summer is almost over August 16, 2009

I received my back-to-work letter from the Prince (my blog name for our principal).  Our official back to work day is Monday, August 24, and the open house will be Thursday, August 27.  We have tons of meetings scheduled, plus a full day of staff development, and only two half days open to work on our rooms.  I’m wondering how he thinks we can get our rooms ready with only two half days….Especially since he said we shouldn’t try to get in our rooms this week, as the engineers are still working on getting the furniture back in.  We always are able to work the week before; if this is really true, next week is going to be some sort of stress nightmare.  I can see myself sitting in endless meetings, agonizingly bored and longing to get to work in my room.

Tomorrow I go to a leadership team meeting at school, so I’m going to ask him about this.  I haven’t had a migraine for two weeks and I don’t want to start now.

going back to work August 6, 2009

On Tuesday I’m meeting the new afternoon teacher for the first time; it’s also going to be my first time back at school all summer.  We’re going to take a look at the room and do some planning, and then go out to lunch.  I’m a little nervous — both about meeting her, and about setting foot in that school.  When I do, it means summer is almost over, and I have to go back to my other self.

I don’t think I’m ready.

end of summer anxiety August 4, 2009

So my summer is sailing away.

A few weeks ago, just thinking about fall made my stomach hurt.  Now, not so much.  But I do feel a bit of anxiety, as I haven’t even touched the lesson planning I brought home to work on, and I have tons left to do at home, and I have tons to do when I do go back to work.  It’ll be more work than usual this year, because I have to prepare the classroom to share with the afternoon teacher, and will have to organize, purge, and remove tons of stuff to make room for her.

You teachers out there must be feeling the same way — how do you cope with the rapidly dwindling summer days?

And what about parents — how do you feel about getting ready for school and the rapid arrival of fall?

my mystery coworker July 10, 2009

There will definitely be an afternoon class this fall, and it will be in what previously had been MY classroom.  I was on vacation when she got hired, so I did not get to interview her.  I called her yesterday to introduce myself, and left a message.  I haven’t heard back yet.

I’m quite nervous about this.  We will be sharing a tiny space daily — overlapping at lunch time — and our relationship is critical to the success of the year.

Miss Slinger is nervous, too — she’ll be in both classrooms.  We’re going out on a girls’ night out soon, and can hash things over.  I hope the mystery teacher calls me soon so I can get to know her!

Ahh, summer vacation June 15, 2009

I have been absent from blogging for three weeks now, and I apologize to anyone who might have missed me.  The last few weeks of the year were crazy.  I was under the weather (the migraines continue) and just couldn’t bring myself to write.  Now I am back and I will have stories to tell about the end of the year.  Including the one about the preschooler who got suspended…..

In the meantime, I’m cleaning house, sleeping in, reading vampire novels, and enjoying my family.

to call or not to call May 5, 2009

So today I noticed, half-way through a busy morning, that Kid had a weird mark on his face.  I looked at it closer, and thought, that looks suspicious.  I asked Miss Nelson if she’d noticed it, and she said she had, but that she thought it was fine. 

We asked Kid how he got that owie and he said, stumbling and stuttering, that it was from falling off a skateboard.  How do you get a scab in the outline of  a circle, with a dot scab in the middle of it, from falling off a skateboard?  (The scab looks a bit like a tiny Target logo.)

I took him to the nurse, to Miss Nelson’s chagrin, and on my way saw the social worker.  She looked concerned, and told me later she was thinking the same thing I was.  The nurse then looked at it, and said it out loud.  Cigarette burn?

So then the issue is whether or not to report it.  Kid is not articulate; he cannot tell a coherent story to save his life.  He kept saying it was from falling off a skateboard.

I went back to the room and told Miss Nelson our suspicions.  She got agitated, because she finally has Kid’s mom back in contact with us, and the relationship is good at present.  And…Kid’s mom did finally take him to the doctor for the infections, and he is recovering nicely.

We finally decided that I would call Mom.  Mom stuck to the story — it was a skateboard injury.  She said it happened when her kids were at the park, and that’s what they told her happened.

So for now we are going to go with that.  We’ve got no evidence that someone harmed him, other than a strange mark on his face.

But I’ve been feeling awful all day, and I think this is the cause.

Friday: blood April 24, 2009

So Titch kicked a little boy with Down’s Syndrome in the face and knocked out his tooth.  Apparently there was blood everywhere.

We were on the playground, and I was trying to gather my goslings to line up and get ready to go home, and Titch — the line leader — was missing.  Miss Slinger found him and brought him  in, and then next thing I know, Titch’s dad is there, calm but upset, telling me what Titch had done.

