These seven things happened today

Since I don't want to think about baseball anymore (Tigers down 7-0, now they'll be .5 games up in the AL Central, having squandered almost all of their once 10-game lead they had six weeks ago), nor grade any more papers (I've been through two stacks tonight), I'll tell you about what happened today in my day.

1. Five kids came in tardy for first period, meaning I had to give five detentions first thing in the morning.

2. A girl - the same girl who called me "cute" on the first day of school - made what might have been a lewd sexual comment to me, saying, "Anytime you need to, Mr. _____, in or out, in and out, you just ask me and I'll do it." She sits in front of a shelving unit where I store papers, and I have to either uncomfortably reach over her or ask her to get papers for me or put papers in it when I need them. She is friendly and helpful, but also an attention seeker (she sings, she comes in late, she loudly sneezes and then covers her face with her hand as if it's full of snot) but today she said that, and I probably wouldn't have thought twice, but she laughed afterwards like it was a joke. Don't want to make too big of a deal, but after talking to a colleague about it and attempting to call home, I decided to go to Guidance with it tomorrow.

3. That same girl did the sneeze thing, then said she had a handful of snot, and begged for some tissue, which I just ran out of (I never, ever use tissue, but somehow my class has gone through three boxes already this year in three weeks), then begged to go to the bathroom. I wanted to get rid of her for a few minutes, and didn't want to stop teaching, so I qualified that as an emergency in my head, and sent her along to the bathroom without a pass. Oops. A few minutes later she was escorted back to the room by the principal. He didn't say anything, just smiled, and had a big role of toilet paper for my room. He stood there for a few minutes, watching, and left. I hope I don't get in trouble.

4. During 9th period, the assistant principal (who I love) came in to observe. This made me nervous, though, because I'm always nervous in that huge class of 37, and being watched by someone I respect makes anyone a little bit nervous. Plus, it was so damn hot in the school today that I was dripping sweat. She stayed only about five minutes, and afterwards asked me if I needed any fans in my room. Later, she left me a nice note about how good the activity was that I was doing.

5. I guess I shouldn't complain about being observed by both the principal and the vice principal in the same day, as long as they bring supplies with them every day. Today, I scored two fans and a roll of toilet paper. Huzzah!

6. Afterwards, there was an all-staff meeting. I don't want to breathe a word yet, but my school is doing something next year that may revolutionize not only the school but give another option for the BCPSS, this time for middle school.

7. After the meeting, I looked at my colleague (due Oct. 6), and told her that her belly looked especially big that day. She looked at me, looked at where I was looking, and thought I had said her breasts. She laughed and laughed. Then we sat around with two others and talked about The Wire until 6pm. So, I stayed at school until 6, and hardly got any extra work done - except for the papers I was able to sneak into the meeting.