The End is Near....Kinda

As you can see, the End is Near. It's not near enough to stop working altogether, but it is near enough to start slacking at least a little bit :). The kids can sense it too. During our calendar time, I ask them which month will come next, and they say "June school over" in one breath. I don't think they realize there's three weeks to plow through in June. Some students have declared that they are already done with school. One kid informed me that he is going to visit his dad in another state on Saturday. I asked him how long he would be gone for, and he said: "Seven days with my cousin, seven days with grandma, and fourteen days with my dad". Hmm. Knowing his history, I believe him. How nice of his mom to let me know... Another student told me he was going to be in Vietnam, but every time he tells me, the dates keep changing, so I have no idea what's going on (note to self: call his dad). I expect to come to school one morning and find that he has disappeared.

As for me, I find myself thinking so much about the summer that I might as well be gone!

You mean it isn't summer vacation yet?

Wasn't I just saying something about how little gets done academically after Memorial Day?

Case in point:
We spent twenty-five minutes today playing Pick-up Stix and Jacks in the classroom. I did have a good justification though: our story today was entitled "Games People Play" and many of the examples were these old, old games that don't involve a plug or a screen. I had picture examples of vocabulary like "stilts", and "pogo sticks", but I actually had Jacks and Pick-up Stix in my room, so I thought "Why not?". The kids absolutely LOVED those games.... these old-fashioned toys are just a whole new world to them! Tomorrow, I'm thinking of formulating an excuse to go outside and play hopscotch and see if we can make some stilts with coffee cans and string. Maybe I'll call it P.E.

This and That

This is how my classroom looked for Open House last week (I wanted to include many more cute bulletin boards but the kids' names are prominent on artwork and in pictures so oh well) .... in just four weeks, everything will be taken down and packed away ;).




I've had a lovely, restful weekend at home... complete with shopping, movies, and a kitchen disaster I like to call "no bake cookies". I haven't done anything in the kitchen for months (Max spoils me so), and when I finally venture in there to whip up something for my sweet tooth, I end up with cookies you need to eat with a spoon. Don't ask me how it happened. There's a reason why I'm a teacher and not a cook!

Happy People

Open House is over.... Now we can all relax and stop working and bide our time until the last day of school--just kidding (kind of).

I'd been really stressed out this week with getting my IEP's ready and setting up for Open House, and doing all my usualy daily stuff in the classroom. I kept telling myself: "Don't make such a big deal over Open House!". I would tell myself I was just going to throw some nice work samples on their desks, showcase some writing on one bulletin board and call it a day. But no matter how I tried to downplay it, it didn't work. I put up four bulletin boards, refilled our picture book with new pictures, hung student work from the ceiling, and displayed their latest self-portraits. Granted, at least I had the sense to enlist the help of my (sub)-aide and a parent volunteer, but it was a lot of work. For some reason, I just couldn't let things be the way they were, even as tired and wiped out as I was. "WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF???"

And then last night, it all became clear again. There is just nothing like beaming proud parents at Open House. Happy parents make me happy!

I've Got Joy Joy Joy Joy Down in my Heart (despite this post)

Our staff has been dealt a blow with the announcement that the district, in their INFINITE WISDOM (insert sarcasm here), has decided to move our principal to a different school--a "failing" school--in the hopes that he'll turn it around. He is disappointed about this decision, and the staff is devastated. We are in the middle of submitting angry and pleading letters to the board members in the hopes that they will reconsider. We are all realizing the incredible contribution he has made to this school, and we all know that an administrator who has your back and who will go to bat for you at the district level is hard to come by. I don't know what the outcome of our combined letters and phone calls will be, but if the district and the board members turn a deaf ear to us, at least our principal will know that we didn't let him go without a fight.

In other news, I am officially a BTSA graduate! I have finished the requirements of California's two year induction program..... just in time to move to Michigan. How ironic! We had the last event last night, where all the people who run BTSA at our district waxed poetic about how they wish they had had a program like BTSA to help them in their first years of teaching--and all the participating teachers were secretly rolling their eyes and gagging themselves. Yes, BTSA, there's nothing like adding 40 extra hours [according to their requirement list] of paperwork per year to make a struggling first year teacher successful. Because goodness knows what would have happened if we had spent those 40 hours a year planning, teaching, copying, or making materials... At the event last night, each teacher received a rose, but mine was almost dead so I threw it away. We also got a gold BTSA pin, about an inch wide. I thought about poking somebody with it, but the person responsible for starting BTSA wasn't in the room...

Retreat

Well, I'm back from the retreat, and I can finally relax. I've turned into such a homebody that it was a little difficult to lay low and hang loose when there were so many other people around in such an unfamiliar setting. We stayed at Oceanside Marina Suites, which was right on the water--and the rooms looked like they had come out of a Pottery Barn catalog... amazing! It was truly the only time I've ever been woken up at seven in the morning by barking sea lions... no roosters here, folks!

My talk on prayer went very well. I'm sorry it wasn't taped like the "real" sermons, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that I felt good about it, and other people were gracious in telling me I did a good job :). There were two other speakers during the weekend and I enjoyed that too. But the highlight of the weekend was the craft that we did yesterday. We converted empty Altoid boxes into lovely encouragement card holders--complete with Mod Podge glue, all kinds of paper, rubber stamps, funky scissors, ink, and lots of different embellishments. Guess who was in heaven?? ME!

And now all I have to do is to get through this week (a big week with open house on Thursday) so that I can enjoy a nice three day weekend for memorial day. Yea!

The Week in Review

Lots has been going on this week. So much has been going on that I haven't been able to blog about it all. My apologies. I'll recap:

• The kids are excited every day about our butterflies. This batch of bugs has been particularly picky: they refused to drink from the sponge dipped in sugar water, and they decided not to move an inch until I put in orange slices. One butterfly caused a commotion yesterday as it died trying to emerge from its chrysalis. We spent a good thirty minutes watching it struggle, and the kids watched me try to help it emerge with a paper clip. My efforts were useless. I told the kids "I'm a teacher, not a doctor". They were remarkably mature about it all, but still expressed that they were sad. We'll be releasing the rest of the butterflies this afternoon. I'll post pictures later!
• State testing is FINALLY over.
• I got to visit my colleague and her newborn baby yesterday afternoon (her baby boy was born on Max's b-day--last Saturday). You know how newborns usually look wrinkly and not-quite-cute yet? This newborn did not fit that profile. He was tiny, adorable, and absolutely perfect. I got to hold him for a while, and let me tell you, I like sleeping babies. Not screaming ones. Sleeping ones. I think I wouldn't mind having one as long as it slept straight through until it was potty-trained. That would be nice.
• I leave tomorrow for the San Diego area for our church's woman's retreat (we're staying at a hotel on the beach). They asked me to be one of the four speakers during the weekend. It should be fun, but I hope it's restful too!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Not Bad

You know what makes today automatically great? Three things:

1. Taking a hot shower this morning (we had no hot water all day yesterday--I was worried).
2. Smoked salmon with cream cheese on crackers for lunch.
3. Six butterflies (and counting) have emerged today.

Mondays don't have to be all bad!

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

This week is National Teacher Appreciation week. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, until my students started giving me flowers. Lots of flowers. I have five different kinds of flowers lined up on my desk (bouquet, potted, etc). This is a perfect set-up because it means I can hide behind them when I want to be left alone! It also means that I am popping Claritin daily.

But it is truly nice to have such enthusiastic givers :)! Also nice was when our weekly staff meeting today was cancelled. Instead of taking advantage of the situation to get some work done, I skipped out early (SHH! Don't tell!) and did some much needed birthday shopping. I spent most of the time feeling guilty about skipping out on a non-meeting. What's up with that? Am I so driven by guilt that I can't enjoy playing hooky? I kept trying to justify my actions: It's the only day I have the car to shop; I come in over an hour early every day to work--time that I am not paid for; I didn't have that much to do in my classroom....

It reminds me of the times when I was growing up and my parents would urge me to stay home from school and "take it easy" at the slightest cold or headache. The more they would urge, the more I would insist on going to school (and who cares that I was too sick to breathe?). I wonder if they were playing mind games with me and using reverse psychology or if they truly thought I needed to chill? Maybe they just recognized that missing one day of school wasn't going to be the catastrophic end of the world I was imagining it to be.

