A quick summary of My Life Right Now:
The past 2 months since I posted: have been crazy. I have had half a dozen students leave my class, half that number join my class (hellonicetomeetyouhere’sasyllabus) I was an assistant coach for the women’s soccer team (which had a grand total of 4 weeks of practice and 2 games, phew), I have given 2 miserable tests (not sure who hates those more – me or the kids), missed 2 days of school because of the stomach flu (and got hit on by the guy who took my pee test), I bought an absurd amount of coffee supplies for a fundraiser (it pays to buy in bulk, I will say), and drank lots of beer and hard cider (it is fall, after all).
Women’s soccer team practices shooting
Currently: I am… bringing my fail rate under 25% as I enter binder check grades (yay!), repeating the horrendous cycle of realizing I know nothing about teaching and not nearly enough about math, recovering from a conversation with my principal about how I need to make All The Improvements by Monday, and sitting on a bed in a hotel in Blacksburg VA with all my planning materials covering every surface. And dreaming of some Olive Garden.
I read an article about grit this morning, about how having it means kids will likely succeed even if their academics don’t show it. It’s obviously relevant to think about for my kids, but of course, typical me, I’m thinking about myself. I think I’ve had struggles in life, but nothing that has truly tested my ability to persevere. It’s been tough here; often I want to quit because it would just be easier. I’m not sure if it’s grit that makes me stay, or just the fact that I get pissed that someone else (thousands upon thousands of teachers) has stuck it out and I would be throwing in the towel. I guess it’s a positive side of an oddly competitive nature. I hope it lasts.
I was going to write a lengthy thing but there’s no way that’s happening because I haven’t written anything since my first week of school. So much has happened that it’s exhausting to think back over it. You couldn’t pay me to go back and do it again. Basically the law of the teacher universe is that for every really awful day, the next day the kids will be great – it’s held true almost every time so far. I can ardently testify that the first year sucks, but almost every day it feels a minuscule bit better. I don’t get that pit of worry in my stomach when I drive to school, and I usually get enough sleep. I’m so proud of my kids – even though my classroom management sucks, I go too fast, I talk too fast, I don’t discipline, or plan efficiently, they still are learning so much. On a survey that I concocted just as a way to fill time after our last test, the overwhelming majority of my kids answered that they feel safe and have learned more than they expected in my class, and I guess that means it’s ok. I just wish I knew that they were getting what they deserve in terms of an education from me. Ugh, one day.
Life by Agape 
You must be logged in to post a comment.