It has been busy and looks to get busier for awhile. In an attempt to be prepared for a busy week I spent the whole day at school yesterday. I made a lot of progress but do NOT feel ready for the week. Sigh. I did get a lot done. I planned to go in today as well. I woke up with a terrible headache and an upset stomach. I started a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. On my way home from school last night I stopped by the store and picked up a couple of rotisserie chickens to make soup. I was sooo glad I did. Mom had made me some egg noodles when she was here so the prep didn't take too long. I got the soup made took some laundry out and threw some more in. Then I decided a NAP was the best idea. It was worth it. I woke up feeling better. There has been some nastiness traveling around my class... it appears like I got it. I got some dishes and a lot of laundry done and even folded. Hopefully, I can kick it by tomorrow. Uggh.
I had my teacher evaluation completed by the principal. I passed. It is basically a pass/fail situation. I will have three this year. I did very well overall. It was interesting because what I was marked down for I had to go ask another colleague what it meant. They just shook their head said move on you're doing what is right. She did have a couple of helpful teaching strategies she gave me. Overall though it is just a silly process. It is important that it is done because it can help get rid of some poor quality teachers. I did find out though that our district is using the incorrect evaluation tool. I don't know about that I am going to find out from our professional development people. They seem to be more informed than we are on these kinds of things.
I brought out the Elf on the Shelf for my students again this year. If I ever have a student that doesn't celebrate the holidays I will miss this activity. This year they named him "Jingle Jack". The elf has a bucket and they write notes to him in this bucket. Reading the notes they write him is so fun. One of the other teachers in my grade level was debating whether or not to have the Elf in her room. I said we need more JOY in school and in learning. This is a bringer of JOY for students that we can connect to learning. So she now has an Elf as well. Having this in my classroom is a reminder of that magical time of childhood. Finding a way to bring JOY into your school day and have fun is so important. This year I also have a "shout out" box. Students write "shout-outs" to other students for doing well in some way. About once a day I read the "shout-outs". They love this and it has cut down on the tattle-telling. Whatever works!
Oh man I forgot to share... I went to a Christmas Community Sing this past week. Many of my students current and former were performing. So I attended. I was glad I did because of how excited they were to see me. The event was held at the local LDS church. The children were the first to perform and they did a great job. They sang two songs. After them were a couple of high school aged girls one on piano the other violin. They were quite talented. After than it was alllllllll downhill. There was an elderly mens quartet. Now they would've been fine but they were accompanied by an elderly lady on a xylophone. Not the wooden xylophone that has an enjoyable sound that goes well with Christmas songs. No a metal xylophone with that harsh sound you may recall from toddlers playing with the multi-colored one. This wasn't a toddler one but the sound was as harsh. Also the microphone wasn't close enough to the quartet and way to close to the xylophone. It was a moment when I had to bend my head and not look at my neighbors. I was trying not to smile out loud. Anyhow the "music" continued from there. I survived. The students were excited to see my afterward. It was one of those things that is a "special kind of torture". If I go next year I may have to sit in the rear so I can smile without fear of offense. Small towns, you never know what kind of joy they will bring.
Well, I'm going to take more medicine and put some laundry away. G'night
No comments:
Post a Comment