And maybe leaving an hour early and skipping one non-meeting won't cause a disaster of epic proportions. Maybe just a disaster of moderate proportions. Or small proportions, even.

We'll see.

Bits of This and That

State testing has officially begun. And since I teach two grade levels below where my kids are tested at, we might as well call our testing period: "Time to make pretty patterns with the answer bubbles". I gave them the ol' "life's not fair" speech, then I handed each of them a special glitter pencil for the test, and away they went!

In other news, it was ninety degrees today and I was absolutely melting! It seems like summer is just right around the corner... SEVEN MORE WEEKS!

Also, I have twenty caterpillars in my classroom... actually, they're all in a chrysalis now, to be more accurate. I thought I would let everyone know I'm in the middle of my butterfly unit so you don't feel shocked later on when I post pictures of the adult butterflies! The kids are having a blast watching the larva, eat, poop, and change. I hope the critters don't emerge over the weekend!

Quarter of a Century

I am officially an old lady of twenty-five! I have loads more wisdom today than yesterday, that's what twenty-five does to you. I had a pretty stressful day today and didn't get home until around five, but there were some highlights at work.... like when my kids sang to me, and when my colleagues threw me a party at lunch complete with a cheesecake (from the Cheesecake Factory!) and fresh strawberries. Oh, and my students made me some charming cards. Here is what one girl wrote: [click on photo to enlarge; do it, it's totally worth it]

I'm "tall"!!! Yeah!!

I came home to a VERY clean table (one of my presents from Max), and a beautiful bouquet of fragrant flowers from my very thoughtful in-laws [THANK YOU!!]:

We celebrated not by eating on the freshly cleaned table, as you might have been thinking, but at the Pizza Bakery. As you can see by the bacon toppings, I'm also aiming to put on twenty-five pounds in honor of my twenty-fifth birthday:

It was also my great pleasure to rip into the box that mom and dad left in our apartment since January (I've had to look at it for all these months and was forbidden from touching it). I was very pleased with the content[s] but I can't divulge what was inside because my sister will be opening the same thing for her birthday on Friday :). THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!

Thanks also to all the caring people who left such nice comments wishing me a happy birthday!

A Note From The Lone Teacher

My aide won't be back until maybe next Monday, if she can get a medical release. Due to the impact of the door, she has a pinched nerve in her neck (similar to a type of whiplash) causing muscle tightness, inflammation in her shoulder and neck, headaches, and blurry vision. The kids ask about her every day and whine dramatically "I MISS HER". I do the same to my colleagues!
Life in my classroom is so busy and so stressful, that I've decided to end this post on a positive note:

It's a Small World After All

This morning, an old friend of my family (who happens to be the assistant superintendent of the entire county's department of education) came to visit our program. He spent a long time in my classroom, accompanied by a colleague of mine. They watched as we did our first science lesson with real, live caterpillars. I knew I was doing a good job, I could just tell. I was relieved. After they had stayed for about thirty minutes, they left to go see some other classrooms.

When they came back, it was five minutes before recess, and my colleague took advantage of the down-time to introduce the visitor to the kids. She said: "We have a special visitor today. He knew Mrs. B when she was just a baby. He's known her whole family for a long time". Then she started talking about the fact that I'm not originally from California, and that I lived in a country far away. She had the kids guess which country. Someone said "New York". Someone else said "Las Vegas". [Meanwhile, I was thinking: It's time for a geography unit!]. My colleague tried to clarify. She pointed to the flag and she said: "It's somewhere where they don't say 'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America'".

There was a moment of silence, then one student enthusiastically shouted "TEXAS!!"

When we had finally established that I had lived in France, she started talking about how I could speak French--she related it to the students in my classroom who speak Spanish at home. The kids wanted to hear what French sounded like, so I rattled off a few sentences. As all of this new information about their teacher sunk in, one student bemoaned: "Why didn't you tell us?"

:)

I So Tired

I had a cranky day today.

Fridays are supposed to be joyous, carefree days, but I was too weary and wary to even notice that it was Friday. I think it has something to do with deadlines creeping up on me, and having to teach all by myself. I've been feeling pulled in too many directions lately. By eleven o'clock this morning (when Max called to tell me about booking our tickets for our summer travel), I thought I was going to scream if I heard one more kid say/whine my name. I tried not to let on to the kids that I was feeling so frazzled and stressed, but I may have failed.

Ten minutes before afternoon recess, during our "Fun Day Friday" activity (making edible aquariums), one student asked me: "Are you going to play kickball with us today?" [I led them in a game of kickball yesterday for PE]. I said "No [sighhhhhhh], not today". A different student must have picked up on my mood, because he said: "I think you so tired". And he nodded knowingly, kind of like a parent would when their toddler is all tuckered out.

Extra Large Shoes

My aide, Sue, has been out on disability for eight days... and counting. Apparently when that door hit her, it must have hit a nerve. She has to take muscle relaxants and Vicodin for the left side of her body, and she has to see a neurologist this week because her vision is blurry. She's supposed to go back to the doctor's on Monday to see if they'll release her to come back to work (please Lord!).

The district has sent a substitute aide for most of those eight days, but it is definitely not the same. Although having the extra pair of hands is nice, she has only worked with high school kids, and I just can't teach someone how to be a natural with the kids. With Sue, I can give her a group of kids to work with and give her little or no direction and I can be confident that she'll do a terrific job. She knows what needs to be done before I even ask her. She takes my grand ideas and runs with them. She de-clutters my room and cloroxes all surfaces at the end of every day. She even shares her snacks with me. You just can't replace someone like that, people. Her shoes are just too big to fill!

And I Didn't Even Get That Seasick!

You may remember from last year that everyone in our program got to go on a field trip to the Ocean Institute. Well this year, our private donor sponsored us again!! Today, all forty-three of us (including staff), drove out to Dana Point and boarded a boat for an adventure!! We did much the same thing as last year, but the kids didn't seem to notice and we all had a great time! It was particularly fun to dig through the mud that we brought up from the bottom of the ocean and find tiny worms, and even tinier shrimp. We sorted them into containers:

The kids also got a kick out of watching the sea lions and hearing them bark:

And here's the picture of the boat we took out to sea:

It's nice to have a break from the routine!

So I Gave Him Some Tissues

The only interesting thing that happened today was that my accident prone student somehow managed to fall into a puddle at recess and soak his entire body.

I'm Back!

I'm back from a very fun and a very enlightening two day conference in Palm Springs put on by the Alexander Graham Bell association. There was a lot that happened to make me think, and I don't think I have a nice and concise summary to give you all.

I was able to make two contacts that could potentially help me find a teaching position once we move back to Michigan. They were helpful, but at the same time, realistic. The southeast region of Michigan is over-saturated with teachers. Neither of them mentioned any openings in the oral deaf field. So, I'm faced with the very real possibility that I might not be able to do exactly what I want to do for a while. They were very nice in giving me all the contact information they had for oral-deaf programs in the region. I'll be getting in touch with those people this week, and continuing to pray that the Lord will provide.

Besides having a blast with my colleagues, this conference opened my eyes to the needs and issues within this growing field, and has sparked my imagination of what role I could play in the future. I've been inspired to move forward, and Michigan will provide more opportunities for me to pursue my passion!

This Deserves Exclamation Points!!

Well, this is it. In about six and a half hours, I'm going to wake up and drive to Palm Springs with six of my colleagues for a two day conference for oral-deaf teachers (put on by the California chapter of Alexander Graham Bell). I've been looking forward to this for months!! It's even doubly exciting because one of the speakers there could potentially help me find a new job in Michigan!! And all seven of us are going to stay overnight in a condo!! And we're going to learn some really cool things at the conference!! And we're going to go out to dinner!! And there's a pool at the condo!! And it's professional growth I actually care about!! And the district is paying for it!!

Yea!!

An Apple a Day...

...doesn't necessarily keep the doctors away!

