Monday.

Monday.

After Spring Break.

Before the STAAR Test.

Monday.

I was not looking forward to today, and today did not disappoint. Monday was everything I thought it would be. And maybe it was a bit of a self-fufilling prophecy, so I'll try to be in a better frame of mind tomorrow, but today was rough. We're gearing up and trying to review for the state test next week. This is always tough ground to cover; the kids get antsy. And really, the teachers do, too.

So I've been doing this Boot Camp for three weeks now. Well, really today was the first day of my third week, but whatever. I am loving it. I cannot physically see the results yet, although the scale and my tape measure tell me that it's working. I just can't see it in myself. It was nice to have three co-workers stop and tell me that whatever I was doing was working. Yay! That was the boost today that I needed. Well, and chocolate. What can I say? I am a stress eater. Not the best thing to be, but it is what it is.

After a rough start to the morning, I was determined to locate and consume whatever chocolate I could find on campus. At lunch, I headed to the teacher's workroom to raid the vending machines. I actually had some change today. This never happens. Lunch was going to end happy.

Lunch did not end happy. Marching triumphantly up to the vending machine, a slew of quarters in hand, I looked over the offerings behind the glass. Slim pickings. Other teachers must be stressed, too. Good. I'm not alone. I finally decided on a package of Reese's cups. 85 cents. Done. I deposited my quarters purposefully into the machine and searched out the buttons. I punched in "D", located "4", and punched it in with gleeful anticipation. Nothing. I tried again. Nothing.

And that's when I noticed the discreet message reading across the digital display, "Deposit exact change."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! All I had was quarters! I entered the "Denial" stage in the 5 Stages of Grief scale and punched in the numbers again, sure that the error was not my own. My attempt was in vain. The same results. I stood, in front of the machine, staring despondently at my coveted Reese's cups sitting pretty behind the glass. With a sigh, I stooped down to scoop my quarters out of the change return and headed back to class, wholly defeated and chocolateless.

I know it was for the best. Stress eating is not the way to go, but it is a great way to undo the good I have been doing the last two weeks (plus today). I ate my carrots and tuna fish sandwhich knowing I was better off....

Chocolateless, I went back to class, determined to try to move past my disappointment. The rest of the day consisted of ups and downs. Mine. The kids. Monday's. Tomorrow will be better, I'm sure. I hope. Because I won't have exact change tomorrow, either. ;-)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, my girls are getting huge! B is a bonafide "High School Musical (1, 2, and 3)" fan. During Spring Break while I was in another room cleaning, I heard her singing along with one the Gabriella and Troy duets. I was torn between laughing quietly to myself that she was so into this movie and knew the songs and disgust that she'd seen it enough times (and we'd allowed it) that she knew the words. But I remember being a kid and watching movies so repetitively that they are forever burned into the back of my brain. Besides, I have seen all three of the HSMs. There are worse things for her to be watching. And there are even redemptive qualities in the antagonists in these movies, and B and I have talked about this. ...Specifically about how mean Sharpay can be. Luckily, this is something that she has picked up on her own. Good girl! ..I can overlook the fact that Sunday she requested that I do her hair like Sharpay's for church. lol

L is now 6 months and growing like a weed, although she's not nearly as "weedy" as her big sister. While B has always maintained her position at top of, or off of, her growth charts, L is holding her own right around the 50% mark. I'm kinda thinkin' she's not gonna be joining the Tall Ranks with her sister and her Daddy. She and I can hang out in Average Land together. ;)

We're trying to wean her off her Prevacid in hopes that she no longer needs it. So far, so good. We're just giving her one pill a day now, instead of two. Eventually we'll take it down to one, every other day. But considering we just refilled it, I'm in no hurry. Unfortunately, she had a SUPER pukey weekend! She didn't seem bothered by the puke, which is good. It means that she's doing okay on just one pill of Prevacid. And, of course, the reflux medications do not do anything to correct how much or how often she pukes. It's purpose is to keep her comfortable. ...Not sure what the influx of puke means, but she's welcome to stop whenever!

She can sit now. She's definitely not a "Weeble". ...You know, "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down."

But, she is sitting. She's getting better. I usually like to keep my hands up, just in case. And after about a minute or so, she usually topples over, but she's getting there. Won't be long before she's crawling! She does excellent baby push ups. This weekend, I went so far as to shove her legs up underneath her to see if I couldn't jump start the process. She would rock back and forth for a bit and then slowly sink back down to the ground, face first. lol

..And with that, I'm off. Today can only get better, and tomorrow is a fresh start! :)

Teaching

I am currently in my sixth year of teaching. I have now taught grades 6, 7, and 8, my classes including language arts, writing, and history. I do not consider myself a veteran teacher. ...I'm not even sure if I'd consider myself a seasoned teacher. But I'm definitely marinating.

If you look up the definition of teacher in the dictionary, it is as follows:

noun:  a person who teaches or instructs, especially as a profession; instructor

I, as it applies to my profession, like to add a secret addendum to the definition of 'teacher':

noun:  a person who teaches or instructs, especially as a profession; instructor; one who is constantly learning and adapting

Plain and simple, if you cannot, as a teacher, learn and adapt, you will not last in this profession. In the words of country singer Jo Dee Messina, you gotta roll with the punches. I still have much ground to cover as I make my way through my career, so much still to learn. But, I'm making ground. Sometimes new school years yield new revelations based on reflections of the previous year. Sometimes it's literally changing the make up of your lesson midday. ...Did that on Wednesday, actually! And for me, today, it's learning how to let go of that "Quiet Learning Enviornment".

Yes. Quiet has its place. But Quiet does not own all of School-dom, and sometimes you just have to let your hair down, brace yourself for crowd control, and let the kids have at it. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a quiet learning environment. When I'm giving direct instructions. During testing. During announcements...God willing... lol But I have finally come to terms with Talking. It's not so bad.

Plus, the benefits of talking are two-fold.

1. When the activities include student discussions and/or collaboration, classroom management is a much less-menacing beast. When you're not having to fight tooth and nail to keep your kids' attention focused soley on you, they are much more engaged and awake.

2. It doesn't matter how much of an expert I am. The kids are going to learn so much more from working with each other than I can teach them directly. It's just the truth. Plus, then I'm free to walk around and monitor the kids, and monitor for understanding..something which is much more difficult when you try to make middle school look like a community college lecture hall.

Ooh! ...That brought me to a third reason. ...The benefits are THREE-fold!

3. When I can walk around, monitor, and see what the kids are doing and talking about, I can re-teach, right there on the spot. And kids are so much more likely to ask questions when the room's abuzz, and no one but their group will know. ..And even that's okay, because if they're asking me, the entire group clearly needs some extra instruction, too.

So today, had you walked into my classses, it would have been crazy busy, and probably pretty loud. But my kids were awake, alert, and they got the job done. And I am no longer afraid of Talking. ...Except when I have a headache. Then I have to grab a Dr. Pepper, pop some Advil, and just hang on for the ride.

That's, I think, one of the most fun parts of teaching. ...I love it. I always have. I always will. It's what I was Called to do. But when I grow and learn as a teacher, it makes teaching an entirely new game. ...And new games are ALWAYS fun to figure out. ...This year I tackled tables. ...It's a good thing I've made my peace with Talking. ;-)

Love my job. ...And now off to my most important job. My littlest lady is sounding like she might be hungry. :)