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  1. #161
    Sorry, just had to share because I am excited... went to Barnes and Noble, and got my books for the year... thanks to 200 bucks from the PTO, $150 from gift cards I had, and a 20 percent off educator discount, I think I did pretty well this year!



    Anything there folks here have read? There are two at least that I would wager folks here know... and at least two books from Dukies... if you want to read any covers, just click... if you want, you can click it again, you can make it even larger!

    It is pretty crazy how expensive books have gotten, though... $7.99 per book nowadays for a soft cover book

  2. #162
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Asheville, NC
    My son (12 at the time in 6th grade) really enjoyed The Hunger Games. Dogsong..well anything by Gary Paulsen is a hit. In fact, if you haven't seen it, check out The Transall Saga (one of his older books). A boy is on his first camping trip, and he sees a mysterious light, sticks his hand in and is taken to another world. It's an excellent book, lots of science and social studies connections, appeals particularly to boys, and the readability level is low enough for any at-risk readers you have (but it looks like a teen novel, which it is). If you don't have it, and it's not in your library, send me a message--I have three copies and I'll send you one for your classroom.

  3. #163
    Quote Originally Posted by BCGroup View Post
    check out The Transall Saga (one of his older books). A boy is on his first camping trip, and he sees a mysterious light, sticks his hand in and is taken to another world.
    Thanks! I was just pondering what to get my nephews for Valentine's Day.

  4. #164
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    The center of the basketball universe (aka: North Carolina)

    First year...

    Hey! I just saw this thread on here. I'm a first-year high school teacher. I was ecstatic to finally get a job after an extremely depressing first post-college year. I applied to over 100 of the 115 school systems in NC that year and didn't get a single interview. This job that I have is amazing...and I don't want to complain...but I feel like I'm drowning at times. I am the first to get to work, and am usually the last to leave. I usually get home at around six. I eat dinner and then start working again. It seems like the only time I stop working is to watch Duke games and then I feel like I get behind. Do you guys have any advice for a first year teacher so that I don't get burned out?

  5. #165
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Partly Orlando, FL partly heard Sandpoint, ID
    Quote Originally Posted by DukeBlueHeart4 View Post
    Hey! I just saw this thread on here. I'm a first-year high school teacher. I was ecstatic to finally get a job after an extremely depressing first post-college year. I applied to over 100 of the 115 school systems in NC that year and didn't get a single interview. This job that I have is amazing...and I don't want to complain...but I feel like I'm drowning at times. I am the first to get to work, and am usually the last to leave. I usually get home at around six. I eat dinner and then start working again. It seems like the only time I stop working is to watch Duke games and then I feel like I get behind. Do you guys have any advice for a first year teacher so that I don't get burned out?
    A few quick thoughts...
    1. You are a first year teacher, you are going to screw up. Try your best, but know you are a rookie, you'll make rookie mistakes and don't let them get you down. Just keep notes(mentally, physically, or electronically) of things you did that worked and didn't so you don't repeat them next year. And don't let the fact that you make mistakes depress you and have you thinking you are a lousy teacher, can't do the job, etc. Because if you start feeling that way, the kids will pick up on it, and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Stay positive.
    2. It gets easier. As a new teacher, every topic you cover is the first time you've done it. As you teach succeeding years, you'll have frameworks in place for various things you teach so you don't have to come up with something new each and every day. You can reuse the things that worked the next year, and spend your time coming up with new things for the ideas that didn't work so well. As the years progress, you don't have to devote much time at all to planning things out. I say only half jokingly that I can roll out of bed in 5 minutes later with no planning teach pretty much any topic in my math texts, because even if I haven't taught that topic before, I've done something reasonably close to it and can adjust a previous lesson on the fly. As with anything else, routine and repetition make some of the tasks mindlessly easy.
    3. As a new teacher, there are often more things required of you than for a more experienced hand. Its been a long time since anyone asked me to formally submit lesson plans. After 6 years at my current school(and a number of years at other schools), the administration knows my capabilities and doesn't feel the need to jump through some extra hoops to help verify that. With new teachers, they have to be a little more assured of your abilities, so will ask you to do more to show them those facts.
    4. More than anything, make sure to find a niche/school where you are comfortable. If every month ends with a battle with a principal, or head of department, or whatever, then the job you are at may be too aggravating for you to maintain long term. I know it was hard to find that first job(my first job was a pretty horrible one at a pretty lousy district with lousy administration), but for long term success and happiness, you need to find a place where you feel supported and challenged(comfortable doesn't mean that you don't need to grow as a teacher and all that as the years pass, just one where you mostly look forward to going to work at the school).

