It's a Great Day at Work Today

I went to work today 100% prepared for the day and caught up with all grading and preparations for the coming week's lessons. When I turned off the lights in my classroom and locked the door behind me all the reports I am responsible for are completed, meetings have been attended, new meetings and a training date that were planned today are marked on the calendar and e-mails and phone calls that required a response have been answered. This is a monumental day as it is the first time this school year I have gone into work and left work with my job complete. I love it, love it love it.

Why is this the first time I have had this feeling all year? My school district went through some very big changes over the past summer in how they manage technology. As the school year approached and limped into session there were many technology glitches and new program updates. The glitches added many, many extra hours to work around them and too much time discussing the frustration with administrators and teachers on my team. There were delays in many tasks that are normally completed before the students arrive for their first class. Pretesting that usually is scheduled during the first weeks of the school year did not happen until the end of the first quarter, and there were computer labs that could not be used because they were not part of the network for many weeks. Once we could get on the networks, then computer programs were updated, and it took time to learn how to use those with no initial training. It was not a stress free start.

Hindsight and feeling refreshed after a nice long winter break bring me a great appreciation for this day, today. Even as the students arrived to start the new semester, I felt prepared for the weeks ahead and good about the coming year.

Ice Day

It was supposed to be the final school Friday for 2008. Having school has been an iffy proposition all week long. Yesterday ended up not being bad at all. They had predicted the possibility that we may have had a sheet of ice to drive on yesterday. In reality the precipitation was extremely light here to our benefit and we were able to go about our day as normal. Due to the rain yesterday evening and overnight, the country roads in our area are icy and the boys and I are out of school yet again.

The boys did not stay in bed though and were up at the normal time and had breakfast before seven a.m. I spent the day wishing for a nap that never came. Although I am not feeling well today, I still would have rather went to school and enjoyed the plans we had for the end of the quarter.

The surprise for tonight was the story, "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona", by Tomie de Paola. In the story there is a surprise that brings disappointment first, and then when the surprise is revealed, there is a real celebration. The boys were commenting on how lazy the character Anthony was by not helping Strega Nona, and when they found out that he had actually put in a lot of effort without Strega Nona knowing about it, they were surprised, too.

Still Teaching Math

Well things are rolling at work for me. We did get a new teacher hired. She started Tuesday (the day before classes started) and she is teaching Science and Literature, so I am teaching Math and Literature. The nice part is that I only have one classroom to deal with. With three new teachers on my team, I do have a lot to do outside of my normal classroom preparations.

Raymond and Daniel started school yesterday. All went well with back to school nights for both of them. I feel a little bit more relaxed not having them in school until Monday, but next week I will have them in school every day as well as getting myself out the door.

I have one more day to make it through and then a break for the week end. I am ready for it!!!

Be Prepared!

I am getting ready for the students to show up for school in just three days. The more prepared I am the better the year will go.

I am also preparing the younger boys to return to school on Thursday. Raymond, now eight and a third grader, will have no problem with a teacher he knows. I did my student teaching with her and school routines that are now familiar to him. His challenge is making the transition to getting to bed earlier, and he has been doing a good job over the past week. He has also been getting up daily at 6:30 to 7 in the morning. Daniel is only four, and this year will be a preschooler again. He has been to preschool last year and part of the year before, but I have always been the one to take him to school and most often been the one to pick him up after school. This year he is going to the public preschool in our district for half days and will ride a bus without his brother on the way to school. Raymond and Daniel will be on the same bus for the ride home.

We will go to Daniel's school on Tuesday so he can meet his teacher, drop off supplies and see his classroom. Then we will go to Raymond's school on Wednesday evening. At Raymond's Back to School Night we have organized a hot dog feed for the families. I won't be there to get it set up, and we have found volunteers to grill and clean up, so I hope all goes well. We didn't really get it advertised, except on the local radio station, but not everybody listens to it (I don't ). I hope we have a good turn out.

Now What?