Especially when my aide gets hit by a door and has to have an emergency CT scan. The scan was clear, but she can't come back to work until Friday. Don't worry, the news only kept me up well past my bedtime, fretting about what activities I could possible do whole group today. Despite the sleep deprivation, today went swimmingly. I can't say if anything academic was accomplished, but I didn't run screaming onto the field, so I consider that to be a success.

I've had my own adventures with doctors today. Since being diagnosed with keratitis, my eyes will no longer accept contacts without becoming inflamed. My choices are pretty much glasses for the rest of my life, or lasek surgery (note: not lasik, lasek). Today was my consultation to see if I was a good candidate for the surgery. I am. As it turns out, my insurance policy is not a good candidate for footing the bill. Fifteen percent off of 5000 dollars doesn't add up to much, actually! Especially since we're hoarding our "wealth" for our move and impending expenses. We'll see. Haha... get it? We'll SEE?

On a related note, when I was little and mom and dad would take me to the doctor, they would always "waste time" and ask the doctors about a gazillion questions (and some, not even medical). I would always perceive the doctors to be annoyed. That made me annoyed. I vowed I would never do such a thing when I grew up. WELL GUESS WHAT PEOPLE??? I am turning into my father! I wouldn't have noticed except that both ophthalmologists said I was their most curious patient ("What's that?" "What does that thing do?" "How is that going to measure the thickness of my cornea?" "What does the lasek procedure entail?" "What did people do back in the day before all of this technology?" "How old are you?"). Later, as I was firing my barrage of questions at the head ophthalmologist, trying to write down his answers on a scrap piece of paper (but kind of failing because my pupils were extremely dilated and I couldn't see a thing in a close range), he laughed (in a nice way) and said he hadn't had a patient take notes in years!

I was embarrassed, but I couldn't stop. Thanks, dad. Thanks a lot!

And So It Begins

I don't care what anyone says; across the nation, good teachers and bad teachers alike are ALL counting down until the last day of school. I don't care if you love your job, or if you hate your job, everyone's counting down. So I thought I would share my countdown with you...




After a long, busy, and stressful day like today, it's appropriate to keep in mind that I'm in the final stretch! My aide got hit in the head when another teacher pushed open the door of the lounge too quickly, and she apparently "saw stars". Fifteen minutes later, she was still feeling dizzy, so she had a friend drive her to the doctor's office. I wanted to make sure she was okay, but I was left without help for the majority of the day. It's times like these when I realize that I can't do what I need to do without her! I was running around all day trying to help ten kids individually on different assignments! Crazy, I tell ya.

Let's Call it a Day

Today was a Big Day. Not only was it the first day back from Spring Break, it was also the day I had to tell my colleagues The Announcement. It was a very emotional day for me. Thankfully, the Lord was merciful! It was easier to deal with The Announcement when the kids weren't running me ragged. I had two students absent, and a third one left before lunch for a doctor's appointment. That left seven with me--and because of speech pullouts and math mainstreaming, I mostly just had four or five students to deal with at any one time.

The kids were wet noodles today! They were so tired, yawning and slouching all the time. At one point in the morning, I suggested maybe we should all take a nap instead of Reading Group... and they literally cheered!! It was nice just to have a laid back day. I introduced the new ocean unit, read them the new/updated class storybook (it's all pictures of them and the fun stuff we've been doing throughout the year with simple text captions--they LOVE to read this book. It's like they're all narcissists or something...), and we talked about what we did over break. I know we did some language arts and math in there somewhere too, but it's all just a blur. You know, only getting six hours of sleep will make anything seem like a blur!

The Number of....

hours I slept last night: 12
books I read: 2
hours I worked at school this week: 5
points scored in the bowling game last night: 76
grains of sand that hit my face at the beach during that windstorm: 1, 765, 297
times I cooked: 0
shopping trips for clothes: 2
times I've thought about the future: too many to count

days left of Spring break: 1

All is Quiet on the Classroom Front

Only four days into Spring Break, and I'm already back at school. Don't worry, though, I wanted to be here so I could get things set up for our ocean unit. Yes, I'm resting. No, I'm not "overdoing" it. No, I'm not bored. No, I'm not a work-a-holic. It's just that things are so... peaceful... when I'm the only one on campus, when my classroom is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I just get so much done. I planned the next two weeks of instruction, put up two new bulletin boards, got everything ready for Monday, switched the seating arrangement, and made materials.

It is truly amazing when I think I could spend my whole week here in my classroom doing my job--without any kids in sight!

Let's Get This Party Started!

Yes!!!!!!!! Spring Break!!!!!!! I made it!!!!!!! I'll celebrate with some pictures:

The messier, the better!

My egg-head students

Happy Easter everyone!!

Almost There

Every morning this week, I've woken up completely exhausted and groggy, and thought to myself: "Spring break? Is it spring break yet? Now? How about now??". Eventually I figure out that I have to turn off my alarm and go to work. And, although the days have been fine, they have all felt soooo long. I'll look up at the clock and wonder why it's stopped ticking. I'll check my watch and think "It can't STILL be ten, can it?". Boy, if this is how I feel now, it's gonna get really bad in June. But don't worry; I'll be okay.

But I have a lot of things planned for Spring break. I've got two books to read, a baby blanket to finish knitting (NOT for me), a two week ocean unit to plan and put together, a doctor's appointment, a hair appointment, an opera to go to, and a ladies' night out to organize and attend. Oh and sleeping in. Lots and lots of sleeping in!

Aha!!!

You often hear teachers talk about these wonderful "aha!" moments--you know, the ones that make it all worthwhile: seeing a child's face light up with understanding, witnessing a student's self-confidence soar, etc. I'm sorry to say that I've never truly had one of those moments--I haven't had the joy of seeing it all click for a student. Now, this doesn't mean I haven't had my small successes... I remember one time last year when a student (who was very low, language-wise) spontaneously put together one complete, gramatically correct sentence. That was a good moment. But as far as those "jump-for-joy, I-couldn't-be-anything-other-than-a-teacher" moments, I hadn't experienced that .... until a week ago last Thursday when I was observing my two students mainstreamed for math.

I should back up by saying that in September, I'd decided to run/teach this program called "Rocket Math" from the Otter Creek Institute. It's a basic math fact memorization program that supposedly takes only seven minutes a day. I figured that automaticity for basic addition facts would go a long way when it came to teaching three digit addition with regrouping. It's just not pretty to see nine year olds counting on their fingers to figure out 4+5. It was a lot of work to start the program, but by now the kids run it themselves. It takes about 20 minutes a day for my kids to get through it. I'll be honest, there were times when I thought of ditching it to make way for lots of other things; but I've stuck it out (so far) and last Thursday, I FINALLY saw a real benefit.

My two kids were sitting with their general ed peers in math. The teacher gave them a one minute drill test for addition. I watched as they took it. Both of my students were done in about thirty five seconds and looking at me and around the room to figure out what they were supposed to do now. All of the other kids were still struggling to complete the test.

I was in the corner, stiffling sobs of pride and joy, and trying to refrain myself from jumping excitedly so as not to distract the other kids. My students may have significant gaps compared to their general ed peers, but, by gosh, they KICK BUTT when it comes to basic math facts.
Hooray for Rocket Math! Hooray for me!!

The Blues

I have a bad case of the Sunday Night Blues. I really do not feel like going back to school tomorrow.... it's the last week before spring break, and so a very slow and long week. It's funny how I get so inspired to do all these great things--knit, write in my journal, clean the bathroom, clean out the car, start some project--but I never can/do because I'm busy or tired from work. Then, once I get some time off, I don't feel like doing anything so grand--I usually resort to watching T.V or complaining that there is nothing to do!

Here's to the week going by as fast as possible....

Self-Discovery

The teacher's demonstration at the school board on Tuesday night was somewhat of a success. Being surrounded by a couple hundred of my colleagues gave me four insights about teachers:

1. We can be just as rebellious as our students.

I was standing in the lobby along with around a hundred other teachers because there was no more room in the actual board room. We watched the proceedings on the TV screen. At the very beginning, some important Lady of The Board pounded her gavel and said: "Because we already know that everyone in the room will concur with what will be said, let's keep the clapping to a minimum so as to move this right along". Well what effect do you think that had? We clapped and hooted and hollered after EVERY speaker. Even halfway through, when she gave us a stern reminder, we continued. Apparently we don't follow directions well. Perhaps if she had been offering stickers as an incentive we might have listened.

