Things that really

...bummed me out today:

A-the kid in the cafeteria during the 8th grade lunch that I supervise. Who has a beard and appears to be 30, and sits by himself every day.
B- overhearing the girls in the cafeteria talking about another little girl: "She wears that same sweatshirt every day, no wonder she has no friends. What a dirty skank...."
C- Offering my students time to do some silent reading in class, because reading makes us better readers, only to have a student in the back who would prefer to balance his pencil on his nose than actually read something. (I even handed him a magazine article about swimsuit models).
D- not having the proper materials (or money to get them) to offer my students the array of learning experience I want to be able to give them....and watching my students that are 6+ feet tall squeeze themselves into little, tiny desks, when they should be able to have tables and bean bag chairs and places to comfortably read from.

until.....
A-the new student teacher plopped herself down with the lonely kid at lunch, bought him an apple and had a long discussion about why he sits alone, (he's actually in 9th grade and doesnt know the 8th graders) and how he wants to be a published poet.
B- another girl at the table said to her friend...."Maybe she can't afford another sweatshirt Emily! And btw you wore that same hoodie on Wednesday." and proceeded to get up and go sit with other people.
C- I looked around the room and saw 23 other little heads bowed over their respective novels. Some of them even smiling as they read tales from a bunch of differernt authors in generes that interested them.


and D- I'm still struggling with this one and get frustrated....where does the money for education go? But its payday today.....and I need colored pencils.