Most of the quotes on this page come from a single source in my 3rd period English class. He's probably off-task approximately 75% of the school day as a result of his hyperactivity. Despite the tremendous difficulty I have teaching him, I find him to be a hilarious kid and often play jokes on him.

Quote of the Day: "Chill Lukens chill!!!"

So we had a field trip on Friday to Valley Forge. It started raining, and since rain is like kryptonite to adolescents, we spent the majority of the trip on the bus. Wow.

So I'm still incredibly bogged down with end-of-the-year paperwork that is all due next week. I don't know if it's the weather, the sesame chicken I ate on Sunday, or all the work I've been doing, but I hardly have enough energy to do anything after school anymore. If I've learned anything this year, it's been that many people in this profession treat teaching as their life as supposed to simply a means to feed their families. I feel as if I'm dedicated to improving the lives of my students as much as the next teacher, however, I do feel that it's important to take care of oneself both mentally and physically. I find it difficult to swallow sometimes when I get home and don't even have enough energy to prepare dinner. My goal is to create some sort of balance, but it's certainly not happening now...

Quote of the Day: "Is your first name Jakwon, Mr. Lukens?"

It's raining, so attendance is down substantially. I enjoy rainy days because they somehow calm nearly every student down.


Quote of the Day: "Mr. Lukens, I was bored yesterday, so I wrote numbers. Numbers 1 - 200."

School - 10 teachers/administrators = chaos + James (tired + constantly (covering + stressed)) - slight satisfaction (The Streets on Itunes)

Quote of the Day: "Mr. Lukens, you play too much."

Top 10 things I like:

1. The Netherlands
2. Snow Days
3. Lazy Dogs
4. The Streets
5. Not Reading (except newspapers)
6. Baseball
7. Welfare States (see above)
8. German Chocolate
9. Mountains of Austria
10. Sesame Chicken

Teacher appreciation day at the Phillies tonight!! Barry Bonds is in town, so now all I need to do is catch that cheating bastard's home run and my year will be complete!!


Quote of the Day: A student leaned over and whispered this to me: "I think he's a little slow."

So we have these things called Interim Reports that are intended to notify the parents of students who are failing a given subject of their impending retention. I understand that large, urban school districts like Philadelphia must have several safeguards set in place for students, however, these things take FOREVER!! To fail a student (and its usually quite clear), you must fill out countless numbers of forms, and if you don't get carpal tunnel syndrome during that process, they'll still probably be passed onto the next grade level anyhow. Nonetheless, I am now filling out tons and tons of paperwork. Back to work...and the Streets...

Quote of the Day: "Mr. Lukens, are you moving me out of LD?"

IEP flippin madness. IEP = time. James=tired. Philadelphia Flyers = terrible.



Quote of the Day: "Deonte, you're gonna be the first one in my new car. You know why? I'm gonna have a deep fryer in it."

My attendance today was surprisingly good; I had approximately 85% of my first 2 periods! Anyhow, classes today went really well. I find that it is extremely rewarding when I'm able to teach students with learning disabilities material that even the regular ed students struggle with. Today we went over probability again, however, I slowed down the pace quite a bit and they seemed to grasp the material much better. I'm also exited about my problem students finally settling down. I think it's so interesting that every student responds differently to my "alter-ego's". For instance, with Keenan I am a very friendly, laid back 20 year old (and it works). With Terrell, on the other hand, I'm the baddest motherf***** on earth.

Quote of the Day: "You're gonna get wasted!" (In reference to another teacher's birthday)