Lord of the Flies

Even though I was back from Vegas on Sunday, I had a sub yesterday because I was participating in Challenge Day at my school. Challenge Day is a whole different story, but it's a fabulous day where students come together to cross the lines of race, bullying, family issues, etc. There were a lot of tears involved, and it helped open my eyes to some of the issues my students are facing.

Because I had a sub on Friday, I arrived at the school early yesterday morning to finalize sub plans for the day. Since nothing ever goes right, with two minutes to spare before reporting to Challenge Day, I ran upstairs to pick up my sub plans off the copier. Someone was printing 100 pages, front and back, and it was going to be ten minutes or longer before my plans would print. And then the printer shut down altogether.

So....I literally ran through the school (it's a big school) and found another printer that was not busy. That one wouldn't work either, so now I was late for Challenge Day and I didn't have sub plans printed. I ran back to my room, put a sticky note on the computer that my sub plans were on the screen and headed off to CD.

Between 1st and 2nd hour, I ran to my room to check on my kids, to say hi, and to make sure the sub was doing OK. I ran into about five students along the way who told me my sub never showed up. Panic began to rise in my throat. When I arrived to my room, it was empty save a note on the board, written by one of my most trusted students: Dear Administration, I am extremely disappointed in your lack to find us a sub for the day. If you can't even do your job correctly, how can you manage to run a school? This was the biggest waste of time. I'm outta here. Ryan.

He's an idiot for leaving his name! I erased the board and called down to the office.

Me: Lisa, my sub never showed up today.
Lisa: Ummm, we've been notified. Did you know you were supposed to call in your own sub for today?
Me: WHAT?!?!?! No, I had no idea. I thought Jeni called in my sub for today. Oh my goodness, I am soooooooo sorry.
Lisa: A sub has now been called, who should be arriving in the next ten minutes or so.

The whole sub situation is also a different story for a different day, but it was completely my fault that the sub didn't show. I felt stupid. Anyway, the sub arrived and the rest of the day went without a hitch.

Upon arriving to school this morning, I heard the ENTIRE story, and it still makes my blood boil. I was so angry this morning after hearing what happened with my 1st hour class, I was shaking. It took everything in my body to control myself.

The kids sat for about 15 minutes waiting for the sub to arrive. Once they realized that no one was coming, they decided, as any normal kids would do, that they were going to have some fun. Mind you, these are 11th graders. These are kids who should know better. These are kids I trusted. They first started coloring (with my crayons) on the desks. I found a penis, some cuss words and many other drawings upon my return. They then decided to break all my crayons in half and throw them all over the floor. Then they started ripping up papers and scattering those all over the floor. Books were thrown all over. After about 15 more minutes of destroying my room, one girl decided she better call the office and notify someone.

Well, seeing as how these are logical kids, they knew that if administration came down after 30 minutes of being alone, and if administration saw the destruction of the room, they MIGHT get in trouble. They didn't want to get in trouble, so they had to stop this girl from calling someone for help. They disconnected the phone cord from the phone so that she couldn't make the call. They then tossed the cord from person to person playing keep away from the girl who was trying to help.

She then decided to go get a teacher. The other student shut the door and blocked her so she couldn't leave. They started pushing her away. They started bullying her. They started calling her names. They started throwing things at her. Somehow she managed to escape the room with five minutes left of class. She ran down the hall and got a teacher, who came into the room and settled everyone down. He called Lisa, who then called a sub.

In the meantime, an AP came down to cover the class until the sub could arrive. He saw Ryan's note on the board, much to my horror.

So, you see, I'm sure you can imagine why I was so angry this morning. I lectured these kids for ten minutes this morning on how disappointed I was in them. How I thought I could trust my students, but they failed me. How some of my most trusted kids, the kids who I had on the "ask these students for help if you need help" list, how they had lost all my trust. How embarrassed I was that they acted like the kids in Lord of the Flies. How I had to apologize to the AP for the way my students had acted. How I was mortified to find a note on the board yelling at administration for failing when in fact, it was MY fault that a sub didn't show up. I went on and on and on. I ripped them up one side and down the other. I finally said, "I don't even want to talk to you anymore, I am so disgusted with you. If there is EVER a time when I do not show up, or a sub does not show you, you better get your ass to that phone and make a call to the office. I am so disappointed that I can't even look at you right now. I'm going to sit at my desk, and you have the rest of the hour to work. Whatever you don't finish is homework."

