Dealing with Heart Issues

"Tyler, what are you doing? Stop that!"

So often, those words come out of my mouth. Sadly, often I stop there. However, not today. I am trying to be more intentional about dealing with the heart issues behind behavior. Here's today example:

I give students a post-it note with an ordinal number on it. Students are to arrange themselves in the appropriate order as fast as they can without talking. Tyler has the number "ninth." I hear some commotion as students are pointing to Tyler and pointing to a spot, but Tyler remains obstinate where he is. I check the line. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth ... "Where's ninth?" I ask. Everyone points at Tyler. Tyler is at the end of the line. He has taken a pencil and tried to change his ninth to a nineteenth. I now have two options:

1) Ask Tyler to get in his right spot, comment on the silliness, and/or let it go.

2) Deal with the heart issue behind what he did.

Today, I chose the road less traveled and settled for option #2. Tyler waits for me in the hallway. Here's our conversation:

Teacher: "What did you do?"

Student: "I tried to change the number on my post-it and refused to get in my right spot."

Teacher: "Why?"

Student: "I don't know."

Teacher: "Well, if you don't know...who does?"

Student: "Well, I think I might know."

Teacher: "Go ahead."

Student: "I wanted to have the largest number, so I tried changing it."

Do you see the heart issue? It's pride. In his pride, he wanted to have the largest number. It's no different than the child who constantly cuts in line to get his preferred spot, the student to calls out without raising his hand because what he has to say is so important that interrupting is validated, etc... So Tyler and I have a deep conversation about pride and the foolishness of his actions.

This stuff is exhausting, but hopefully will bring forth much fruit.

3 hour, err more like 5 picture tour

And here it is, my room for the school year 2011-2012. The room is about double in square-footage from the old room. Good thing since I have about double the number of students!

Nervous

Why am I nervous?

This is my seventh year teaching - fourth at my school.

This will be my 2nd year in second grade, so I am familiar with the curriculum and don't have to "wing it" as I did last year.

And yet... I am nervous. Why?

It all comes down to the fact that I don't trust God.

I struggle to trust him:

-to provide patience for me.

-to guide me.

-to give me strength.

-to provide for my needs.

-to forgive my failures.

You name it and while intellectually I know I should trust, I struggle to do so.

Hmmm - you'd think after 10 years of following Christ, I'd have this stuff down a little better. Thankful that his mercies are new every morning and that his faithfulness never fails!

Mr. Sandman...

I usually don't dream, but when I do my dreams are usually quite memorable. This summer I have had five back-to-school dreams.

Dream #1 - I go in for my first day of inservice, receive my list of students to discover...it's my same darlings! I've been moved to 3rd grade!

Dream #2 - First day of school and who walks in??? My same darlings - again, I've been moved to 3rd grade!

Dream #3 - I go in to talk with my P who tells me I have to switch grades because the previous 2nd grade teacher is returning. Therefore, I get moved - this time, to Kindergarten!

Dream #4 - I am in my 2nd grade room with my soon-to-be 24 2nd graders. One of the students runs away. So what do I do? I leave during my break - walk to his house which is conveniently next door and drag his rear back to school.

Dream #5 - I am in my 2nd grade room with my soon-to-be 24 2nd graders and they.are.wild! It was "how not to do" classroom management.

Wonder what the first days will bring?

Shiny New Room

Wow it's been like 4 months since I've posted - oops! In the past four months I have:

• judged regional science fair where all three of my students participating received blue ribbons and one received the judges' award!
• closed out the school year.
• packed up my classroom for our big move to the new school.
• packed up my apartment for our big move to the new house.
• took two precious weeks off after school was out to organize and unpack at the house.
• worked part-time (12 hours a week) at the stationery store.
• traveled to Lake of the Ozarks, MO for a great week vacation.
• planned, prepared, created, etc.. for the new school.
• tried not to freak out that I have 24 students!
• freaked out about having 24 students.
• set up my classroom.
• hoping to do as little as possible these last two weeks of summer.

Enjoy these pictures of my classroom pre-set up:

And here we are 19 days later

• The potties were fixed and normal classroom life resumed 2/16. Sadly it is a pipe problem so there is always the possibility of it happening again. Good thing we're selling this school building and moving to another!
• In the past 19 days we have: Celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday, begun our March Madness Reading Challenge, finished up our Westward Expansion unit, learned range, median and mode, and visited both Venus and Earth in our Solar System Unit.
• Next up, myself and three of my students will be attending the regional science fair competition. Fun, Fun, Fun!

No Potties = No School

So, I am sitting at home on my comfy chair pretty much an hour earlier than usual.

Today the bathrooms at our school went down. First the bathrooms downstairs overflowed into the 5/6 grade room. No biggie though - we have the ones upstairs. Then the ones upstairs went kaput. And so what do you do when you have about 100 students in a school with no bathrooms at all?

School dismisses early.

Love is in the air

The students made mailboxes to collect their Valentines.

No Valentine's Party would be complete with out Valentine Boggle!

Isn't she adorable?

Let the excitement begin!

My sweet flowers from my Valentine - my husband James!

Valentine's Day

...is tomorrow.

