"What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation." -Glenn Close

Like I wrote about before, things are literally in a constant state of change here. My classroom is never the same two days in a row, but I'm finally starting to figure out which things really stick. So here's where we're at: Yesterday I talked on the phone with a teacher who has the BEST behavior management I have ever seen. This noteworthy lady, Mrs. Garla Pacek, has been teaching 2nd grade in California for many years. I had the privilege to observe her for a month straight during January of my freshman year of college (while living with my aunt and uncle, it was paradise...this homegirl went home and sat in the pool/hot tub in the 65 degree heatwave...californians thought I was NUTS)...anyways. I called her this weekend to finally say I NEED HELP WITH BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT. ENLIGHTEN ME. REMIND ME OF YOUR JEDI TEACHER WAYS. PLEASE GARLA PLEASE. She is INCREDIBLE, and I got off the phone with a plan. Today I put that plan into action, and it was the best day I've ha...

Well, I had my first actual visitor last week and it's now official: the jig is up. Someone from the outside world has come and actually seen what my life is like down here first hand. Poor Nicole. She definitely came here thinking I was living in "southern paradise." I called her like four times before she came, trying to warn her, "Nicole, I need you to understand it is not southern paradise. I live surrounded by poverty. It's hard." Lalalala classic Nicole just kept saying "Oh, Hannie, I can't wait to see it!! I'm so excited!" Then she came to school and saw the chaos that is bus duty at the end of the day. BAM. IN YOUR FACE. No gradual "Welcome to the Delta." BUS DUTY. If you are a teacher, especially if you are a teacher down here, you know that bus duty SUCKS. At our school it is almost always utter chaos and confusion. Some buses have to do two routes, so they aren't there and then they come late, almost every day a b...