    Anyway, that's just a couple of initial thoughts on things, maybe I'll post more as I think on it, but if you have any questions, there are obviously a number of folks here on this board who are in education and love it.

  6. #166
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Asheville, NC

    Message

    DukeBlueHeart4. I just sent you a message.

  7. #167
    Quote Originally Posted by DukeBlueHeart4 View Post
    Hey! I just saw this thread on here. I'm a first-year high school teacher. I was ecstatic to finally get a job after an extremely depressing first post-college year. I applied to over 100 of the 115 school systems in NC that year and didn't get a single interview. This job that I have is amazing...and I don't want to complain...but I feel like I'm drowning at times. I am the first to get to work, and am usually the last to leave. I usually get home at around six. I eat dinner and then start working again. It seems like the only time I stop working is to watch Duke games and then I feel like I get behind. Do you guys have any advice for a first year teacher so that I don't get burned out?
    Hey man!

    Nice to see another teacher on board! Hope you love your work, and trust me, the longer you do it, the more you'll grow to love it!

    Can I ask what subjects you teach... ages, # of classes, stuff like that?

    Okay, some advice... disorganized, for sure, but hopefully helpful.

    First off, as seems to be a popular saying these days... it gets better No, but it really does... with experience it gets better.

    About the amount of work... don't worry, you cannot finish your work! There is always more work that needs to get done, and you'll never finish. It is a very freeing concept, right? You need to be okay getting to a point where you are basically done enough for the kids to learn and teaching to get done... and then relax, read a book for 30 minutes, have a glass of wine.

    As far as grading (which can take AGES)... establish certain routines and systems for your work, for the classroom, and for evaluation of student work. Do not create assessments that will, in the long run, cost vastly more time than they are worth. If you can, use rubrics to help grade student work... they can help you to identify "short cuts" as you grade. If you have 60 essays to grade, establish ahead of time what features an A paper must feature (for example, a top paper should have three examples of some idea) and grade with that in mind. Someone only has two examples? Drop them down the rubric to a lower grade. It is often easier (and more accurate) than trying to read the whole thing and process it on some "deeper" level to find a grade. Oh, I also find it helpful to, after you get a feel for your students, grade the top students first. It helps give you a bit of an idea of what realistic expectations should be.

    Divide all of your work into chunks. Don't go thinking you have to be planning a year at a time... you don't. Make sure you are set for a set period of time, and just be sure you have an idea of where you are going after that... but there is no need to have detailed plans six months ahead of time.

    Respect your own time... teaching WILL burn you out if you aren't careful. As I said, you'll never FINISH all the work you have. If the kids have to wait an extra day to get a grade back in order for you to get a breath, then so be it... they can wait. If you are fried, and you stay fried, you won't make it.

    Fear not man... the first year is NUTS. It will get easier, and you'll be able to catch your breath If I come up with anything else (especially more inspirational stuff... I feel like I came off as a bit negative!) I'll post.

    Oh, and Des... yeah, not writing lesson plans is key. Haven't done one in YEARS... and I'll be frank, I have absolutely no need to. It is MUCH better, right?

  8. #168
    Quote Originally Posted by BCGroup View Post
    My son (12 at the time in 6th grade) really enjoyed The Hunger Games. Dogsong..well anything by Gary Paulsen is a hit. In fact, if you haven't seen it, check out The Transall Saga (one of his older books). A boy is on his first camping trip, and he sees a mysterious light, sticks his hand in and is taken to another world. It's an excellent book, lots of science and social studies connections, appeals particularly to boys, and the readability level is low enough for any at-risk readers you have (but it looks like a teen novel, which it is). If you don't have it, and it's not in your library, send me a message--I have three copies and I'll send you one for your classroom.
    Hey BC, sorry I didn't see this before! Yeah, Paulsen is awful good... got a lot of his work I don't know the Transall Saga... I'll have to check the school library for it, I know I don't have it Anyway, thanks for the suggestion!

  9. #169
    Okay...

    So, we are giving a midyear sixth grade math assessment.

    One question has a table with three groceries in it... a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a can of soup.

    For each, it lists a price.

    The question says "Show three different examples of how to spend as much as possible without going over $10.00. At least one of each item must be bought in each of your three examples. Show or explain how you got your answer."


    Okay... easy enough. Kids write "1 gallon of milk, 6 cans of soup, and 2 loaves of bread," stuff like that.

