The Never-Ending Week

. . .but wait, it's over. So all things DO come to an end, good or not. Let's run over a synopsis of this week. . .

Monday - I stayed home with a hoarse voice and a sore throat. I didn't feel like trying to control my 144 students without a working voice.

Tuesday - My day begins at 3:30 am when Brian calls to say he's run his truck into a tree. For the next 3 hours, I help him get a wrecker, etc. About 6:30 I come home for a fitful 45-minute nap before I get up and go to school. First hour is. . .horrible. My voice is still weak, I'm still coughing a bit, and I'm exhausted. My class is all attitude and talk. I finally resort to calling an administrator down, because they refuse to listen to me at all. The middle of the school day is better, and the last couple of hours are difficult again. I arrive home in time to go get dinner before we attend our weekly small group meeting. My mom calls as I'm about to go to bed around 10, and I finally crash around 11 pm. . .having been awake for almost 20 hours.

Wednesday - I do not want to get up. My throat is no better and is in fact starting to feel worse. However, I make it to school. First hour is not improved. I wind up writing one referral when an angry student threatens me and calling a couple parents of other students with severe attitude problems. The rest of the day is not too bad, although the last 2 hours are, as usual, difficult. I leave quickly after school to take Brian to work, then go to sleep in the living room at 7. At 9, I get up and go to bed. My throat is definitely worse, and my cough syrup (as if it were helping anyway) is almost gone.

Thursday - First hour is a little better today. They're starting to catch on. My throat is killing me, and I'm trying to decide if I can miss school again on Friday. The day progresses with little incident until 6th hour. I'm trying to get my oversized class's attentiont to actually teach when I realize 2 of my students are actually yelling at each other. Trying to calm them down, there is suddenly a sharp pain in my head and a shower of Mountain Dew over the rest of me. Apparently, one of the angry students decided to pelt a pop bottle at the other one and had very unlucky aim. Several other students clean up the mess while I get Security to escort Angry Students out. Class continues, with 2 students telling me how much they now respect me, apparently because I didn't join the fight and start throwing punches when I got. . .baptized. If only I'd known their respect was so easy to earn. . . .
I'm rather in shock from this whole occurrence and don't know quite what to think. I've decided some absurdities are indeed too absurd to even be laughed at. There are already several teachers out on Friday, so I guess I've got one more day to go.

Friday - My voice is almost gone. My head is bruised and sore to the touch. I have to spend my planning period filling out staff injury forms with the nurse. We survive the whole day with me maintaining as much control as possible. Mostly, it's not too bad. Several students are sorry I feel bad, hope I get better, etc., etc. One in 7th hour asks me if I can speak up more. Ha.
Once home, I become mute. Kevin reads my mind amazingly well. . .apprently I don't need to talk much anyway. After dinner, we experiment with a tiramisu recipe. It has to be refrigerated at least 4 hours, so I'll let you know later how it turns out.

That's my week in a nutshell. How many weeks of school do we have left???