2. Teachers don't shut up.

Even though we harp on our students to BE QUIET WHEN I AM TALKING, we cannot be expected to follow the same standard. More than once, the gatherers in the back room (where I was standing) were kindly asked by a fellow teacher to stop talking. We paused to listen, but continued at the same volume until the screen actually showed the proceedings. Even then, there was quieter talking throughout the room. The problem is, we hardly get to see our colleagues except at boring meetings or as we pass each other in the halls. We're just so thankful to be with friends who are just as fed up with student [and administration] antics as we are, that we can't help talking!

3. Teachers are self-important.

The logic is, since we have one of the most important jobs on Earth, we should be paid as such, and we should feel valued by our district. Plain and simple.

4. Teachers can't be expected to function after 8 o'clock PM.

Although I'm sure this one is true in most other professions as well, it struck me that the teachers at the board meeting started dropping like flies around 8 o'clock. I saw many tired, haggard faces walk by on the way to the parking lot. Suckers. I at least lasted until 8:15.

Bored Meeting

Tonight, I've been guilted into going to the board meeting to show my support for teacher salary increases. Apparently we're the lowest paid district in the county and "we're not happy about it". I feel funny about going because I'm pretty sure that I (and I alone) am the single highest paid second year teacher IN THE NATION. Although I technically only have my B.S, I have a special credential, and the district has credited me with 60 extra credits.... also, CA has higher salaries because of our higher standard of living. I'm sure if someone from, say, Mississippi looked at my paycheck they might just keel over from shock (and envy).

But the big paycheck needs to be bigger because we're the lowest paid district in the county and that is "not acceptable".

I'll let you know if the board members cower in fear at the sheer number of teachers (all dressed in "intimidating" black) and give in to our demands. It might get ugly. Watch the 11 o'clock news for the exciting conclusion.

Slimy Fun

Springtime means birds. Birds mean worms. Worms mean....dirt! Edible dirt, that is!


On Friday we combined chocolate pudding, crushed cookies, and gummy worms into one delightful snack. The kids went to town with it, grossing me out by slurping up their pudding-covered worms, or leaving parts of worms hanging out of their mouths. Ahh, to be nine again...

The Mommy in Me

Sometimes my students forget that I'm their teacher and they call me "mom" or "mommy". I think it's pretty funny when it happens, but they giggle nervously and look around them to make sure no one heard their mistake. Because they are just old enough to be embarrassed by a slip like that, that's why.

Lately, I've been feeling like more of a mom than a teacher to two of my students who are mainstreaming out for a thirty-day trial in math. For one hour every morning, I walk them around the block to a general ed. second grade classroom (our school is kind of a split campus between grades K-2 and 3-6) so they can learn math with their peers. There are definitely gaps in their knowledge of the math content, but after some testing and some reflection, I decided to try it. They started this adventure on Wednesday, and I have been so worried about it... I was having nightmares that the whole thing would be a disaster. When I walked them over for the first time, I kept having these nagging thoughts: "Are the other kids going to make fun of their hearing aids?", "Will their desk partners be helpful?", "Will they be teased when they say the wrong thing?", "Will the content be too hard?", "Will anyone play with them at recess?", "Should I just turn around and go back?". When I dropped them off at the right classroom, I almost gave them a hug before I left (they were fine; the hugs were to calm my own nerves...). I actually lingered in the background for a good twenty minutes to make sure they were settled... not unlike an over-protective mother dropping her firstborn off in Kindergarten, hovering until the teacher dropped a hint that it was time to leave!

It was helpful that the audiologist came with me and explained to these second graders how their FM systems worked and why their teacher would be wearing a microphone. To my relief, the kids were quite excited to have my students with them for an hour everyday. It turns out that the other kids are really eager to play with them, and eager to help them out in the classroom as well.

So apparently my kiddos are going to be just fine, and I can start acting like a teacher again, and less like a mom!

A Case of Cursive

Learning cursive is a sort of milestone in elementary school. I remember it was a huge deal when I was growing up. Well, things are no different in my classroom. Third grade is the year of Cursive, and we have officially begun teaching it in Room 33. I say "we" to mean "my aide". I never learned to write in cursive the American Way (surprisingly, the French Way is quite different), so I find myself unqualified to teach this particular skill (shh! Don't tell anyone!). Plus, my aide has the patience of a saint so she is uber-qualified to teach cursive.

Yesterday was the grand kickoff. I made the executive decision that three of my ten students would not be participating in the cursive lessons; two have issues with cerebral palsy that affect their fine motor skills, and the other is barely legible when he prints (cause unknown). Two of these three were very understanding and sat down to practice their printing. One student (one with mild cerebral palsy), was obviously disappointed. He is working overtime to show me that he is capable of printing well. As it turns out, he's almost succeeded in convincing me. It turns out, all these months he was just being lazy with his handwriting: when he concentrates and tries hard, his printing is acceptable. Apparently he just needed the right motivation to shape up.

I still haven't decided if he's truly ready for cursive yet (I also factor in the fact that he's a second grader), but I'll see how far he's willing to take things to prove himself to me. Who knows? Maybe I'll get to be the one that teaches him that sometimes hard work DOES pay off!

Kids Love Ham

I'm back. I survived.

Being around eight teenage girls gave me some perspective:

1. Deaf people are lucky because THEY CAN TURN DOWN THE VOLUME!
2. Although they were loud, giggly, and obnoxious, I must confess that I was just as bad, if not worse, when I was fourteen and fifteen.
3. Nobody wants a teenager, everybody wants a baby... the difference is that the baby is still adorable despite the screaming. [Everybody except Max, who is reading over my shoulder. But he's only saying it to be contrary, so it doesn't count.]
   
4. I know these girls are nice, but there is something about the unabashed love my students have for me, as well as their sincere desire to please me that makes me feel needed and appreciated. I don't know what admitting that says about me, but oh well. I prefer kids under ten, who aren't trying to be cool, who don't have glaring insecurities to deal with, and who would LOVE to spend time with me! Also, I can be a total ham and they wouldn't think of me any differently :).
   

Why I Teach Second and Third Graders:

After spending all week with children/students who absolutely love me, I get to go to Big Bear with the youth group and spend a whole weekend with teenagers who will absolutely ignore me.

I'm sure I'll be back on Monday feeling every one of my twenty-four years.

Thanks, but No Thanks

A telling sign of a good school is collaboration. How often do teachers get together to share ideas/frustrations/strategies? Or do they? I have been extremely lucky to land in a very collaborative school--because I wouldn't be as good of a teacher if I didn't have everyone's collective experience at my disposal to learn from. Any time I need advice, there are lots of people I could turn to. Sometimes I am just sharing a frustration and one of my colleagues will jump in with "You know what worked for me?".

And that's great. WHEN IT HAPPENS AT SCHOOL.

What I don't understand is why total strangers at the grocery store think it's perfectly appropriate to give me unsolicited advice on the food items I may or may not be buying. About a month ago, I was standing in the checkout line with garlic bread and "Ragu" spaghetti sauce. A random guy in front of me turns and says: "You know, I'm a chef [oh really?], and if you just add half a cup of sugar and a whole bay leaf in the sauce, it will taste really great--like it's homemade". I think I thanked him for the tip, but inwardly I was thinking NO WAY. Because I happen to like the pure and natural taste of "Ragu" sauce just the way it is, thank you very much.

Then, just today, I was looking in the frozen pie section and thinking of surprising Max with a pie in honor of Pi day (3/14, get it?), when all of a sudden, a woman comes up behind me and starts giving me her unsolicited advice. She was saying something about how to make a really easy pie with fruit, lemon juice, sugar, and corn starch. Regardless of the fact that I will probably try her recipe one day, what is it about me that compels people to share advice??

But I Don't Wanna Go To Bed!

