PSAT today
I'm sitting in my classroom watching students (some mine, some I have yet to meet) take the PSAT. Strange to think--I never thought I'd be giving the PSAT. The transformation in the room is unusual. From jovial, wide-awake teenagers to test-taking, number 2 pencil bubbling hunchbacks in a matter of "you may begin."
I took the PSAT on two Saturdays in two different cafeterias with hundreds of people. The institutional smell of cafeteria food mixed with generic Pine Sol really added to the academically-stimulating atmosphere. At least here, these students are among the familiar, and among friends.
I will miss teaching class today. There's such a privilege to seeing the same faces each day at the same hour. Even if (I am or) they are in horrible moods, I enjoy the whole scope of our relationship. So it surprised me the other day when many students in my eighth hour said they would be scared if I called their house! I hope they don't mean that they are afraid of me, but I wonder. There is a weird disconnect between a teacher and a student that was not an issue when I was a youth minister. We'll see. It's only October, I may make a new habit of calling students in the evening. Hmmm...I think its more of a parental issue, "Honey, why did your English teacher call tonight?"
So no journal topics today, no quotations to copy down. Only thousands of ovals to fill in and a calculator for conversation.