Titch’s dad works at my school, and was responsible for the little boy whose tooth his own son kicked out.   How’s that for complicated?  After I sent the kids home on the bus, Titch’s dad and I went to talk to the assistant principal and I had to recommend suspension.  Titch’s dad understood, and then I emailed Titch’s mom at work, and she called immediately.

Titch’s parents are getting divorced — painfully — and the stress is clearly finally getting to him.  What happened today was the culmination of a difficult, and slightly violent, week for him.  (Choking Harold in the bathroom, hitting Harold at gym class, poking Owen and Ferdinand during meeting, kicking Leo, etc.)

The hard thing is that his face looks happy and calm.  He shows no signs of remorse or concern.  “I was on the climber and he was on the ladder coming up and I didn’t want him up there so I kicked him in the face” as if it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

I started my weekend feeling so tense and upset and sad for Titch and his family.

Mrs. Migraine, again March 18, 2009

I’m not posting much right now, as I’ve had migraines every day for a week.  I got desperate and tried acupuncture today.  I’ll go again every week for three more weeks, and I am very hopeful that it will help. 

I’ll be back to posting soon.

Corduroy caps off our morning March 5, 2009

It was a busy morning.  I had a meeting — and I helped present a little part of the professional development we had before school — and I did not have a prep, so I got down to the classroom right before the kids arrived, and then realized the long list of things I’d need to accomplish while they were there.  Augh.  I always feel guilty if I’m sitting at my desk while the children are present.  Couldn’t be helped, though.

I had a volunteer from the university, and Miss Nelson and Miss Slinger were both there, so we had plenty of bodies.  Miss Nelson, though….I realize that I still don’t trust her after that unpleasant incident in January.  It is stressful working in the same room with someone you don’t trust or feel comfortable around.  Perhaps that is why I am so tired all the time?

It was one little girl’s last day, so we had to get all her stuff together, and make her a card.

We made teddy bears out of paper, with arms and legs and head attached to the body with brass fasteners, and it was amazing how well the children did.  In the fall they’d have never been able to handle a project like this.

And we finished the morning with Corduroy.  I did a repeated interactive read-aloud, and it went really well.  Several children really got into discussing the book, and kept raising their hands.  I was tired when the morning was over, but our wonderful reading of Corduroy made the busy morning feel like a success.

4 minutes inside a teacher’s brain February 20, 2009

Sit on your bottom, fold your legs, hands in your lap, eyes on the teacher.

Why doesn’t this work anymore?  Why are my students ignoring me?  Why is Duck lying down on top of Ferdinand?

Everybody needs to sit down and listen right now.  I appreciate the way Edward is listening.  Thank you, Edward.

Good morning children.  (“Good morning, Mrs. X!”)  What is the letter of the week?  (“W!”  “wuh!”)  Right, the letter of the week is Ww.  It makes this sound:  wuh. 

Why is Leo wandering the room?  No, no, no, let’s not start that again.

Leo, if you want your clothespin for centers time you need to sit down right now in the meeting area.  Okay, let’s practice our letter sounds.  Do you think I can trick you?  (“Nooo!”)

Leo is not paying any attention.  Try to hook him.

Leo, look, I’ve got the letter cards.  Do you think I can trick you?

Leo is not looking at me.  Move on.

What sound?  (“MMM!”)  Right, mmmm.

What sound?  (“KKKuh!”)  Yes, /k/.

What are Miss Nelson and that special ed teacher from the district talking about over there?  Are they watching me?  Talking about me?  Argh, it’s so distracting.

What sound?  (“NNNN!”)  Yes, nnnn.

What the heck, Titch is totally not paying attention.  I know he doesn’t know most of the letters and sounds, and no wonder.  He’s not looking or listening at all.

Titch, please look up here.  Titch.  Titch!  Thank you, sweetie, please pay attention and do the sounds with us.

What sound?  (“aaaa!”)  Yes, aaa.

Great, lost him already.  And Duck is picking his nose again.  And wiping it on the kid next to him!

Duck.  No.  Please keep your hands in your lap.  What sound?  (“LLLL!”)  Yes, llll.

Leo is only doing about every third sound, and he usually loves to do the sounds with us.  GREAT, now Owen is not paying attention either.

Owen, Titch, Duck, look up here.  You need to look to learn the letters and sounds.

Why isn’t Swimmy wearing his glasses?  Why was he pouting this morning?  For that matter, why was Titch pouting this morning?  Why did Duck and Owen get in trouble in music class?  Why didn’t I remember to write the morning message?  Why have I been getting migraines every day for three days in a row?  Why are Duck and Princess so hyper today?

What sound?  (“RRRR!”)  Right, rrrrr.

Will you look at that?  Princess is paying attention!  She is looking at the cards, and listening to her friends say the sounds, and copying them.  Oh man, at least Princess is learning something today.

Thank heaven for small mercies.