Done and Done.

Well, today I turned in my checkout packet at school which means I am officially finished with this school year! My last day with students was Wednesday, May 19 but we had two professional development days to get through and then I was on vacation on Monday and Tuesday. It just hit me today that I'm finished. It' so surreal!

Even though the summer is finally here, I will be excited to get back to school. I am sad because I will see one of my team teachers leave. She'll be going back to school to get her masters. But the upside is this: the team teacher I am gaining is a close friend! I'm really pumped about this! We will work fabulously together, I'm sure. There are already talks of departmentalizing different subjects and all the class collaborations we can get together. It's going to be great!

I'm very happy to have this year behind me. It was a challenge each and every day but I have learned so much! I'll be ready for that fresh start in August!

Residency, Field Trips, and Twisters...Oh My!

Residency:
A couple weeks ago, I had my final residency meeting with my mentor, principal and OBU supervisor. It was agreed by all that I successfully completed my first year of teaching and am recommended for certification! I am officially a fully certified teacher in the state of Oklahoma! Woot woot!

Field Trips Part 1:
This Monday, the 5th graders took a trip to Lazer Zone Family Fun Center in Ada. We had a blast! We played unlimited games of lazer tag, mini golf, and bowling. We also played in the arcade for a bit. It was nice to give my kids some freedom. We let the kids go do their own thing while the teachers played as well. We, of course, checked in on them every so often to make sure everything was copacetic. We will definitely be going back next year!

Twisters:
After coming home from our exhausting field trip, I had to deal with the bad weather and numerous amounts of tornadoes flying through our state. I was actually at the school when things got bad in my town, so a few friends and I took cover in our berm building (which is underground) when the sirens went off. We were there for a couple hours before things cleared up. Nothing around Shawnee was seriously damaged, however our school's electric provider was and NRC was without power for two days. So no school for us on Tuesday and Wednesday. The power was restored this afternoon so school will resume on Thursday. Now I only have 5 more days of school left!

Field Trips Part 2:
Even though school was out today because of a lack of electricity, I went with the 3rd graders on their field trip to the Bombing Memorial and an OKC Redhawks Game. We had such a great time! The kids really enjoyed being at the ball field. And I am really getting into baseball so I had a blast as well! I was actually at a game the night before where I caught a foul ball by my favorite Redhawks player. Lots of the kids brought gloves hoping for a ball and our seats were great for it, but no one came home with one. Regardless, they all left with smiles on their cute little faces.

As much as I have enjoyed my kids and will be sad to see them go, I am really ready for summer. I have so many exciting events planned and I am eager to get started on them! Five school days and counting...

Dun, Dun, Dun...

It has finally arrived...state tests begin tomorrow! We've had a long few weeks of review and I know my kids (and myself) are ready to just get these tests over with. I'm pretty sure that if they don't know it by now, then they likely won't know it tomorrow. That being said, my kids have all worked really hard this year and I know they'll do great!

It appears as if the days following testing will just fly by. I was meeting with one of my team members and we counted only eight more full days of instruction. We have so many days full of track meets, field trips, concerts, and assemblies! I'm pretty sure trying to lesson plan for the next couple weeks will be crazy. Hopefully, we can get something meaningful in. After all, the learning doesn't cease once testing is complete. We still have 2 and 1/2 weeks of school!

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired.

In college, I always heard professors and fellow teachers speak of how your first year teaching will be a challenge in many ways, including how you immune system handles getting used to being around all those kids. I never really grasped how serious they were until now.

I am so stinking tired of being sick! Not only have I used all 10 of my sick days this year, but one of my personal business days have been used trying to recooperate and be healthy. I've been infected with everything from H1N1 to sinus infections to just a plain ol' cold. This is getting a bit ridiculous!

I sure hope this year has helped to make my immune system solid because it has been a rough year, one I hope I won't have to repeat. It takes a lot out of someone when they are ill and I am no exception. It is hard to care about lesson planning, read alouds, and test review when all you are hoping for is to breath out of both nostrils or get a sentence out without your throat catching on fire.

But from these awful experiences, I have learned a lesson or two:
1. Always have hand sanitizer in stock.
2. Lysol those desks, chairs, counters, and door handles every day.
3. It really is necessary for 20 kids to bring in 1-2 boxes of Kleenex each year.
4. OJ is your best friend...the juice, not the person.
And finally,
5. Even if it means putting something off until tomorrow, always get proper rest. And no, falling asleep on the couch for 3 hours in the midst of grading papers doesn't count.

Review, review, review...

It has been so, so long since I've updated! Ahh! But, alas, it is almost April and I am on the downhill slope of finishing my first year of teaching. It feels like it has taken both forever and no time at all to get here.

I've had quite an experience this year. Lots of behavioral and discipline problems...lots of poor quality work due to laziness, not academic issues. But we've had some good times as well. And I've come to be a part of a staff of many wonderful women and men. If I had to chose one thing about this past year that I am most thankful for, it would be the awesome people I work with. My fellow teachers are nothing short of spectacular. Not only are they quality educators, but great friends as well.

But enough of that. On to what we've been doing in class. Lesson planning is the most overwhelming its been all year. I feel lost when trying to find ways to review all the material we've learned thus far. How am I supposed to sqeeze months of learning into three weeks?! Still trying to figure that one out...

We have three more weeks of review before our tests. Next week we begin the after school tutoring program we offer to those who want some extra help with the material they'll be tested on. Along with this, I am tutoring a student who is home-bound until May every Monday. So, I'll be making a bit of extra cash for a couple weeks.

I found out one of the 5th grade teachers won't be coming back next year. It stinks because we worked so well together, had so much in common about our teaching philosophies. But I know staying home with her kiddos is where her heart lies at the moment...I imagine I'll feel much the same when I start a family of my own. I'm very curious to see who we hire to take over the classroom.

