Nellie (Shelby) and The Kid - 2 weeks till she leaves us :(

Shane - By far the best dancer in 6th Grade. He will get recruited for football because he got skillz!

Hailey's Comet, Toledo Girl, and Corky (Courtney)

Yogi, Steven, and Chris - Detroit Basketball!!!!!!!!

Daylight Savings - So it's like less than a total of 30 days I have left of student teaching. Thanks for the advice from Franchise as I continue to ask Him for patience, strength, understanding, and love each day. My question again though is what does it mean to be a "professional?" Let's look at the NBA Dress code now, which I agree with AI. I mean if you're a murderer dressed in a suit, does that change who you are? I hope a lot of my favorite players break this stupid rule, and I could careless what Tom Tolbert has to say about it. I mean he freaking sucked in the league and he's all happy about it. Like AI said, it just makes people fake....

Anyways, Friday night we had the first annual Halloween 6th Grade Dance. I was there and like I believe dressin me up for so long, could only hide all that fake conservative crap that ain't me. So at the dance, the real me came out for the most part which seemed to separate me from others, good or bad I do not know? The kids were excited when I announced my song we be dancing too, which was Luda's Stand Up. My kids went crazy!

However, they ended in the night with Vitamin C's Graduation song and some of my kids were crying. It was because Shelby was moving in 2 weeks, and Kayla and Evette were crying so hard. Before Shelby left, she was still in tears and gave me a hug before she went off. I really care about my kids, and I'm becoming attached to them like Camp D.

Get It Poppin

Want Ads - Help, I need some serious advice badly for those in the working world or teaching profession. I just want to scream what has been happenning to me as of late. Everything that has to do with my student teaching, is killing me and pissin me off. It sucks so much that it caused me to miss worship this morning. I keep askin Him for patience, wisdom, and love through my situation. So I stayed until 11 p.m. on Thursday night at school to grade/check papers so my half of the Progress Reports looks nice and complete.

Friday morning, Teach looked at it and wondered why there are a bunch of holes in a lot of our kid's grades. I explained to him, any holes that are there are from his stack of papers that he has not touched for the past 2 weeks while I am constantly up to date on things. As the day came to an end, Progress Reports were passed out and I noticed all my work that I did Thursday night did not appear on the Progress Reports. After Teach left, I scanned the computer to see what happened to all my grades that I entered. I was shocked to see that he deleted all my grades because he did not fill in his half of the grades! However, I kept wondering what he did with his stack of papers then? As I was packing up to leave, I noticed that he stuck all his stack of papers into my stack so now I have to check/grade his crap from the last 2 weeks! Did I just get screwed or what?

Worst thing is, that I cannot even report this to my Supervisor because everything I say is an excuse to her. She does not believe in anything that I say which is why I call her The Ogre. For example, I tell her how long I stay after school hoping that she sees how dedicated I am in putting extra work in. She says by me staying after school that late means I do not do a good job using my time during school hours. What the GG is that crap about? It's a constant battle right now, and I am in a no win situation. I have to believe that He is in control of things, but it is denting my shield of faith to know that those deciding on my graduation are Teach and The Ogre. Only 31 more days of this abuse, but I'm afraid to leave my kids.

Volcano

Spadafore - Wow how long has it been since I last updated? I could say this teaching thing is taking the life out of me, but it's not it. I think it's a combo of things, playing in b-ball, v-ball, and football leagues ain't exactly helping. So my graduation continues to be in jeoparody due to either The Ogre or Lamb screwing me in the end. I'm so thankful for the support staff I have there, especially my close Stevenson connections.

Tonight, Julie, and Chris went out to dinner at Chili's. It's ironic because Julie used to be the Titans Music teacher, while Chris was the counselor there, and then me, the student there! They kept encouraging me that I need to swallow my pride in order for me to defeat The Ogre. Julie said " The first thing I notice about you, is your heart" when she is comparing me to the other student teachers. I just keep getting caught at the worst times by C.A.P.

What can get worst, but to have my phone not working anymore. I feel so disconnected even more now without a communication device. I was actually considering writing peeps letters like the old days. Oh well that thought only lasted so long as I am waiting for my RAZR V3 in the mail now.

Pookie

Truck Stick - Well it's like almost 3 a.m. so I might as well do something. Well I'm thinkin that maybe it was not the greatest idea to say that I can work on Sundays. I didn't think I had to ref football and b-ball games for 5 hours straight. I had fun with the IM Staff because I don't see them as regularly now. However, I missed out on the Lions game, New Heart Worship, Sunday School, peeps who came home to visit, and seeing my Jr. Church kids. Yes, I get paid for the work I do but that time lost is time gone away from work I need to do asap!

Plus, the kids cracked me up as they told me about their dreams about me leaving. All you could hear was Alicia shouting "He's back!" and I got Abby telling me she called me last night, while the rest ran and hugged me. MeiMei kept telling me not to leave them again, and Hannah keeps asking me about when I am teaching again.

