Want Weekend... NOW!!!

 Whoa! The triple exclamation pointage in the title? Will my post live up to the expectations set by extreme exclamatory punctuation? Am I setting hopes too high?

Almost certainly.

Of course I pretty much always want it to be the weekend* because I am slack and sleeping in and doing things I enjoy is more agreeable than working. However, this week my desire is many times greater for several reasons. Firstly, I am hugely and impatiently looking forward to the fun and hectic challenge of being involved in the 48 hour film festival. Secondly, Matt birthday was last night and whilst it was a nice evening with yummy food and such, to put it simply, more fun must be had. Birthday fun involving cake and delicious food. Thirdly, school is becoming entirely too stressful.

I just received an email that one of the students in my form class, Daniel, is in hospital suffering from toxic shock. He had a burn on his leg last week and it went bad. Very bad. He has had to have a large skin graft and is still in very poor condition. I've been trying to get hold of his mum but I don't have my cell phone here and the stupid school phones don't let us call cell phones.

I feel absolutely awful about this. I saw the burn he had last week and it was huge. The bandage he had fell off in class and it was a pretty gross looking burn - very weepy. I sent him off to the medical room to get it cleaned up and he came back with it covered up. I should have phoned up home to check up on it that day or insisted he saw the public health nurse when she came in or even just asked to make sure that it had been cleaned, not covered with a bandage. I guess I am guilty of just passing on/ignoring a problem. Arrghh, guilt.

Another parent phoned up to say how their son is unhappy in my class. Not because of me but because they feel left out and excluded by the other students. I feel guilty about that too. It is a nice student but he is really quiet in my class. I guess I should have tried to create a more inclusive atmosphere or put students in assigned groups and so forth. I do not really know what to do about it. I think I have been way too focussed on trying to keep control of the class and get the slack/disruptive students to work. Now it seems the nice kids are suffering.

I went and observed a Year 11 French class yesterday afternoon. It seemed noisy (particularly given there were only about 15 students there) but all the students appeared to be happy and friendly with each other. They were smiling and joking, but also helping each other.

Today I shall try to create a friendlier and happier atmosphere. Maybe if I pretend I like I'm friendly and having fun, it will rub off the on the students.

Or maybe I'll just hide in front of the computer and wait for the weekend.

* Except when it is the holidays.