The next six weeks will be long (we have no short weeks) but I'm trying to stay caught up and look at the bigger picture. Only six more weeks until my summer vacation! There are so many things I want to accomplish this summer! I have lots of classroom changes to make and I'm looking forward to having the time to get those things done.

Until next time...

And it finally happens...

Today was my first 'breaking into tears' day on the job. It was such a rough day all around, and by the end of it, I just couldn't hold them in. Let's start at the beginning...

This morning I had the pleasure of addressing students making fun of a classmate for his mother's sexual orientation. One of the kids was legitimately apologetic. The other, not so much. We had to discuss how:
1.) The topic of a parent's life choice has nothing to do with school,
2.) The topic of a parent's life choice has nothing to do with the son,
3.) The topic of a parent's life choice is none of the other student's business.

Yes, the mother has it available to view online by others but that doesn't give a student the right to make fun of the parent's child. After we wrote a plan and discussed his behavior, we had to have another discussion because his apology was lacking in sincerity. I asked him to put himself in that position and think about how embarrassed he would be if someone did that to him in front of his entire class.

My second encounter with drama came before electives. I asked one of my students to remove his hood, as they are not permitted in the building. After choosing not to, I finally let him know that wearing hoods in the building is against the dress code and if he didn't take it off, I'd have to send him to the office. At this point he begins crying and tells me he is embarrassed about his new haircut. So, I try my best to encourage him but still let him know the hood must go. After a good 15 minute conversation, he relented and the hood was off.

After recess, our behavior in the classroom was atrocious. We had to practice our procedures numerous times because control just went out the window. We finally had to stop our fun Social Studies project because they just couldn't handle following directions. Days like this are so stressful!

And to top off an already rough day, hood boy did a repeat performance of his crying at the end of the day. He did have a bit of a rough day. He was sent to the Buddy Room for consistent talking. I had to get on to him during AR time for not reading (which is a daily struggle). He had a lock taken away from him because he was playing with it. And while getting his backpack, I asked him to spit out his candy, which really irritated him. If he would have just waited 5 more minutes until dismissal to eat it, he could have kept it.

The final straw was when he hit a kid who was annoying him. Granted the annoying kid honestly deserved it (he has issues with bothering others and not respecting personal space) but he can't hit kids. So in the middle of this discussion he starts crying again. I try so hard to talk with him about what's making him feel this way. Is it parents, siblings, classmates, the hair, himself, me? But he just shakes his head "no" to everything I ask. At this point, I'm getting upset because I hate that a student is leaving my classroom feeling this way. I ask him if I'm doing something to make him feel this way and tell him though other teachers may not have taken his feelings into account, I really want to know if there's something I can change to help him. But he never relents, just continues to shake his head. I finally tell him it breaks my heart to have him leave this way, that I want my students to leave my room feeling happy. I let him know I am here if he wants to talk and I want to make my room a safe place for him. He did say he believes me when I tell him I want our room to be a safe, happy place for him which gives me hope.

But I was so heartbroken when he finally left. I cried for a good 10 minutes, going over and over our day, wondering if I did something wrong or could have done something different for him. It was a really hard pill for me to swallow, to know that my efforts of comforting a child were unsuccessful. I know they won't all feel comfortable enough to open up, but I still held out hope. Another day of school, another lesson learned. I hope tomorrow will be better...

Exhausted.

The title for this post seems to reflect how I feel all the time these days. I am just utterly exhausted (which is part of the reason I haven't updated since Aug.)! Yet, however exhausted I may become, at the end of the day, I still love what I'm doing.

Last Friday, I had my first field trip! I was so surprised at how well everything turned out! The kids were so great, even those we struggle with daily. And the parent chaperones turnout was awesome as well. We took the kiddos to the State Fair Academy. Needless to say, when my coworkers told me our first field trip would be to the State Fair, I was a bit worried. However, the educational exhibits they had set up were good. We were able to see baby goats, pigs, and chicks. We got to see some huge Clydesdales as well. There was a creative arts center where the students got to do some art which they liked. And of course, the baby pig races were tons of fun! One important thing I learned from this adventure however, was this: field trips take just as much, if not more energy, than actual teaching. I never slept so hard in my life as I did the night I got home!

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that in a week, I will be a quarter of the way finished with this school year. Right now, I am getting things together for parent-teacher conferences. I'm surprisingly not as nervous about this as I thought I would be. I'm sure that will change as the days get closer. It just seems to surreal to me that it's already time to for report cards and meeting with parents. Where has the time gone?

Academically, I think things are going well for my class and I. I struggled with Math for a bit, thinking my kids weren't going to take to Investigations, but I have hope and things are getting better everyday! I know this curriculum is new to them and I need to keep that in mind. But I realized today how badly students need a curriculum like Investigations: one that's hands on and inquiry-based. One of my boys today solved his equations but hadn't written anything on his paper. I told him he needed to write down how he got his answers (which were right) and he said "I don't know, I just know the answers." So I sat down with him and together we worked it step by step, the way he did in his head. I was just so surprised that he couldn't communicate in words (or numbers and symbols) what he did. I wish the 4th graders this year were taught Investigations so they would have some knowledge before they come to 5th grade. Oh well...

I think I'll sign off with a positive note. And what a wonderfully positive note it is! Our superintendent informed us during our staff meeting on Tuesday that, pending funds approval, every teacher will be getting a SMARTBoard! This is so, so exciting! I am really hoping we get them by next semester. I think my kids will really respond well to one and it will help keep their attention. There have been so many times already this year I have caught myself thinking, "If only I had a SMARTBoard." Now, I no longer have to worry! This is such a blessing and I'm so thankful that my kids and I will have this amazing opportunity to increase our learning!