Jellyfish

I'm meeting with my colleagues this afternoon to create our Halloween Costumes. I am slightly more excited about this years costume than I was about last years. I really, really, hated last years. We are dressing up like Jellyfish. Something like this...



The team decided we needed to add giant googly eyes and colored lights. I am the green jelly fish. The good part is I am not wearing a head-ache inducing wig all day long. Another silver lining is that it is impossible to walk around with a giant plastic umbrella all day so it will be set to the side. I just try to tell myself that they had worse suggestions before the jellyfish....yes indeed.

I am very frustrated with the meeting I must attend Tuesday morning. I can see the principal has her own plan, thoughts, and ideas. She just is not communicating them very well. Not at all. It is dumb. Not sure where we have been not sure where we are going. I'm not even sure what the end goal is at this point. I just want to be done. However, it seems like we just end every meeting, by planning another meeting. If I thought we'd made some progress, I might quit the whining. NO PROGRESS.  It is also extremely awkward because the principal and our vice-principal have had some kind of falling out. The vice-principal is very respectful and kind. The principal shuts her down and shuts her up in a way that has the rest of us wincing. I don't know what has happened there. It just leaves everyone feeling a little tense.

I need to go throw another load of clothes in the laundry....

I survived

I made it through conferences. Had one not show up, I've tried to reschedule and we shall see. Conferences are very interesting it helps put pieces together.  It is very tiring.  What is awful though is that it is hard to rest afterwards, even though you are very tired. Did I say everything I needed to say? Etc. I have one rescheduled next week for sure. It will be a challenge.

I am glad to have tomorrow off to get a little rest. I will be in to school this weekend to finish preparing for next week and do some organizing. I colleague had a parent make copies for me but I haven't had a chance to put them all away. I must work on this. 

I feel bad because one of my friends has called me several times in the last couple of weeks. Every time I have been yawning after a long day. Today I was yawning with a voice that was rapidly disappearing. My throat really didn't enjoy all the talking the last couple of days. Now I have three days to recover so I will speak softly and speak little.

P/T Conferences

I am parent-teacher conference exhausted. This is a different kind of exhausted. It is the I had to talk more than my voice allows kind of tired. It is also mentally draining. You want every parent to understand exactly what their student's educational needs are. I appreciate the parents who not only listen to you, but you can tell they are going to take your advice. Maybe even take a little ownership and responsibility in their child's education.

 Every single year I have a parent(s) who tell me  all the reasons why I am wrong about where their child is academically.  I have a lot of data to back up my claim.  I have a lot of evidence to back up my claim. I am very wrong though. What is unfortunate is that their child may miss out on getting some much needed help and support. What is worse is when you know the previous two teachers gave the parents the same feedback. Now you know they've had three years with three different people giving them similar insights. Maybe...just maybe... I'm not all wrong?  Nawww.... I'm wrong :)

Then there is the glad handing parent. They nod and agree with you. No matter what you say just nod and agree. You ask them to practice a couple of things at home. They nod and agree. Smile, Nod, Agree...while inside their head they are thinking "No plans to do any of this!" 

I had one co-worker that said one year. I wish we could give parents grades. Teachers are assessed. Our students are assessed. Why not parents?  I don't think pain-in-the-ass can be described in enough terms to give a precise grade. Hmmm someone should work on that.

Every time conferences roll around I can't explain how grateful I am to the parents that are engaged in positive ways. The parents that provide a stable home life. The parents that expect their child to have manners, respect, and most of all kindness. Kindness is huge. The parents that are providers to their child's emotional needs. Those parents I am so thankful for. Even if their child isn't right where they should be, they are more importantly raising a good person.

After all that talking today my voice was exhausted. I have more conferences tomorrow, but with  a few more breaks. Friday we have a day off to celebrate our statehood. This means I can rest. Hurrah!
Next week I have an early morning before work hours meeting on Halloween. Halloween!!! Yeah.... that will be a doozy. I have a lot of parents bringing treats in that day. It might be way more chaotic than I would like.

October Challenge.

After another busy week the weekend rolls around and I am trying to find the energy/motivation to get to work. I have almost finished assessments for the end of quarter and have to finish putting grades in.  We survived school-wide picture day, staff pictures, class, student pictures,  earthquake drill, and evacuation drill. A colleague of mine had a student lose complete control of their bowels during the class photo. That wasn't a great start to her day. A colleague also went to a training on our state assessments we are required to do. I had some answers to questions and verification on thoughts I'd had about the assessments. I sense some more changes going on based on her other training. I hope it leads to positive changes and not more work that I can't keep up with. When you try to change everything at once it leads to a lot of stress.

