So the new school year is going OK

We are now in the fourth week of the school year.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?  It is only September and I am already freaking out about how fast the year is going!!! 

I have a good group of kids this year -- about half of them are kids I've had before, and half are new.  I got very spoiled last year when a new teacher came and doubled the size of the Spanish department (from 1 to 2!) and I got to keep all the upper level kids and had NO freshmen and NO new names to learn.  It was blissful. 

It is incredible how much growing up teenagers can do when you don't see them over the summer.  They look physically different, of course, but even more noticeable are the social and emotional changes they make.  Sophomores walk in with a spring in their step that says, "Not being a freshman anymore is so SWEET!"  Juniors have turned into upperclassmen with attitudes and ambitions and the exuberant independence a driver's license can bring.  Seniors have a look in their eyes that is half "I have so totally arrived, and my friends and I are going to rock this place" and half "Holy crap I have to figure out what I'm doing with the rest of my life FAST."   

One of the things I like the most about a new school year is reconnecting with my students and seeing how their personality, and especially their sense of humor, develops as they get older.  On Friday afternoon during a test, the following exchange happened between Jiggywidit (a very white boy who wishes he were from the hood, and who is funny but not as funny as he thinks he is), Brainiac (a tall, awkward kid who is known for being a brain and NOT for being funny), and myself:

Jiggywidit:  Señorita, I'll pay you five bucks if you tell me all the answers.

Me:  Jiggy, dude, I would never sell my soul to you for a measly five dollars.

Brainiac:  How about ten?

Not bad, brain boy!  Cracked everybody up, especially since he was the LAST kid in the class who would have needed the answers anyway.  The best part about it was the look on his face when he realized he had just successfully, and with spot-on timing, had a class clown moment.  So great!

Then, the fire drill bell rang and everyone had to evacuate the building and so they probably all compared answers anyway while they filed outside.