I sat down, and not a single student said a peep for the rest of the hour.

Once the bell rang, I called Ryan over to talk about his nice little note. I told him he was one of my most trusted students and he had let me down. I once again explained that administration had nothing to do with the lack of a sub, and I asked him if he would ever write me a note such as he had. He said no, he would never have written a note to me like that. I said, "Then you have no right writing a note when you know nothing about the situation. You made yourself look like a fool, and you made me look like a fool. I had to personally apologize to the AP for your note. You THOUGHT you knew the facts, but you were 100 percent off from the actual truth, and I hope you apologize to Mr. B for what you had to say."

Mr. B ran into Ryan after school, and he had a similar talk with Ryan. Mr. B said, "As an athlete, you are a leader in this school. You let me down, and you let Ms. Nichols down."

Just thinking about this story and retelling it has made me angry again. I completely understand that if I was a student in that situation, I probably would have left the room to find a friend to hang out with. I don't blame them for not wanting to call someone. What I do blame them for is turning LOTF on me and treating the one girl who tried to help just like Piggy was treated.

I had to apoligize to Mr. B today for the way my students behaved. That was a very humbling situation.

Because I Know You Care

Some things from my life lately:

I had the most fabulous birthday, and I will post pictures soon. Since I wasn't able to have a 21st birthday like most people do (because of 9/11), I made it up by throwing myself a Nerdy, Dirty, and Flirty themed party. It was by far the best birthday I have ever had, and most of my favorite people were there to celebrate with me. I am now officially 30, which I guess feels the same as 29, but still....I'm 30.

I am going to Vegas (again) this weekend with Shan, Jeff, Holly, Vali and Nate. Jeff's birthday is next week (I won't mention his age), so a few of us are going to celebrate his birthday. I still need to post pictures from my last trip there in July.

I saw The Zac Brown Band this past weekend at Red Rocks. Again, pictures to come. It was a decent show all around, and while I have a few complaints from the evening, I can honestly tell you that Zac Brown has the best voice I have ever heard, he's a cutie, and I fell in love with him. I decided to do some research last night to find out how I might help him fall in love with me, and I discovered (to my horror) that he's married with three girls. Sigh. Story of my life.

I adore my apartment. I definitely miss Shan, Jeff, Case and Siahna, but I really enjoy coming home from work, stripping down to my PJ's and doing whatever I do (ie: cooking, baking, watching TV, surfing the web, etc). I love the quietness. I also love having all my stuff out of storage and enjoying what I have.

Shan and crew usually have me over for dinner about once a week, which I look forward to. Case always wants to play because he misses his aunt Dido. The other night, he got teary eyed as I left the place and asked me to spend the night in his bed. He's just too cute.

I have been working a lot. Yes, I have my regular 40 hour a week job, but I've also been working Saturdays at Enterprise, and I've been working volleyball games and gymnastic meets at the school on week nights. I often don't get home until 8 or 9 pm (about two nights a week), but I enjoy watching my students play their sports.

All summer, my bulletin board was covered with plane tickets, concert tickets and wedding invitations. It has now dwindled down to just one wedding invitation left for the year, and I am actually in the wedding. Ben and Lindsey get married next weekend. I am a bridesmaid and Collin is a groomsman, and it should be a really good time.

I think that's all for now. From this post I have realized that I have a lot of pictures to post. Once I'm back from Vegas, I'll work on sharing those with you.

For now, God bless!

A Story of Ingenuity

Sometimes you just have to be creative. And when you're poor like me, you REALLY have to be creative.

I have been baking and getting ready for company this weekend. Rather than go out to eat when everyone is here, I decided to show off my baking skills and make some breakfast items. I've made:

Zucchini Walnut Muffins

Zucchini Chocolate Muffins

Zucchini Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread (my favorite, which came from Abby)

Lemon Pound Cake Muffins

Peanut Butter Banana Bread w Chocolate Chips

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

It's all in my freezer, and I am looking forward to eating all this delicious food (I also made 6 peach pies the other day). While making these recipes, I THOUGHT I had all the ingredients, but I discovered while making the PB Banana Bread that I was out of chocolate chips. I was in the middle of mixing when I figured this out. I had already been to the store, and I wasn't about to go again, so this is where my creativity played a role.

