Away!

Away means a long drive. Away means I catch up with friends and family on the phone. Away means ooh civilization. Away means I'm off the Island for a bit. I feel like I live on a very small island sometimes. Where the neighbors are all related and ticked off at each other. Unless they are united against the evil outsiders bringing them into the current century. They have a love hate relationship with progress. It can be a good thing...but sometimes it defies logic.

I went to the little/big town and am staying at my favorite hotel! Yay! Today was a very productive day in the class I've been taking. It gave me a chance to work with people who are very experienced and have been living and breathing mathematics and the standard changes. They have the experience and the knowledge to offer quality help and resources. Because I feel like I am on an island all by myself sometimes, it is great to meet these people. I can e-mail them and pick their brains anytime! YAY!

To end this on an upper I did some assessments on my students to check for growth. Every single one of them have made significant progress. Most are way above grade level, and the rest are on grade level. It felt so good after feeling pretty beaten up a week ago. If I'm doing soo much sooo wrong why am I seeing these results with my students? I have to be doing something right! Right? I had a nice visit with a friend who has taught in multi-grade classrooms from Alaska to Nevada. She is a great resource because she really understands the challenges associated with it. She also gives me great ideas to implement. I'll say I got this broad suggestion/order but no real information on how to implement it. She immediately has several specific suggestions. I am glad she's around because I'd probably cry a lot more often without her. I think what frustrates me the most as a teacher is having a student that I feel like I am not helping. When I feel I should be doing more but I don't know what that is. Many times I feel like I am climbing a steep mountain all alone while people are throwing rocks at my head from the top preventing me from getting real help. I just keep asking and asking and asking and I will get one little strategy here or there which really helps! I asked for some help in a very specific area and I was told to go observe some teachers. This situation requires some very specific strategies. Am I supposed to go observe and pull a strategy out of a hat and hope there is one that works? I am sure I'd learn something that would benefit my class. When I ask a specific question and get a broad answer ...I think that suggests the knowledge of the person answering the question. If not their knowledge then their experience.

Anyhow, I am glad to be away this weekend. Even with my stack of papers to put in my gradebook, lesson plans to write, and shopping to do. I also get to see one of my cousins. So It is good to have a change of scenery! I can't hear anyone playing pool and talking trash in the room below me! Ahhhhhhh
G'nite