Back to work

BOO. I have been struggling to wake up and get it in gear this week. I missed an inservice on Monday, which I was FINE with. And Tuesday and Wednesday we had some more mandatory meetings and we've been in and out of our classrooms all week trying to get things as ready as possible before we're bombared with students for the year.

I'm feeling different about this school year than last. My first year, I was apprehensive and excited and ready to take the school by storm. My second year, I was even more nervous and apprehensive and ready to run as far away as possible from my job because I felt so ridiculously underqualified. Last year, I was really looking forward to the year and had grandiose plans for everything under my jurisdiction.

This year....I dunno. I feel terribly underprepared for every aspect of my job(s), across the board. My head is swimming a little bit, truth be told. I don't really know where to begin, and though I've been here before, I can't remember how I started. I've got to get myself together and I picked up what feels like every pad of notepaper left on the southwest side so I can help myself make to do lists and get organized.

I haven't really tackled my new job yet, and that's bad. But I'm feeling great about being able to teach again, and that's good. I think part of the reason I'm optimistic is that this may be my last year teaching, so why not make it a good one, right? (I'll get to "my last year" in another post.)

I'm really loving my classroom these days. I've got plenty of posters and colors up, and I've found THE most amazing letters for my classroom: STICKY letters! Let me explain:

You know those punch-out letters that you see on boards everywhere? They're awesome, but they're EXPENSIVE. I'm talking $8-$10 a pack and that's at the teacher stores where they're (supposedly) cheaper. I discovered my sticky letters by complete accident, and I have to tell you that I'm THRILLED I made a dumb mistake.

We went to our local Lakeshore Learning store (local is a relative term...it's local if you consider the southside local...it's not local considering it's close to 50 blocks away...) a few weeks ago and I dove into the bins of 20% off letters. My school has a letterpress, but it can be a pain to use, and you're essentially punching out pieces of paper that can be difficult to work with. I decided that for my 3rd year I'd splurge and buy myself some letters considering the money I'd saved using the letterpress for the last 2 years (and some painful do-it-yourself letters from my year at the boarding school). I picked up some 4 inch letters in yellow and called it a day.

Today as I was unwrapping my pack of letters I was trying to figure out a way to punch them out and initially cursed myself for buying letters that had no perforations. THEN I looked at the paper insert attached to my letters and saw the words, "Restickable, reusable, and staple-free!"

HOLY SWEET JESUS MOTHER OF GOD THESE ARE DELIGHTFUL. I can't even begin to explain the joy that comes from just peeling a letter off the backing, throwing it on my bulletin board, and being able to peel it off and reposition it when I find that (as always) my letters are slightly off kilter. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

(It's really the little things for me.)


So I found a quote to use for my bulletin board and realized that I didn't have enough letters, so after work today The Husband and I went on a grand voyage to Lakeshore to buy myself another pack of these marvelous letters to finish off my quote. That sucked, but these letters are pretty worth the journey. I had decided a long time ago that whenever I quit teaching that I'd leave a number of my supplies to the person who would be filling my position. But these letters? Oh no. They're coming with me to my next adventure. I don't care if I have to use them on the front of my house! I'd sooner give up my job than these letters. (Don't speak too quickly, Ange....)

So...that's that. Hopefully I'll remember to post photos of my classroom soon. I really like the way it turned out. It's got plenty of reading material for when the kids are bored.

I'll be up there for a bit tomorrow, and then I'm ditching to enjoy the last. days. of. summer. School starts Monday at 8:00. God, that's depressing.....

No more 8th grade

Wow....that was fast. I just had my last class with the 8th grade. Unfortunately for them, I was correct in assuming that they wouldn't complete their last project. At least half of them didn't turn it in, and the ones that DID turn it in freaked the bleep out because they realized it was the last class and their projects sucked. Too darn bad...not my problem that you're so totally focused on graduation (a month early) that you didn't get your work done when I asked you to. I would have given them today as a free period if they hadn't blown off and used actual classes as free periods. I swear, those kids are putting gray hairs on my little head.

Right at the end of class, my color printer was acting up and freaking out and not printing at all. When it did start printing, one boy and one girl were left in the room. The first papers that came out of the printer didn't belong to the boy, and he was waiting patiently. When the printer jammed, he paused dramatically and said, "Damn!" I SHOULD have given him a demerit, but all I did was giggle and say he's lucky I don't care anymore. It's their last week. I'm sure they could all get 17 demerits and it wouldn't phase them in the slightest.

All in all I'm pretty proud of this class. They're generally good students, even the ones who struggle. There isn't anyone in class who doesn't turn in work. The students who struggle are the ones with learning disabilities and who attent Title 1 classes, and even THEY turn in good, thoughtful work. This class was pretty rare. They all got along and they all were pretty nice to one another. They weren't angels, but they also weren't the kind of kids who make young teachers consider early retirement, either. There are some pretty huge egos in this class, especially because so many of them are strong contenders for the end of the year academic awards. Unfortunately, there are only so many awards to be given out. I finally picked a boy and girl to give my award to, and I'd thought about it for weeks. Last year I had 2 contenders. My first option was to give it to the student with the highest average, but that student was light years ahead of everyone else and was getting a few awards. My next option was the girl who made the biggest leaps and bounds and really grew as a student. Unfortunately, that choice was derailed by their homeroom teacher because she didn't "think she deserved it." Oy. So I gave it to my 3rd choice, who wasn't a bad kid but had performed steadily throughout the year. He didn't make tremendous leaps like the other student, but he was pretty good. This year, I'm really satisfied with my 2 choices, and I think they'll be surprised when they get the awards.

It's pretty crazy how quickly this year is winding down. I can't believe it, but I only teach about 10 more classes before the year ends. Wow.

The Day Before

What a week! It was a glorious, glorious week. I slept in, wore my pajamas all day on Monday, went for a few runs...fantastic!!!

I absolutely do not want to go back tomorrow. I could easily take another week of this! It makes me hopeful, though. Seven more weeks left until we're free! Seven weeks is nuthin'!!! Seven weeks is a dream, especially considering that we came from record freezes in January and February. Bring it on!!!

I'm especially looking forward to being able to ride my bike to and from work during the warm weather. I wasn't able to last year, and it'll be great to save a little gas (and a little money) by not taking the car everyday. I just hope I can find a place to store it where it's away from little (and big) hands and isn't in the way.

Welp, I need to get a lot done before tomorrow, so off I go!