favorite parts of the day

My students are silly little creatures. They are obnoxious and rude. They refuse to complete their work, put away electronics, and stop talking. They aren't even learning anything from me. At all. I have no idea how to effectively teach math and engage them for two class periods straight. But guess what. I absolutely love those weirdos. And some of them can at least tolerate me now. What an improvement.

Now that you know I love them, let me tell you about my favorite part(s) of my day - not the every-once-and-a-while happenings, but the things that annoyingly happen daily - the parts that make me really love a few of them (my favorites). A group of students come to annoy me multiply times a day, every day. This is how it works: A group will come sit quietly in my room for 5 - 10 minutes during 1st hour and refuse to go to their classes. Others will barge past me into my room at the end of passing period, walk around, sit down until I say something, then finally leave. Three will come challenge me to a dance off and eight more will meet to shuffle in my room during passing period. A couple randomly spill their guts in the halls or during class, making me promise not to reveal their "biggest" secrets. One stops by throughout the day just to "check on" me and see how my day is going. And three make fun of my laugh, facial expressions, sayings, and story of me getting punched in 7th grade. These daily events annoy me like no other (well, some of them), but they all make me laugh and cause me to love these students.

I want to tell you about specific events that have happened (good and bad) in my class and in other classes - like mastery, grade cards, recommendations, awkwardness, parent calls, venting, and so on -  but that would take me hours.