I have been ridiculously absent lately. Ridiculously busy, ridiculously cranky, and ridiculously absent from the things I want to do. Why? Well, it's weird how much grading stacks up when you can't write so now that I can, I have been locked in my house grading papers.
And grading, and grading, and grading, and grading....you get the idea.
Also, last week was homecoming week, which is a week full of Drama and Tears when you are a teenaged girl - which I'm not, but I am their advisor. You can't tell a 16-year-old girl that the fact that the junior class didn't win the class competition is NOT the End Of The World.
When you're 16, it is the end of the world.
There were tears and miscommunications and Drama with a capital D. And I'm glad it's over.
Showing posts with label Homecoming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homecoming. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Footb...er....Soccer
Last week there was a somewhat twisted high school football game in the local area. For privacy reasons, I will dub one school the Mavericks, and the other school the Cowboys. So the Mavericks played the Cowboys and the score was 19-0 in favor of the Cowboys....at the Mavericks stadium. At the Mavericks stadium where a WINLESS (and clearly frustrated) Maverick team was playing. At the end of the first half, an especially hard tackle on a kid with a short fuse led to a shoving match, which led to a bench-clearing brawl between both teams. As a result, about 2/3 of each team was ejected from the game. League rules are that if a player is ejected from a game, they are ineligible from the next game at a minimum, and possibly the game after that. This will affect the game going on this weekend.
Well, the Mavericks have a small team. A very small team, with no extra players, and so many of their players were involved in the fight that they do not have enough players to field a team tomorrow. Which means, that they forfeit the game. HEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM.
This week is Homecoming for another school in my district, and the team they were scheduled to play tomorrow? You guessed it, the Mavericks. So the Athletic Director for the district spent the first two days of this week calling every team he could think of to see if anyone was available to play this weekend, but this late in the season, everyone is booked. So.......
Homecoming will be a girls soccer game.
Nope, not kidding. Now I am moderately feminist, and all that, I am all for being treated equally, but Homecoming should be a football game. That's the rule. I have nothing against girls soccer, it is interesting and I have a HUGE amount of respect for people who can run like that for 80 minutes. But Homecoming and Football are synonymous.
Anyway, my kids think it is the funniest thing they've ever heard of, but of course, they also laugh at things like the door opening, or the phone ringing, so I don't count them. We'll see how it goes.
Also, me and 6th period are in a fight. I am SO NOT speaking to them. Grrrr...
Well, the Mavericks have a small team. A very small team, with no extra players, and so many of their players were involved in the fight that they do not have enough players to field a team tomorrow. Which means, that they forfeit the game. HEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM.
This week is Homecoming for another school in my district, and the team they were scheduled to play tomorrow? You guessed it, the Mavericks. So the Athletic Director for the district spent the first two days of this week calling every team he could think of to see if anyone was available to play this weekend, but this late in the season, everyone is booked. So.......
Homecoming will be a girls soccer game.
Nope, not kidding. Now I am moderately feminist, and all that, I am all for being treated equally, but Homecoming should be a football game. That's the rule. I have nothing against girls soccer, it is interesting and I have a HUGE amount of respect for people who can run like that for 80 minutes. But Homecoming and Football are synonymous.
Anyway, my kids think it is the funniest thing they've ever heard of, but of course, they also laugh at things like the door opening, or the phone ringing, so I don't count them. We'll see how it goes.
Also, me and 6th period are in a fight. I am SO NOT speaking to them. Grrrr...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Booty Bumpin' and Fire Alarms
Ah, the homecoming dance. A tradition that I become increasingly glad was not a tradition at my high school...and a tradition that makes me dread ever having children.
First, the backstory. The ASB (Student Council) advisor was out of town at her best friend's wedding this weekend, so the ASB was in charge of putting the last-minute things together on their own. They haven't been doing a great job of this.
So....first of all. We got to the dance about half an hour early and I was able to claim the job of coat-check girl, meaning I don't have to watch the kids booty-bump. The kids looked nice (for the most part) in their dress clothes and things were going along pretty well for about an hour.
But.....the ASB officers had neglected to do one very important thing - getting police officers to work the dance. In addition, of the two security guards that work at school, only one showed up. And of the three principals, one had a sick kid, one didn't come for some reason, and that left only one to work the dance. So, if you are keeping track, that means one principal and one security officer to regulate 500 kids. There were about 10 teacher chaperones or so, but due to the number of doors, that wasn't quite enough.
