Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Immense Hot Ego Injection



There I was, minding my own business plus the businesses of 20 students minus two who were absent, preparing for a test on Thursday, when I heard a tap-tap-tapping, rap-rap-rapping at my chamber door. Oops! It was actually the crank-crank-cranking of the handle, door. Only that and nothing more.

Yes, an intruder was attempting to gain access to my sanctuary of learning. Well, not so much an intruder as Mr. Principal. But don’t you feel bad for Mr. Principal. He has his own key. In fact, I would have been remiss if the door had been open. Which it was a scant ten minutes before, because the technology assistant came to assist me with a pop-up antivirus. He also volunteered to resolve the issue with what shows on my laptop screen, and what shows on my projector screen. Alas, he could not. The resolution issue is, apparently, unresolvable. However, I attribute that to getting a recycled projector last year when mine went kaput, so as long as I know how to make my big screen purty, I’m okay with that.

But let’s get back to the visit from Mr. Principal. He rarely shows up in my room, even though it’s the closest one to his office on my hallway. Which is a good thing, I think, and don’t feel slighted in the least. So I suspected, if Mr. Principal was making a visit, that something was going down. An impromptu drill, perhaps. Or a special meeting after school. Or a parent here to see me. Or a warning to keep two students apart. Just general early intervention strategies. Because I know all of my grades are caught up, and nobody has a beef with me at this time.

Sometimes, Mr. Principal has good news or information concerning The Pony. Like nominating him for Missouri Scholars Academy last year. Or test scores that have come in. So this drop-in visit did not strike fear into my very core. I’m pretty much a good egg when it comes to work, a good egg who doesn’t ruffle feathers or receive a ruffling.

Are you perched on the edge of your ergonomic chair yet, panting with bated breath, itching to know the topic of the tete-a-tete?

NEWMENTIA SCIENCE SCORES FOR THE MISSOURI EOC TEST LAST YEAR WERE THE SECOND HIGHEST IN THE CONFERENCE!

Yeah. That’s a big deal. There are 11 schools in our conference. I believe Newmentia is the next-to-next-to-smallest. The school that beat us was the behemoth of the conference. Kudos to Mrs. Hillbilly Mom and Arch Nemesis for a job well done.

You bet Mrs. Hillbilly Mom has made certain that her own young ‘uns attend school in her district. We ain’t playin’.

The challenge will be THIS year, with a different educational clientele. Never fear. Mrs. Hillbilly Mom is already on the case.

4 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

Congratulations, HM. Two years ago, my grade (3rd grade) in my school was the top scorer in the district. We hooped and hollered, but knew that it was us PLUS a group of students who were super bright. This next year, the 4th grade teachers will probably celebrate a bit when we figure out the test results, although some of those kids moved away.

Alas, we can only work with the materials we're given...

Hillbilly Mom said...

Sioux,
It's particularly challenging on those years when you have a fourth of your class on IEPs, with the only modification being to have the questions read aloud, and the person in charge says we're not reading it aloud that year.

Scores count just the same. Not really fair.

As you might guess, I do not teach the advanced classes. My job is to keep everybody out of the cellar, and hopefully get as many as I can on the top floor right under the attic.

Kathy's Klothesline said...

Sioux is right about the material you have to work with! My hat is off to you!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Kathy,
Yes, our raw materials vary in quality from year to year. But we still put out the best product possible.