Grit In The Gap

I forgot that I didn’t have school yesterday, due to Chinese New Year. Today felt like a Monday, but I give you Toilet Tuesday.

So what is driving me to the proverbial toilet, a.k.a. the only place I can find solitary respite from madness, is the following:

• All my kids fall into three ethnic categories: 1) Asian, 2) African American, and 3) Latino, and they have all taken to calling all of the other groups, including their own 1) Soy sauce and ching-chong, 2) Fried Chicken and a click sound meant to make fun of African language, and 3) Burrito. I’m doing lessons and activities about racism, but it just makes me sad.
• The 7th graders are in the last phase of testing me. Meaning, I’ve conquered everyone but the outliers, and even the outliers are staying in class longer. I’ve invested them externally (read, bribed them), set clear rules/consequences/boundaries, gotten the Mamas on board, and so now there’s nothing left for them to do but call me irritating and say they hate me. Quite annoying, but I know I almost have them when they do this. Structure is uncomfortable! At first. They’re in the box, but they’re banging their heads on the walls. They’ll stop after the walls don’t go anywhere :)

And that is the worst that’s going on in my day-to-day, as far as the students are concerned. Totally doable and not that bad, compared to the past’s Toilet Tuesdays!