New Shoes

Today was a good school day, but got very frustrating towards the end. I had a day of good lessons, my only 7th grade class was okay, and I finished the day with my 5th grade band students. This is the same group of kids that had an awesome rehearsal yesterday, and they would not shut up today. I tried yelling, and that didn't work, so I did the old, sit-there-angrily-and-wait-for-them-to-figure-it-out, which took about a minute, and then gave them a speech about how I am here to help make them better, and they are wasting their time by talking, and not allowing themselves to be better, and that it will be their fault when the parade comes along and they are not ready. Of course, the bottom line is, if the band does not sound good, it is a reflection on my performance. I am not worried about this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, to guilt them into being quiet. I hate doing that kind of crap. As much as I admired my HS band director, he was guilty of this kind of tactic, and I was never really a fan of it. I am not sure how to address the issue in a productive way. It is the same issue I have with my 8th grade class. I am not sure how to discipline a whole group. I'd be there all day writing out demerits!

I had a very busy afternoon, as I was expected to be in three places at once. I had duty outside, I had yearbook club, and I had to go to a 'round-robin' (a meeting of all of a student's teacher, and the parent, usually requested by the parent). I switched with the person who had morning duty...that solved that problem. The issue with yearbook was that Rita, the art teacher and co-advisor, works at the other building on Day 4. I figured I would have no problem getting to the round robin, because Rita would be there to get the kids started. I forgot that it takes about a half hour to get from the other building to my school. Well, luckily, Rita got there soon after the start of school (joking that she ran over some kids to get here on time), and I was able to get to the round-robin. After that, I joined the yearbook meeting. We have a pretty good crew this year. I was worried that some trouble-makers would join, but they didn't show up.

Meggie picked me up, and we came home and had ham steak for dinner.

After that, we went to Famous Footwear to get me new shoes. Three years ago, I bought a pair of brown Sketchers dress shoes. They were good shoes, but recently bit the dust, when I noticed that I had completely worn the heels down, and there were actually holes in the bottom of my shoes. So I got a similar pair, Sketchers again, and they look even more durable than the last pair. Only $39.99 too! I have an issue with paying any more than $40.00 for a pair of shoes. They were literally the cheapest pair I found there. Good thing I liked them. I guess I am just used to the Gettysburg Outlet bargain prices.

We came home, and couched it for the rest of the evening. I graded some work, and read my mail and blogs, while watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. My favorite episode of all time was on: the one where the Enterprise gets caught in that time rift, and keeps repeating the events over and over again. They eventually realize this is happening, from feelings of deja vu. Well, I won't get into it all, at a risk of making myself sound even nerdier than I already have.

Okay, Meggie is cutely sleeping on the couch, so I should wake her up so we can go to bed.