I should be in bed right now, but I'm procrastinating. I can do that because tomorrow is a "non-student" day for parent-teacher conferences. Lucky me, I teach special ed--so that means I only have ten sets of parents to see instead of thirty. So tomorrow I have an IEP in the morning, then one little p-t conference, and sweet freedom for the rest of the day. Ahhh, I love conference week. After my colleagues and I go out for lunch tomorrow (it's tradition on the Wednesday of conference week), I'll have the rest of the time to catch up on all of my planning. Woo hoo!!

Part 2: Like Father, Like Daughter

But this time, it really wasn't my fault. Max made me do it.

I filled out a bracket-thingy for March Madness. Apparently a random-guess bracket like mine has just as much of a chance of winning as a well-informed one. Who knew? Max evaluated my bracket decisions afterward, and I could tell he was getting a kick out of talking basketball with The Wife. Apparently, now I am supposed to be glued to the TV and check scores compulsively.

We'll see.

On the school front, parent-teacher conferences are going very well so far!

Like Father, Like Daughter

I have a persistent habit during the school year: every night before I go to bed, I lay out my outfit for the next day. I used to laugh at my father for doing this exact same thing, but as it turns out, I have the same problem. I even take it one step further and lay out my breakfast for the morning. I pour the cereal, lay out two lactaid pills, and put out a tea bag next to my bowl. While some may think this is "obsessive", I think it's "organized". I just can't be bothered with the pesky details of choosing an outfit or preparing my breakfast so early in the morning. I like to be on "auto-pilot"--sort of like a zombie going through the same motions every morning on the way to work. (But even though I love my routine, I gladly give it up in the summer). If I don't have everything laid out the night before, I kind of freak out in the morning; I feel rushed, and then I don't have a good day.

But it's not a problem, really, I promise....

Metamorphosis

Not unlike becoming werewolves at the sight of a full moon, my kids have become monsters-- bearing claws and howling into the night. I'm not exactly sure when the full moon appeared, but it was sometime in January. All I know is, I have never been so furious with my students. By the end of the day, I was reading the riot act to my entire class--the closest I have been to yelling.

The day started out great. It was author's day and Deborah Turner spoke to the school about her book: "How Willy Got His Wheels". It's a true story about a rescued chihuahua whose back legs didn't work. Deborah tried helium balloons and a skateboard to help him walk but nothing worked until she found a special doggie wheelchair in a magazine. Now he uses his front legs and his wheels in the back and rolls around, appearing on TV and in assemblies around the world. It was very cool because she brought Willy with her and all the kids got to pet him. At the end of the assembly, she gave one of my girls a postcard with a picture of Willy on the front.

One of my werewolves decided it would be appropriate to take the postcard from her at lunch and flush it down the toilet in the boys' bathroom. The entire bathroom flooded as a result, the plumbing was backed up, and the janitor had to close all the boys' bathrooms down to fix the problem. My little girl was crying so hard, it might as well have been Willy himself that he flushed down that toilet.

During afternoon recess, another one of my werewolves purposefully excluded a student (one of MY deaf students who is fully mainstreamed in a different class) by saying: "You can't play with us, you're not in our class!!". The words sounded even more spiteful to me as I remembered that this student is having a hard time dealing with real bullies in his general ed. class.

Yet another of my little monsters, after my aide asked him to sit out of the dodge ball game for rough-housing, picked up a rock and hit a random boy who happened to be walking by. For no discernible reason.

At this point in time, I am ready to howl at the moon myself.

A Disconcerting Truth

Today, as I was eating lunch in the lounge, I overheard some teachers (who were not THAT old) talking about how back in the "day", there were clear cut heart-throbs like Clark Gable, Dean Martin, etc. And today, there doesn't seem to be any one actor that every girl is drooling over. They looked over at me and asked if I could think of any popular heart-throbs that every girl loved. I didn't know.... Jude Law? Brad Pitt? At this point my aide chimed in with: "You know who I really like? That Howie Mandel!"

I looked at her to find out if she was serious. She was.

The Lighter Side

There is lots going on at work. LOTS. Between district testing, IEP testing, IEP writing (I have two in the next week), planning for parent-teacher conferences next week, trying to put together my St. Patrick's Day unit, getting things ready for my new student (yes folks, that would be number 11!), and all the other daily stuff I need to do to keep my classroom running, I'm left feeling like this.

But instead of sharing the headaches, I'll share the lighter moments:

1. One of my students, as we were walking toward the bus at the end of the day, looked up at me and asked: "What grade you?".
"Grade??? I'm finished with all the grades. I did all of them!"
"What?!?!?!?!?! But Mrs. L say she 17 grade".
[And apparently Mrs. L thought it would be funny to take advantage of his naivety. It was.]

2. Yesterday, as I was walking to my desk, one of my students said "Sorry Mrs. B" quite sheepishly. "Why?" I inquired (suspiciously). "I roop". "You did what?" Then he made a gesture clearly indicating a burp and said "I roop!" Ohhhhhhh. A roop. Of course!

3. The other day I was teaching irregular plurals. I explained that when there's only one, we call it "singular". Pointing to the word "singular" on the board, one of my students piped up with "Noooooo, that's the phone!"
[get it? get it? Cingular? The phone company? Oh. Guess you had to be there...]

4. When my students tasted cottage cheese yesterday, I was surprised to find out how many of them didn't like it! When they went to write about it, one student (my slacker) felt SO strongly about it, he took the trouble to look up the word "nasty" in the dictionary. Hmmm. I suppose that's an A for effort...

Food Frenzy

My kids (and I) are really getting into this nutrition unit. Monday we tried pomelo, Tuesday we had mango, and on Wednesday, I felt like being a little mean, so I brought radishes in for their "taste books" (I know, I know...). They took one look at those little red bulbs with the roots sticking out and declared "I don't like it". "New rule", I said, "no saying 'I don't like it' until you've tried it" (so much for the declaration I made to my parents a long time ago that I would never utter those words to my kids). Everyone got half a radish. On "three", we tasted it. On about "five", we all said "Ewwww". Well, at least I got to introduce new vocabulary words like "gross" and "bitter", so it wasn't all for nothing.

Today I wanted to make it up to them so I brought in a papaya. Papayas are sweet fruit so I thought I would easily win them all back. Unfortunately, I managed to pick the only ripe papaya that tasted more bitter than an orange peel. It was very disappointing. I'm not sure they will trust whatever I hand them tomorrow. We shall see...

Training Day Tribute

Oh, district training day, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.

1. A break from my students.
2. Being dismissed over an hour early.
3. Eating out for lunch and then SHOE SHOPPING.
4. Talking to grown-ups.
5. Not hearing kids call/whine my name. Incessantly. All day.
6. Being dismissed over an hour early.
7. Free goodies.
8. Hearing about good ideas.
9. Eating out for lunch and then SHOE SHOPPING.

Too bad this was the last one for quite some time!

Hello Pomelo!

Today marked the beginning of a brand new thematic unit (designed by yours truly) on health and nutrition. Much of it is centered around the food pyramid and all of that good vocabulary--I was a little alarmed two weeks ago when our speech therapist said my kids didn't know the word "meat".
Anyways, as part of the unit, I had the kids design the cover to a "Taste Book". There are about ten lined pages inside. Each day, we're going to taste some exotic and/or uncommon food and write some sentences about it (its name, what food group it belongs to, what it looks like, and what it tastes like). Today's new taste sensation was a pomelo, which is kind of like a yellow, sweet grapefruit. Everyone really enjoyed it... And I'm patting myself on the back for something fun to show off at our Open House in May! Now, I just need to think of other uncommon food items to bring in daily for the next two weeks. Suggestions anyone?

Later in the day, we were using our sentence patterns to tell each other what our favorite food in each food group was. I went first: "My favorite grain is cereal". A few other kids went next, then one student said "My favorite grain is DONUTS!"

Yeah. Me too, kid, me too.

I'm Back

So... I'm back. My flights were mercifully uneventful. It's nice to be back home with the hubby, though much less exciting than painting the town red with the sister! I am definitely looking forward to laying low this weekend. I need to muster all the energy I can to tackle work on Monday!

