The Holidays Already?!

Well, well, it has certainly been a while. Sorry about that! In case I hadn't said this before, this teaching gig's a total burn out sometimes. Meaning, me. I'm burned out. Or perhaps it's just fatigue. Whatever, time is fllllyyyyyyying and it's nearly Christmas. However, the calendar in my mind is already at the end of January, since that's the end of my current unit (not to mention a couple weeks after the ELA State Exam, which is the big fish on the radar right now). Isn't it remarkable how that works! It's strange, how planning actually makes these days I'm going through now seem quite unreal. In fact, I've felt very dreamlike since September. This dreamlike state exists now more than ever, especially because I've gotten past my phase of coming home on Mondays crying and feeling hopeless about the week of teaching ahead of me, and now that I've finally gotten it through my head that Wednesdays are great days for quiet independent reading and any other quiet work, since that's the after-lunch class that would otherwise lose their minds, be rude and make me just want to never return. These are obstacles I've worked my way through, and have only made me smarter (about lesson plans) and stronger (no more crying!!).

This past Thursday our school had a big celebration because we got a good grade on our report card from the city. We held an assembly where a documentary about our school was shown, and then a big potluck for all our students and their families. It was great. The auditorium was packed, there was so much happiness and support, it was really cool. The COOLEST and BEST thing, though, was the documentary. Our literacy coach spent several weeks interviewing students and getting their views of the school, as well as them thanking teachers and saying what is so great about the teacher they thanked. A student thanked me! And the student himself was a surprise - a very talkative but popular boy who I really like, but have given a lot of trouble (for the trouble he causes by talking). But there he was, in front of everyone, saying "I want to thank Ms. Spacek" and though the sound made it pretty hard to hear, it sounded like he said I helped push him to read more and learn how to explain what he was reading better (Literary Letters!!). Anyway, it was awesome - I'm pretty tough and I was surprised any student would thank me, but it happened and I nearly cried. It was great!!!

More soon, I promise!!