Pleasantly warm outside, bitter cold inside

I can't believe it. The long weekend is over. I had a great relaxing time at Chico Hot Springs, and would surely go again in the future. Although I did not attend any conferences, I believe that my wife's conference was useful. (You'll have to ask her though.)

It was a little difficult trying to get back into the swing of things today. First off, I really didn't want to get up and come to work. Not to worry though, I did make it to work 10 minutes early, which is my usual average these days.

However, when I got to work, I was in for a rude awakening. I guess someone heard me complain about my room being to hot. So today, when I stepped in the room, it was 55 degrees. By the time lunch arrived, the room temperature had risen 8 degrees to 63. After lunch, I broke down, and got the space heater out of the storage room and turned it on. Granted, I'm warm, but the space heater is only large enough to heat a small portion of the room, so the students weren't warmed much.

The reason I had to get it out after lunch, is the fact that I have lunch duty this week. I don't know of one teacher that likes having lunch duty. The nice thing today (and hopefully the rest of the week), was the weather. On nice days, most of the students go outside after lunch, meaning the hallway isn't nearly that crowded. Although I have more area to cover when the students are outside, it is easier to see the students when they are getting into trouble. However, because they are more spaced out, they don't get into as much trouble. I did confiscate a long, cloth key chain that one student was using to hit other students. I really did want to keep it because it was a Timberwolves key chain. To bad the student picked it up after school.

I was thinking I should take a day off this week, and looking at my schedule Wednesday would be the perfect day. No labs planned (that would be Thursday and Friday), no real notes to go over, and primarily review work. Sounds perfect, right? Well, turns out that it is picture day. Normally, I would still consider it a perfect day to take off. The last two years however, I can't. Because I'm the National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society Advisor, I'm required to be in the picture.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less crazy than today. Today's madness:

• ESCI - Most students finished up their labs. A few students are only half through, due to numerous bouts of gossiping.
• CHEM - Well, turns out only 7 of the 16 students did their work from last week. All but three finished this period. Problem is, they have another assignment due tomorrow. Now, if they were really struggling with the material, and actually attempting to do it, I might give them extra time. However, the students that were behind, spent the entire period discussing nothing. Even when told late assignments would not be accepted, they still decided to talk.
• LSCI - of my class of 16, only 10 were in class today. Looks like I'm going to have to push back their test another day.
• PSCI - Just did some vocabulary, and went over last Wednesday's test. Pretty mellow.
• BIO - I can't believe it! Some of the students actually did their homework during the long weekend. Other's actually used their morning study hall to complete the work. Only 1/3 of the class or so wasn't done when class started, and of those 1/2 finished during class. Wow. I'm guessing they must have used up all their energy this weekend though, because very few work hard on today's assignment.
• ADV BIO - Notes on bones and their structures. Personally, I like this chapter because it's very easy to relate these structures to the students, especially if they are into athletics. Seems like athletes really want to know about their muscles and bones.

'Til tomorrow.