I Love Surprises!

I just found out that Austin is going to be at my house in a few hours. I nearly lost it after school because I got a text message that read:

"Do you want to watch a movie tonight?"

Seriously, I just about peed my pants. I was going to smack him with a baseball bat the next time I saw him if he was joking with me.

Turns out, he wasn't joking. His family had to evacuate because of Ike, so he decided to drive all the way up to Dallas and spend the weekend with me and my family. Wasn't that sweet? I'm stoked. And yes, I just used that word.

Random question: what do you do with cocky kids? I mean, I love all my students, but there's one kid who is really starting to bug me with his arrogant attitude. He's extremely bright and really "cool". 7th grade cool. This guy is going to be an engineer one day, I just know it. A cool engineer. And I think he knows it. I am very impressed by his knowledge, and I complimented him the other day. I told him that he was "way ahead of the game" and I don't think I should have. Ever since then, he's been asking me things like, "Are we going to study radioactivity?" or "Do we get to learn about quarks?" ...in front of the whole class. I mean, he'll stick his hand up in the middle of lecture to ask a question like that. Today I caught him telling his entire group that he has been G/T since he was in 2nd grade.

I love his enthusiasm for science and learning, but the arrogant attitude he has is going to slap him in the face if he's not careful. I want the best for all my students, but I can tell that the other students really don't care. They are just struggling with the fact that protons are positive but neutrons are not negative.

Sigh.

Teaching is so much more than I thought. I love it, but it is SO HARD. I thank God for giving me strength every day to face the 6 periods I have to teach or co-teach.

-Katie