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I started writing this blog in 2008, toward the end of my first year of teaching. These posts about my experiences as an NYC Department of Education teacher have been (and continue to be) assembled over a period of several years. They don't necessarily need to be read in chronological order, but my very first post, "Context" (March 2008) might be useful as an introduction into this lunacy. While most of my stories highlight the ridiculousness of being a public school teacher, I should note that I love my students and care deeply for them. So as you read, please keep in mind that I do in fact have a soul, as well as a heart; and that heart of mine brims with pride every time I think about my students' talents and breaks with pain every time another one gets screwed by the system.

April 13, 2011

I can't decide what's worse...

...spelling like a dip-shit, uneducated moron on purpose (see mii kidz spellin skillz from previous post) OR cursing like a perverted 9th grader who's trying to be really cool-- when you're 12 years old?

Regret #4:

Having been around my students only in the classroom setting, I had a very precious image of them in my mind. I believed that even the troublemaker dickheads who made me wish I carried a rifle more often than not, were, deep down at their core, kids who didn't really curse (except for calling me a bitch for not letting him go out to recess, ahem, Greg, sigh) or talk about anything particularly racy. While there were hints that this image I had developed in my mind was indeed a fantasy (Derik losing his temper and yelling "WHAT THE FUCK!?"), I didn't take any of it to heart.

Maybe I should have, because their damn quotes keep on popping up on my Facebook Feed like the damn Plague:










Not to mention, since when did 6th grade boys 'like' such perverted things:




My student, my student LIKES this shit?!?! 


Excuuuuseee me?!? That word?!?!?








 I do not want to know what comes after "Legs. Open..."