Success

It isn't hard to see evidence of teacher's successes being measured by tests in today's world. And I won't go into my thoughts and opinions on that matter. But, I think if you have any common sense, it is easy to figure out that those percentages aren't really what measures your success.

We have 20 minutes of daily silent reading time in our school, and my students have it for my class once a week. Yes, there is the typical grumbling you'd expect (they're teenagers for cripe's sake that's what they excel at). For the most part, though, my students have been pretty good at staying on task and digging into their free choice books (one class has almost read 250 books since the start of the year).

Yesterday, I told one girl I'd miss her next year as she recommended another seven books for me to read. She immediately told me that she was going to miss me more because I was the only one who gave her recommendations and good ones at that. A few minutes later, she told me I had to give her some type of contact information for the summer because there was no way that she'd make it through the summer without my input on books.

Today, different class, different student. Same conversation.

Back to the first student today: Mrs. Knipper, I read in previous years, but nothing like this. But, because of YOU, I really, really like it now.

Now, that's really some success.

End of the Year Blues

It's the fourth quarter. Kids are shutting down, and I've got news for you, teachers are shutting down to. This doesn't mean that we're giving up and not teaching or doing our jobs, but it is getting harder to do them.

We don't have an easy job. We have to be "on" for at least eight hours a day and then go home and grade or make lesson plans. Yes, we may get time off during the summer, but I'm pretty sure I put in more hours during my nine months of work time than are in those 2.5 months I get off. But, when you keep those hours up for that long of time, your body starts to rebel. It's time for a break, it keeps yelling. We need it - physically and mentally.

But, the end of the year is rather bittersweet.

Sure, there are those kids that I'm ready to not have in my room again. But there are very few.

It's not easy to say good bye to those that I've really made connections with. Sure, I'll see them in the hallways, but I don't get to have those daily conversations or have them come up to my desk to chat about "THE BEST book EVER, Mrs. Knipper!"

So, I find myself drawing away from all of them. I think I do it to make it less painful.

I remember leaving Pensacola on my last day at school. My last class of the day was my favorite, and it was no secret. We had really bonded that year, and I loved all of them dearly. It was killing me to have to say good-bye and not get to see how they turned out and watch them on their life journey.

They felt the same way.

The bell rang.

They didn't leave.

Instead, they were still in a mass hug, clinging to me. And we were all teary eyed. I slowly shuffled with them to the door because I told them they couldn't miss the bus.

I wouldn't go out those doors with them, though. I couldn't handle it. I don't think they could handle it.

But, in all honesty, that's what  teacher lives for every year. Those bonds are worth our crappy paychecks and the weekends lost to grading essays.

And it's what I need to remember every day when I step foot in that classroom and start the lesson for the day - no matter how hard it hurts at the end of May.

Musings on a snow day

All weekend, they have been forecasting a huge snowstorm to move through the state. Polk County is going to be in a blizzard warning starting at noon today. But, the county my district is in (one over) isn't - just a winter storm warning. I still figured last night that this would at least get us a late start this morning before I went to bed because we are a rural school district. No dice. 

So, I got up this morning, cursing, because I was going to have to drive to school (although my route to school isn't typically horrid) and back when it was going to get bad. I'll be honest; I haven't gotten used to the stress of winter driving since we moved back. So, the thought of the 20-mile drive wasn't too thrilling. 

I double checked my email before I got in the shower. I had signed up for alert emails from the television stations even though we do have a phone tree. I usually get the emails before I get the call (just by a few minutes). No alerts. Poo.

I get out of the shower and see I have a voice mail. No school! The email got sent right after I got in the shower. The stinky thing was that I was up and awake. At 6:30. On a day when I could sleep in.

So, I've spent the last 2.5 hours being productive. 

• Caught up on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
• Worked on baby blanket No. 3. I'm almost halfway done!
• Started the oven cleaning (I shouldn't take credit for that; self-cleaning doesn't involve much from me).
• Wrote a blog post! (We all know what an accomplishment this is for me!)
• Started a new book (Incindiary by Chris Cleve; he also wrote Little Bee, which was excellent).

