6/22/12 Well, the final day of my program got out late today, and so after rushing out, I guestimated that I would need to pack in 20 minutes and be on my way to make it to my apartment to pick up the books and meet the parents 45 minutes away. I rushed, I sweated,…

6/20/12   The book I ordered for the girl in Spanish was dropped off today. I opened the package, but when I went to set it with the other books, I realized…..this book is different than those. Wha?   I ordered her the book that is for incoming 8th graders.   Whoops. Total slip. So…

6/19/12   I had this realization today that half of my summer is almost over. Oh my. I start training again on July 27th. Eek. I spent the first two weeks of this break freaking out about the fact that the entire summer seemed to be looming before me and that I felt like I…

5/22/12   Sometimes I make a difference:  —one of my top students wrote me a note saying “What can I say? You helped me find the leader inside me this year and get ready for my goals with the ACT.” –another student, “Thank you for teaching us about the issues that are happening all around…

5/21/12 This is a very self-reflective, perhaps even venting/getting it off the chest post. It hasn’t even been really edited.  Just thought you should know before you read it This past Sunday, on my perfect drive to the beach, I was just smiling for no reason. And I realized that I am finally back at…

5/15/12   Yes. It’s a cliche reference to a 7th grade superstar, but it’s appropriate.   With the winding down of the year comes incentives to convince the students not to go crazy, meetings to assess progress, and in my classroom, some of our biggest initiatives. Which is why it makes sense that I feel…

5/10/12   It’s my first full week in a very long time. No random field trips, no random modified schedules for testing or nada. It has been a little long, but the blur will finish with Friday. Pros Teacher Appreciation Week = some heart-touching cards from students, food, and general happiness. Just received the final…

4/19/12 I needed to write about this from Wednesday. I can’t remember if I ever wrote about my other male student who proclaimed his love for a female student in my class via descriptive paragraph. If not, ask me about it. It was HILARIOUS.   On Wednesday, they had to bring in two rough drafts…

4/19/12   I had a check-in with my AP yesterday, and we were talking about my recent data over a poetry quiz.   Her question – where the scores lower or where you were expecting?   Me – lower, of course. It has been really frustrating this semester because I know they are higher than…

4/17/12   6 a.m. alarm goes off. 3 snoozes later, and Pandora “Just Dance” station begins to play 1 song later, and body rolls out of bed 20 minutes later, feet walk out the door 5 minutes later, arrive at school 25 minutes of quick copies, board notes, & general tidying up 30 minutes of…