The Hardest Part of the Year

Students AND teachers tend to get stressed and slap-happy this time of year. The second semester and 4th quarter especially seem so much longer than the first semester. Hell, the 4th quarter seems like an entire semester in itself. 10 weeks? Might as well be 10 months!

Different factors contribute to the overall decline in participation, focus, preparation and overall sense of "care". For students, as the weather gets warmer their minds get lazier. They start staring out the window a little more and it takes an extra 5 minutes to get them inside after recess. Some of them are dreaming about baseball practice, some of them are thinking about tanning, and the rest are either counting down until the last day of school or they're counting the number of tiles in the ceiling. For teachers, what really tends to make the days drag on and seem stressier than usual is usually the craziness and lack of focus in their students (judging solely from a random sampling of my coworkers, that is).

Once the kids start to lose focus and stop caring, it's hard as hell for teachers to keep it up! Personally, I start to think, "If they don't care, why should I?" All of a sudden I find I'm grading a little harsher and I'm snapping on students earlier than I did in the fall semester. It's not that I don't like the kids, far from it! It's just enormously depressing and stressing to feel like the only one out of 30 people who gives a hoot.

The problem with Spring is that there are SO. MANY. DISTRACTIONS. I'm sure it's different in climates that experience fewer differences in seasons, but living in Chicago is a nightmare. In the fall, the kids turn psycho the first time it snows. In the spring, they lose it on the first warm day. Not only that, but in the fall you have the knowledge that each warm day could be the last one. In the spring the days just get warmer and warmer and the kids inherently know that summer is coming. (Believe you me, they aren't the only ones. I've already got a countdown going on my desk calendar in my room. Each morning I cross off another day and count my blessings. ) As the days get warmer, the kids start itching to get outside and forget all about school. That's so draining on a teacher. Suddenly I start feeling like I have to dig a little deeper in my bag of tricks to get and keep their attention. "I WILL find a way to maintain order! I WILL!" Oy vey.

There are always ways to discipline kids, of course, but the closer it gets to the end of the year the more it seems pointless. You can give a kid so many detentions but sooner or later you'll run out of time. No one's crazy enough to demand a student show up after the school year has ended, and some parents would be angry enough to start World War Three in my classroom if I kept a student beyond the required number of days. Especially in the area I teach in, many parents and families spend the summers in Mexico, Texas, California, or Puerto Rico (or wherever) with family. By the last days of school plane tickets have been ordered, hotel rooms have been booked, families have been notified, and al the plans have been made. Asking/demanding them to stay without plenty of notice (more than a month in some instances) doesn't solve any problems and asking the wrong parent can turn the child against you and make the last days hellish.

When student behavior starts to turn, I've found that calling a parent early on helps. The parent is at least aware of the situation and can possibly work out a compromise with you. Regular phone or in person conferencing keeps the parent aware of the situation and the student can at least know that the teacher and the parents are speaking and any major infractions will be imparted to the parents. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it can't hurt!

When dealing with younger students, I almost hate to say it, I do stickers. Seriously. Whoever invented the sticker is a demi-god. Kids respond so well to stickers and sticker charts it's beyond ridiculous. It starts to wear off around the middle of 3rd grade, but from Pre-K to 3rd stickers are my go-to. Each student gets a sticker chart with his/her name on it and they get one sticker per day provided their behavior is good. They start comparing charts and counting their stickers and suddenly they're motivated again! It's a miracle.

As for me, I'm just hanging in there. I'm well into the single digit countdown for spring break! After that, it's a few weeks before Memorial Day weekend, and after that....sweet, sweet summer. Oh how I love the word! Can't wait for it!

Questions

I'd really like to know who reads this, since I've got one official follower and a number of readers according to Google. If you've got a question or comment for me, I'd love to hear it.

The weekends always go by too fast.

I'm always a little sad when Sunday afternoon rolls around. I've got no other choice than to pull out my school bag, dust off my gradebook, and try to convince myself to get ready for work the next day. Thankfully today is a little easier than most days, thanks to the dollop of snow that Mother Nature so cruelly dumped on us. Grrr.....

I wish I had some kind of trick or tip to make focusing a little easier come Sunday afternoon, but I really don't; I'm not nearly organized to start giving out "organizational advice.

