I have survived!

I have made it through my first 3 days as a middle school teacher. I have 24 students and a very supportive principal (which you fellow F.R.O.G.S. will greatly appreciate). I spent 72 hours before school started hanging new white boards and covering liquid nails covered walls. Going from a new building to an OLD building was definitely a change! A little background on my new school..... It was built in the 1950's or 60's as the African American high school. After desegregation it has been many different things over the years. 12 years ago it was the lowest performing school in the district with the highest poverty rate. My principal begged and pleaded and was finally allowed to take the school over and turn it into a fine arts magnet school. 5 years later, with the same poor kids, the school was, and remains, the highest performing school in the district. It is truly the coolest place I have ever been and the hardest I have ever worked! The teach everything with literature circles, cooperative learning, and based around the arts. The do not force teachers to use any textbooks that don't work. Students are given hands on, performance based, activities and they apply what they learn. It is the most supportive, positive environment that any teacher or student could hope for. Last year (with the same number of special ed students as any other classroom), the 7th & 8th grade had 100% of their students pass the state tests (that is a 70% or above!). It is truly an inspiring place.
Now for a little humor! My principal (MW) has begged the district for the past few years to get a Chinese teacher so that our 7th and 8th graders can take Chinese. So they finally agreed and brought him in this week to meet our kids. He speaks good English but somethings get lost in the translation! He was explaining to the kids that depending how say the same word (whether it is a falling or rising syllable) it has a different meaning. So he was explaining to the kids that a certain word meant diploma or degree and that if you said it a different way it meant "have you shitted today!" Standing next to him was MW who almost passed out in the floor when he cussed in front of the kids! The 8th grade teacher and I were trying hard not to crack up! After MW explained to him in front of the class that the kids would get expelled for that, they left the room. As the door shut behind him the entire 7th and 8th grade busted up laughing (along with their teachers!). ;0)