Dress Up/Down

In my previous post I mentioned I made broccoli cheese soup. I haven't really tried it yet other than a quick sample at the end of the cooking process. I will say the cooking of broccoli cheese soup should be done in a well ventilated area. My house still smells like  broccoli cheese soup. That could have a lot to do with why I haven't sampled any yet.

I went in to school this afternoon to watch some videos with a colleague and work on lesson planning for next week. There was a little snafu in that I couldn't make any copies because there were some meetings/training's/classes going on in several locations. I did a little bit and then I decided I would head home and do something constructive. That really didn't work out too well. I threw in a load of laundry and a load of dishes and then I took a nap. It felt wonderful. I did a few more dishes and went grocery shopping. So I can't say that I accomplished a lot but it wasn't a complete waste of a day either.  I am always so wiped out on Fridays I feel like the wind up monkey at the end of the wind. My music went flat and I'm drooping.

We had a busy week with it being Reading Week. It was more than a little annoying how little thought went into the preparation of it. It was more than a little chaotic. What  I discovered this week is the teacher cannot dress "down". No crazy hair, crazy hat, backwards anything. Do you know what happens to 2nd graders when this happens. You lose them. Yep their attention span goes to nothing. It is a distraction. I was trying to remember if my teachers dressed in anything wacky in elementary school. Other than an Ugly Christmas Sweater for the Holiday program. I do not recall any such goings on. They dressed professional. Way more so than I do. I don't know how they cleaned glue off themselves. Anyhow I thought you know I don't need to do this. Is it fun for the kids? Yes of course.  What am I really hoping to accomplish? So I am thinking this over. Maybe I'll wear a crazy hat that I can take off and get down to business.  I am probably viewed as a "spoil-sport". I want my students to have joy in learning which is way more important than their teacher dressing nutty!   We'll see how my thoughts on this evolve.

When I look at the 144 days I have to teach my students and then realize how many of those teaching opportunities are eaten up by fire drills, assemblies, and other interruptions It gets a little discouraging. I can see why people can Home-school their children in a short window. Yep it is a challenge.

Oh yes... added to my food list of things I can never eat again without suffering:
cucumber. The flavor isn't bad. It feels great in a slice over your eyes. Ingesting it is agonizing. Instant suffering. Yep goodbye cucumber... you always tasted better as a pickle anyway.