halfway through grading 165 papers, after about 15 near perfect papers, and a disproportionate amount of good grades (that’s good, right?), i finally encounter my first A+ paper.

not one single perfect paper! i have a bunch of near perfects (29/30), but not one a+.

sometimes, i feel like i’m burnt from both ends so badly that the effort in cooking for myself, cleaning my house and doing my laundry seem like too much. sometimes, i wish i had a job that didn’t follow me home, or require so much brain power. sometimes, moving boxes sounds like fun.

about a week back, i was observed in my classroom by a group of administrators from a nearby school. they were seeing how other schools implement their algebra program, because, like us, they’re having trouble with their kids lack of success (the answer is easy, they’re either not prepared in their basic skills, or they’re not mentally ready–id est, the development of their frontal lobes have not progressed sufficiently to properly grasp the subject). i personally thought i was having an off day. it was my first day back from taking five days out to attend district-level meetings and conferences. but my kids shone brighter than i could have ever expected. they were great, not me.

my visitors walked around my room, interviewed some of my kids, and as they were leaving told me i was doing a great job, and even asked me if i wanted to defect to their school, to which my math coach was adamantly opposed. after they had left campus, i walked into the main office to take care of some other business, and several people came up to me to congratulate me. i was a bit confused until they told me that they had heard of my impressive performance (again, not me, my kids were strangely stellar).

on friday, one of my mini-cheeses asked to see me. my gut reaction was to deny knowledge of any wrongdoing (i’m known for being a bit of a trouble maker on campus). he assured me i wasn’t being reprimanded, and told me, off the record, that the other administrators were very impressed by one other teacher and myself. he then said that the visiting admin said that my cow-orker and i were better than the other school’s two best teachers.

professionally, that made my day. hell, it validated my existence in my classroom.

*you can’t call it conceit if you know it’s true*

it’s actually been a hell of a month. events stacked on top of events. it’s been exhausting, and because i’ve missed so much time from work, i can’t actually take a mental health day. i’m so glad i have a holiday tomorrow. if it weren’t for three-day weekends, i’d be pretty fucked right about now.

highlights:
* happy bunny keyboard stickers on my lappy.
* muji mini stapler from the moca ecstasy exhibit.
* daikokuya pork bowls
* shabu shabu (after 2 years, salty and i finally did it).
* my retroactive raise coming in.
* my new manhattan portage laptop bag
* getting two bouquets of flowers for valentine’s day–one for tuesday, and another for the following friday.

overall, it’s been a good, high-low week/month…