My challenge this year was absent for several days due to a death in the family. I think the students and I all kind of breathed a sigh of relief. I caught a student allowing another student to cheat off their paper. I had to ask the student to have a chat. I asked the student why this was  a problem the response "Because it won't help his/her brain grow if he/she doesn't do it him/herself."  I said "YES!" We chatted a bit more and I hope this doesn't occur again. I've talked to the students about how our brains grow and make new connections when we struggle through something. Even if it is hard it is good for our brain.  I wasn't sure that lesson had sunk in, but apparently it had.

Parent teacher conferences are the challenge of  October. You think you know who will be a problem and who will not be. Usually I am wrong. It is a stressful time. Then you have to reboot every 15 minutes and get ready for the next parent. It isn't easy.  The high school FBLA is doing another fall fundraiser by making us dinner for a fee and delivering it on parent/teacher conference week. It is  worth every penny! Friday is a day off of school for our state. It is in celebration of our Statehood. It is nice to have a day off after the marathon of conferences.  The week after conferences is Halloween Week. This means a lot of sugar highs and sugar lows.

Most of our team met at a colleagues last night for a taco dinner. We all brought ingredients. It was really fun and relaxing to hang out together. It was a great way to finish the week.

Weekend

Our half-day Friday provided all of the teachers with some much needed time to get caught up. Although I don't think  we are caught up I think we are farther ahead than we once were. It gave us a little bit of breathing room. The copier still isn't working correctly. We've heard rumors, talk, and promises of a new copier. I will believe when I see.

I presented the paperwork I was required to present on Friday. I couldn't quite see what the point of it was, other than perhaps making sure we did what was required of us. There were not really questions asked. Just listening. Maybe it is because I understood what was asked of me that it seemed simple. I am not sure. That is step 1 complete for this paperwork. It will be added to throughout the year.

I went to school for about 5 hours yesterday. I'd hope to complete the copies I need for just this week. No such luck. I will attempt to do a couple on the office copier in the morning. I did complete a lot of tasks that I hadn't had time to. My "to-do" list is still as long as ever. Many things were crossed off it and more added to it. So it goes.

After visiting urgent care earlier in the week I wasn't feeling better and even a little worse. I went back in this morning and this time they put my on antibiotics. I hope to get a little energy back. I have kept taking my vitamins and eating my fruits and veggies (MOM). Perhaps it would have been worse had I not done so. I thought I'd be able to get more done at home today. My energy reserves are low. I did get a little laundry completed, my floor mopped, dishes are washed, and the trash is waiting by the door to be taken out. I made a little progress there.

I hope I have enough fight in me for this week. We have a field trip on Tuesday to a local reservoir to learn about the water cycle. On Wednesday we have our annual Fire Safety Week visit to the Firehouse. On Thursday the school nurse is coming in to do vision screenings. Then the counselor comes in for a "How to get along with others" lesson. I hope it sinks in. It will be a busy week.

Sniffs, Sneezes, and Paperwork

I finally gave up the fight. My sinuses were winning and all of my cures were losing. Not sleeping and using up multiple boxes of tissue wasn't working for me. I went in and it was as I thought, fall allergies. They put me on steroids. The Dr. wanted to give me a steroid shot but I decided to go for the pills instead. I was concerned the shot would have me awake alllllll niiiiggghttt long. Some of these 7 year old children are quite taxing on ones energy reserves.  I hope this whacks me back into working order quickly.

Tomorrow we start the mountain of paperwork we are required to do by the state. When we finished our mountains of assessments some might have thought we were done. Nope. Just getting started. On our normal early out tomorrow we will begin this lengthy process. It is so lengthy that they actually are doing a half day on Friday to give us time to complete these documents. Then they have to be approved by a team.

I have a challenge this year. A student who steals, has no remorse, hoards food, and has some very odd behaviors that I struggle to describe. It is a process to keep this one on task making good choices.  I have support which makes all the difference. From day to day I have no idea what "new" thing will pop up. I am scared for this child's future.

I am going to attempt some sleep now... G'night