Surviving the Falls

We're back from Niagara Falls! It was quite the trip. We stayed at the Marriott Hotel--very fancy and otherwise unaffordable in the high season. Good thing it was bitterly cold; we got an excellent deal. Let me recount our time in pictures.

This was the view from our hotel room:

We ventured outside toward the freezing mist along slippery sidewalks. Good thing I brought long underwear!

Even still, we were freezing. Can you tell?

Later that evening, we ate at the hotel's Terrapin Grille, a four star restaurant that served excellent prime rib and salmon (it was so helpful to have that 75$ off coupon!)

The next day, we ate at the most lavish breakfast buffet I've ever been to...complete with an omelette bar! We also got 45 minute facials (no pictures of that... we were too busy enjoying ourselves!). Then we ventured out into the--slightly less bitter--cold to see the town.

We met the man of our dreams:

We played the nickel slots (Canadian nickels are wierd!):

And when it started raining, we ducked into a glow-in-the-dark mini-golf place and played 18 holes. It was a close game, but I ended up winning in the end.

Did I mention the yummy chocolate shake?

All in all, it was great time with the sis in Niagara!

Arrival

I'm here!

Amazingly, there were no delays or cancellations because of the weather AND my luggage arrived on time. Whaddayaknow? Everything was pretty uneventful, save for the annoying, boozed-up threesome sitting in front of me, flirting with each other and the flight attendant--then subsequently fighting with each other and with the flight attendant. I slept for four hours between the two so I'm not quite sure what happened to cause the change in mood...

As it turns out, I've discovered several things already:

1. It's boring traveling alone. There's no one to carry all my stuff, to sleep on, or to laugh with at other outrageous passengers.
2. It's cold in Syracuse. There's white stuff falling from the sky.
3. I forgot how static-y my hair gets in true winter weather.
4. NorthFace makes the warmest jackets. Hands down.
5. Contrary to popular belief, cardboard boxes can make both lovely and useful nightstands. I credit Rebekah with her frugality and ingenuity!
6. I can eat all the ice cream I want here and no one can hold me in check! Except, technically, my conscience, but I've killed her long ago.
7. I like cable.
8. Lack of boys = nicer smelling apartment. (Burn.)

Tomorrow, I'll miss Max.

One More Day!

It was just one of those days. Not the one where everything goes wrong, but the one with all of the insurmountable stress ... Between trying to set up IEP meeting dates, getting the right paperwork home, planning for a brand new unit on Monday (the Monday we get back from break, that is), finding and/or making the right materials, choosing, copying, and collating the homework packets, getting observed for an hour this morning, and listening to the constant whining and crying of a certain student (who knew paper cuts could be so debilitating?), I really just wanted to scream and run for the hills.

I am very thankful for this next week off. Though the stress won't end until the fat lady sings (on June 22nd in my district), at least I can pause and recuperate for a while--and visit with my sister in New York! Now, if only the snowy weather in the east will hold off until all my planes land, I will be eternally grateful...

Valentine's Day a la Budget

Here are some fool-proof steps for a very fun, cheap-o Valentine's Day.

1. Make home-made valentine's cards for each student.
2. Have a parent bring in the entertainment (in my case, a giant pizza-shaped chocolate chip cookie with bags of icing that the kids can use to decorate the surface)
3. Recycle all boxes of chocolate that the kids give you into a thoughtful gift for your husband (for an added touch, just cross out the "s" in "Mrs."--saving you from making another label, and from wasting precious time)
4. Skip the fancy restaurant and opt for a walk and a trip to Baja Fresh--all on mom and dad's gift card, of course!
5. Top it off with a bowl of ice cream in front of the TV. (Not that we don't do that every night, but add an extra scoop of the good stuff because of the holiday!)

Et voila! What would have made today extra, extra great would have been to skip the two staff meetings, but that was out of the question...

Say What?

One of my students took the cake in terms of inadvertently charming comments today. In every instance, he got it just wrong enough to make me smile...

9:40 AM
I'm teaching my students that "kn" makes the "n" sound because the "k" is silent. I have several examples and several pictures, one of which is a knot. I said "When you tie your shoes, you make a knot". Suddenly I hear said student proclaim in a loud voice, pointing to his feet: "like my SNICKERS!!"

1:30 PM
My students had just come back from the third grade general ed. class next door... we had paired them up with a buddy and they got to ask each other questions (along the lines of "What's your favorite--?"). Then we all went outside and played with a giant parachute. When we got back to class, said student told everyone in the class how happy he was that he had a new "boyfriend". You can imagine my frantic correction that followed!

2:20 PM
I had my students run two laps around the track this afternoon. They were quite exhausted coming around the final bend and into their second lap... I kept shouting: "One more lap!" as they ran by. As he passed by me, said student (panting quite heavily from all the running), replied "But my heart (pant, pant...), it's BROKEN!"

(My) Kids say the darndest things...

A New Look

Yes, don't worry folks, it's still me. I needed a change of scenery--so I changed it!

I am actually looking forward to going to school tomorrow. Each day that goes by this week brings me closer and closer to my trip to New York this Saturday to see my sister. Yea! I just really hope that the days don't crawl by... But there are a lot of events going on to keep me on my toes, so it should be fine. In the same week, there's the 100th day of school celebration, the Valentine's day party, an assembly, and an all-day district science training. I'm looking forward to the science training--I like the break from my normal routine, plus the assistant superintendent of the district is taking me out to lunch that day. Ha! I guess that's what happens when your parents have friends in high places. I don't even think I'll rush back to the training after lunch, because if I'm a little late, I can say "Oh, am I late? I was out to lunch with the assistant superintendent and we lost track of time!" Yes, I would get a kick out of that.

Sick and Tired

Well, my body finally quit on me. I managed to hold out until my IEP meeting late this afternoon... then I called the sub system, threw some plans together and bolted for home. I'll spare you the details, but I sound like a deep-throated, coughing pre-pubescent teenager with an achy body. The symptoms were bad enough to justify missing the afternoon staff meeting.
So tomorrow my goal is to recover so I can be there for the kids and Fun Day Friday.

In other news, 40% of my students got into trouble and had to see the principal today (yes, folks, four of my ten!). Apparently, they thought it would be appropriate to gang up and tackle a fourth grade girl (who they probably liked but couldn't quite express it) to the ground and pull her hair. They really should have been suspended, but our strict administrator was out sick today, so instead all they got was lunch detention from the principal. Don't worry, I made sure they got the riot act from me. Ironically, they were all able to tell the principal that the rule is to "respect other people" and "keep your hands to yourself"--why they chose not to follow it is another story altogether. If my kids keep this up, my classroom is going to look like this !

Back to the Future

The trip to the Centennial Heritage Museum (the 100 year old house/museum for those of you slow on the uptake) was a success. The kids enjoyed themselves, and my stress levels were kept to a minimum. Now, I realize that my parents' house and my in-laws' house are both over one hundred years old, but what was special about this house/museum, is that the original furniture, clothes, and appliances are still there. Though we couldn't sit on the furniture, we did get to use the ancient telephone, play the pump organ, make butter in the kitchen, wash rags on a washboard then put them through the wringer, and try on Victorian style clothes (no, not the originals) for pictures. Our tour guide was very nervous when I told her that my kids are deaf/hard-of-hearing--she kept asking if they all wore hearing aids and I kept reassuring her that the only thing she needed to do was to talk in basic terms, like you would to a five-year-old, and not a third grader. She got the hang of it quickly and made the presentation very understandable, which I am so thankful for.


Unfortunately, the only picture that I can include (with no kids in view) is of a counter in the kitchen. Do you recognize anything? ;) Can you find the: rug beater, potato masher, butter churner, iron, flour sifter, coffee grind, scale, and ice tongs? How did people get by without microwaves? I never would have survived back in the day.... I'm way too much of a wuss!

V is for Victory

Monday went by mercifully quickly. Never mind that my sister and my father-in-law got to stay home from school on account of the weather--I had my victories too.

Victory #1: The district's official review is finally over; months of agony and paperwork came to a close. The "team" spent a total of three minutes in my room, rifled through my orderly box of paperwork, checked my walls for items to check off on their list, and left. One unexpected conversation occurred when the former vice principal here (who I'd never met) informed me that she was in the room when I had my phone interview; she expressed how glad she was to have me here. I thought that was nice of her...

