I putzed around the house all day - cleaning here and there, playing on the computer, watching Lifetime TV movies, etc. One of the things that I did on the computer was read other people's journals. There are a kazillion out there! I have a few friends that have journals (and some don't update nearly as often as I would like! *lol*), and they are part of collaborations. So, I starting checking those out... thereby browsing through all the ring members' pages, which led to more pages, and those led to yet more journals. You get the drift. I overdosed on journals this weekend! ;-)

Then when I went to create my own daily entry, LiveJournal wasn't working for me. I panicked... cold sweats... heavy breathing going on. Yep, it's called withdrawal. And that was only a day without looking at my own entries/friend list/etc. Good golly! Imagine if LiveJournal actually went down for days at a time. Scary...

Well, I found some very very funny journal/diaries out there! Oh my gosh! The funniest one that I've ever read is Ladeeleroy over at Diaryland. She's a hoot!!! She is definitely a must-read.

I found some collaborations that I'd like to join. I'm already part of one - Random Acts of Journaling - and I've made an entry for it. I think I will really enjoy being part of things like that. At times I feel that I have absolutely nothing to say, and those kinds of collabs will help give me direction. (Then again, sometimes I have a whole lotta nothing to say - kinda like today!)

That was really my weekend. It consisted of putzing around, watching movies, and reading journals.

Today was Monday. Oh gosh! It was such a vast improvement over Friday (and last week in particular). It started out with our monthly awards assembly. We won the attendance trophy! Yay!! See, kids really do like to come to my class. *cheeky grin*

It was just a regular and ordinary day. I did, however, make the kids buckle down and get their work done. They are working so slowly, and it's gone on far too long. Today they had to fill in some science activity sheets regarding an invisible ink experiment that we did, and I told them that they had to finish it up by recess time. If they weren't finished by recess, they had to stay in until it was done. Well, I had duty. Another teacher watched my class (she is right next door, and I opened up the wall so that she could watch them while sitting at her own desk doing her work), and I left to go outside to recess duty. My entire class, except for one girl, stayed behind. They trickled out to the playground as work was finished. When the bell rang, I had a few of my students ask, "Miss H., does our class get some extra time? Some of us just got out here!"

I laughed. "No." I walked back to class.

I think they realized that Miss H. is no longer going to accept slacking! I'm really very flexible, but when it comes right down to it, some of the kids are just taking advantage of my kind nature. I will continue to be myself - caring, nurturing, accepting, tolerant, etc. However, when I say things need to be done, they will get done. I cannot accept that we are so far behind.

Don't get me wrong. I will not be unreasonable. If I am unable to give them enough time to finish something, we will pick it up after a recess or whatever. But if I have given them more than enough time, and they are still not done? Yep, you better believe that they will feel the consequences. We *will* get our acts together - both them and me!

Tomorrow I am getting observed by the principal. This happens two times a year every other year. This is my year, and it's my second time being observed. It was cancelled twice already due to things coming up for Mr. B (behavior problems that the principal needed to deal with). I had a wonderful lesson planned for the observation, and I still have it since I didn't do it before. It's one that I can do at any time. However, because we are playing catch-up, I think I have decided that I will just teach the lesson that I would normally teach. It's a new writing program that we are trying with hopes of helping these kids become better writers. So, the lesson will not be a song-and-dance lesson, but it will be a very practical and interesting one! (I hope.)