I crawled back into bed this afternoon. Not proud of it, especially since we're hardly a month in to the school year.
Monday won today.
I love the #CelebrateMonday campaign on Twitter and the idea of spreading positive vibes about starting the school week, not dreading it. And yet, I struggled through every class. To be fair, I haven't seen my Monday students since the first day of school! I teach alternating weeks, and last library week Monday was Labor Day, so overplanning for these students was a poor decision (I wanted to catch them up!) Let me gripe a moment: I ran behind on dismissing every class. I raised my voice (multiple times). I called kids out for disrespecting me and their peers. Some students didn't check out books. Had to send one class down the hallway without a teacher because I couldn't be in two places at once. Chocolate became my crutch.
Like I said, it. was. an. ugly. day.
But it had some rays of sunshine: one student went out of his way to partner up with a student who always is the last to have one. Another student asked to complete a partner activity on her own, and she was the only one to complete the task before class was out ~ she'll be my peer mentor for the next lesson. My little Kinders got so excited to watch PEPPA THE PIG in the library. So it's good to know there are little victories to be had.
When one of my admins came to check on me today because I looked irritated in the hall (more conflicted than irritated... during that 5th grade kerfuffle). I simply said "I'm not having a Teacher of the Year day. Questioning how it was possible to be picked for this..." I hate being discouraged. I spent too much time doubting myself in life, so after a nap this afternoon and enjoying a few pages from a great book I'm reading, I pulled myself out of bed and began to replan.
Looking at a blank slate (notebook paper) while reflecting on what failed has really helped me prioritize. What's fun for me? What's fun for the kids? I get so conflicted by trying to make curricular connections, raise test scores, engage readers, teach the importance of literacy, check out books, reinforce rules.... that it all comes crumbling down.
It's back to the basics tomorrow.
Monday won today.
I love the #CelebrateMonday campaign on Twitter and the idea of spreading positive vibes about starting the school week, not dreading it. And yet, I struggled through every class. To be fair, I haven't seen my Monday students since the first day of school! I teach alternating weeks, and last library week Monday was Labor Day, so overplanning for these students was a poor decision (I wanted to catch them up!) Let me gripe a moment: I ran behind on dismissing every class. I raised my voice (multiple times). I called kids out for disrespecting me and their peers. Some students didn't check out books. Had to send one class down the hallway without a teacher because I couldn't be in two places at once. Chocolate became my crutch.
Like I said, it. was. an. ugly. day.
But it had some rays of sunshine: one student went out of his way to partner up with a student who always is the last to have one. Another student asked to complete a partner activity on her own, and she was the only one to complete the task before class was out ~ she'll be my peer mentor for the next lesson. My little Kinders got so excited to watch PEPPA THE PIG in the library. So it's good to know there are little victories to be had.
When one of my admins came to check on me today because I looked irritated in the hall (more conflicted than irritated... during that 5th grade kerfuffle). I simply said "I'm not having a Teacher of the Year day. Questioning how it was possible to be picked for this..." I hate being discouraged. I spent too much time doubting myself in life, so after a nap this afternoon and enjoying a few pages from a great book I'm reading, I pulled myself out of bed and began to replan.
Looking at a blank slate (notebook paper) while reflecting on what failed has really helped me prioritize. What's fun for me? What's fun for the kids? I get so conflicted by trying to make curricular connections, raise test scores, engage readers, teach the importance of literacy, check out books, reinforce rules.... that it all comes crumbling down.
It's back to the basics tomorrow.
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