Aside from all that business...there's nothing more amazing than staying in your pajamas all day and pretending you don't have to teach the next day, just learn. Ahhh...glorious!

Report Card time, a.k.a. YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

I wish that teachers never had to give report cards. I really do. It's time consuming and irritating, to be topped only by the day-long marathon they call Parent/Teacher(/Student) conferences. Blech. Calculating grades is time consuming and I hate doing it, therefore I don't do it unless I have to or I'm asked by a student what grade they're currently earning (or not earning).

It's depressing, too. Unfortunately it's living proof that they aren't getting it. While that's not always the fault of the teacher, it's still really depressing. Annoyingly so, in fact. You, as an educator, have to come face to face with the fact that no matter what you did, no matter how many hours you spent with the child, you still didn't 'do it' and they still didn't 'get it'. Ugh. Who needs that?

For someone in my position, Parent/Teacher conferences are always awkward and annoying. You're an 'extra' teacher and many parents don't even bother to try and meet you at the beginning of the year. However, the ones you do end up meeting are usually pretty pissed at you once they show up--typically at conferences. 9 times out of 10 parents come to me wanting a darn good explanation as to why Jr. didn't get a decent grade. Once I show them the proof in the numbers, they either turn the tables on Jr. and demand they take responsibility for their grades, or they're still pissed at me and essentially demand I change their child's grade. (Those are typically the parents who always, always believe the child over the teacher and usually believe the teacher is in fact 'picking on' their child for whatever reason.)

In the past I've just let the parents come to me, but the ones who SHOULD don't always come. On occassion you get the parent who is confused as to why their child received a B--shouldn't they be getting an A in this subject? It's supposed to be easy, right? This quarter, I am requesting to meet with certain parents and students. If anything it will keep me a little busier during the 7-hour conference marathon, and I'll really be able to talk to the parents whose children I'm concerned for. However, just because they're scheduled doesn't mean they'll show up. I'm not sure which will be more annoying--being blown off by the schedule, or just being ignored all afternoon. I guess I'll find out.

Inservices

Why is it that the inservices you actually want to attend are typically more helpful and useful than those you're mandated to attend? Blech. I just found out we've got a post-school year inservice to attend. AFTER the school year's over. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? LAME. I'm wicked pissed about it already; don't be surprised if my ire increases as the day approaches.

I don't know how or why my boss expects that from a staff that, in my opinion, is hardworking enough. On top of that, there's a summer program that's run by another teacher plus we're talking about holding summer school this year. That takes away a valuable planning day for both summer school and the summer camp program we do. Given how we all feel about the program as it is, I can already see my colleagues moaning and groaning during the last week of school. It's one thing for teachers to voluntarily attend PD seminars and inservices over the summer, but it's another to take even part of it away.

I know...I know. It's part of the contract we sign. Technically, my principal owns us from August 15th to June 15th. BUT, few principals will prescribe to that and literally own their teachers. I don't know why we just can't find a way to work it in before the end of June.

Thanks to my brother-in-law and his fiance, I have an 'out' for one of those inservice days that are already scheduled for June. God bless that wedding! ;-) I'm not holding my breath...I'm going to gloat about it all summer and karma will come back and bite me on the buttcheek to remind me that I'll probably have to show up a few days before I leave to make sure everything in my lab is set up for the inservice. Not that THAT means very much...I made sure everything was set up today and there were still issues that one of the women in charge blamed me for. Hey, if I didn't do something right, I'll take the blame. But the issue we were having was with their website and programs, not our computers and software.

Anyway, it's the weekend, so I'm getting myself off the interwebs and going to watch a movie or do something unproductive.

Wow, that's really refreshing.

We got news today that THAT student is getting some long needed help. Hallelujah! Oh, wait...I can't say that during Lent, can I?

All I have to say is: it's about damn time. Not that we don't like this student or are relieved that he and his parents had to come to this decision, but it's time. I think that as his teachers we have been more than patient and more than willing to help him succeed, but there's only so much we can do without the help of the parent(s). Now that his parents are on board (fingers crossed that it sticks!) I feel like we'll finally be able to channel his energy and creativity into productivity and not negativity. Ivity ivity.

