Neworleanian

cut up, to: v. to misbehave, to act a fool. "If you be cuttin' up in class you not gonna be doin' pep squad."

with a bullet: adj. to be ready. Ms. Debra was cleaning my room the day before my birthday, and she asked if I was "making 23" the next day. (I'm the same age as her daughter.) When I said yes, her reply was: "Twenty-three with a bullet." When I asked what that meant, she said, "That mean you be ready!" Ready for what... depends on where you come from.

tellin' stuff: trans. v. trash-talking. "She be tellin' me stuff!" (As justification of almost getting in a fight during class.) See also: saying things

but I ain't did nothin!: excuse. Response to any reprimand or redirection of misbehavior during class.


After Monday-through-Wendesdays near-mental-breakdowns, Thursday and Friday generally picked up. About 8 kids have been missing (grace mostly a suspensions) from my class of 34 sixth-graders, making it a relativley normal sized classroom, and the last two days have left me feeling more like I'm dealing with undisciplined children than inmates with mental health issues. They had a substitue on Wednesday, which apparently was an awful situation for everyone involved. Some classes wrote a letter apologizing to the sub as homework, and another wrote one to me about their experience. A few ended theirs with "Never leave us!" or "Please don't be absent again!" messages, that warmed my ever-more-cynical heart. Apparently she told them to shut-up and them telling her that I don't use that phrase and don't allow them to use it either just made her angrier. Maybe they're learning the tiniest inkling of something after all.

Onto the weekend! That means daquiris, debates, and new shoes (thanks M&D)! Oh... and an insurmountable mass of grading because we took TWO tests in the last two days and I'm dealing with make-up work from kids who keep getting suspended...

(Up and down and up again.)