Me, too. Especially with the Saints jersey! (Go Saints!)

OMG.

SO CUTE!

I think I'm going to knit him a jersey with Carney's number.

I think I'm going to knit him a jersey with Carney's number.

Which of course will lead us to more pictures....right!?

Absolutely!

Not even sure I want one (though that may be sour grapes), but he kills. me. ded. Hearing him say "Who dat?" along with the visual? Priceless.

Oooh. That's what we do! We shut down the Bears with the cuteness of Beau! Fear his awesome cherub abilities!

Da Bears? They be Toast.

We shut down the Bears with the cuteness of Beau! Fear his awesome cherub abilities!

Just don't try dat on my Pats!

I am feeling very low this morning.

Yesterday, one of our students stole a very nice cell phone and wallet from another student. This was the latest in a series of escalating thefts.

Deciding enough was enough, the principal conducted a bag search. The phone was found, in a bag belonging to a girl who almost certainly wasn't the thief. In the course of this search, of course, tensions were very high, and two of our more crazy girls nearly had a fight in the hallway after one of them accused friends of the other one. I had to tackle one of the girls against a wall, a girl who is almost certainly MUCH stronger than me pound for pound.

Our English teacher broke down in the principal's office, and had to be persuaded not to quit.

Then i woke up at 4 a.m. this morning (having gone to bed, exhausted, before 9) to grade quizzes, only to discover that cheating was completely rampant on this quiz, which was proctored not by me but by a substitute. And even with the cheating, most of them failed, even though we spent 2 weeks longer on this topic than I originally planned.

I sobbed on my couch for a while.

I'm just not a very good teacher. Not for these students. I'd be great with self-motivated students, I think, but I'm just not good at grabbing their attention and promoting enthusiasm that isn't there. And even if I could become good at it with hard work, I'm not sure I want to devote the time and effort to doing so - I don't think the rewards are high enough for me.

The problem is, I love the school, and the staff, and the principal. I don't want to leave, even at the end of the school year, because I'd be abandoning it during a critical time - extensive turnover after a first year is a terrible thing for a new school, and the English teacher is already probably leaving.

I don't know if I can teach today. We'll see. It's time for me to leave now.

{{{Gris}}} The first year is SO tough. SO tough. I wish I had some advice, but we're here, and we're listening and we're pulling for you. I'll be thinking about you today.

I believe in you.

(((Gris))) What vw said, and tons of -ma.