Yesterday was my final day at PCS. I turned in my keys and walked out of the building with tears in my eyes. I more or less kept it together until I hugged a student goodbye (whose mother works at the school). The little girl started crying when I started to hug her and that caused me to cry as well. There are so many things I am going to miss about that school. I could go as far as to say that I will miss everything about that school minus the daily stress I felt day in and day out. However that school is on a mission and I know they are moving in a positive direction. I wish only the best for the people and students at PCS and am already looking forward to visiting in the fall.
Tomorrow officially begins my new journey at FA. B and I are going to move all of our stuff into our new classrooms. We might even get some things set up! It is hard to believe that this next chapter of my life is already starting! Before my first official day (July 11) I am hoping to really reflect on what I learned over the past year in order to grow and be as successful as possible in this next venture :)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
First Year of Teaching... Check!
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Nah Nah
Hey Hey Hey
Good Bye!
This was the song I was cheerily singing with a few teachers in the hallway this afternoon as we waved goodbye to our children for the summer!
Today was my last day of my first year of teaching. I know I haven't blogged in here since January, but I thought noting that today was my last day was worthwhile. Today was a really easy day. The kids came in, went to specials, and then we went outside for early recess. When we came in from recess number 1 we popped in a movie. Then we had a pizza party for lunch. After lunch we went back outside for recess number 2. After recess number 2 we had movie number 2!
I had some drama with a child and an ongoing custody battle (breaks my heart) and then it was about 2:30. I took my kids back to my room and we worked on 2nd grade memory books while eating cupcakes and chips.
As soon as the clock struck 4:00 we were out the door and a few of us headed to Natty Green's for a celebratory drink. I can hardly believe the end is really here! I have a lot I want to say, and a lot of emotions to work through, but at this moment it is 11:00 and I need to head to bed in order to be up and at our teacher workday in the morning.
Here's to the ups, the downs, the smiles, the tears, the good, and the bad of my first year of teaching. Thank You God that the first year of teaching only happens once :)
Nah Nah Nah Nah
Hey Hey Hey
Good Bye!
This was the song I was cheerily singing with a few teachers in the hallway this afternoon as we waved goodbye to our children for the summer!
Today was my last day of my first year of teaching. I know I haven't blogged in here since January, but I thought noting that today was my last day was worthwhile. Today was a really easy day. The kids came in, went to specials, and then we went outside for early recess. When we came in from recess number 1 we popped in a movie. Then we had a pizza party for lunch. After lunch we went back outside for recess number 2. After recess number 2 we had movie number 2!
I had some drama with a child and an ongoing custody battle (breaks my heart) and then it was about 2:30. I took my kids back to my room and we worked on 2nd grade memory books while eating cupcakes and chips.
As soon as the clock struck 4:00 we were out the door and a few of us headed to Natty Green's for a celebratory drink. I can hardly believe the end is really here! I have a lot I want to say, and a lot of emotions to work through, but at this moment it is 11:00 and I need to head to bed in order to be up and at our teacher workday in the morning.
Here's to the ups, the downs, the smiles, the tears, the good, and the bad of my first year of teaching. Thank You God that the first year of teaching only happens once :)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Snow Days
As a teacher the words "snow day" take on a whole new meaning. You think kids get excited? Well let me tell you teachers get just as excited if not MORE than the students. Yesterday we had a half day due to the possibility of inclement weather. I was down 6 kids and the morning was smooth sailing. I could teach for the rest of my life with days like that. Then early last night they put us on a 2 hour delay, which was nice, but everyone else was out. So I woke up almost every hour last night and checked wcpss on my phone only to still find the 2 hour delay.
Finally around 6 this morning I checked and it said schools were closed. My body sighed a sigh of relief, turned my alarm off and went back to sleep. I woke up around 10 and looked out my window to see why school had been canceled. No snow, and no definite appearance of ice. The roads just look wet to me. However I am assuming there must be icy spots or school wouldn't be canceled.
So now my job (which might take more determination than teaching) is to stop being lazy and get things done. We have a 3 day weekend coming up, and I am heading to greensboro to see my roommates (nat is coming in from OH and bringing her bf Derek)! So the smart thing to do today would be to plan plan and plan. Therefore I wouldn't have any lesson planning to worry about over the weekend.
It would also be smart to finish my laundry and clean the apartment. However sitting under my warm blanket, vegging out to tv sounds like so much more fun.
We'll see. Thank you WCPSS for this snow day :) No matter how I spend it I am very thankful for this gift!!
Finally around 6 this morning I checked and it said schools were closed. My body sighed a sigh of relief, turned my alarm off and went back to sleep. I woke up around 10 and looked out my window to see why school had been canceled. No snow, and no definite appearance of ice. The roads just look wet to me. However I am assuming there must be icy spots or school wouldn't be canceled.
So now my job (which might take more determination than teaching) is to stop being lazy and get things done. We have a 3 day weekend coming up, and I am heading to greensboro to see my roommates (nat is coming in from OH and bringing her bf Derek)! So the smart thing to do today would be to plan plan and plan. Therefore I wouldn't have any lesson planning to worry about over the weekend.
