Fall Break

I am on Fall Break and will return October 28.  Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Thank You?

When was the last time you were thanked for staying late because a student of yours was the last kid to be picked up?  When was the last time you arrived early because another student needed help in Math and you teach Science?  When was the last time someone you work with said Thank You?  We spend so much time teaching our students how to be contributing members of our society that sometimes we forget to thank the other people working WITH us not against us.  I am not one of those people who believes in rainbows and puppies only, but think about this.  At one point or another most teachers became teachers because they "wanted to be the change in the world" thanks ghandi.  You have to want to be a part of something to deal with our LONG hours, growing piles of paperwork (not grading related), cranky parents, cranky staff members, students (big and small), overcrowded classrooms, and germs just to name a few.  I started thinking about this post because morale at my school stinks.  We are in the middle of renovations (which will ultimately turn our school into an elementary school), have almost an entirely new staff, some of the old staff are those old scary teachers you read about in horror stories, the administration keeps piling more and more and more for us to do, and of course people are cranky.  I am cranky!  I am on the verge of burn out but do you know what keeps me going back each day?  My kids!  I have two small classes due to the reading program I teach and today more than half of the kids were taking another test so I had 7 kids, so I decided to try something new and it worked.  It was wonderful!  I gave each student a piece of notebook paper and then I wrote one sentence on top that they had to finish, I gave each student about a minute to read and write on each story and then we read them aloud as a group.  They were hilarious!  My kids kept wanting to this silly assignment but the best part?  No fighting, no arguing, and they were writing (willingly.)  While this assignment was going on I had a student come up to me to tell me he really enjoyed my class because he knew I cared.  Those two reasons right there are why I go back each and every day.  So, I challenge you to two things followers!  1 - Thank something that you work with for doing a great job!  Don't mock them and say hey great job at making copies, but be sincere.  We all need a thank you now and then.  2- Tell me why you go to work everyday.  I'm honestly curious as to why each and everyone of you (ok all 66 of you) do what you do everyday.  Are you a stay at home mom?  Why did you chose to stay home? 

Here is my Thank You to my 66 readers.  I started this blog to keep in touch with friends and am starting to understand there are other frustrated but truly wonderful teachers out there, so thank you for putting up with the silly things in order to touch the hearts.  Thank you! 

Volleyball is OVER...

Volleyball was finished on Saturday during the All City tournament at which my girls placed 5th. My only goal was for the girls to make it past round one and well we made it to round 5.  I am super proud!  With that being said I will be back later this week to post again.