13 hour day

I stayed at school until 8 o'clock for an Open House for prospective middle school students who are deciding where to go to high school. I had eight students there with me, and many were the same eight kids that I was tearing my hair out about yesterday - the whiners, the bitchers, the moaners. And there they were, tonight, holding court in my classroom, telling these prospective parents and students how much they had learned and were learning, about how the curriculum has broadened their mind, about how now dreams of going to college in Australia or Harvard may be realized, about how the literature allows them to see beyond the "narrow confines of Baltimore" (direct quote from student, by the way), about how much work they and the teachers put into their learning. It was simply amazing. I literally got goosebumps.

As soon as the parents left, they were back to being the grade-grubbing flakes they usually are, but it was still nice to see. And equally nice to leave the school afterwards, when three of them came up to me and said, "Would you like to be involved in our conversation that consists only of questions?" and once I got a feel for it, it actually was kind of fun. But I lost.

At Safeway, I found myself behind Kendall, a kid I coached four years ago before he transferred to another school (and apparently grew two feet and worked out every day). He beat us with a grand slam in extra innings last year - we were up 15-11 going into the last inning, and he beat us - and we laughed about that, then we went our separate ways.

What a good day. I like teaching.