Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Bring a little holiday cheer to Leland, MS!

My friend was driving me to the airport to catch my flight back to MS over Thanksgiving break and we started brainstorming goals for me to have over the 3.5 week period between holiday breaks.  We settled on me celebrating the holidays just like I would if I was back home.  And thats what I have done :)

Everything from my classroom to my house to my bedroom has a little bit of holiday cheer.  Do others appreciate it? Who knows.  Do I appreciate it? EVERY DAY BABY!!!  I have always loved the holidays.  As a kid I loved the presents on Christmas morning but as I have grown older, I realized that its the days leading up to Dec 25th that are amazing.  Its the Christmas music playing on all radio stations.  Its the sense of giving rather than receiving.  Its all the fantastic smells and flavors coming out of the kitchen. And of course it’s the family that surrounds you. THATS why I love the holidays.

My classroom has a christmas tree on the door and tinsel in the room as well as a garland.  Yes I did say a christmas tree!!! We have one in our cafeteria as well. Hell we said the Lords Prayer before our last soccer game but hey thats another blog...Anyways I love it.  And the kids seem to enjoy the holiday cheer too.

My house has some snowmen that light up.  Some window cling pictures.  And of course lights!! One of  my neighbors commented on how I really "went all out" for just a few days.  Well to me, it was really important to do so.  Even if I am far away from home in a new place with an incredibly hard job, I am determined to keep this the same.  Its all part of not allowing school to completely consume me.  It has been fun and I suppose it has made the time go by SLIGHTLY faster.  My neighbor has even told me that my bedroom lights need to stay up all year round.  

What has this taught me? The holidays will pass but I will need to pick up something else to consume me for a bit.  Something not teacher related at all.  And by doing so, it will make life a little more bearable.  Ideas so far: bike riding, volunteering…  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!! 

A Day In My Life

Have you wondered what I am actually going through? Well here is a brief view into my day to day life.

When on Duty
545 WAKE UP
7:00 Arrive to school
745 Enter WWIII in the cafeteria aka my duty post.  This has got to be the world's worst duty post.  I am all alone with about 200 kids with their tshirts untucked and their ids not on.  Duty puts me in a horrible mood.  My day starts off on the wrong foot.

When I am NOT on Duty
630ish WAKE UP (WOOHOOO!!! be jealous!)
745ish Get to school and chill in my classroom until homeroom starts


EVERYDAY
830 homeroom starts - Besides my duty post, homeroom is the WORSE party of my day.  I suppose you can say its a good thing that its at the beginning at that it only lasts 30 min but UGH its horrible.  The worse part of it is that there is no grade so there is nothing to hold over the kids heads.  They refuse to do any work.  I can't even play the news on a tv because oh wait I DONT HAVE A TV IN MY ROOM.

9am -BEST PART OF MY DAY = my planning period.  For 90 full minutes I am on planning.  I turn up the music and relax before the day really begins.  Yes some days my planning is taken away by random meetings but I am generally prepared for the day before 830 am.  I usually do some planning or grading or post thing in my room during my planning period.  Its delightful.

1040am - 2nd Block begins.  This bright kids can't get it together.  They are 15 years old but can't control their mouths.  Its the rough truth.  I get them quiet and I am halfway through my next sentence and they are talking again.  Its horrible.

1215pm - 3rd Block begins. I have grown to love these kids.  I rarely show it and I doubt that they would say that I even like them if you asked them.  The thing is they are bright. Really bright.  They just have a few kids that want to act a fool.  But once I calm those kids down (or they fall asleep) they room is in harmony and learning actually occurs.  I am more likely to do fun things with this class.  It hasn't always been like this though.  It was really rough for a long time...

220pm - FOURTH BLOCK.  By this time I am tired.  My feet hurt.  My head hurts.  My throat hurts.  But the thing is the kids are tired too. We have sort of reached an understanding: they be quiet and I wont yell.  When I don't yell, I am relaxed and I crack jokes.  Its a nice understanding.  Sadly its not like that every day in the classroom.

350pm- First bell dismisses students

355pm- FREEDOM - but my day does not end here of course

4-415pm - my door is open for any extra help a student may need in math

430pm - I am changed and at the soccer field.  I became the head coach of soccer a month ago.  It is a blessing and a curse and not just because it gets me out of school meetings :)  I love doing something non-school related especially since its one of my true loves.  BUT there have been so many headaches along the way.  I am still really glad I accepted the position though.

7pm- Arrive home. Done? I think not.  I need to plan/grade for the next day.  This is why Sunday is so important. If I dont plan thoroughly on Sunday then during the week,  after my long day, I have to come home and plan.  Thats no fun.  So I make sure I am good to go Sundays.  Then when I get home I can just have fun.

945-1045pm SLEEP.  When I started this job, the one thing I refused to give up was sleep.  I average 8 to 8.5 hours of sleep a night.  I am very proud of this fact.  Few people sleep this much.  I just don't think I would be able to function without sleep.

Thats me in a nutshell.  Clearly this is just a rough outline.  I missing lots of details.  Now looking back over this and actually reading how I describe my day, I am not quite sure how I end up in such a bad mood so often.  But I think its a lot of small things that add up throughout the day.  And the constant backtalk/general noise from the peanut gallery as I try to speak.  Its really tiring.  Yet I wake up and do it again.  I give myself a pat on the back every morning for just rolling out of bed.