I walked through my house and found every piece of chocolate I could find. I unwrapped about 10 pieces of Dark Chocolate Kisses, chopped them up and used that for my chocolate. Am I good or what?

While making my Peanut Asian Chicken Salad tonight, I realized that I didn't have canned peanuts, as per the recipe. Again, I wasn't about to go to the store in the middle of cooking dinner, so I started looking through my cupboards. I found a bag of trail mix, which yes, is full of peanuts. I rummaged through the bag of raisins, M&Ms, cashews and peanuts until I had enough peanuts to chop. Ingenuity at its best! While I will admit the peanuts kind of tasted like raisins, it was already in my cupboard, so I'm OK with that! :)

Fun in the Sun

Welcome to my Home!

Giving you a glimpse into my home...

This is standing in my entry way looking at the front door.

This is standing at my door looking into the living room.

I'm still standing at my door, but this is to the left of my fireplace.

This is standing by my porch door. I obviously need to straighten that red flower picture.

Standing in my entry way.

My porch.

I'm standing in the living room looking into my dining room.

This is standing in the dining room looking into my kitchen. It's pretty blah in here....

...but I have this sweet picture hanging above my sink.

Welcome to my bathroom.

Standing at the bathroom door looking in.

The elephants even made it to the bathroom. Don't worry, they can't see you pee...

This is my fairly blah bedroom. I have some artwork picked out, but I'm hoping it will go on sale.

It's laundry day, so my bed is unmade, but this is standing from my door looking into the bedroom.

Standing from my bedroom door.

And there you have it, folks. My beautiful, amazing, wonderful, cozy, tiny, colorful little home. I love it, and I love living alone.

I do miss Shan, Jeff, Case and Siahna, but I'm only five minutes away from them and see them quite often. Case misses me and asks me to spend the night pretty often (he even said I could sleep in his bed-so sweet). Case, Carson and Kye have all stayed at my place for a sleepover, which was a lot of fun. Most of my friends have been over for dinner (those who are close enough to make the drive), and I'm getting ready to have my first company spend the night during my birthday weekend. What do you think?

Week One, Year Two---Check!

I officially started (and completed) the first week of my second year of teaching. For some reason, I was NOT nervous about starting the school year. It almost seemed unreal to me that summer was over and that I had to go back to work so soon after finishing summer school. Even though I did teach summer school (and worked at Enterprise off and on throughout the summer months), this was officially my first summer "off." It was a great summer, as you've seen from my pictures, and I wasn't quite ready for it to end. I was, however, ready to get back into a routine. It was weird to sleep until whenever (although I'm a morning person and was usually up by 7 or 8), eat breakfast as I watched the news, head to the pool, eat lunch whenever, head back to the pool, eat dinner whenever, go to bed whenever. I had a hard time with all that, so I was eager to get back into the swing of things. I was excited to see my teacher friends. I was excited to meet the next group of kids I would mold into fine young adults.

What I forgot about was the horrible, god-awful, horrendous week that preceeds the start of school: MEETINGS. For an entire week, we sat through boring meeting after boring meeting after POINTLESS meeting. And I must say that teachers are the worst students that will ever walk into a school. But I won't get into that...

So the week before the kids arrived was the worst week of my life. But a week ago today, I met my little chickens (as I like to call them). They begin as little chicks, all cute and adorable. Then they hit 8th and 9th grade and become all ugly and gross. I, luckily, am the lucky one who gets the 10th and 11th graders this year who are starting to turn into the grown chicken they are meant to be. The ugliness is fading, and for the first time in their lives (for many of them), they are beginning to understand the importance of their education. It's exciting to share this moment with them.

As I was saying, I wasn't nervous for the first day of school. It kind of snuck up on me, and I was anxious to get through the meetings so I could meet my chickens. As they began to arrive, I began to see many faces that I had last year. As the students piled into my room, some old faces, some new faces, I was thrilled to meet the new crew.

