Thursday, August 29, 2013

The more things change...

So just three weeks before the beginning of school the principal of my elementary school called and told me I was being reassigned to the high school. I would go from teaching technology to kindergarten through fourth grade to teaching computer applications and personal finance to ninth graders.  OK. The folks in the business department at my high school have been really wonderful, and I teach in a small suburban district, so the kids are pretty harmless as teenagers go. But still, it's a shock.  Or maybe not. I started teaching 7 years ago after a long career in IT. Before IT I did other things, but that's another post. Anyway the ninth graders I'm teaching were at the elementary school when I started.  So when I got to the high school Monday, they were all pretty excited to see me. Especially the bad ones. I am a magnet for bad children. Especially bad little boys. They love me. It's a curse. Here's the thing... They're just the same. The ones who could not sit still in third grade still cannot sit still. The ones who blurted out comments in the middle of class still do that. The class clown is still the class clown. It's really funny. They are just great big old toddlers with hormones. I miss the little ones, but this will be fine for a while. They say it's only for a year since I am there to replace a teacher who is fighting a serious illness. These things have a way of becoming permanent, but we'll see. Meanwhile, I'll try to figure out the high school equivalent of the quiet chair.