Eighteen Days to Go

Eighteen more school days left in this school year.
18 more days to get up at five a.m. to eat breakfast, throw on my clothes, and drive to school.
18 more days of...
Grading papers;
Entering grades in the electronic grade book:
Planning lessons for ten different classes;
Making copies of lessons for ten different classes;
Dealing with students who think they are in charge instead of us;
Orienting new students;
Not having enough copies because we got new students without previous notice;
Keeping a discipline log on each student;
Sitting with students who have detention;
Driving to and from school with Wick;
Having lunch with Wick;
Working in the same classroom with Wick;
Wick winking at me without changing expression so that the kids don't notice;
Being able to talk about the day's events without much background explanation, because we both know the people involved;
Wick helping me figure out how to make the on-line grading program work;
Sending each other e-mails during our conference period, so that we are communicating without anyone else in our office knowing what we are saying;
Praying that we will get jobs together for next year.