Because I am cheap I am giving my students this:

A Homework Pass

Plus I know there's nothing they would love more.

A 40-hour work week?

Not for a teacher. Though teachers technically only work 8 hours a day for 9 months of the year, it's all the before/after hours work that makes this more of a lifestyle than a profession. Take for example, this week:

Monday - 7:15am - arrive at school

8:00 am - 3:15 pm - teach

3:15 pm - 3:45 pm - grade papers

Tuesday - 7:30 am - arrive at school

8:00 am - 3:15 pm - teach

3:15 pm - 4:00 pm - make copies, pull supplies, etc...

Wednesday - 7:15 am - arrive at school

8:00 am - 3:15 pm - teach

3:15 pm - 4:00 pm - Teachers' Meeting

4:00 pm - 4:30 pm - grade papers, pull supplies, etc...

Thursday - 7:00 am - arrive at school to supervise morning care

8:00 am - 3:15 pm - teach

3:15 pm - head out quickly YAY

Friday - 7:30 am - arrive at school

8:00 am - 3:15 pm - teach (Friday are my day with ZERO break so it's very llooonng)

3:15 pm - 4:15 pm - vaccuum, pick up room, grade papers, etc...

Saturday - 12:30 pm - arrive at school to:

finish lesson plans, turn a box into a covered wagon, etc...

I still need to finish grading, email parents, research more into the Westward Movement.

The job of a teacher never ends...

Hating School

I have one student that hates school. At least, that's what she tells her Mom. I'm not sure what to do. I definitely don't want to encourage manipulative behavior but don't want to ignore her if something is going on that I can/should address. This is when the Lord's discernment is so valuable.

Everything Must Go!

Check out pictures from our class store.

We are studying money - counting money, comparing money to prices, counting forward to make change, etc... For a "real life" experience, we had a store in the hallway for two weeks.

Students practiced buying things, counting money, making change, etc... Fun was had by all!

Thanks for shopping - Come Again!

Pranks at Work

So my co-workers and I like to play practical jokes on each other. We have post-it noted each other's cars, filled classrooms with balloons, hidden walkie-talkies and water bottles, etc... Monday afternoon, I mistakenly left my walkie-talkie in Mrs. G's room. Tuesday morning, the scavenger hunt began.

My students were loving it!

Blue Ribbons for All

All 14 of my students received blue (superior) ribbons at yesterday's science fair. I couldn't be more proud of them. We have worked on these projects since October and I am so happy that the judges could see how much work each student had put into their project. Yay! Now - what will I do with the extra time now that science fair is over???

eeeekkkkkk

Today is science fair and I am nervous. Geez.

The little people that make my days so fun...

Lessons Learned

So after calming my angered thoughts and seeking some guidance from the Lord - I have come up with a few lessons this whole needy parents things that I believe the Lord is teaching me.

1. I need to learn to not be so sensitive - not everything should be taken personally. Yes they are angry at me, but ultimately I am not who/what they are angry at. I need to learn to remove myself from the situation a bit.

2. Grace should always be given. Even when not deserved - especially when not deserved. This is the definition of grace.

3. I MUST depend on the Lord. I tend to get lax in my quite time and personal Bible study. I often run on my own strength. This experience has taught me that I need to be prepared at all times for anything. If I am to be discerning and wise - I must rely on Him. Therefore, intentional daily time spent in prayer and Bible study is a necessity.

Therefore - all things considered, I need to go read my Bible.

Remind me why I became a teacher again???

Most days I love my job. Today is not that day.

Crazy, ironic part is that what has made today so bad has nothing to do with the students. Instead for some reason, God has given me one set of parents who are the definition of needy.

So what did I do - show them grace. I let them off the hook and will do their part for their child. It is what is best for the student not them. As I stewed over this (sad to admit I was mad), I had a question - "Does showing grace to someone who has habitually taken advantage of you honor Christ or does it cheapen grace?"

The answer God gave me - Christ continually shows me grace even though I habitually and knowingly take advantage of his grace. That's what makes grace so amazing.

Now it's time to pray, repent, go to sleep and maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

Happy 32nd

I turned 32 years old on Monday of this week. Since I am a geek, I baked "honey bee" cupcakes to take to class and celebrate. Imagine my surprise when as my students walk in, I was gifted three bouquets of flowers, several balloons, cards galore, two dozen cupcakes, and over $100 in gift cards.

One of my sweet parents knew my b'day was coming up and organized for students to bring me presents. How sweet is that?

Besides the financial blessing of gift cards, it so encouraged my heart to know how much I am loved. It makes me want to be a better teacher.

I resolve...

So the almost three weeks (thank you snow days) Christmas break is now over and I am three days into returning to school in 2011. Which by the way has been the longest.week.ever.

But as the New Year always does, I have reflected and evaluated my teaching and have come up with a few resolutions.

I resolve:

- to have my lesson plans for the following week completed by Thursday of the preceding week.

- to spend more time with C this semester focusing on his reading issues.

- to make a more conscious effort to encourage my students' parents; probably via emails telling them something good. Far too often, the only news they hear is negative. This needs to change.

- to think before speaking to a student - to watch and see before reacting.

- to use my break times more productively - make copies, clean up, etc...

What are your teacher resolutions?