The new semester started at school this week. It’s been a rocky transition so far. I’ve discovered that I really prefer having my planning time during first period much more than last (fifth) period. I’m not a morning person. By fifth period I’m pretty well drained. Plus, kids just don’t do anything in first period; they’re still asleep.

Besides that … I’ve gone from having two classes of juniors and one of sophomores to one class of juniors and two of sophomores. One of the sophomore groups is that first hour that’s more asleep than awake. The other is fourth period, and believe me, the kids are awake by that time. I wrote my first referral of the semester today in that class. Well, actually I wrote three, but only one of those three problem kids pushed me far enough that I sent him to the office. I hate having to do that, but if I don’t nip it in the bud, the inmates think they’re running the asylum.

The worst thing, though, is that I really miss a lot of the kids I had last semester. There were some really good kids in those classes. Fortunately, a lot of them are still coming by to talk to me (sometimes at times of the day when they’re supposed to be in other classes, even). Hopefully I can develop some of that with kids this semester. I think the juniors will be okay, especially once they catch on to the debates we’ll be doing. I think there are a lot of good sophomores in my classes, too. I just need to settle down those few problem kids so the others can shine.

In writing news … ummm … nothing. Well, one publisher did confirm receipt of a manuscript I sent in October, but that’s all. The only thing I’ve written is school related.