1st hour-11th graders who are fabulous.
2nd hour-11th graders who are amazing.
3rd hour-11th graders who are fun.
4th hour-11th graders who are exciting.
6th hour-10th graders who are...quiet. You know the sound a cricket makes? You will hear that in this class. I even told them, "I'd rather have you talk too much than not at all..."

"Chirp, chirp, chirp."

Ok, so this 10th grade class isn't AS exciting as my other four 11th grade classes, but we'll get there, I'm confident.

Anyway, the most exciting part about this first week has been the flock of students who have flooded my room to welcome me back, to request me as their teacher, to hug me and ask about my summer, to complain about how horrible their new English teacher is and how they wished I was their teacher, to ask me to request them as my student next semester, or just to visit. I have students stopping in between passing periods (at the risk of being tardy to their next class) just to say hello. I have students coming in during their off hours to write/draw on my boards and chat the hour away. I have students asking me for English help because "I just connect with you and I know we work well together. My new teacher isn't helping, so I would love to get help on my thesis statement if you have the time."

THIS is why I teach. As I collect 150 essays on Friday, THAT is not why I teach. But the process of writing that essay is why I teach. Seeing the lightbulb go on as I help them write a good thesis is why I teach. Being able to say to a kid who has just told me he's stupid when it comes to English, "You are not stupid. You just struggle with English, which is why I'm here." Seeing him smile as he begins to realize that just because he has a hard time in English does not mean he's stupid; that is why I teach. Seeing a 10th grade boy tear up when I look him in the eye and say, "This is your year. I am confident that you are fully capable of this work. I have no doubt in my mind that your parents will stop yelling at you and be so proud of you when you bring home your first A." That is why I teach.

I thank God every single day that I have a job in the teaching industry. Not only do I have a job, but I have a job at MY school. Chatfield is my home. These students are MY students, my little chickens, or in the case of my 10th grade class, my little crickets.

Family Reunion

My grandparents are truly two of the coolest people I know (and I'm not just saying that because they are my grandparents). Everyone who meets them says the same thing. They have been married for over 65 years, and they are more in love today than they were on their wedding day. Shan shared a bit of their story here. In order to honor them, our family and my grandpa who just turned 90, my mom put together a mini family reunion.

We all packed up and went to NE a few weekends ago. On the way, I told Shan and Jeff that grandma probably wouldn't recognize me with my new hair color. I couldn't have been more correct. Grandma walked into the house on Saturday and looked at me and then walked away. Knowing that she didn't recognize me, I grabbed her arm and said, "Grandma, it's me, Shiloh. I changed my hair."

You would have thought that hell froze over. She looked at me with the most puzzled look and said, "Shannon, did you change your hair? I don't like it Shannon. What did you do with your red hair? I like your red hair. You need to change it back to red."

I chuckled, thinking she was playing with me. "Grandma, I'm not Shannon. I'm Shiloh."

She stared at me. "Stop it, Shannon. You're not Shiloh. You're Shannon. And I do not like your hair."

I'm not even kidding, for over two hours, she just stared at me, called me Shannon and kept repeating that she did not like my new hair and she missed my red hair. (I should mention that Shannon was not around when this all took place-she was hosting a PC party at a nearby house).

Eventually Shannon arrived, which really threw grandma for a loop. She then looked at Shan, looked at me, looked back at Shan. She was SO confused. I kind of felt bad and probably should have called to warn her. Once she saw Shan and me standing side by side, she was able to see the difference. She finally started calling me Shiloh but refused to accept my new color. All she could do was stare, shake her head and say, "I do not like it at all."

The rest of the weekend went without a hitch (other than the HOT, HUMID weather and the stupid mosquito bites). We had a great time and, of course, had to snap some pictures.

Kye, Aydan (April's little boy) and Carson going for a ride with Dido

My dear Grandma Van

Me, Grandma and Katie (sis-in-law)

My pops

My mom's sister, Lisa, and Corinne

My grandparents great-grandchildren. We were missing a few, as they have around 13 great-grand kids. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the boy in the orange (on the far left) and the boy in the yellow (with his arm up) are identical twins.

All my cousins (four are missing)

The Kloepping clan (missing a few)

The Nichols/Anderson clan

My amazing grandparents, Bill and Van