    Then I hit this answer.


    Eggs ($.61), Cookies($1.71), and Bananas ($.25) = $2.58
    Cake ($1.45), Butter ($.55), Cereal ($2.52)= $3.47
    Oatmeal ($1.24), Apple ($.22), Cream ($1.00) = $3.26

    Total: $9.41




    *sigh*

    Well, at least it is under ten bucks, I guess, even if the math isn't right.

  10. #170
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Ash View Post
    Okay...

    So, we are giving a midyear sixth grade math assessment.

    One question has a table with three groceries in it... a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a can of soup.

    For each, it lists a price.

    The question says "Show three different examples of how to spend as much as possible without going over $10.00. At least one of each item must be bought in each of your three examples. Show or explain how you got your answer."


    Okay... easy enough. Kids write "1 gallon of milk, 6 cans of soup, and 2 loaves of bread," stuff like that.

    Then I hit this answer.


    Eggs ($.61), Cookies($1.71), and Bananas ($.25) = $2.58
    Cake ($1.45), Butter ($.55), Cereal ($2.52)= $3.47
    Oatmeal ($1.24), Apple ($.22), Cream ($1.00) = $3.26

    Total: $9.41




    *sigh*

    Well, at least it is under ten bucks, I guess, even if the math isn't right.
    The math errors are funny. Even funnier is the kid's imagination with what to buy, given that there were only three items on the list.

  11. #171

    whipping boy

    This is probably over the line with respect to public policy but I am not sure how teachers became the whipping boy for the state's budget woes. Hang in there, polling suggest that teachers are still quite popular.

  12. #172
    Yeah, gotta be careful with the public policy bit... don't want to get shut down by the powers that be

    Actually had wanted to update this...

    Have a boy, Chinese (family is off the boat and speaks no English) who was injured a few weekends at home ago playing football.

    He was out for three days, then came in with a doctors note. He was in a soft brace (almost like an ace bandage) and on crutches. And when he DID come in, he was in AGONY. I mean almost fainting kind of agony. He tried very hard not to show it, but good lord, he was dying. I had to sit him away from everyone else and then support his leg, and lifting his leg up to put on a chair reduced him to almost crying in pain.

    After an hour the kids left to gym, and I went to the nurse, who informed me that the note was actually from an acupuncturist. I spoke with the student, who told me that was the only person he had seen... no xrays, no mris, no nothing.

    We arranged for an interpreter to call home that afternoon, saying the boy cannot come back to school until he is seen. For the rest of the day the kid stayed in class, trying to keep anyone from touching his leg, or the chair he was resting it on, but kids are physical idiots and kids kept brushing his leg, brushing the chair... a first grade book buddy gave it a solid wack when she turned around and I thought my student was going to faint from the pain, all doubled up and groaning...

    So. We make the call. Kid is out until Monday. Comes back Tuesday with a note from a pediatrician saying xrays are negative, but if pain continues he needs to see a specialist. I asked the boy if he knew if there were any plans to see another doctor. He told me that, as far as he knew, there was nothing.

    Now... I worked in sports for some years... I played sports for a LOT of years... I've seen some bad knee injuries, and I've never seen anyone in this kind of continued pain. CLEARLY something is really, really wrong. I know the family speaks no English and has no insurance, but this is KILLING me. And it is damned traumatizing to my other kids... when they brush against him or his chair the student almost loses it, and the kids feel TERRIBLE...

    Finally I called the Dept. of Family Services to see if there is anything they can do. They asked for us to follow up before they get involved. Called today again with someone who speaks Chinese to ask what the follow up treatment will be, and the parents still didn't seem to get it... all they asked about was whether or not he could still come to school.

    I hate this. I have never seen a kid in such total agony, and it honestly it is gutting my class a bit, as the kids are SO aware of it. I am so frustrated with the parents for not taking care of their kid, regardless of what issues they face, and I am frustrated because there aren't really many options for us.

    Anyway... very frustrating.

