#SOL21 | 29 | Senioritis Strikes Back

Today was our first day back from a week long Spring Break and the school was already off to a great start.  I had arrived to find that at some point over that week the power had been lost to the school and our clocks/bells were no longer working.  Not a big problem, at least, not compared to the Internet outage we would suffer a few hours later into the day.

But this slice isn't about the internet outage.

As I was preparing for my first class of the day -- writing a morning message on the white board -- one of my students came in.  Some of you may recall Ned from a previous entry.  Ned's desk is closest to the white board and as soon as he set his breakfast down he looked at me and said "Well Ms. Johnson, you were right."

I couldn't help but grin beneath my mask.  After all, isn't that what every teacher wants to hear even before a lesson has begun.  I paused in my writing and glanced over in his direction, "Oh, yeah?  About what exactly?"  I had a hunch, but I really wanted to hear what he had to say.

"About senioritis!  I did NOT want to come to school today and I'm just so exhausted already."

I shook my head in amusement, my hunch correct.  A week before the break I warned my seniors that if they thought their senioritis was bad before, they should just wait to see how it would be after we returned.  I have worked with seniors for my entire teaching career and every year it is the same.  If it was bad before, it's always ten times worse after the break.

"Yeah, I get it, I didn't want to get out of bed either.  But you're here now.  So that's something!"

I returned to my last minute preparations.  Working with seniors was going to be like pulling teeth, but at least they only had to hold it together for another month.  That taste of freedom is hard to give up, not helped by the fact that this coming Friday is going to be a scheduled virtual day.  

As I left to go share my "being right" with other teachers, I passed another senior coming into my class.  The senior girl groaned and draped herself over her desk: "Ms. Johnson.  Can I just sleep here?"

I shook my head.  It was going to be a long road to graduation.

This post is part of the 14th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge.  

#SOL21 and information around Slicing can be found on Two Writing Teachers.