Finishing off another week at school

My Starbucks just a few blocks from my house. 

This week has been a good one. I'm slowly getting into a consistent routine. I've decided to work harder this week and lounge around my apartment less.

I get up at 6am, at school about 7ish, finish school at 3pm, leave school at 4pm or 4:30pm, go home for a quick bite to eat and change my clothes, then it's off to Starbucks or the public library for another couple hours until around 7pm, a simple dinner in my apartment, an episode of Star Trek, Hustle, or Sherlock Holmes, a shower, and I'm in bed by 9pm. It's a productive and challenging schedule, but with plenty of sleep too. 

Me and my class watching a 5th grade presentation

The school week has been quite good. Other than a few parent teacher meetings that required much tact and discernment, and a few challenging moment working with disciplinary problems, the week was quite smooth. Since my class last year was very disorganized and chaotic, it's left a dark shadow on this year. Some of the same behavioral patterns that were big problems last year are just starting to rise to the surface. So Kelly is trying her best to nip the problems in the bud before they bloom. I'm trying to trust her in her decisions when I don't quite understand what she is doing.

The yellow library on the right with the bridge to Paradise Island behind

The library's air conditioned study room with squeaky fans

Starbucks: Study Center

 A lot of the parents that send their children to the school are hardworking middle class folk who are making sacrifices to have their kids in private school. Some are working at fast food restaurants, some are nurses, some are cooks. These parents have 0 tolerance for their kids to be goofing around in school and not staying completely focused on their studies. I had a parent this week bring her son into see me before class. Her son had been goofing off a little the day before, and right there before myself and a few students she pinched in arm pits and kept twisting. "Say you're sorry to Mr. Moore!" She menaced. I was quite taken back by this behavior, but kept quiet. "Sorry Mr. Moore..." He whimpered. "I can't hear you!" His mother growled, twisting harder. The boy tightened his lips and said in as strong a voice as he could, "Sorry Mr. Moore." "Sorry for what?" she asked. "Sorry for disturbing your class..." Tears were falling down his cheek by this time. "Go clean yourself up," she said. They left the room. I was feeling pretty uneasy at this act. I crossed myself and prayed, "Lord have mercy". The other students saw me and laughed, "Ah, Mr. Moore", as if they saw that kind of thing all the time. I had another student this week whose mother found out he had a poor grade or behavior note, and she stopped the car, got out and beat him so bad that the neighbors called the police. So all this "corporal punishment" is a bit of a culture shock! I try to be easy on the kids. Some of the parents won't do diddly about their student's misbehavior, but others will get out the belt and go to town. So this whole aspect of discipline here, and particularly with my class, is a fine line that requires a lot of intuition that I'm trying to learn quickly. Dealing with parents who are irate with their children is probably the most stressful part of my job right now!  

The Public Library reception area