Back at it Again

As of tomorrow summer is officially over. Can you believe it? June and July seemed to have flown by and tomorrow is the first day of school.

The past couple of weeks have been crazy as we've all been in various trainings and putting the finishing touches on our classrooms. It's also been fun catching up with friends that I've missed over the summer and making new ones. 

I love my job and I'm excited that I get to start my eleventh year teaching with some of my best friends in such an amazing school. This morning I started thinking about what a good back to school post should say and, while I didn't come up with much, I hope you'll find some inspiration in this mess that's about to happen. 

Don't sweat the small stuff. 

As a person who has self-diagnosed themselves with OCD, this is always a tough one for me. I like things a certain way and when you work in a room full of children it doesn't always happen that way. This is actually one of the hardest things for me to work through! It isn't just about what things look like, though. Sometimes you have those moments with students that are small (even if you think they're big) and it gets blown out of proportion. Solving the problem quickly and withing much attention or shifting your focus to something else is helpful.

Stay positive. 

This is going to sound repetitive of other blog posts, but it's so true. Staying positive, at least on the outside, is always a good thing. There will definitely be days that are tough. There are days when you want to call in sick, or walk out, or yell...but staying strong and dealing with things positively helps to build your relationship with your class. 

Find your person (or people). 

I feel lucky to have worked with some of my best friends for the past eleven years. Even if you don't have a "teacher best friend", look for a mentor or a buddy. Teaching isn't a job you can do alone, trust me. 

Get invested.

Teaching is not an easy job. It's not just hanging out with kids all day and going home with nothing on your mind. You have to learn your kids: what do they like, who are their friends, what's home like? There are so many things for you to learn about these little people that have been put into your care. You never know if you're the person who will change a child's life. 

Ask for help.

This goes with finding your person, maybe? People aren't going to know if you're struggling if you don't tell them. Even if you think it's something small. Even if you're embarrassed. Do it. 

Take care of yourself.

You're important too! As the leader in your classroom it's up to you to take care of the kids and yourself. Being of healthy mindset and body helps you to do your very best for you kids. 

Well. Like I said, tomorrow a new year begins. Maybe it's next week or next month for you, but I hope you get something out of this. 

Teaching is good work. 

Go do good. 

Class Dismissed

It's that time of year again! You know, the time when my friends start to get all emotional about saying goodbye to their students and I make fun of them? Yep, that time! There are two days left of school and at this point we're all kind of running around getting signatures, turning things in, and packing up our classrooms. I've had some very helpful students helping me pack (and having sing-a-longs) these past few days and, while my classroom is a complete disaster at the moment, it's been kind of fun.

Earlier this week I was writing in one of my student's "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" book and...I got emotional.

This class has been one of my most challenging, but also one of my favorites. (I say "challenging" instead of "bad" because it's nicer.) I've done a lot of soul searching with this class and these kids and have definitely learned a lot about myself as a teacher.

There are absolutely things I would have changed about my teaching this year. There are also a ton of things that I completely loved this year. I have seen some of my students make amazing growth, both academically and socially. Some went from being below grade level to ending the year above, and some grew so much socially/behaviorally that it actually does hurt to let them go. I have enjoyed watching them grow so very much.

Sometimes I feel that we get so caught up in the academics (I know. It's school.) that we forget about that we are also teaching little humans how to human. I have loved the changes I've seen this year. From students recognizing their own behaviors to having my shy ones completely come of out of their shells. They have changed and, hopefully, so have I.

I do say it every year: this job changes you. And that's not a bad thing. It's not always easy, either. It's hard to look at yourself, an all-knowing adult, and realize that a class full of little people is teaching you a life lesson. Besides patience, of course.

This year I have loved my sing-a-longing, book reading, hero loving kiddos.

Yeah, I might be sad this year.

But, then again, I'll see them all soon.

Happy (last two days of) teaching!

A Week in the Life

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week, so parents and administration spoiled us with all kind gifts and snacks. Getting up on Monday I had this bright idea that I was going to do some photo documentation of a week in the life a teacher. It's usually about this time of year that I do an end-of-the-year post, so I thought it would be fun to go through it in pictures.