Victory #2: I managed NOT to strangle the one student whose impulsiveness has been driving me up the wall lately.

Victory #3: There were free goodies in the lounge! I'm a sucker for free food...

Victory #4: I don't know how or why, but I'm finally getting excited about our field trip tomorrow. It may have something to do with the pure joy on my kids' faces as they talk about it, or it may have something to do with the fact that I just remembered that it's only a half-day affair and not a whole one. Either way, it feels better to look forward to something instead of dreading it, doesn't it?

Victory #5: My chicken tetrazzini turned out wonderfully (why yes, I do occasionally cook). Bon appetit!

Stayin' Alive

Getting to the end of the school day on Friday was a bit like finally coming up for air. I'd been running around all week trying to stay one step ahead and always falling one step behind. By the time the final bell rang, I was anxious to go home so I could sit and stare at the wall.

And, basically, that's all I've done. Well, technically, I did do some reading (I finished my book "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"--it was both overwritten and sad), and some watching (general TV, as well as the movie "Goal", which I enjoyed).

And now it's almost time to hold my breath and dive into another week. It's a big week for me. Tomorrow is D-day as our school gets reviewed by the district (to prepare us in the case of an actual state audit)--weeks and months spent agonizing over whether our paperwork is perfect will finally come to fruition. A team of questionably qualified people will check to see if my affairs are in order and that I've carefully documented evidence that I am a "good" teacher (which, according to them, would be a teacher who does nothing but paperwork, but what do I know?). I can't wait till it's over!

Tuesday is our first field trip of the year. We're going to the Centennial Heritage Museum (aka: the Kellogg house). I'm a little stressed out about it because 1) I have two parent volunteers coming and I don't know what to expect, and 2) some of my students are quite impulsive and may require leashes. Also, I'm really hoping we get a better tour guide this year: last year, our guide was so inappropriate...

Wednesday is my next IEP meeting, which I am NOT ready for. More paperwork. More stress. Yea!

My goal is to make it alive to Thursday. Can you tell I am just counting down the days until our February week break? I can't wait to see my sister in New York!

Trained....and Ready?

Today, I spent the day at the district office, learning all about this awesome program ("Reading Naturally") to build fluency and comprehension. The presenter was excellent and the information was relevant. In short, I can't wait to use it in my own classroom! As I was sitting in the training, however, it occurred to me that there's a lot of stuff that they DON'T tell you in any given in-service.

What they do tell you:

• "Here's how to implement the steps of this awesome program"
  

What they don't tell you:

• "Here's how to convince your site administrator to buy the program and the materials"
• "Here's how to get creative with your time management so that you can fit this program into your day"
• "Here's what to throw out in your day so you can make room for this program in your schedule"
• "Here's how to squeeze extra physical space and storage space into your already too-packed classroom so you can run the program"
  

In fact, as I sat there thinking, it also occurred to me that some people in the room might not go to all the trouble of running the program (even though it would be so beneficial), because it's just too much extra work. So our real choices were: 1) put up with the hassle for your students' sake, or 2) be a lousy teacher and don't sleep well at night. Hmmmmm. Guess which one I choose? Hooray!

Paper, Work

Tomorrow brings a long awaited break in my routine: I'll be attending an all-day Read Naturally training at the district with one of my colleagues/friends. It's going to be awesome; I'll be interacting with ADULTS, nobody will whine my name, I'll get to go OUT to lunch, I'll miss the Wednesday staff meeting, I'll get to sleep in for a whole twenty minutes, and with any luck, I'll be inspired again.

Lately, I've been really short on inspiration and motivation in the classroom. There is just something about district-induced loads of paperwork (with deadlines all too near) and pending IEP's looming on the horizon that just sucks the energy right out of me. You know it's a bad sign when you feel that the kids are getting in the way of your job. Shouldn't the kids BE my job? Apparently the district never got the memo...

In the meantime, this is what I'll look like for the next few weeks.

From the Funny Farm

In the last five minutes of the school day today, we practiced spelling our "words of the week". I usually like to do something really corny as we spell each word (makes it a game instead of a drill). Today I told the kids we were going to lasso each letter with invisible rope. At the end of the spelling, we shout the word and bring in the cow. The kids were excellent cowboys.

As we lined up outside for the bus, one of my students said: "I gonna eat my cow!". Another student turned to him with a look of utter disgust and said: "We no eat cow!". I told this second student that whenever you eat a hamburger, you're eating cow. He replied: "but milk?". You should have seen his look of amazement when he realized that both milk and meat come from cows. The first student suddenly exclaimed: "I eat sheep too!"

I thought this amusing incident was over, but about two minutes later as we approached the school gate, the first student said: "What do chicken make". I told him: "Well... chicken is chicken". He looked puzzled, so I added: "you know, like chicken nuggets!"

"Oh.... COOL!"

Meeting Etiquette

Some tips I thought I'd pass along in case you ever need to attend a meeting, or hold a meeting:

1. Don't ask questions you already know the answer to.
2. Never whine about decisions that have already been made.
3. Don't ask hypothetical questions in order to find a loophole.
4. Don't call a meeting if emailing the meeting agenda would be just as effective.
5. Don't call a meeting to tell people what they already know.
   
6. Don't ask questions that are answered in the meeting agenda.
7. Don't hog the chips.
8. Maintain a positive attitude (or fake one if you have to): remember that you're not the only one who doesn't like meetings.
   
9. NEVER waste everyone's time by asking personal questions that only apply to you.
10. (Have I left anything out?)
    

It turns out, common sense isn't so common.

Reading will be the end of me

Yesterday, I got myself sent to the doctor for pink eye (again). I could have laid low and flown under the radar, but I'm getting a bit worried about the persisten redness, and I didn't have time after school any day this week, so I opted to leave at 9:30. My doctor referred me to an opthalmalogist (that is how you spell it; I checked) and told me that I might be contagious and not to go back to school that day (nevermind that I've been teaching with red-ish eyes since Jan. 8th... today could be the day I infect someone). I couldn't really enjoy my impromptu holiday as I felt very guilty for dumping my kiddos off on two of my colleagues, and I felt bad that I couldn't take care of the increasing mounds of paperwork from home. So I putzed around and bothered Max.

Near the end of the day, I picked up a novel from the library and started reading it. It proved to be a mistake. There's a reason why I don't read for fun during the school year, and I knowingly shoved it to the back of my mind and read anyway. I got so into the novel (I'm on page 233) that I literally fought with Max about going to bed. Suddenly I was in seventh grade again and arguing with my parents saying things like: "One more chapter!" "Just one more page", or "Give me ten minutes, I'll go to bed after that I PROMISE". Max put his foot down "for my own good". I read for fifteen more minutes, then struggled with him for control of the book. He finally got me to close it, but I managed to grab it and read while I was brushing my teeth. Well, at least I didn't get a flashlight and read under the covers like when I was younger. I am hopeless.

And the worst part is that I have a much anticipated book on hold, waiting for me at the library with my name on it. The struggle isn't over yet... why do I do this to myself?

My Life as a Soap Opera

The opera I went to on Thursday night must have been a magical opera--the kind of magic that makes the drama on stage spill over into real life. Ever since yesterday morning, events have transpired which have evoked strong feelings on my part. Since it's Friday night and I have nothing better to do, I'll take the time to recap here:

Paranoia and Fear

What innocently began as a cough that my aide caught in October has turned out to be a case of "our portable is falling apart and the district is going to cover it up until we sue them". I realize that's quite a conclusion to reach but 1) her cough has persisted, 2) it flares up when the vent kicks on (yet she feels fine at home), 3) the kids have been coming down with coughs and mysterious nose bleeds (one girl in particular has been coughing all year long), and 4) my aide wipes down all surfaces with Clorox at the end of every school day (without fail) and recently has been finding suspicious black particles covering all surfaces. All of this combined caused her to urgently ask me to complain at the office and have someone check our vent filters. She even saved the clorox wipes with the black particles as evidence.
When I reported all of this to the office manager, she was very alarmed and promised she would fill out a work order right away. I thought I had heard the last of the hoopla, as work orders in our district take at least three months to be acted upon. But surprise! Two hours later, there were two men with ladders in my classroom (yes, as I was teaching!) inspecting my vents. They reported no mold but are (supposedly) going to install finer filters to determine what's coming through there.