It would also be smart to finish my laundry and clean the apartment. However sitting under my warm blanket, vegging out to tv sounds like so much more fun.
We'll see. Thank you WCPSS for this snow day :) No matter how I spend it I am very thankful for this gift!!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
All Smiles
Here is a picture of me and some of my kids on the playground the day before Christmas break. See how happy I look!? Them too for that matter :)
Crazy Day
I knew today was going to be good when 23 of my 24 angels brought their re-enrollment forms back as asked. Wow... they do listen! I was pleased... they had a great morning and things started off well. When they came back from specials we had a hard time on the carpet but really got things together. We got through our phonics, and reading and things were still going well. We moved into workshop time (which is when they are supposed to be at stations) yet they are currently sitting at their desks doing packets until they earn the privilege back.
So we go to lunch and recess and I'm in a pretty good mood still! YAY Here is when things got crazy.
I came back from my bathroom break to find one of my students laying in the mulch with his feet up in the swing. I find this strange but I stomped over there to scold the child for laying in wet mulch. When I got there he was looking straight through me and not being responsive. I asked another teacher to try to talk to her and she got the same response.
So the two of us picked up the child and all of his dead weight and helped him as he stumbled his way over to the bench. He was acting drunk and totally unresponsive. So I'm starting to panic, but still pretty calm on the outside. I got administration and we finally got him into the office where the decision was made to call 911. Within about 10 minutes we had 3 firemen and 3 emts in the small office with me the child the principal and the dean. Talk about overwhelming. So they are checking this and that and asking all of these questions and things weren't getting any better. When asked to hold a cup the little boy reached his pinky out, which showed me again his motor skills were suffering. By this point we have discussed that the child has had seizures in the past and the child had clearly had a seizure.
We were unable to get in contact with Mom so the emts wouldn't leave because they needed to know whether or not to take him to the hospital. Finally after a friend of moms told us she now worked at some gyno on such and such road, I googled those two pieces of information and called about 6 offices in search of mom.
The child finally got back to his regular self, but mom came and took him home. Where were the other 23 kiddos? Well they were split half and half between my team teachers classrooms. BLESS them. Without any questions they interrupted their entire afternoons to keep my kids while I was helping this child. Then after my hour and a half of stress, and the other teachers hour and a half of 12 extra kids we all decided to watch magic school bus for the rest of the afternoon.
Seeing how worried I had been really forced me to realize how much I love these kids. Even through the unending amounts of stress they put me through on a daily basis.
Here is to a calmER and uneventful day tomorrow.
So we go to lunch and recess and I'm in a pretty good mood still! YAY Here is when things got crazy.
I came back from my bathroom break to find one of my students laying in the mulch with his feet up in the swing. I find this strange but I stomped over there to scold the child for laying in wet mulch. When I got there he was looking straight through me and not being responsive. I asked another teacher to try to talk to her and she got the same response.
So the two of us picked up the child and all of his dead weight and helped him as he stumbled his way over to the bench. He was acting drunk and totally unresponsive. So I'm starting to panic, but still pretty calm on the outside. I got administration and we finally got him into the office where the decision was made to call 911. Within about 10 minutes we had 3 firemen and 3 emts in the small office with me the child the principal and the dean. Talk about overwhelming. So they are checking this and that and asking all of these questions and things weren't getting any better. When asked to hold a cup the little boy reached his pinky out, which showed me again his motor skills were suffering. By this point we have discussed that the child has had seizures in the past and the child had clearly had a seizure.
We were unable to get in contact with Mom so the emts wouldn't leave because they needed to know whether or not to take him to the hospital. Finally after a friend of moms told us she now worked at some gyno on such and such road, I googled those two pieces of information and called about 6 offices in search of mom.
The child finally got back to his regular self, but mom came and took him home. Where were the other 23 kiddos? Well they were split half and half between my team teachers classrooms. BLESS them. Without any questions they interrupted their entire afternoons to keep my kids while I was helping this child. Then after my hour and a half of stress, and the other teachers hour and a half of 12 extra kids we all decided to watch magic school bus for the rest of the afternoon.
Seeing how worried I had been really forced me to realize how much I love these kids. Even through the unending amounts of stress they put me through on a daily basis.
Here is to a calmER and uneventful day tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
First Day Back...Already Tired.
2 weeks away from children and I enjoyed every minute of it. However a few days before school started back I was actually missing them a little bit.
There were a few happy moments first thing this morning when they were all still a little tired yet happy to see me. I even had a rather rambunctious boy telling me how much he missed me over break. The kids were all excited to tell me what they had gotten for Christmas and they each wanted my attention at exactly the same time.
I began the day by telling them there was a new sheriff in town and they could start calling me Sheriff Funk. They laughed at me but I was serious. I would say about 80% of my kids flipped their cards today because I wasn't letting them get away with anything. I could feel myself softening as the day went on, not because I wanted to but because I was getting more and more exhausted as the day wore on. I began to have less and less energy to fight the battles.