We'll see how well it works.

Monday's are always hard so I tried to make myself look presentable. Sometimes how you look changes your attitude or something. Also, I like when my kids tell me I'm pretty because I'm shallow that way. :)

Sitting in traffic on the bridge and actually put together on a Monday morning. Hooray!

Making my coworkers take pictures of me in my doorway to prove that I looked halfway decent on Monday morning. 

Cookies on Monday morning? Yes, please! 

Yes, I am eating ice cream in my classroom in the dark...alone.

Cup number three? Or four? I've lost count.

                                                           

                                               It isn't always easy to workout at home.

Tuesday! Tuesdays should be easier but they totally aren't. As the week goes on it gets harder to get up and get moving. This is mostly because I love sleep. There aren't a lot of pictures for Tuesday because most of the time I'm, you know, teaching. 

Almost ready? Maybe

Second coffee picture. Coffee is life and you can't tell me any different.

Set up for grading in my home office/guest room. Most of my work gets done at home because sometimes I just can't find the time during the school day to get it done. Also, here I can work in my pajamas. 

The view from the other side of my computer, which is what I'd rather be doing because books are life (like coffee). 

Super proud of myself for trying to get into shape this week. 

Wednesday! There's literally one picture from school on Wednesday and it's this one. The end of the year means testing and testing means we switch schedules with the upper grades. This means that I have a long afternoon with my kiddos. I covertly took this pic as they cleaned up math centers. Teacher's tired, y'all. 

Another run and some new sneaks for me! 

Trying to grade papers but being emotionally compromised by a superhero show at the same time. 

Ugh, Thursday! We're so close to the end but really not, you know? 

I like to match.

Glad to see you're using your time wisely, boys.

FRIDAY! Friday is the best because it's the weekend, but also the worst because there is SO MUCH TO DO STILL. 

Friday also means the end of Teacher Appreciation Week and that means presents! 

It was Cinco de Mayo so we made sangria and called it fruit punch. (We're learning how to measure liquids, okay?)

Still awake/alive at lunchtime on Friday. Go me!

I'm in love with all of this superhero stuff. It's like the theme was made for me. 

Tacos with my people! We didn't choose tacos because of Cinco de Mayo, but because we had buy one get one free coupons. 

We also took to the theaters for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Chris Pratt. 

So, I didn't get quite as many pictures of myself as I'd like. (Sad, I know.) It was a fun experiment, though. I got pretty busy toward the middle of the week with the whole teaching thing. And the grading. And the wrangling of small children. 

That's what a week of my life kind of looks like, I guess. It isn't glamorous, but it isn't bad. The best part is that I get to spend my days doing what I love with people that I enjoy. There's a little less than a month left of school and we're all getting pretty restless. I feel it and I know they feel it. So, like I say at the end of every year: make the most of this time with your students. You never know what kind of impact you'll have on their lives. I know I'm changed every year. 

Here's Baby Groot waving goodbye because I literally just want to keep staring at him forever. 

HE'S SO CUTE.

Where Your Light Shines Through

I've been working on this post for a few months now but could never seem to get the words right. "Working on it" pretty much means that I wrote a title, a sentence, and then forgot all about it. It's been a while since I've thrown any words out in the world so I figured it was time.

We've all got baggage, yeah? We've all got things that bring us down, keep us down, and hurt us.  Life is hard. That's nothing we didn't already know. There will always be something that gets in the way of our happiness, but what you do with the hurt and the pain...that's where the light is.

UPDATE: I have once again stepped away from this post and now I'm back again. We'll see if I finish this time.

Okay. I wanted to write this for a few reasons. I try my best to stay positive in tough life situations and I like to share my experiences to help others.

UPDATE #2: I tried to work on this a couple of days ago and it didn't work. I will persist!

