@#$@#$! Ms. Baer

One of the great things about teaching is that literally every day is full of surprises. Honestly when I go in every morning I have no idea if it will be a normal, bad, or really good day. I love how teaching is always exciting. Literally, there is never a dull moment. However, with that excitement comes moments that are truly hard and other times really funny.

Exhibit A. I go to use the restroom and as I enter the stall I notice that there is graffiti on the walls of it. I start reading it and seeing what the girls are saying. There's a list of cute boys, a few cuss words, and some drawings. I'm not completely shocked by this because, lets face it, nothing really shocks me any more at my school. Then I keep going and I notice something like this:

@#$@#$! Ms. Baer

Obviously the symbols represent a swear word that I will not divulge on my blog. At first I was hurt. What? Me? I am so nice and caring. How dare they those little...@#$@#$! And I want to throw it back at them.

However, as I thought about it, I started laughing. Graffiti on walls about me, my class, etc...will not really end during my career of teaching, sadly enough. Yet, I felt a manifestation that kids do not like me...why??

• Because I have high expectations.
• I am mean
• I call their parents
• I give them detention on a Friday afternoon.
• I "write them up" which basically means that I speak with an administrator about their behavior.
• I don't let them sleep in class.
• I give them a 0 if they copy or cheat
• I don't allow cuss words
• I withhold participation points if they are fooling around
• I assign them homework

And the list goes on.

So if @#$@#$! means that I am a teacher who demands respect and holds my students to high expectations, then bring it.

Ms. Baer is pretty @#$@ great!