And I really mean that. Enrollment is up in my school and especially in the grade I teach, so they are looking to hire another teacher. The problem is, since it is last minute, they will have to find someone that is competent in teaching something quickly, and then I will teach whatever is not covered. So after moving classrooms this summer, I am not even sure what it is I will be teaching. It will probably be either Math, Science or Literature. I have already been doing both Math and Science for the past three years, but they are taught in different rooms, so I am not really sure which classroom I will be teaching in this year. Literature would be new to me at this level, but doable. Math and Literature are the two subjects with high stake test this school year.The thing is school starts Wednesday and I already have two new teachers on my team that need a lot of support. How am I ever going to get it together if I don't know what I am going to be teaching? I guess I just will prepare for all possible scenarios and not get too attached to my schedule that I will start the year with. Hopefully a decision will be made Monday and help will be on the way before classes start.

Winding down

Summer vacation is finally here. I am working on slowing the energy level from this school year, so I can take a brief break before I start on next year's gear up for energy. Moving my classrooms before August is proving quite taxing, as having the people that need to be there actually there will probably prove near impossible. I have finished up my last contract day today, but will have to go in again tomorrow to pack up more and label what I can't move yet. I will have to go in again when Summer School is over to unpack, as we are not supposed to move completely until after Summer School is complete. I am working on organizing items in boxes and file drawers a much as possible as I pack. I am also working on purging as much as possible, but I think that I have already scaled down so much over the past three years, that I really don't have a lot of extra stuff.

We are also working on loading up the van for a trip to Oklahoma. The weather has been very wet here and there so I'm not sure how much lake action I can take with rain and mud in the picture. We are considering postponing until the weather is better. The older boys will be home to take care of the dogs so I am not sure how long we will be away.

Work and Play

Yesterday was a "work" day, as if on any other days I don't work. It almost seemed a break since I could do all of the things that I normally don't have time to do with students at school. I am moving to another classroom next year (or I should say two new classrooms as I teach Math and Science in different classrooms). I got to do some organizing that I normally don't do until June or August, and moved two large cabinets of materials and manipulatives into my new classroom. I won't be teaching in there until next August, but I won't be using these materials over the next two weeks. I am already grouping materials for when I will be using them next year, working in my head to plan it better, to teach it better and to assess and reteach more than I did over this year. Everything I will be using for the rest of this year is already set up (including finals for each class).

Last night, Joe took Joe A. and Raymond into town, picked up Daniel at school and then me at work. We spent the evening at the Legends, a courtyard mall in Kansas City. The boys ate at McDonald's and went to see the movie Speed Racer, while Joe and I ate dinner and walked the mall for the next hour plus. What a wonderful evening. I was much too tired to do any shopping although Joe said it would have been alright with him if I wanted to shop some. The temperature dropped a bit after the sun set, but it was still very nice. We spent the last twenty minutes of our evening watching the fountain and the people.

Today I am playing catch up. After a PTO meeting Monday evening, marathon meetings Tuesday and Wednesday, my headache Wednesday and Thursday, and a full day of cleaning and organizing at school and the evening out on Friday, my house needs some serious attention. Mount Washmore and just about every room in the house are on the list.

What a Week!

I can't believe how fast the past six weeks have flown by. It has been a busy schedule and many things have happened at work and at home. Over this past week Daniel and Joe went on a field trip to Red Barn Farm in Weston, Missouri. As usual, Daniel is ready to go back with the rest of the family (or his school if we won't take him LOL). Last night the family (I'm talking all five boys) sat out on the patio for dinner. Wow, it was really nice. Last summer Joe and Steven put in the patio, and we have wondered how we ever managed without it.

At work it has basically been decided that I will continue teaching Math and Science next year (I am told I am irreplaceable-whatever?). But I spent two days in marathon interviews with administrators and a few other teachers to hire for five open positions at our building. Our school is growing so quickly we have had to add two positions and we had two people retire this year. I will have the pleasure to work with one of the new teachers (new to us, but not to education) and a long term sub and good friend, that is now officially on my teaching team for next year. The bittersweet part is that my other teaching teammate is going upstairs to teach 7th grade Social Studies and I will miss her. She has really made my last three years a wonderful experience. I am not counting days to the end. I will miss teaching these kids and how things are working now, although I am sure I do need a break soon.

The two days of interviewing got the best of me. After the first day, I ended up with a headache that lasted for two days. I am finally relieved this morning to notice that I have finally gotten rid of it.

Have I mentioned that I love Spring? We have had an unusually long Winter this year, and I think Spring has finally decided to stay. It peeked in a few times over March and April, but has just really arrived over the past two weeks.