My Generation

Today was career day at my school, which meant that a bunch of successful alumni came back to their old stomping ground to talk to high school students about how successful they are all going to become. There was a lot of back patting and 'rah rah rah'ing ... and I didn't even get an extra prep period, since they only took kids in grades 10 and up. I've never seen so many power suits in one place before.

What made my day so interesting was that many of the people who attended career day were old classmates of mine (from this very school that I teach at) or old teachers of mine and/or my dad's, aunt's cousins'. It was like a time-warp; I had a hard time keeping grounded as I kept running into people who I used to play dolls with or attend birthday parties at the Glencoe for.

So it would have been a good day -a great day, even- if my grade 9s hadn't decided to suck me of my passion, energy and goodness. As usual. And I let them, I did. I didn't yell at them or punish them. I just kept asking them nicely, while inside, wanting to just get SO ANGRY that they were being disrespectful. We were learning about corporations and going through lesson that I had put a LOT of time and effort into, and that had been AWESOME with my other grade 9 class ... and today, it just didn't click.

I'm going to rethink my strategy this weekend. I'm also going to write 97 report cards ... or at least get started on them.

So here I am, half an hour away from the end of another week. By Friday of each week, I'm just glad that I survived. I feel exhausted and overwhelmed and full of notes and ideas and projects to mark. Over the weekend I know that I'll have fun, see my friends, clear the slate and get rest ... but on Friday, I'm done like the dishes.