So about an hour into the dance, three teachers come looking for the principal...it turns out that someone has managed to slip upstairs and prop open a door to the outside, and there are about 15 junior high kids running around on the third floor. Administration heads upstairs and chases the kids around for about an hour, but they can't catch them. On the other hand, the door is now shut and the kids can't get out either.
Meanwhile, back in the coatcheck department, the kids keep shedding layers as the inside temperature heats up, and it makes it quite annoying to go back and forth constantly. The girls also shed their shoes and the guys shed their jackets and shirts...oddly enough mostly retaining their ties.
As it gets closer to midnight, when the dance ends, the kids start picking up their stuff. From past dances, I know that when the dj stops playing, the kids attack the coatcheck room like a ravenous horde of whiny monkeys, so we started to attempt to corral them into some kind of line while they retrieved their stuff...which involves tickets and giant blue IKEA bags. As it gets closer to midnight, the lights come on, and more kids start swarming around - mostly ignoring the line instructions - and then it hits midnight and it has descended into almost total chaos, with kids demanding their stuff RIGHT NOW since their mom/dad/brother is waiting outside and oh wait, they lost their ticket, but they just had a black jacket (!!) and silver shoes and why can't someone just FIND IT.
And that is when the aforementioned junior high troublemakers pull the fire alarm.
The principal comes in and says to shut the door, get all the kids out of the building. Oh yeah, I forgot to say...it's about 40 degrees outside. Remember all those kids who took their shoes off? Shutting the door to the coat check room was not a popular move. The door was not locked, so the kids kept pulling it open while I tried to keep it shut. It was somewhat difficult, since on my side, there was only a crash bar, not a handle. The other chaperones finally force the kids outside while the principal gets on the phone to the alarm company and 911. 911 tells him to turn the alarm off, since they can tell that it was pulled, and there's not actually a fire in the building. And that's when the fire department arrives.
The fire department tells the principal he should not have turned the alarm off. Meanwhile, the parents arriving outside to pick up their kids from the dance are greeted by the site of 250 teenagers outside without coats, and the flashing lights of a firetruck. So let's go ahead and add freaked-out parents into the mix.
The firefighters quickly leave, and the principal decides that the kids don't get to come back in, that the chaperones will take the kids tickets and bring out their stuff to them. This takes about 20 minutes and isn't complete without the requisite irritated parents...
We finally get all the kids stuff returned, except for about 4 bags that went unclaimed for some reason after all the kids had dispersed and I left around 12:45
BEST HOMECOMING EVER.
First, the backstory. The ASB (Student Council) advisor was out of town at her best friend's wedding this weekend, so the ASB was in charge of putting the last-minute things together on their own. They haven't been doing a great job of this.
So....first of all. We got to the dance about half an hour early and I was able to claim the job of coat-check girl, meaning I don't have to watch the kids booty-bump. The kids looked nice (for the most part) in their dress clothes and things were going along pretty well for about an hour.
But.....the ASB officers had neglected to do one very important thing - getting police officers to work the dance. In addition, of the two security guards that work at school, only one showed up. And of the three principals, one had a sick kid, one didn't come for some reason, and that left only one to work the dance. So, if you are keeping track, that means one principal and one security officer to regulate 500 kids. There were about 10 teacher chaperones or so, but due to the number of doors, that wasn't quite enough.
So about an hour into the dance, three teachers come looking for the principal...it turns out that someone has managed to slip upstairs and prop open a door to the outside, and there are about 15 junior high kids running around on the third floor. Administration heads upstairs and chases the kids around for about an hour, but they can't catch them. On the other hand, the door is now shut and the kids can't get out either.
Meanwhile, back in the coatcheck department, the kids keep shedding layers as the inside temperature heats up, and it makes it quite annoying to go back and forth constantly. The girls also shed their shoes and the guys shed their jackets and shirts...oddly enough mostly retaining their ties.
As it gets closer to midnight, when the dance ends, the kids start picking up their stuff. From past dances, I know that when the dj stops playing, the kids attack the coatcheck room like a ravenous horde of whiny monkeys, so we started to attempt to corral them into some kind of line while they retrieved their stuff...which involves tickets and giant blue IKEA bags. As it gets closer to midnight, the lights come on, and more kids start swarming around - mostly ignoring the line instructions - and then it hits midnight and it has descended into almost total chaos, with kids demanding their stuff RIGHT NOW since their mom/dad/brother is waiting outside and oh wait, they lost their ticket, but they just had a black jacket (!!) and silver shoes and why can't someone just FIND IT.
