New School Year

From my perspective the worst part of law school is the writing class. Tons of work. Very few credits. Have your papers graded by students who know just a tiny bit more than you do. George Mason requires 2 years of legal writing, where most law schools only require one or two semesters. I was looking forward to Drew having a little more time on his hand this year because he is now DONE with legal writing. But alas he decided to work more hours to fill up his time. So much for the grass being greener after legal writing.

My own school year is going well. I have many interesting students but none of them seem too awful yet so I will just keep my fingers crossed. My first year of teaching I took over in October for a teacher who had found a job as an administrator in the DC school system. The students I had were an extremely challenging bunch and they fought everything I tried to do because I wasn't their teacher from the beginning of the year. This year I have a student who is the spitting image of one of my very worst students from that first year. It is unbelievable how alike they look. On the first day of school I about passed out when I saw her walk into my room. I was convinced she must be a younger sister, but another teacher asked her and she is no relation. The new girl is much more pleasant and easy to deal with, but every morning when she comes into class I worry that today is the day she will start to make my life miserable. It is a very uncomfortable sort of deje vous!

I also have a few more interesting names to add to my collection. First names: Haider (pronounced Hadder), Nohamin, Anibal, Sumjai, Anudeep, Mahnoor (most unfortunate for this poor girl what her name sounds like in English), Chantana, Jarima, Laila, Faezah, Sharanpreet, Elda, Fabiola, and Hussna. Pronunciation is always a challenge. I try to have the students spend some time learning each others names and how to pronounce them, instead of just me learning them. We had some interesting pronunciation lessons from each other. it was quite the verbal adventure! I am very glad that I stuck with teaching and stayed at this school, it really has turned out to be a fun job, even if it is still a ton of work.