I know it will be an awkward transition period for him, but I think that if he and his parents hold of their end of the deal, so to speak, he can have a really great final quarter. (WOO! THE END IS HERE!) He's more than capable, but for a long time there have been a number of factors standing in the way of his success. Here's hoping my excitement isn't wasted on an empty promise.

Follow up

I'm feeling better today. I took some Tylenol PM and was knocked out about an hour later. I'll probably take some more tonight so I can train my body to sleep for the next few days. One thing's for sure...waking up was hard with sleep meds still in my system. I feel like I might need to take them earlier so they've worn off by the time I need to wake up. I was fighting with my body this morning, and sleep kept winning.

Waking up rested makes a world of difference. This time yesterday I felt like crawling into a hole and sleeping. Now I'm still a bit tired, but I'm aware of time and space. Awesome.

Off to teach the little ones. Only 20 days till Spring Break!

Sleep, and the lack thereof

I'm tired today. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and it's finally caught up to me at work. You know it's bad when you have 2 cups of coffee and feel like it hasn't made a lick of difference.

Not sleeping well when you're an educator has fast and adverse effects. For example, when the morning bell rang, it barely registered with me that I had just 25 minutes to prepare for the day before my classes started coming in. Where the hell did the previous 20 minutes go? I had copies to make! Lessons to prepare! Coffee to drink! To say that I've felt behind all day is a classic understatement.

My last class was hell. Almost literal hell. 35 kids came in screaming and running and only a handful of them were prepared. Now, for a class of 9 and 10 year olds you sort of expect that energy and crazed example of life on speed right before lunch. But to see dozens of kids not even turn their heads when you start to speak really turns my stomach. I wasn't in the mood to fight it, so I worked with the kids who were ready to work and actually paying attention. I'm sure a few kids thought it was great, because they didn't HAVE to be working. But they'll probably wish they'd kept their mouths shut and ears open in a few weeks when the workers get rewarded and they have to stay in at recess and finish their assignments. Hey, that's not my fault! It's school policy, man.

Part of the reason I haven't been sleeping is that there's been a bit of 'turmoil' in my personal life. Turmoil is probably an exaggeraton; 'drama' is much more appropriate. See, I've got a few friends who are currently butting heads (to put it mildly) and I got caught in the middle of it. For a few days last week it was all I could think about for a few days and I was seriously distracted. Sleeping was difficult, and I slept pretty fiercly over the weekend. Sleeping it off helped, but on Monday night it seemed my difficulty sleeping (either falling asleep or just staying asleep, dammit) was back. Last night (Monday to Tuesday) I woke up THREE TIMES. That's like 6 times in teacher hours. I'm totally drained because of it, and it's hard to care when kids start bothering one another. On days like today, I figure that as long as no one leaves here bleeding from the head, they can bother each other and I really couldn't care one way or the other.

A helpful trick I've found is to have extra worksheets and projects on hand for days like today. Sometimes the kids need a break, and giving them something easy yet time-consuming is a good deal. You can spend a few minutes with one eye on them and one eye closed. Probably not the best strategy, but there isn't a teacher alive who won't nod knowingly when you say, "I just needed a few minutes...."

Aside from forcing yourself to get some more sleep, there are few ways to get past that feeling that makes you want to curl up into the fetal position and take a nap under your desk. I've found that a couple Tylenol PM or Unisom can work wonders if sleep is an issue for you but you don't want to become known as the teacher dependent on sleep aids. :-) Adjusting your body is tough. During the summer months I can stay awake as long as I darn well please and not think about it. But suddenly it's the night before the first day of school and I have no idea how to fall asleep before 2:00 a.m. and NO idea how to wake up before noon. Uh oh.

If anyone reading this has trouble sleeping or finds themselves in a classroom with 30 anxious pairs of eyes waiting to glean knowledge from your overstuffed brain, chill. Relax. Stressing about not sleeping, in my experiences, makes it worse. Take some unisom or another sleep aid, take a shower, and relax in bed. Try that for a week or two and see if your body takes over on its own. Your kids will rebound, and you'll find you're much more productive on a few good nights of sleep than one night of no sleep.