The clock keeps ticking and now we're having a Madden '06 party at my house. A bunch of my cousin's friends are over and we've been playin Madden for 5 hours straight so far. I think it will be an all niter for me as we plan on playin some other video games. Man I hope I have the energy to get me through the Monday work day.

Sack

Red - What does it mean to be a professional? I remember this past summer getting constantly yelled at for the things I do for the kids. I always try to go out of the way for some of them that I know and whom I have a relationship with the parents. However, now that I am in a school building where I can't always be as Stone Cold as I want to be, it gets harder. I am starting to learn that a lot of my kids come from low income families. I mean, this is The Heights, and The U we are talkin bout here. So here is the story I got about my Shorty from a parent today.

There is this Halloween Party at the end of October, which costs $5 for each student. Shorty is not going and a lot of the parents would like her to come since she is on Student Counsel. I was told at last year's party, she paid in all change and the theory is that she probably broke open a piggy bank just to go. I walked her out the door today because she lives across the street. She is one of my favs because she is not an all A student, more of a B-C student. However, it is her effort, respect, and responsibility that sticks out to me. She is always the last one to leave my room because she wants to help me get the floors clean for the janitor. She is always thinking of others first.

I feel restricted about what I want to do for my students if I stay in the public school system. I remember talking to a Christian private school system, and I like that a lil better because of the relationships built there. I just want to be somewhere where I can give all that I can to my students, and not have to worry about certain BS. It's like I try to do things with the best of intentions yet it gets twisted and backfires. It's wierd, I have like 2 months left of my OU undergrad year it seems like.

Sprung

Wheaton - There's this girl, Amanda in my class. She is Emotionally Impaired (EI) and she goes down to the Learning Center for every subject but Social Studies. She's a sweetie and I can sense what she does not get at home. She is a follower, and has low self-esteem who does not care for school. Her role model is her older sis, which isn't sayin much. Amanda acts and is actually a lot more mature physically and mentally of what goes on in her head and how she dresses. She often comes to school an hour late because she always oversleeps for school. Something happened to her house yesterday from what I heard today. Against the wishes of some peeps, before my Dumar's v-ball game, I drove past Amanda's house.

What I saw was true, her garage was burned completely down. The whole thing was in flames, and now her property has the Police tapes around it. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but sources say it was her older bro who is a pyro maniac. I wish there was more I could do for her. I played my heart out at tonight's game for her.

Lastly, I've been watching SchoolHouse Rock tapes to prepare for some lesson plans. I just found out I have to ref on Sunday. Man that means I am workin 7 days a week now, blah.

Goldberg

Anarchy - Dang it, I was all set to do my homework for the night. However, I am expectin a visit in less than an hour now from my Uncle from Cali. Kind of excited because we're all going to MGM then to Golden Harvest for eats at midnight. Plus I get to a Navigator throughout the D, I can't wait to test drive the crap out of this car.

Today we had a half day, while the teachers watched a video regarding the future of UCS. Apparently, in 2006-2007 many UCS teachers will be getting laid off to due lack of funding to the board of education. All of us student teachers were discussing how competitive it is already trying to find a job. We've been observing just how all the subs been fighting over each other trying to land a job. It is almost like QB's fighting for that 1 starting position, where in the lockers they are friends, but only one of them will get the job. Where does this lead to some of us student teachers, well some of us we're talkin bout movin South to get a job. Everyone was amazed at my composure because I ain't worried about it.

My reason is this, I ain't leavin to find a job unless I truly feel He is calling me to. I have faith He will find a job for me in the UCS district or in another district that I like such as Rochester, Troy, Chip-Valley, or Romeo. Lastly, except for my first couple of years being the Bad Boy in the Warren-Con schools, I grew up in the UCS and this is where The Kid wants to stay.

What's up with this week's Time magazine? They have a gay guy gracing the cover, no homos man.

Xander

Homecoming - Finally, it is done! A big weight off of my shoulders and one least thing that I need to do. I have finally finished all of Camp D CD's for 2K5. I am getting closer to getting all caught up with this student teaching gig. I've already stopped doing the Berkley scouting gig because it wasn't worth it anymore. I am interested in going to some of my alma mater's football games though, Davis Raiders baby! I've also been called for jury duty too, and I never knew they pay you to do it. The 1st day is $25, then each additional day is $40! Plus they pay for me gas too, this is too cool. I'm getting closer to getting all caught up with paper work. Things have started to work itself to a slower pace for me to catch up.

Who knows what is in store for me at Magahay, but I ask Him every morning to bless me with a good. I ask Him in the afternoon to give me the energy, patience, wisdom, and humility. I ask Him in the evening, to help me understand and remind me that all things happen for a reason and to trust Him that things are in His control and power, and not of my own.

3-D