Month: November 2010

The Day Was Hmmm…

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The day started out good enough. I was running a little late, but was still calm. I don’t know what set me off, but after Recess, I was pretty moody. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t mad. I was just hmmm… I don’t know how to describe how I was feeling.
I guess everything stems from personal problems of mine that need afixin’.

This is how it usually goes: once I go to work, I turn off everything negative going on inside me that’s separate from work. Well, for some reason that didn’t happen today. When I’m at work, I sometimes feel like I have the perfect life because when I’m there, only work exists. No personal problems. No bad brakes. Just work. It’s too bad I can’t say that same thing when I’m at home. But, I digress. I am tired of being tired of a certain situation. I guess I just have to make up my mind & decide what to do. For me, getting there is just about the whole battle. Once I decide where I want to go, I’m there.

Now, all I have to do is decide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess Who’s Their Favorite???

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I almost cried today. Why??? Well, it was in a good way. I blushed as I was the teaching Religion lesson. Today’s lesson was about a teacher making a difference. So, as part of the lesson, I had to ask the students who their favorite teacher was & why. I got a resounding, “You!”

“Wow, you guys are seriously trying to get good grades on your report cards, aren’t you,” I said. Flattery will absolutely get you everywhere.

“No, it’s true,” said Car Boy. “You teach us so much, and it’s fun, you joke with us, you play with us. You are my favorite teacher ever.”

Wow, I guess I am making an impression!

Damn You, Murphy!

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I had very successful parent conferences. I had my final one today. Only 2 parents did not show. I wasn’t surprised though. It’s always at least one. That’s not what I want to talk about though. What I want to talk about is this jerk named Murphy and his law. Who is he and why is he always messing up my day?

I was on such a high from the fantastic parent conferences when I had a big comedown (Is that a word?) on Friday! I realized that I have to revise my schedule (Which I just put into place, btw) to pull two struggling students for a small group in between groups, if that makes sense. Well, I had to put off the next subject as I struggled to help a particularly argumentative student with his work. So, I was off schedule. But I fixed that, or so I thought. For math, I have the students complete a Problem of the Day. It is supposed to be an independent activity, but they asked for help today of all days. Anyway, I am going on much too long just to say that I was so unprepared for the Principal to visit. So, because of this jerk Murphy & his laws, she visited. I felt like a complete idiot. I am usually prepared, but I was NOT prepared at all yesterday.

DAMN YOU MURPHY!!! I’m going to get it together one of these days!!!

Flaming 7’s!

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In the summer I went to Las Vegas with my friend of 30 years, Annette. We stayed at the Venetian. It is so nice. The suite we were in cost $1,389/night. It was nice, but not almost $1,400/night nice.  But, I digress.

We were there because Annette was in a Blazing 7’s slot machine tournament. The purpose was to get as many points in 10 minutes by continually pressing the button and getting Triple 7’s. The most points were attained by getting flaming 7’s. The flaming 7’s were very valuable with the winner receiving 1,199 points. The downside is that it also used most of their most valuable commodity- time. How many times does that happen when the very thing you need the most is what ends up working to your detriment.

Well, this  is happening to me because I need more time. I need more time to complete my studies. I need more time to plan my lessons. I need more time to spend with my husband and children… Well, you get the picture.

I feel as if I am being rewarded with all of my hard work with…you guessed it, more hard work. I love that my students are devouring books and that they are greedily sopping up all the information from class, but I need just a little more time. Can someone give me just a little more time????

No? I guess not. It was worth a shot, wasn’t it????

It Wasn’t Their Fault!

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I feel so bad! I was fussing at my students yesterday for taking their work home because I didn’t get a chance to document the grades. Well, I found the work. It’s actually been in the trunk of my car for a couple of weeks. I am so going to sneak this work back into the classroom on Monday. I am going to magically find it in front of them on Monday.

Bad??? Yes, I know! But, I’m going to do it anyway!

Happy 13th Birthday David!

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I wanna’ cry as I write this. My baby is a baby no more. My youngest son, David, is officially a teen-ager today! If we were Jewish he would be having a Bar Mitzvah to welcome him into manhood. We aren’t. The next best thing is ribbing from my older sons. He narrowly missed being born on November 11, 1997 by 2 minutes. So, Happy Birthday baby. I love my little brown man so much.

It’s All My Fault!!!

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Yes, I admit it. It’s all my fault! What, you ask? I take credit for my students not paying attention because they’re looking at the Scholastic book order form, looking forward to the next book they are going to order. I take credit for them being read-a-holics! While it’s true that some of them were readers before I met them. It’s also true that a couple of them were not. Most notably, my student, Michael. He was most definitely not a reader. He told me so. His father told me so & his mother told me so. In fact, he told me that he didn’t even like school. He said that I changed things for him.

So, that is why I happily take credit for him not paying attention after I pass out the Scholastic book order forms!