"You Look Like You're 40!"

No joke, I actually got that line during one of the classes I teach for my job. (These ARE 8th-grade kids we're talking about, though...)

So after meeting up with Carlo in his neck of the woods for a little surprise visit, I made my way back home to New Orleans for my summer job at Breakthrough, a summer school program for middle-schoolers that's run out of my old high school. I had worked for the program during the school year in years past, and figured that this would give me an excuse to come home for the summer.

Well, one week into the program I already established myself as the asshole of a teacher that nobody ever wanted. (But really, if you think about it, some of these kids need to have the law laid down on them. More on that later.)

I teach 8th grade English as my regular class, and right now we're working on Romeo and Juliet. Next week we're going to begin doing some stage combat routines, a little something I learned here (can you find me in this scene?):

I also taught what little Korean I knew for the first three weeks of the program. Here I was thinking these kids would be struggling with the alphabet for a good while. I was partially right--some were, but most picked it up really, really fast. I was pleasantly surprised.

But back to these rowdy kids that make me want to rip their heads off. I've got two with attitudes that scream bloody murder, one who's totally disinterested in anything I say, and one who just doesn't care about anything at all. (This one can pretty much barely read as it is.) I honestly don't know what to do with these guys, but a couple of them have driven me to that point where I just want to knock some sense into their heads (read: borderline corporal punishment). It might actually do them some better good than the "detention" we're supposed to give them, but I'm at the point where I think that some of them are just beyond any help. I think they just need to grow up...but even that may be an impossibility.

That's not to say, however, that all of them are monsters. The kids in my Korean class were fantastic, and I've got some really good people in my English class who are quick to respond to my questions. Although I really think they want me to do things for them that they have to earn...but they clearly haven't.

This job, however, has barely left me any time for myself. I get to work at 7:15 am (yuck), and don't get home until about 5 (sometimes later, like today--I got back at 5:30). Makes me wonder if I'll ever hang out with my friends from home again...

All that said, though, it's still a rewarding experience. I'll see if I can post some pictures later.

--JW