Monica Is Back

Yesterday I was surprised to see Monica at school.  I asked Miro why she was there, and learned that Monica's mother had changed her mind, and would continue to send Monica to our school.  At first I was furious--Monica has a horrible attitude and was so disrespectful to me.  Today I wasn't at all angry about it.  I was determined to act like a grown-up about the whole thing (after all, she's 13 and I'm 23).  However, I was also determined to not let her get away with anything.  I would not have hesitated to put her outside the classroom or send her to Joelle or Mr. Kim. 

When I walked in I considered changing where they were all seated so she was close to me and next to one of the good students, but I decided not to remind her of last week or embarrass her teenage feelings, so left her seated by herself in the second row.  She was actually decent.  She responded to questions a lot better than normal, and I didn't have to scold her even once for speaking in Korean or not paying attention.  Apparently Joelle yelled at her pretty good, and maybe her mother even got involved?

Matt and Tanya were a bit upset by Joelle telling them, yesterday, that the lesson plans for the summer classes were due tonight, or by the latest, Friday morning.  That's where their education degrees come in handy, perhaps.  They were aggravated, but had no problem getting it done.

Today flew by, with few problems.  At 3 PM Jenny and Ally told me they were the teachers and I was a new student.  OK, sure, why not?  I went along with it for a couple of minutes, but they gave the class back to me too soon.  I was interested to see how they would "teach" the class!  At 7 PM Brandon and the other 6th graders were back.  I was really strict with them so it was OK.  I would rather not be a dictator, though!

Latest web stats:  wow, people are coming from all over the world!  It's up to 14 countries--Ukraine, Malaysia, and Sweden since 7/9.  Also interesting search terms--"anecdote," "mild tonsillitis symptoms" (from when I was sick), "makes fun of Bush and Kerry" (referring to the Jibjab site), "journal on using video to teach listening skills" (the listening meeting), and "get behind the counter phrase" (from when I talked about Jennifer's fight).  Search engines are insane!