Hello friends, family, and strangers (I flatter myself)! I am a recently-graduated girl finding my way in the "real world" (apparently, I've been floating around the fake world for the past two decades). Many of my friends' "real world"s consist of cubicles, nine-to-fives, marriage, babies, and other such grown-up things. My real world looks a little different. Yes, I still get up and go to work every morning, same as they do. But instead of battling fax machines, computer programs, disgruntled spouses and dirty diapers, I arm myself against a legion of 14-year-old boys. Well, 83 of them to be exact. You see, I teach 8th-grade boys' Science in an inner-city, high-poverty school. What it is not: glamorous, prestigious, boring. What it is: humorous, heartbreaking, and the most challenging thing I will ever do.

The stories I tell and the people I describe are real; you can't make this stuff up. If you are new to my blog, I hope you'll start at the beginning and fall in love with its characters, just as I have.

Monday, January 24, 2011

BAKED.

Learned a new one today. "Baked." "Work" is less than "Flame" is less than "Bake." All of them mean to make fun of someone. Today during third block, that's all they wanted to do. Again. I quelled it 'til HAC (outside) time, where I employed a little selective hearing. Here some snippets I "didn't hear."

Quabi [as he peers into the dumpster outside the lunchroom]: "Malik! You need to come here! Yo house gettin' robbed!!"

Malik [as he stares at Quabi's pimpled brow]: "Yeah but tell me how yo forehead's got AIDS?"

Quabi [inspecting the pleats in Malik's pants]: "Same reason you wearin' yo dad's church slacks to SCHOOL!"

Chy [the Asian, as he ponders Quabi's lazy eye]: "Quabi's eye like a security camera. It only blink like once a month!"

Quabi: "Yeah an' I got a hangnail; you gonna give me a manicure?"

I couldn't help it. I was rolling. I guess it doesn't translate as humorously in print, but trust. Maybe I should feel guilty for laughing at their expense...but these kids are hilarious. It's one of the perks of my jobs; they're nothing if not entertaining.

Then: "MS. M! We see you laughin'...over there in them busted up BOOTS!"
"Honey, if you have a problem with my boots you're gonna have to take it up with your Daddy; he's the one that bought them for me!"

"OH SHE TRYNNA FLAAAMMMMEEEE!!! MS. M TRYNNA WORK!!!"

Later we were back in class listening to Pandora while doing our review packet. Usher's "Burn" came on and by the middle of the first verse, all pencils were down and 28 boys' voices belted out in unison. I looked at them for a second, thought about getting on to them, then passionately joined in the chorus, "But you know that's it's over, we knew it was through, let it burn...let it burn...gotta let it burn..."
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2011 at 3:49 PM

    i wish there was a camera in your room.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ErinJanuary 24, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    please give me serenity now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnnJanuary 24, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    come visit chase. you can be a guest speaker.

    ReplyDelete
  4. StarlaJanuary 25, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    Besides my QT, reading your blog is the only break from my work that I always take time to do. What a treasure!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lindsey SmithJanuary 26, 2011 at 7:12 AM

    i know sometimes the job sucks and you have your bad days... but as i sit here in my cubicle wasting time, i want you know to know, i am so jealous of your awesome life! these little nuggets make my day! and to know that its hard, but you see the good stuff. i cannot wait until you get back to the dirty south and flame everyone (trying the new lingo, duh).

    a personal favorite of mine is confessions (part II of course).

    ReplyDelete
  6. SusanJanuary 26, 2011 at 6:39 PM

    I'm thinking at the end of this semester you need to have a vocab quiz for all of your followers. Then we can see who has really been paying attention.

    ReplyDelete

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