Today was a good day

On Tuesdays we do centers. There's 5 or 6 activities and after 20 minutes all the groups switch and move onto the next activity. Most of the kids like it because they get to do something new at each table and they get to talk to each other while they work. It can be a little hard though. You have to work fast to make sure you get done before the timer goes off. A couple complain about it.
I had one meltdown a few weeks ago. He got upset and I didn't diffuse in time and it got so bad I had to remove him from the classroom. They couldn't console him in the office either, so he ended up going home early that day. The last two Tuesdays I've kept a close eye on him, making sure he doesn't get frustrated. Today I complimented him on handling his stress well and not freaking out. He was my best friend the whole rest of the day, filling my comment box with how much he loves my class, and loves centers, and how fun everything is. Which is better than the screamed I hate you's three weeks ago.

Good. Fine.

I hate getting observed. I can teach in front of 100 rug rats, but put another adult in the room and I'm a mess.
I got observed today. It wasn't a real observation, they weren't there to observe me, they were there to watch the lesson that we all wrote. I wasn't getting graded on anything. It still made me nervous. It felt like every word out of my mouth was the wrong one. I kept metally slapping myself in the head, asking "why did you just say that, it makes no sense whatsoever?".
Later I went to hunt down each teacher and ask how I did. Everything went fine, everything was good. Don't they know I need specifics? I need to know exactly what was good, what was bad, and then we should dissect and analyze it for the next three hours. But no. I get "good" and "fine".

I had a kid in near panic today. He had a message for me to go to the office, but I had already stopped in there to get the message before talking to him. I just looked at him and said, "nope, I'm not going". He got very insistent and I just kept shaking my head, telling him I wouldn't go. He was not a happy camper and I probably should have told him I already got the message, not to worry, but I got distracted and never told him. He'll be ok though. This is good practice to get him ready for middle school.

Raaaaaaaaaallllllllllllppppppppphhhhhhhh

A: cough cough cough COUGH COUGH COUGH

Me: A, cover your mouth.

A: Mrs. B, I don't feel good. I'm hot, I have a headache, and I can't stop coughing.
Me: A, stop talking and clean out your desk. Your mom wants ORGANIZED FOLDERS.

A: I'm done, what do I do now?

Me: Go outside. You still have 5 minutes of recess left.

A: But now my stomach hurts.

Me: Don't care. Go.

later

Ring Ring Ring

Nurse: Just wanted to let you know, A threw up his lunch and his dad is on his way to pick him up.

What's worse, making a kid go outside when he doesn't feel well, or being thankful that you sent him outside before he had the chance to puke in your room?

Eye heart PTA

I read recently that when the owner of the Cleveland Browns bought a house in the city where I work, the median income of the whole city jumped up. Even without him, the city is pretty well off. Not huge mansions everywhere, but everyone seems comfortably well off. My school lets teachers order a bunch of new supplies each year (I missed the ordering, but I get to keep the stuff the previous teacher ordered. Let's just say I will probably never run out of construction paper, staples, or chalk, but the scotch tape situation is dire). There are several small grants available, one from the PTA that is basically guaranteed to each teacher. The PTA also puts on a huge dinner for us each night of conferences. This week was also the Scholastic book fair. Because students and parents spent so much money, I was able to get $100 worth of free books (One of my students very kindly bought me a gift certificate, so I got $110 worth. My favorite book purchase? Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Poop. How can you not buy a book with the word poop in the title?). I pass out the Scholastic fliers each month, and my kids always buy stuff. Every dollar they spend gets me bonus points that I can use to buy more books. Before I started teaching I was so proud of myself for starting my book collection while still a student. That stash seemed much smaller out of the boxes, and up on the bookshelf. I've probably doubled my amount since then, and many of them were free. Which is good, because some of them have already wandered off the shelves, never to return. I don't have the bigger items, like laptops for each student, or a computer project or smartboard, but on little stuff, I do pretty well.

Conferences

One of my students reminds me of my son. They both seem to be old souls. They both have this deep quiet. They seem to be a little removed from the rest of us, but at the same time more aware of everyone. That probably doesn't make sense. Anyway. I don't even know this boy that well. He's not one to hover around me, telling me his life story like so many of my students. He's private, and quiet. I just feel like he's familiar to me, and it makes me a little protective of him. He got hurt at gym class the other day and it really upset me to see him in pain.
When I saw his mom at conferences, I told her how he reminds me of my son. She is an incredibly kind woman. She spoke very sincerely about being happy that I had a reminder of my son with me all day, when I couldn't actually be with my son. It was so unexpected, and thoughtful, that it brought tears to my eyes. It also brought tears to her eyes, and we laughed about how sappy we are. Even now, days later, when I think about our conversation, I'm still deeply touched. Can you imagine what our days would be like if everyone were that kind, all the time?