Summer

I'm home for the second of a two week trip and I've sold a lot of cold beers but I have yet to make a trip to the beach. I won't have time before I head back to Albany on Sunday. I guess I'll have to get back before the summer is over. I'm working like hell this week to make some rent money for the summer so that I can lesson plan when I get back and try not to freak out too much about the Fall. Teachers are supposed to present this solid professional identity and project it at all times. Fuck, I'm just going to try to keep my voice appropriate to my audience and keep all my favorite four letter words out of my vocabulary from 8 to 4. I mean that's my first goal. I still feel too young for this job; I go home and drive to Bellerose so that I can explain to alcoholics how many 53 cent King Kobras they can afford to buy with the change in their fists until they go out and collect some more cans for the nickel deposits. Fastforward a few months and I'll be standing in front of a group of seventh graders all day every day. I am excited by the freedom of this job. This district offers so much flexibility that is sadly lacking in the schools that need good teachers. The kids don't just go from book to book to book (although being a reader I never minded that too much in school). Students write... a lot, and I never realized until a few weeks ago that that was something we never did outside of a dull literary essay. I think it's important, and I've been trying to do more of it in the hours before I head off to count the cases of cans people are returning for a living.