a model of restraint.

teaching can be hard. teaching teenagers can be real, well, real i guess. real something. high schoolers have this obnoxious, needy, hilarious, awkward, moody j'ne se quois (oooh! look at my french!) and the past few days have been chock full of all that. it's been a rough week thus far and i have a high point and a low point that probably demonstrate my own immaturity more than the annoying teenager-ness of my students. start with the bad, end with the good.

the low point:
today one of my chronically moody students informed me that the assignment we were working on was too long, so she wasn't going to do it. she often needs to be prodded along with humor, pleading, a kindly worded compliment. i did all of this to no avail and her whiny complaining continued. did i mention this was 9 am? as most normal people are savoring their coffee and walking into the office, i am dealing with someone else's pouting child. it took all of my worldly power to resist yanking the wig off of her head and throwing it out the window. yes, wig. not a weave or anything. and she has regular hair underneath it. you can see the bottom of the wig in the part. awkward. it's a burnt-orange looking wig and maybe secretly, that, above all the other nonsense coming out of her mouth, bothered me. needless to say, her hair stayed on and her paper remained blank.

score--ms. f (0), angry orange student (-1) because she got a zero on the assignment AND come on, a wig?

the high point:
you know you have arrived when two of the self-proclaimed "smart, funny" boys in your class have a discussion that ends with "yo, she stayed playin you son. just stop now." for those of you who are not teachers or from brooklyn, that roughly translates to: "ms. f. is funnier than you, and so are her jokes, so stop embarrassing yourself in front of the rest of the class."

score-- ms. f (1), unfunny student (0)

in a last, unrelated note, i had to return some books to the library today. which meant i had to trek into that unholy land--the resting place of all things soulless--midtown. the whole trip was unfortunate, but it provided some people watching that is decidedly different than my normal high school people watching. i also heard some choice quotes:

1. "But mommy, the train is 2 miles away." spoken into a cell phone by a woman older than me, tinier than me, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. honestly? I don't get the appeal--they're bulky, brown wrinkly leather bags, and if they didn't cost $400 you would think they were ugly too. Also, she should've had her chauffeur Jeeves drop her off at the train station instead of all the way down at Rockefeller Center. Better luck next time, Muffy.

2. "Perhaps it is best to enter axially." spoken by Tobias Funke's doppelganger to his walking companions, as the prepared their strategy to walk into Rockefeller Center. Awesome.

3. This wasn't anything heard, just observed. Perhaps it's the slightly warmer weather or just a crazy wind, but what is UP with all the older women dressing younger than me? I saw a woman who was definitely in her mid 50s, wearing a mini-skirt with knee high boots and a fur lined vest. Hmm.

So there you have it, friend. One day, two very different environments, crazy shenanigans!