  13. #173
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Asheville, NC

    Something positive

    For background, I've worked in education for almost 30 years, including teaching at risk students in grades 6-9. Just before Christmas, we discovered that a friend of our son was living on the streets. There is a long history of drug use by mom, abuse, etc. At 16 he left and had been on the streets. He's been with us since Dec 21. There is no way to describe the culture he is from, even prior to the homelessness. For him, it is natural to cuss out a teacher, fight to defend yourself, etc. He has never known a stable family life, and he came from no rules to family rules, school rules, etc. We have had so many ups and downs, including helping him get treatment for ADHD, seeing him break up with a girlfriend who (thankfully) was not pregnant, helping him stop smoking, and teaching him to respect school authorities, including the teachers. Six weeks ago, he said he might as well not be in school because his father told him he would fail. He also learned he was reading at a pretty low level, which he said was fine, sine he "hates reading.". Today, Wed., the following has happened: the medicine and counseling is kicking in, his midterm report is full of Cs, which would be As and Bs except for absences. In one course that he hated and knew he would fail, he's doing fine and has been asked by the teacher to help other students. He regularly studies with us as long as we make it fun. And tonight, he read a book for 20 minutes without looking up. He has a new girlfriend (and they are dating age-appropriately with no worries of pregnancy) and he is talking about a future after he graduates. He is also planning a summer lawn service job. There are still ups and downs, but we are seeing solid progress, and so are his teachers. Oh, he is also now a DBR fan because the kitten on the front page today is mine, who he has adopted. For all the teachers, you do make a difference, even when you don't think so. And even if you feel like you are dipping water from the ocean with a spoon, you never know what impact you are having. We happen to be lucky enough to see it and share it with his teachers.

  14. #174
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by BCGroup View Post
    For background, I've worked in education for almost 30 years, including teaching at risk students in grades 6-9. Just before Christmas, we discovered that a friend of our son was living on the streets. There is a long history of drug use by mom, abuse, etc. At 16 he left and had been on the streets. He's been with us since Dec 21. There is no way to describe the culture he is from, even prior to the homelessness. For him, it is natural to cuss out a teacher, fight to defend yourself, etc. He has never known a stable family life, and he came from no rules to family rules, school rules, etc. We have had so many ups and downs, including helping him get treatment for ADHD, seeing him break up with a girlfriend who (thankfully) was not pregnant, helping him stop smoking, and teaching him to respect school authorities, including the teachers. Six weeks ago, he said he might as well not be in school because his father told him he would fail. He also learned he was reading at a pretty low level, which he said was fine, sine he "hates reading.". Today, Wed., the following has happened: the medicine and counseling is kicking in, his midterm report is full of Cs, which would be As and Bs except for absences. In one course that he hated and knew he would fail, he's doing fine and has been asked by the teacher to help other students. He regularly studies with us as long as we make it fun. And tonight, he read a book for 20 minutes without looking up. He has a new girlfriend (and they are dating age-appropriately with no worries of pregnancy) and he is talking about a future after he graduates. He is also planning a summer lawn service job. There are still ups and downs, but we are seeing solid progress, and so are his teachers. Oh, he is also now a DBR fan because the kitten on the front page today is mine, who he has adopted. For all the teachers, you do make a difference, even when you don't think so. And even if you feel like you are dipping water from the ocean with a spoon, you never know what impact you are having. We happen to be lucky enough to see it and share it with his teachers.
    Wow. As the child of two career public educators, and one who is at least attempting to embark on a career in education now, please allow me to say that this is really, really, immensely wonderful. They literally make movies about stuff like this (just ask Sandra Bullock). You have my utmost respect for doing what you have done. The world needs more people like you.

  15. #175
    Hey all,

    BC, that is a great story. Thanks for doing a good thing How are things going?

    Thought I'd share the latest ridiculousness...

    So I have a young lady in my class... a nice girl who is awful pretty, but who also realizes it. She wears a TON of makeup, and has a bad habit of wearing INCREDIBLY short shorts... like, rear-end-hanging-out sorts of things. She is part of a social group that is somewhat similar... all very pretty, popular girls who we've heard a lot of rumors about as sometimes being a touch mean on The Facebook.

    Anyway... a woman teacher on staff had spoken with the girl a few times about her shorts not being appropriate, and we had hoped she would make the change on her own, but nothing happened.

    Then a student who sits at this girls desk in another class gives me a note. She said she found it sitting in the lip of the desk, and folded up you could see some curses showing. She gave it to me but clearly wasn't sure if she should.

    So I opened it up and it was very strange... it had the name of the teacher who had spoken to her, surrounded by random words... some really bad curses, and then some random stuff (Osama Bin Laden, Muzlem (the spelling offended me more than the curses!), donut... random stuff.)

    I looked at the handwriting, and it was clearly hers... teachers have to get good at this stuff, and this was a clear match... bs and ds written the same, a connected the same, etc etc. I even compared it to other writing of hers and made a little photocopy comparison of the two pieces, letter by letter.