And that is when the aforementioned junior high troublemakers pull the fire alarm.
The principal comes in and says to shut the door, get all the kids out of the building. Oh yeah, I forgot to say...it's about 40 degrees outside. Remember all those kids who took their shoes off? Shutting the door to the coat check room was not a popular move. The door was not locked, so the kids kept pulling it open while I tried to keep it shut. It was somewhat difficult, since on my side, there was only a crash bar, not a handle. The other chaperones finally force the kids outside while the principal gets on the phone to the alarm company and 911. 911 tells him to turn the alarm off, since they can tell that it was pulled, and there's not actually a fire in the building. And that's when the fire department arrives.
The fire department tells the principal he should not have turned the alarm off. Meanwhile, the parents arriving outside to pick up their kids from the dance are greeted by the site of 250 teenagers outside without coats, and the flashing lights of a firetruck. So let's go ahead and add freaked-out parents into the mix.
The firefighters quickly leave, and the principal decides that the kids don't get to come back in, that the chaperones will take the kids tickets and bring out their stuff to them. This takes about 20 minutes and isn't complete without the requisite irritated parents...
We finally get all the kids stuff returned, except for about 4 bags that went unclaimed for some reason after all the kids had dispersed and I left around 12:45
BEST HOMECOMING EVER.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Homecoming Parade and Game
That's right, a parade. The school I teach at is almost 100 years old, and the stadium is only about 3 blocks from the school, so every year there is a parade down to the stadium. The band plays and marches, the cheerleaders march, the choir marches, and each class creates a float on the back of a tow truck that incorporates the theme from the walls and their prince and princess. Then everyone marches down to the stadium where the Alumni Association sponsors a free tailgate party, and then, of course, the game.
Here is the senior float. Their theme is Sleeping Beauty and they made a cardboard bed.
This is the junior class, their theme is The Little Mermaid...but they didn't plan particularly well, and everything kept falling over. Imagine that, here in Seattle and all, that the day might be windy and things made of cardboard and tape, roughly the shape of sails, might blow away.
The sophomore float, obviously their theme is Snow White.
The freshman class, whose theme is Beauty and the Beast.
The game was COLD COLD COLD. It is supposed to be about 22 degrees tonight and it was hovering about 35 at game time. Some of the girls were wearing short dresses and heels, but the seniors have figured out how to work the system....this one was wearing jeans and boots under her dress. =)
Here is the senior float. Their theme is Sleeping Beauty and they made a cardboard bed.
This is the junior class, their theme is The Little Mermaid...but they didn't plan particularly well, and everything kept falling over. Imagine that, here in Seattle and all, that the day might be windy and things made of cardboard and tape, roughly the shape of sails, might blow away.
The sophomore float, obviously their theme is Snow White.
The freshman class, whose theme is Beauty and the Beast.
The game was COLD COLD COLD. It is supposed to be about 22 degrees tonight and it was hovering about 35 at game time. Some of the girls were wearing short dresses and heels, but the seniors have figured out how to work the system....this one was wearing jeans and boots under her dress. =)
We lost the game to a decent team. I will say this though, there were 5 calls against my team for 12 men on the field (those of you ignorant of football, there can only be 11). It is ridiculous for a team to get 5 of those calls in a SEASON, much less in one game. Ah well.
Dance tomorrow night....VERY small cheer. EXTREMELY SMALL. I hate going to dances. I have to stay up WAY past my bedtime.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Homecoming is sort of fun
Homecoming is a big deal in Texas, but it is a different kind of big deal here. Two weeks before the big dance, the Homecoming theme hints start coming. Then the theme is announced, and that's when the wall decorations go up. Every day there are class competitions at lunch, and then on Friday there is a parade. With floats and a marching band. Then a tailgate party and a cookout, and then of course, the game. Then on Saturday is the homecoming dance. As a class advisor, I am somewhat involved in these shenanigans, and thought I would share them with you....Lucky you.
This year's theme is "If Only For One Night" and the wall decorations are centered around fairy tales, with each class choosing a different fairy tale that will be carried over onto their float on Friday. So last week was spent in a flurry of paper, paint, and tape and the kids spent 4 hours after school on Friday and 5 hours on Saturday morning putting up the decorations.
