laughter

I know I complain a lot in my posts about bratty kids and the woes of being a junior high teacher. But truly, I am blessed. Blessed to have this job, blessed to have a place to live, clothes to wear, money to spend on things like random pedicures, movie rentals, and cheap pizza. God has placed me here for a reason, though I can't see it because I am a tiny ant in this universe. Some days it's hard for me to not to question why I am here in X, Texas, teaching this exact group of kids, this exact year. I dunno. I probably won't ever.

But I do know that sometimes God lights up my day when he let's laughter into my classroom. Usually in the form of me laughing at my kids, not with them. I crack myself up a lot. It's nice having that ability when you are the only adult you see for the majority of the day.

Like for instance, 7:50am. Standing in the hall greeting my babies as they walk through the door while simultaneously yelling at kids to take their hats off, get out of the bathroom, and pull their pants up, I look across the hall into Mrs. T's room and see two of my girls practicing their dance routine. One of their friends (a complete sweetheart who greets me every morning with a "How you doin Ms. Angry Teacher having a nice day?" all in one breath with this crazy accent) is dancing with them but obviously not in the routine with them. She is waving her arms and gyrating while the other two girls are badly dancing next to her, swaying their hips and rotating in a circle. They look absolutely ridiculous but don't know it. They think they are awesome...remember this is not even 8 in the morning. I started laughing and they saw me, I hope their feelings weren't hurt, but wow, it was definitely a sight to see.

Or my Trouble Maker # 2 acting like an old man. I am so thankful that a coworker pointed this out to me or I probably wouldn't be able to deal with the little turd. The kid sleeps in class, can't wake up, is always complaining about something, is super gripey,  and always has to pee. Just like my grandpa. Ha.

In our tutorial period, one of my kids who refuses to read his book or do homework is usually a pain in the ass, but last week he saw a spray bottle full of cleaner and paper towels at the front of the room. For some reason he started cleaning ALL the desks and chairs, the board, the cabinets, and the windows. He is this tiny little boy and he enlisted the help of the tallest, most mature boy in the classroom to help him. They were racing around the room spraying cleaner on other students' desks (while they were still seated in them) and just being plain silly. I don't know why it made me laugh so much, but I couldn't keep a huge grin off my face. Then the little cleaner asked for a tip so I gave him a penny. ha. cheap labor. mwhahaha

I know I know, these aren't that funny to you dear reader, but I work with what I got, and my students are all I have during the work week. But then, I also find the podcasts Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and CarTalk absolutely hilarious. 

There are jokers in almost all my classes, so I am usually entertained throughout the day when I'm not busy chastising them about homework or being tardy or trying to yell over the din of 20 fourteen year olds.

besides, I have only 32.5 days till this year is over and I plan to at least enjoy most of it. Why spend my work week waiting till the weekend to have fun when I could just decide to be happy and joyful at every moment?

-tha angry teacher