n word again).

For real?

As I look into my 3 year old's eyes I have to wonder when The Fresh Beat Band will be whack and she will replace words like "Sweet" and "Fresh" with words like "Sex" and "Drugs?" At what point did this girl think that it was okay to talk like that in front of her classmates? In front of me?

THANK GOD I had already been observed for the day.

So after 1 day, I made 2 phone calls to parents. But I also had the chance to talk to some of my troubled kids from last year...and without me even asking 3 out of 3 told me how they were going to do better this year and thank you for not giving up on them last year.

Maybe there is hope.