Bottom line: it could be nothing, or we could all die early.

Anger and Embarrassment

I had an IEP meeting (they happen once annually for all of my students--usually means testing and lots of paperwork) after school for one of my second graders. By law, a general education 2nd grade teacher had to sit in at the meeting. Since the general education 2nd grade is located in a different school across the street, I had contacted their principal to send someone over. I didn't hear back from said principal, so I emailed once again, informing them that I expected a 2nd grade rep at such-and-such a room at such-and-such time. When all of the team members had sat down with the child's parent to start the meeting, there was no 2nd grade representative to be found. This caused two things to happen: 1) we looked bad in front of a key out-of-district team member, and 2) I had to call the third grade rep from our campus to sit in on a long meeting at a moment's notice. I felt terrible; the 3rd grade rep is a friend of mine and clearly had 500 other things to do than to sit in on some meeting she shouldn't have been responsible for just because some unprofessional principal had dropped the ball and downright broken the law. It irks me when things aren't fair. I admit I was rather furious about the whole situation--but it looks like I might have my vengeance as our principal is going to go have a "talk" with their principal.

Bottom line: I hope that never happens again.

Exasperation and Disappointment

Both of my girls were home sick today (along with my aide), so I was left to fend for myself with a pack of wild boys... two of which were suspended for bringing toy guns to school (they looked quite real).

Bottom line: It's better they learn early that guns aren't toys.

Well, I didn't mean to write a novel in this post, but if you want concise, it's usually better to visit Max's blog than mine :).
Have a good weekend, everyone! I, for one, am looking forward to lots of dull moments free of drama...

Save the Drama for your Lama

Last night's production of "Don Giovanni" was superb. I don't know how else to describe it-- I wish I had pictures to post, but cameras were strictly prohibited. I learned several things as a result of my opera venture with grandma:
1) There was sexual harassment even in Mozart's day.
2) There seems to be more and more younger people attending the opera.
3) It turns out, I really like "Good and Plenty" candy (never thought I liked that stuff).
4) I get my candy smuggling tendencies from grandma.
5) Soap operas are just really long, drawn out operas.
6) I can sleep with my eyes open (I loved every minute of the performance, but I had been up since six that morning, so I had a right to be tired--back off).
In all, it was definitely an experience.

I thought I was going to have a really hard day today from going to bed so late, but I was okay. I managed to get seven hours of sleep last night, and there was enough DRAMA in my room to keep me alert. I won't elaborate right now, but let's just say my day involved possibly deadly air particles, sick children, persistent black dirt, ladders, illegal actions, major-ly inconveniencing colleagues, district maintenance, marshmallows and toothpicks, and an unprofessional principal at the next school over. I'll let you wonder until I have more time to flesh out the ongoing saga of my daily life :)

Back in Full Swing

It was a wonderful three day weekend! I did lots of little nothings. Max and I played Taboo with some friends. I laid on the couch. I read a book. I played computer games. The only price I paid was four hours at my school desk on Saturday to catch up on some work. It was worth it for the relative calm I feel now on my first day back!
I felt surprisingly awake today, considering. I know the feeling won't last, though. Tomorrow night I'll be staying up WAY past my bedtime because I'm going to see Don Giovanni at the opera with my grandma tomorrow night. I know it will be a lot of fun, but I'm sure my eyes will struggle to focus by the last act ;).
Between getting ready for the district's official review of our school in early February (aka: extra mountains of paperwork), rushing to finish testing kids and writing IEP's, lesson planning, running copies, attending useless meetings, and, oh yeah, teaching, I've been distracting myself by planning my trip to Syracuse, NY to see my sister in February. Five more weeks! We've already booked a great deal through Travelzoo at the Marriott hotel in Niagra Falls. Spa treatments, breakfast, and dinner all included. Yea!

To Teach or Not to Teach?

Not to teach.

At least, that's what I've managed to do all day. Actually, I take that back, I taught for fifteen minutes early this morning. Then, it was off to library and computers, then after that it was an hour-long assembly until lunch. After lunch, five of my kids went off to science (science is a pullout at my school); two kids were absent, so that left three kids to work with my aide at phonemic awareness games. And that left me free to do exactly twenty minutes of testing, and an hour of paperwork. Then recess, pack up and go home. Oddly, I managed to be tired at the end of the day anyway!

Even when I'm not teaching, there's all the managing of little bodies. And those little bodies can get on your nerves when you're trying to get paperwork done. We've been studying Martin Luther King Jr in honor of his holiday on Monday. We've been talking about fairness and respect, and how MLK Jr made the world a better place by using his words. But it seems that the only thing my kids can remember about his life (or want to talk about) is that he was shot. At the library this morning, they all wanted books about MLK Jr. I was proud of them for their interest... but for the rest of the day, they didn't at all try to read the words on the page, they just kept flipping to the end of the book, pointing to the pictures and saying "He die right?". Again and again, my paperwork would get interrupted by little voices coming up to me "Mrs. B, Mrs. B, he die right?" I thought I was going to lose it. Finally I said (and this is pretty much verbatim) "YES, I KNOW, I TOLD YOU THAT. Now go back to your seats and read QUIETLY. Silent reading means QUIET, remember? Remember?".

Despite the capital letters, I didn't actually yell, but I think my voice must have had an edge to it because they scrambled back to their desks. Finally.

But I love my kids, I really do. I love how excited they get over nothing--like when it was overcast today, or when they got to take home miniature police badges after the assembly this morning, or when they're actually disappointed there's no school this Monday ;). Ha!

To-do or not to-do? (The inevitable final bell question)

Sigh. The kids are finally gone for the day. It's been a good two days, but it's felt long. I keep thinking that it should be Friday already but it isn't! Yesterday the kids were as mellow and as laid back as wet noodles so it was a calm and quiet transition back to school. Today they were a little more peppy, but I'm glad it's not the same "pre-Christmas" energy :). Unfortunately, none of my students has done anything interesting or cutesy to blog about...
Nothing very exciting is happening at all these days. Right now I'm sitting at my desk deliberating between checking off some items on my way-too-long to-do list, or giving up and going home.
I'll leave you to decide which I ended up doing :)

Back to Reality

Surprise! I'm back to my blogging. Vacation is officially over.
And I can't believe it's all over. I have the unfortunate knack of always looking forward; either I'm counting the days until my next vacation or Event, or I'm dreading the return to "normal" for hours/days/weeks ahead of time. It's always been hard for me to enjoy the moment without taking all past moments into consideration and without looking forward (or dreading, as the case may be) to future moments. At this present moment in time, I have precisely two hours and eleven minutes until I need to be in bed so I can get up early tomorrow morning. I already know what will happen. I'll lie awake for at least an hour, thinking about tomorrow, then I'll realize how much sleep I've already lost, then I'll become stressed about being sleep-deprived which will inevitably lead to actual sleep-deprivation, all culminating in a very tired person staggering out of bed at butt o'clock tomorrow morning.

It's always hard going back after a great vacation. We've done a lot of fun things these past two weeks. We've gone out to eat, watched movies, played cards, opened gifts (all of which we are still enjoying--thank you everyone!), gone shopping, gone to the zoo, and generally had a good time all around. Oh, and my butterflies all hatched around Christmas day. They are good butterflies, and I've enjoyed hearing them flit around in their house. I tried to release them into nature ("nature" being off of our balcony) last Monday but they would have none of it. Two of them cowered on the floor of the house, and one ventured out only to discover that his wings hadn't developed properly and he couldn't fly. I took pity on them and they've become our permanent pets until the end of their short lives. I can't blame them for not wanting to venture into Real Life where they need to worry about getting eaten by birds, procreating, and surviving on whatever flowers they can find. I'm not too keen on returning to Real Life either :).
But it will be nice to see all of my colleagues again, and there's always February break to look forward to... I know, I'm so spoiled...