And that's not all that's on tap for today. Sammy needs to go on at least one walk today, and maybe I'll bake something. I also need to finish writing a unit test.

But, now, it's back to knitting.

Environment

Right now, it is my planning period.

The weird thing, I don't have much to do. I'm caught up on grading; my plans are done for next week (and I've got a skeleton for the week after that); no administrative stuff needs to be done.

And yet, there are many things I could be doing.

I could be working on my master's project. This would means more time to do what I want when I'm surrounded by all of my stuff at home, when I have the freedom to do what I choose to do.

But yet, I'm not.

I need to have a specific environment to write - or at least write well. My desk and my classroom aren't it. I need noise -- and not the white noise from the classroom next door or the geese/birds outside. I need TV/radio. I need Sammy putting his wiggly beagle body between me and my laptop.

It's too still here. My thoughts will be jumbled, and I won't be doing quality writing.

Plus, it's morning. I do not make quality stuff before noon.

This makes me think about the parameters I put on my kids. They have to produce a product on demand. It may not be the best environment for them.

Heck, I never wrote in class when I was in high school. I made it look like I did, but I did all of my stuff from the comfort of my couch or my bean bag.

It just makes me think a little more...

Excited!

Today I took a load of crap into my classroom. Sadly, I don't think I even got half of it in there, but it is a start.  And, what I did take in is already unpacked (amazing, I know).

Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised by my room!

It's very decent sized; I have two desks that form a wrap-around desk, a HUGE counter, lots of cabinets, a closet, two bulletin boards, and four big bookshelves and one small one. Plus, I've got a lot of natural light thanks to the big window and door by my desk.

Here's what it looks like:

This is from the front looking toward the back. My desk is next to the door and window.  All of the boxes on the desks have textbooks and novels. The teacher in the neighboring room had her daughters put them there so they could install my bookshelves.

 

 

FOUR bookshelves!!!! The small one is behind my desk.

Look at that counter!!! There are cabinets and drawers under it. The whiteboard is bookshelved by two matching bulletin boards.

My vantage point.

Sam says: I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's just a room. Now leave me alone. I've gone into sleeping bag mode, and I shouldn't be disturbed.

It's a pretty good year

In April, I found out that there was an opportunity for me to get my teaching certificate in Iowa from doing a portfolio instead of finishing up all my classes (which I'm doing anyway because I'll be done with my master's next May). So, a few short weeks later, I had my "non-traditional transfer license." I still needed to take a few classes for the English portion of my license (hence speech since I'd never taken it for undergrad), and I also needed two years of experience teaching in an Iowa school.

This meant I started furiously applying for jobs. It's not such a great time to do that. Each position is getting hundreds of applicants, and they typically only interview 3-5 teachers. So, when I got a phone call 2 weeks ago to set up an interview for a 9th grade English position, I was thrilled!

I had my interview last week, and I felt very confident after leaving it. The counselor, who was on the hiring committee, personally knew one of my references and had called her directly. I had an inside track from another friend on what they were big on, which was actually something I had gotten experience with while doing my long-term jobs in Waukee (professional learning communities). But, I had to wait five days to hear anything.

Yesterday I had planned a day with Parker. We went to the Iowa Cubs game. I managed to get us pretty decent tickets, and he managed to get a foul ball. He had a great smile on his face the whole day, and he had told his mom that morning that he was just excited to get to spend the day by himself with Aunt Beth. I will admit there was several moments of me checking the phone to see if I had gotten the call that I got the job.

I figured by the time 3 p.m. rolled around, I was going to have to wait until today. Nope! As I was driving Parker home, the principal called. I called back, and left a message. It was a very long 10 minutes while I waited to get the call.

But, I got the job! I start August 9! I'm very excited!

So excited, in fact, that I agreed to go to Disney during my Christmas vacation.