I rallied up the energy to go to the gym after school and then cook dinner for myself. Ever since I have been sitting here mindlessly watching tv trying to figure out how I am going to get through to these kids and help or make them change their behavior.
Any thoughts?!
There were a few happy moments first thing this morning when they were all still a little tired yet happy to see me. I even had a rather rambunctious boy telling me how much he missed me over break. The kids were all excited to tell me what they had gotten for Christmas and they each wanted my attention at exactly the same time.
I began the day by telling them there was a new sheriff in town and they could start calling me Sheriff Funk. They laughed at me but I was serious. I would say about 80% of my kids flipped their cards today because I wasn't letting them get away with anything. I could feel myself softening as the day went on, not because I wanted to but because I was getting more and more exhausted as the day wore on. I began to have less and less energy to fight the battles.
I rallied up the energy to go to the gym after school and then cook dinner for myself. Ever since I have been sitting here mindlessly watching tv trying to figure out how I am going to get through to these kids and help or make them change their behavior.
Any thoughts?!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
It's Been a While
Something has been stirring in my heart for the past couple of days and I'm not quite sure what that is but I decided I would try to write some of it out and begin to sort through my feelings.
I've spent a of of these past 4 months wallowing in the challenges of moving to a new place, living alone and being a first year teacher. A few days ago I woke up thinking, here I am, single teaching in a high poverty school. What COULD I be doing that I'm not. What opportunities do I have as a young single woman that I might not have later in life as a teacher. Can I invest more time in my kids? Can I spend more time lesson planning? Can I pray for them more? Can I pray for my patience more? Can I volunteer with an extracurricular activity? Can I search for volunteers to get help into a school that desperately needs it? Can I spend time with kids after school to foster relationships?
So those are a few thoughts that had been spiraling in my head for the past few days. Then today my eyes were opened to the fact that I have so much power and influence over the lives of my kids. This moment happened after school when I only had a few kids left in my room. We had just finished playing treasure (where the kids search for the magic piece of treasure (trash) from the floor and whoever gets the magic piece gets candy. Basically a quick way to get the floor cleaned) But anyway, I was sitting up on my back table and my kids were all sitting criss cross on the floor in front of me. I was about to award the winner of the game and I also gave an honorable mention to every child that participated for something great they had done during that time. The kids were looking at me with these wide open eyes that were just anticipating what positive thing I was going to say about them. There was nothing magical or important about this moment, I just got this overwhelming feeling that my words and actions had huge power over my kids.
So I began thinking about how my attitude and demeanor towards my kids has power and how I need to be more aware of that. If I snap at a child because someone snapped at me and the effects are now rippling, what is that doing to the kid? If I tell a child to stop talking when all they want is to have their voice heard, then what message am I sending them about the value of their opinions and ideas.
I'm in a hard position with some hard kids, but I am in the position to influence them in a positive way. So I simply have to make the decision, HOW am I going to use my words and actions to influence my kids.
Hmm...
Well I guess I'm going to get back to grading papers and snow dancing. This tired first year teacher would LOVE a 2 hour delay. Come on wake county... please?!
I've spent a of of these past 4 months wallowing in the challenges of moving to a new place, living alone and being a first year teacher. A few days ago I woke up thinking, here I am, single teaching in a high poverty school. What COULD I be doing that I'm not. What opportunities do I have as a young single woman that I might not have later in life as a teacher. Can I invest more time in my kids? Can I spend more time lesson planning? Can I pray for them more? Can I pray for my patience more? Can I volunteer with an extracurricular activity? Can I search for volunteers to get help into a school that desperately needs it? Can I spend time with kids after school to foster relationships?
So those are a few thoughts that had been spiraling in my head for the past few days. Then today my eyes were opened to the fact that I have so much power and influence over the lives of my kids. This moment happened after school when I only had a few kids left in my room. We had just finished playing treasure (where the kids search for the magic piece of treasure (trash) from the floor and whoever gets the magic piece gets candy. Basically a quick way to get the floor cleaned) But anyway, I was sitting up on my back table and my kids were all sitting criss cross on the floor in front of me. I was about to award the winner of the game and I also gave an honorable mention to every child that participated for something great they had done during that time. The kids were looking at me with these wide open eyes that were just anticipating what positive thing I was going to say about them. There was nothing magical or important about this moment, I just got this overwhelming feeling that my words and actions had huge power over my kids.
So I began thinking about how my attitude and demeanor towards my kids has power and how I need to be more aware of that. If I snap at a child because someone snapped at me and the effects are now rippling, what is that doing to the kid? If I tell a child to stop talking when all they want is to have their voice heard, then what message am I sending them about the value of their opinions and ideas.
I'm in a hard position with some hard kids, but I am in the position to influence them in a positive way. So I simply have to make the decision, HOW am I going to use my words and actions to influence my kids.
Hmm...
Well I guess I'm going to get back to grading papers and snow dancing. This tired first year teacher would LOVE a 2 hour delay. Come on wake county... please?!
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