I am the advisor for the sophomore class, (who chose Snow White) and here was the plan:
Here is the result.....
Here was the plan for the other wall....
And here is the result...clearly there are some issues with following a plan and reading directions.....
The dwarves are pretty good. Very realistic. Unlike the trees. 
This is the freshman wall, their theme is Beauty and the Beast. The pictures of Belle and the Beast are life-sized.
This is the junior wall. Their theme is Shrek. Just kidding, it's the Little Mermaid. =) Arielle is also life-sized and the had a larger-than-life, truly excellent reproduction of Arielle and the prince riding in the boat, but they had a lot of trouble getting their work to stick to the wall, so it had fallen down this morning when I took pictures. 
And here is the senior wall, who chose Sleeping Beauty, with a truly great dragon fighting a knight down the staircase. The seniors of course win every year, but they definitely deserve it this year, they did a great job. Simple and awesome.
This is also life-size
More Homecoming joy to come....but at least there won't be mums!!!!! (inside Texas joke...)Saturday, October 4, 2008
Thanks
Thanks for the support, those of you who emailed or called me. It helped.
Updates:
Some kids schedules have been scrambled, so things have sort of leveled out, and my 6th period is going fractionally better. I have discovered that a couple of my most obnoxious kids are absolutely terrified that I will contact their parents, and the word is out that I called 7 parents from my 1st period class, so they know I'm serious. Things will continue to go mostly in a positive direction.
My shoulder is completely better. No pain! Yea!!
I don't think there is any way my paycheck could possibly get smaller, so I will eventually catch up on all things monetary. I have started the habit over the last few weeks of leaving my debit card at home, thereby removing temptation, and I am working quite a few extra hours.
Homecoming is next week, and there is no school on Friday, so although it will be a busy weekend, I can sleep in 3 straight days.
The weather is cool and rainy (Woo hoo!!) and it finally feels like fall! I can't wait for Indian Summer with crisp, cool weather!
*****************
As stated, this is Homecoming Week. Last year, I was amazed at the artistic ability of the various classes as they decorated walls in the commons. This year I am also impressed and hope to post pictures on Monday....but I spent Thursday, Friday, and two hours this morning in the commons with every artistic bone in my body crying in pain as I watched the machinations of the kids in attempting to decorate their wall. The inside of my lip is bloody from where I bit my lip to let them do what they wanted. I left after 2.5 hours, but Clark (co-advisor) stayed with the kids. I refuse to call to see what ended up happening. When I left, they had 2.5 hours left to decorate, and there was NOTHING on our wall and the kids had already torn through an entire roll of Gorilla Tape. In case you aren't familiar with that, that is 35 yards, or 105 feet of tape and all they had hung was 3 trees. Pictures Monday.....
Updates:
Some kids schedules have been scrambled, so things have sort of leveled out, and my 6th period is going fractionally better. I have discovered that a couple of my most obnoxious kids are absolutely terrified that I will contact their parents, and the word is out that I called 7 parents from my 1st period class, so they know I'm serious. Things will continue to go mostly in a positive direction.
My shoulder is completely better. No pain! Yea!!
I don't think there is any way my paycheck could possibly get smaller, so I will eventually catch up on all things monetary. I have started the habit over the last few weeks of leaving my debit card at home, thereby removing temptation, and I am working quite a few extra hours.
Homecoming is next week, and there is no school on Friday, so although it will be a busy weekend, I can sleep in 3 straight days.
The weather is cool and rainy (Woo hoo!!) and it finally feels like fall! I can't wait for Indian Summer with crisp, cool weather!
*****************
As stated, this is Homecoming Week. Last year, I was amazed at the artistic ability of the various classes as they decorated walls in the commons. This year I am also impressed and hope to post pictures on Monday....but I spent Thursday, Friday, and two hours this morning in the commons with every artistic bone in my body crying in pain as I watched the machinations of the kids in attempting to decorate their wall. The inside of my lip is bloody from where I bit my lip to let them do what they wanted. I left after 2.5 hours, but Clark (co-advisor) stayed with the kids. I refuse to call to see what ended up happening. When I left, they had 2.5 hours left to decorate, and there was NOTHING on our wall and the kids had already torn through an entire roll of Gorilla Tape. In case you aren't familiar with that, that is 35 yards, or 105 feet of tape and all they had hung was 3 trees. Pictures Monday.....
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