    So I meet with this other teacher and the principal, and we felt we should call mom and dad in... between the dress, the note, and some rumors of some meanness on The Facebook, we thought we should maybe keep an eye on her, to make sure that she didn't start down a "bad" path.

    So the principal gets the number to call, but the mom calls first! "I need to come see you," she says, and the principal says "Well, I was calling you also" so a meeting is set.

    Holy cow.

    The mother comes in with the husband, the kid, and the grandmother, and promptly informs us that she is going straight to the Bd of Ed to report the woman teacher who spoke with her daughter and she will have her JOB. Apparently her daughter was bullied and she won't take it. After having the daughter leave, we show her the note and she insists it isn't her daughters, insists that we aren't handwriting experts so how would we know, demands we call the police and bring them in with a handwriting expert to figure out whose handwriting it is, points out that the girl has examples of work around the classroom and ANYONE could forge the note to get her in trouble... she is calling her lawyer, this is ridiculous, we are "after" her daughter... she literally puts her hand in the face of the woman teacher, saying "I don't want to hear THIS ones voice again!" and insists she might have ALL of our jobs, because we clearly are out to get her daughter.

    We were flabbergasted.

    When we suggested that her clothes didn't fit school dress code, the grandmother began to rant about how it wasn't our place to say, and then that we should require an inseam of a certain length. "How are we going to measure the inseam on a young lady?" asked the principal. "Just tell them they cannot buy anything shorter!" insisted the grandmother. "We can't tell people what to buy," said the principal. "We are just a school. However, we can tell them how they need to dress, which is why this is coming up." The grandmother went crazy, looking at me and saying "Oh, so you want them all coming in wearing a burqa, is that it?!" she demanded. "No," I said, full of wide-eyed innocence "Why would she wear a burqa? She isn't a Muslim. She can't even spell Muslim." (I couldn't help it... it was too good of a line to not use. Thankfully I don't think they got it.)

    It was incredible. The mother insisted that there was no clothing issue and said she would refuse to come bring her daughter appropriate clothing if we called home, despite the booty shorts and the overwhelming blue eyeshadow that some teachers insisted privately would have looked far more appropriate on a street walker. And they insisted their daughter was framed, that the note found in her desk in her handwriting was a fake planted there to get the girl in trouble, despite the fact that she doesn't really have any enemies, and that anything about Facebook was false. The mother went so far as to demand an apology from all of us to her daughter for being out to get her, maybe in front of the whole school so everyone would know it wasn't her daughter who wrote it.

    Oh man. After almost two hours the principal just wound it up, we talked to the girl to make sure she knew we certainly weren't out to get her and we wanted her to be comfortable in class, and that was that. When the family left we were all spent. Seriously? Call the police and get a handwriting expert?

    Such a momentous waste of time and energy, and such a delusion on the parents part... despite the fact that we said, again and again, we simply wanted mom and dad to be aware because when kids hit puberty they change a lot and can make a lot of social-driven mistakes, they were sure we hated their daughter and we were planning to destroy her. Insanity.

    Anyway... there is my story of the day. Yay for parents who help the process along!

  16. #176
    Wow, Lord Ash, what a story. I worry about kids whose parent's think they can do no wrong. Even if your kid is the most perfect child on the face of the earth, they are still capable of doing something wrong.

    I wonder if the young lady knew the note was turned in and this was her attempt to ward off trouble. If so, I hope she doesn't figure out who turned in the note and try to get back at the person.


    Once again, thank you for teaching our future.

  17. #177

    Muzlim Dogs

    You're the dog and you just got kicked. I attribute much of the hostility out there to people who lead very frustrated lives and they just need to vent and kick the dog. It's like the internet the venom on it never ceases to amaze me. It's also part of the accepted thinking that everyone needs to be heard. Very tangentially related I read something I had read much earlier by Atul Gawande about when patients choose poorly. We seek to empower the common man yet make scarce provision for when this is not appropriate. Much of the time informed consent waste of time and sometimes patients can make truly awful decisions.

    The time spent in the meeting by the teachers and principals could have been put to much better use.

  18. #178
    Quote Originally Posted by DukieInKansas View Post
    Wow, Lord Ash, what a story. I worry about kids whose parent's think they can do no wrong. Even if your kid is the most perfect child on the face of the earth, they are still capable of doing something wrong.

    I wonder if the young lady knew the note was turned in and this was her attempt to ward off trouble. If so, I hope she doesn't figure out who turned in the note and try to get back at the person.


