Weird end to the week

School could have been a nightmare today, but as recommended by the principal, I "shook things up" with my most troublesome class. Yesterday they gave me fits, asking redundant questions to try to press my buttons. Today, I turned the tables. Had them all stand up, then moved them around so the "learners" were in the front and could hear and pay attention, and the disruptions were in the back. The ratio is about 10 good:16 not so good. There was grumbling and two of my most vocal shit-stirrers' hands shot up. I let them stay up, and they started to complain that I wasn't calling on them. I let them know I wasn't obligated to call on anyone, or interrupt my teaching, but if their question was important, they could write it down, then raise their hand and I would take the note, read it and answer when the chance came. That really stopped them in their tracks.

All my grading is done for this week, just have to put it online, which I hate because parents think this will be a final grade. I admit, I have been lax lately, so I am a couple of weeks behind. Grades close next week for the penultimate report card (the final one gets mailed). It won't take long, I hope, to input the information, then start the process of tweaking it so the 60% of my kids who didn't do a simple project given a week to do it won't fail due to a zero for 20% of their grade.

On a disturbing note, I seem to have lost a good friend. Not dead, but certainly a strange reaction. On Tuesday I got to play chauffeur (wow, I can still spell that first try) for my oldest and her friend to see a concert in mid-town. My good friend, the art teacher at my school, lives near there. Sometimes we get together for a movie or she vents about life and I listen. Well, I phoned from a couple of blocks away and got her voicemail. I left a message saying I was sitting in front of her house "stalking her"...if you know anything about me (which I thought she did) you would know that was a joke. When I actually got there, I saw her light was on, and thought I saw her in the window, so I honked once. I figured she might check her phone and call back. I went up and knocked on the door and she kind of went ballistic - this is HER time and how dare I stop by and never joke about stalking and now GO AWAY. Haven't spoken to her since then, and she seems to be avoiding even coming down my hall on the way in in the mornings. Just noticed she dropped me from FaceBook friends....

I suppose if she is a good friend she will settle down. If not, it wasn't friendship and it will pass. Or maybe there is some factor I don't have a clue about, and I shouldn't try to understand.