It was chilly this morning and then the wind started blowing. I started singing "Let it Snow" to my students this morning. The snow always seems to blow sideways here. It never seems to be a gentle snowfall. Soooo indoor recess today. The kids don't realize they get cabin fever with indoor recess. They really think it is more fun. The snow stopped and started several times today. It was so dry that most of it was blown away.
Today was a little frustrating for me. I feel like I am spread a little to thin. I really depend on my aide to pick up the slack. She is having a tough time finding the balance between helping the student and doing it for them. It is tough because I don't want to discourage her... but I also want the students to think for themselves. I do so much a lot of correcting throughout the day as the students are working so they can have immediate feedback and so I can identify errors they may be making immediately. This way they don't continue to make the same errors again and again.
I realize that this is difficult for my aide to do. So I have her working with the kinder or 1st grade students a lot. I just don't think she enjoys that very much. I don't know what to do. It is a tough balance for me. My classroom is such a unique situation. There are a lot of needs to be met at the best of our abilities. She is not a natural teacher so I need to find ways to to help support her so she can do a better job and not discourage her. Today I was beginning to feel like Stretch Armstrong. I was frustrated and ready to cry. Then one of my parents walks in the door to volunteer. I gave her a huge hug the second I saw her. I think she immediately grasped that I was overwhelmed. She's raised a passel of kids and has great boundaries and is firm but kind. It was such a relief to see her. I decided to end the day with an art project. It is great because it was one we can do as we watch a video. It does require me to stop the video so the kids can catch up. This isn't great because it is art. It is great because it teaches the kids to follow step by step directions. I sent my aide to make copies during this time. What am I going to do?
I wish I could explain well how much teaching is interrupted by non-teaching stuff. For instance today I had to go fax testing and report card information to someone who is doing some screening on my students. I was interrupted to gather the information and it had to be sent right away. I am interrupted for meetings, I.E.P. meetings, screenings, and more. In some schools these would occur after school. Because people have to make a drive here to do those things they always schedule them during the school day. So my students learning is often interrupted by these things. I just have to hope that they get the instruction they need while I have to leave. I don't like it! Uggh.
I don't know if I've updated you on the latest book we are reading. We started reading "The Borrowers" by Mary Norton. I make a lot of grammar errors. I forgot though, till I started reading this book how terrible the grammar was of the characters. I find myself correcting the poor grammar of these little English characters living under the floorboards. After all I spend a lot of time asking my students not to say " I got me some" and things like that. It is a cute story. I am not sure what I will read when I finish this book. That is half of the fun.
After school today I was attempting to organize myself a little better. Sigh. Mission failure. I needed to change desks because mine was way to crowded with my ELMO, computer, hard drive, speakers, label maker, printer, etc. The only problem was once I got it all moved... my computer wasn't recognizing my screen or vice-versa. UGGH! I finally had to leave it till tomorrow. I couldn't figure out where it all went wrong. I finally left school at six tonight. I really hope my efforts were worth it. I was very encouraged that one of my students,who in my opinion has Dyslexia, reading level jumped. I think this was very encouraging to this student as well. It is a real struggle to read. It just bums me out because I get so much joy from reading. This student also does some interesting things with numbers. So word problems in math and looking at the numbers are also a struggle. Uggh. My first graders began basic multiplication this week. They had been watching the older kids doing it so they felt really, really, smart when they started it. It was pretty cute!
About a week and a half till I find out whether I got the grant or not. Also, a little more than that till our fundraiser. About one month exactly till spring break. Woot Woot. I try not to wish the days away, because then I look back and think... why didn't I stop to enjoy the moment. Which I need to remember when I am feeling frustrated by it all.
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