I feel like this is the time of year when things get crazy for everyone. It's almost spring break for me and I literally feel like I'm running around trying to put out little fires all day long. Sometimes I feel like I'm on fire.*

Fire is not what I mean by "light", however. By "light" I mean showing your goodness and positivity. It's so easy to complain and bitch about stuff. So. Easy. Shining your light is the hard part. So often we get lost in our thoughts and lives that we forget as teachers, as friends, as family members, as humans that there is always an opportunity to show kindness and love to others. We don't know if what we're going through will help others and we get so focused on ourselves that we fail to see that someone else might be experiencing the same thing. 

I don't mean that you should go out and shout your problems to the world at all. Most of the time we try to hide those things anyway. I think what I mean is how you react to a situation let's others see different parts of you. What they see, and what you show, might be the thing that they need. 

I know that I am not the perfect example of this, but I also know that I'm trying. There have been so many changes (good and bad) in my life in the past year that my emotions are constantly going a million different ways. I struggle every day with so many feelings! I do try (and fail miserably sometimes) to be that light that others need. I know I'm not that good at it sometimes, but I think that putting in the effort is part of it, too. 

Being someone who others can talk to or helping without being asked is a great way to shine a little bit of light on someone's day. Sometimes if we're having a rough day in class one of my kiddos will just come up and hug me like they know it's just what I need. A lot of the times it is. Also, a lot of the times I need them to stay in their seats. ;) 

Even when it's tough to smile or laugh or help, you never know when you might be the light that someone needs. 

Keep shining. 

*"This girl is on fiiiiiire." 

Sometimes I sing this to my class when I'm mad. 

Teaching: What, like it's hard?

Teachers, do you ever get that? You might go out with friends, or talk to strangers, or come home to your loving family tired from a day of wrangling little ones, herding kittens...whatever you want to call it and something is just:

"Teaching?" 

Doesn't that make you just want to set something on fire? No? Maybe I have some unresolved anger issues. So, yes. Teaching is hard, but it's also the best. 

School has been in session for a couple of months and things are going pretty well. My class is good, though we definitely have some daily (hourly, minutely) challenges. We are learning to work together and how to be a team and I think that it's going pretty well. I was pretty excited about my superhero themed room and I feel thankful that my class responded well to it. It seems kind of silly, but I want them to be comfortable and happy so I tried to make it fun. 

I worked super hard over the summer setting everything up and it makes me happy to see my kiddos responding well to it. It also lets me know what they like and are into and how I can get to know them. 

Getting to know your kids is probably one of the most, if not the most important things about teaching. I honestly feel like by having those conversations and learning who your students are you build trust and a relationship that will last throughout the year, if not longer. I know that I am personally still connected to many of my teachers for those reasons. They took the time to build relationships with me, and I get to see it with some of my former students too. What we as teachers do now can last a lifetime...in a good or bad way. 

These first few months are critical when building trust. I'm lucky enough to work at a school who builds things like that into our daily routing. I learn about my kids just by sitting around and listening to them share things with each other at our morning meeting, whether it's their favorite superhero or their least favorite food. It can be something silly or we talk about the future and what goals we want to set for ourselves. 

So, yeah, maybe that does sound kind of easy, only it isn't always sunshine and rainbows. There are definitely going to be challenges. Sometimes you get new students who throw off your dynamic and you have to work as a team to build a new kind of dynamic. You don't always know your students' struggles at home or even in their own heads. There are so many things you have to cognizant and careful of that it is hard. 

But, like I said (and always say), it's the best work. So far this year I have seen many of my students overcome anxiety and fear just by simply raising a hand in class to offer an answer or to read aloud, which is a huge feat in my book. 

We do good work when we do it well, if that makes sense. There are so many things wrong with education these days (according to everyone who isn't a teacher) so we need to be what's right with education. Because, yeah, it is hard...but we make it look easy, right? 

I hope you're all having a great year and continue to be the best version of yourself. 

Happy teaching. 

Ready or Not...

...tomorrow is the first day of school and I AM FREAKING OUT, MAN.

Okay, so I'm not exactly freaking out like there's a troll in the dungeon but it's still a nerve-wracking time, you know? Technically I've been "back to work" since July 27th, which is kind of sad because summer was so short and that's, well, sad. (There's a big long explanation about that, but it's boring, so let's move on.)

