Ahh 2nd day of school today. Somewhat less hectic, although probably more stressful than yesterday. The longer I'm there, the less I can pull the "I just started and have no idea what to do" game. Today just did rules and regs in class, which is the most boring stuff imaginable, but everything takes twice as long with 39 kids in the class... it's impossible to get them quiet. Think of all the little comments in a 15 person class in college, multiply times 3, subtract tact and discretion that comes with not being in 7th grade... and there you have my room. I'm experimenting with just standing silent in front of the class and not trying to yell over them, see if i can eventually wear them down. I think I can out-wait them, but not sure... I wish I could just put all of the good kids in one class, and actually teach them, and just let the other kids shoot the shit. Anyhoo, at the end of the day, I had to deal with the mother of the kid I wrote up and got in-school-suspended yesterday for fighting. She came in, initially really defensive, not so much speaking English. With a discreet "con su permisio," another teacher ushered us down to the bilingual coordinator's office so he could translate. I was accompanied by my drama-queen neighbor teacher (more on her tomorrow probably) who had also had problems with this kid, and the mom proceeded to burst into tears because her kid was such a twerp in general. Working on getting through to him, but may be tough... kid's 11 and in anger management counseling... damn.