The-icing-on-the-cake of days

So, yesterday was a tip-top day (detect dripping sarcasm). It started out okay enough. But things quickly went sour as I went into my first class to find out that my 3rd hour class was going to have a parent observer. Great. Not only was I not ready for that class, but now I was going to have a parent watching.

2nd hour I am scrambling trying to get something together for the 3rd hour. Suddenly, the fire alarm goes off. Normally, I wouldn't care. But I had less than 30 minutes to crank out some fantastic lesson plan (because I had totally scrapped the lesson I had planned at the beginning of the week due to how difficult it was), along with some one-on-one work for, you guessed it, the student that had the parent observing.

Period 3 arrives and I head to class. It's usually warm in the this classroom, but it feels like it's boiling with me in front of the whole class and mom sitting in waiting. So I am greeting each of the students individually to begin. This is what I do at the beginning of every class, and I don't care if the mom likes it or not.

So I am waiting for one of the students to reply. Some are verbal, some are not. I am waiting at on a student that can at least say 'hi' and 'good' to answer how he is doing. Anyway. So I am waiting for the student to reply and he is touching my hand. And he is looking at it, and turning it over and studying it. The PSA beside him is telling him to keep his hands to himself. I don't mind because he is looking at me and I assume he is processing and will say 'hi' soon. The PSA repeats that he should keep his hands to himself. He doesn't. He is studying my fingernails now. They are shiny. He puts his fingernail under mine and pushes it. You know that feeling. It frickin' hurt and I jumped back and said, "oww", and continued on.

Then I went to get something off the pile of stuff I had brought and look down to realize that I am bleeding. Great. Mom is watching and I am bleeding. Class stalls while I get a bandaid from the teacher so I can continue teaching without having to take care of my wound. Class continues. When it is time for the one-on-one service, Mom doesn't like the activity. She says he is already good at that. Great.

Period 3 eventually ends and I head to period 4. At the end of period 4, I leave a few minutes early and head to the school nurse. She asks if I washed the wound at all, which I haven't because I have been in class. So I wash it. Then she puts peroxide and bacytracin on it. She asks me to fill out an incident report, and then I go about the rest of my day.

After school, we have conferences. Yay. The first one happens to be for the kid that injured me. Mom tells us that the student will not be in school on Friday because "he just tested positive for Staph infection, like MRSA". Are you effin kidding me?!? I don't mention what her son did because she is worried already that he is the worst student in the class. I think the incident was accidental so I don't want to tell her that.

I leave that conference and continue on for the rest of the evening. I didn't have any tough questions that I couldn't answer, and I managed to get to at least 2 of 3, or 3 of 4, at any 20 minute interval.

The time eventually hits 8pm. I am ready to leave. I want to ask my mother-in-law about what happened since she is a retired nurse. But as I go to leave, I can't turn the light off in my class. Seriously?!? There happens to be a custodian outside my room and I ask him to come in for a second and I tell him my trouble, and he casually says, "Oh that means your light is dead." Okay. What does that mean? I don't know, but he tells me that the light will turn off with the master lights at 11pm, and they should turn on again in the morning when they turn the master lights back on. Great. What a fantastic day.