I was actually pretty excited about going back to work; I won't lie. I had a great summer: mission trip with my church to Kentucky, two week long road trip with my family, and lots of books. But...something is always missing when I'm not at work.

Mainly: my purpose.

A lot of you are probably rolling your eyes and muttering about dramatics and stuff, but it's true! When I don't work I am useless. I eat, drink coffee, and read books. Do I change lives? No. I hardly even change out of my pajamas.

We (teachers) have spent the majority of our time back sitting in trainings, learning about new strategies, and calmly and silently freaking out about everything under the sun.

I left school at 6PM and the anxiety has slowly been building ever since. I know I'm a good teacher. I know it will be okay. I know I've already forgotten at least ten things that I need to do tomorrow.

I also know (sorry, that's a lot of "I"s) that I have one of the greatest jobs in the world.

There are tiny humans being tucked into their beds right now in preparation for tomorrow. There are parents getting ready to send their kiddos to school for us to watch over. Me and you! Isn't that amazing? Our speaker, Nick Vujicic, at the annual CSUSA Summit said people in America overuse the word "amazing". It is, however, amazing that we get the privilege to do what we do every single day.

I love my job and you will not hear me say anything different than that, even on my worst day. Tomorrow starts my TENTH year teaching and my tenth year at my school. It's a place I love to be. I love my people, my kids, my purpose.

Tomorrow, I hope you go into school full of love. I hope you go in full of hope. We are in charge of the future. We are here, on this earth and in these classrooms, to show these kids that they are better than the situations they are born into. They are better than the hand they've been dealt. They can be anything they want to be because we believe in them. Because we love them.

I hope you have an AMAZING (there's that word again) year.

XOXO

Like Herding Cats

I am so, so tired.

A couple of weeks ago those memes starting popping up...you know the ones?

I'm going to have to admit to LOLing loudly at that last one because I felt like that, oh, 37 times this week and it's only Wednesday. (It's Wednesday, right?) 

Okay, so, the end of the year is hard. Last year around this time I wrote this post about how I wasn't sad that the year was over because seriously last year was the worst year ever and I needed a break real bad, y'all. (Ironically I see all of those students from last year and I love them still. Okay, most of them.) 

Honestly, my kids checked out a week or so ago. Me? Not so much. I've still got a to-do list and on top of that list is keeping 23 7-8-year-olds entertained and, you know, alive. *Insert laughing/crying emoji here.* Sometimes I feel like I should be singing and dancing, sometimes my teacher voice is just a little too loud, and sometimes I just want to sit behind my desk and organize my paperclips. 

So, the end of the year is here and I see a lot of us doing and saying the same things. We have the same conversations and complain about what we need to get done. Our kids are having trouble and so are we. It takes a lot of patience that I feel only teachers have. Sometimes I lose that patience and it's a daily struggle, if we're being honest. There really isn't a tired like a teacher at the end of the year tired, but we make it work. 

I was texting my one of my BFFs the other day and we were talking about the end of the year. Her kid is in my class and we were joking about something he wanted to do. In my end of year post last year she was one of the ones I may have made fun of for crying (love you, buddy), but her comment to me was that this year is going to be "tear-worthy". 

I'm going to have to agree. 

Even when I'm angry or upset they still manage to make me smile. They hug me, make jokes, and tell me they love me every day. I don't have kids of my own, but I do know what the unconditional love of a child feels like and it's a beautiful thing. 

These kids are the coolest I've ever had. They get me They make me smile with the simplest things. Sometimes when I don't think they're listening they surprise me with some amazingly profound answer and my heart kind of grows. I have had so much fun nerding out about superheroes and books and movies with them. This class has helped me through the darkest time in my life and even though it's something they might not be aware of or remember, I will always remember their sweet hugs and kind words when I was broken. 

Yeah, I love these kids. I might cry a little. (I might be crying a little bit now.) 

It's still tough to get them to do stuff, though. 

Make the most of your seven days, friends. Remember that you are shaping tiny humans and you're going to send them off into the world. Help them to be kind and smart and love each other. 

Herd your cats well. 

Oh, and have a nice summer.