    Once again, thank you for teaching our future.
    Yeah, it is amazing. We said, maybe five or six times, that we weren't judging the girl as bad or anything... we just felt she made a mistake. But no, they wouldn't accept it.

    Oh, and they KNEW who turned in the note, and the mother actually said "Oh, and So-and-So turned in the note? Right, because we all know the problems THAT kid has!" (the kid had a rumor of taking something from someones desk attached to them last year) And the mothers are friendly! She said three or four nasty things about the kid who turned in the note, saying maybe it was even that girl setting her daughter up. Oh man, I'm telling you, it was such an inappropriate mess.

    It was interesting... the girl who was the center of the trouble doesn't really know the principal and doesn't really like the other teacher, but when I saw her after the meeting and asked her if she was okay, she burst into tears and flung her arms around me and starting apologizing. We went for a walk and a drink at the water fountain and got her settled, but I did wonder if maybe there was some guilt there about me being pulled into this whole thing since she knew she DID deserve it. But I teased her a bit and got her smiling again, and she has been fine since then.

    It's funny, because on the flip side I have a pair of young ladies in my class this year who are, without a doubt, two of the greatest humans I've ever met. As responsible, kind, caring, smart, hardworking, humorous, and lovely as a person can be. Like, split-your-brownie-and-give-half-to-the-fat-whiny-unpopular-girl-from-another-class-in-front-of-everyone kind of lovely. Like, as-cute-as-any-girl-has-the-right-to-be-and-yet-totally-uncaring-about-looks lovely. Like, perfect-scores-on-every-portion-of-the-state-test-and-gifted-and-talented-class-and-school-president-and-yet-STILL-not-a-DROP-of ego-about-it kind of lovely. I've seen both of their parents recently, and both parents nervously wanted to make sure their kids were doing well... you know, saying things like "I know she is a good girl, but I hope she is being a good student in your class?" They legit worried that their girls might be doing something wrong... both sets of parents were so intent on making sure their girls were doing right. I made sure to tell both families that their kids were among the most amazing people I've ever had the pleasure to know, much less teach, and that I am legit jealous that the parents get to spend their lives with such wonderful people.

    And Tech, yeah, absolutely... afterward we all sat there, looking at our watches, wondering how on earth these people just took two hours of our lives with this mess. I do wish my principal was a little stronger, because he could have wrapped it up quicker I think I think his theory was to let them get it all out of their systems and hopefully head off any running to the Bd. of Ed.
    Last edited by Lord Ash; 06-03-2011 at 07:16 AM.

  19. #179
    Hopefully, the principal was able to head off a trip to the Board of Ed.

    From your conversations with the two sets of parents, I think I know why the two students are so wonderful.

    (Bragging aunt alert) Apparently, you met my niece in one of those students. Ok, she lives in PA and is finishing her freshman year, so probably not. She cracks me up - in a recent academic planning meeting, she was asked if there was any area where she needed help. She said math so the one faculty person suggested a special class that helps students prepare for the PA state testing. Finally, another faculty type, knowing she had one of the hardest teachers for math, asked how she was doing. Niece had to admit she had a 99 average in the class. My sister and brother-in-law are raising 3 genuinely wonderful kids. (end of bragging aunt message)

  20. #180
    Whelp, the year just ended. And where all the other classes of kids ran out right at the bell screaming and cheering, my kids left a half hour after school actually ended all crying and hugging. Yep. I was giving them my goodbye, and got a little hitch in my voice and had to fight it back down, and that was that, they all broke down. The girls, the boys... everyone in tears. None of them wanted to leave. To be honest, I didn't particularly want them to leave. Good times

    It actually is so darn sad, really... you are with them for a year, there when they come in, there when they leave, and always there when they need you... you really get to love them, and then they move on. I come back next year, to the same room, and they aren't there... it makes me feel a little sad to know they are going on in life, growing up and having successes and heartbreaks, and I can't be there to share it with them. It is really sad. I am just glad they come back and visit... the last few weeks of this year was packed. A few of the high schoolers actually came a few days ago and sat in class for 20 minutes for read aloud before I had to kick them out

    One nice thing; I was told by the principal that I got 12 requests for next year, after only having six classes total in the town. Lots of little brothers and sisters. Oh, and also a lot of pains in the rear end. But still.

    Anyway... one last thing...










    Suck it, ya'll, I've got two months off! Woooo! Have fun at your desks!!! I'm jumping in the pool!!! Liz Lemon OUT!!!!


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