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I know I'm a week late, but think back to Halloween...For Halloween, my Principal wanted the teachers to dress up. For the last several years we have taken our students on a field trip to the Dallas Arboretum to the Texas Pioneer Adventure and we are doing the same thing this year. Prior to the field trip we take a couple of weeks to study the Pioneers so the kids will be able to impress the docent with their extensive knowledge. We typically do our field trip around Thanksgiving so we can study the Pilgrims as well and do a comparison of the Pilgrims and the Pioneers. If you don't know the difference, those we typically call the Pilgrims are those that came over on the Mayflower in 1620 and settled at Plymouth and had the first "Thanksgiving," which they called a Harvest Feast, with the Indians, to celebrate a successful first harvest. By comparison, the Pioneers were people that were part of westward expansion - think of those traveling west to California and Oregon to find gold in the early to mid 1800's. Anyway, we were getting ready to start our Pilgrims and Pioneer unit as soon as the Election was over, so our 2nd grade team decided to dress up as Pilgrims/Pioneers and Indians. Mr. Watts was a Pilgrim, I was a Pioneer and our two bilingual teachers, Mrs. McAfee and Ms. Cordero were the Indians. We had our own little "Thanksgiving" feast in the teachers lounge at lunch. The kids were really excited about our costumes and are looking forward to the next couple weeks as we study Pilgrims and Pioneers and get ready for our December 2nd field trip. 
Ms. Cordero, Mrs. McAfee, Me, Mr. Watts
Me - in the school library
I choked my principal the other day. I pulled her hair, kicked her and threw a punch. Do you believe it? Well, none of it was for real, but I wasn't nearly as nervous when I had to sit down with her for a meeting on Friday.My principal and I and 3 others from my campus took a restraint training last week and my principal was my partner when it came time to practice the blocks and releases, so we took turns punching, kicking, choking and pulling. It was a training I was required to take because of potential circumstances I face at school. It was the Nonviolent Crisis Invervention Training Program through the Crisis Prevention Institute. The purpose of the program is to focus on the care, welfare, safety and security of the student. It is definitely a training I would recommend to other teachers, even if you don't have a student you may potentially need to restrain. We worked to understand that restraint is a LAST RESORT option to be used only when the student is a danger to him/herself, others or destructive to property.I don't see myself necessarily needing to use the restraint procedures, but you just never know what will happen in the classroom, so the information is handy to have. It would have been helpful to have a few years ago when I had an especially challenging student who was a runner and I found myself grabbing for her far too often because her favorite route was for the outside doors and toward the streets - she once made it as far as the street corner of a major intersection.However, the restraint I find myself needing more often, lies within myself. I need to restrain myself because I become impatient...with people in general. I get impatient when I have to wait for people, especially when it was a set appointment; and I get impatient with my students when they are playing instead of paying attention. I need to rely on God to give me patience, to take a few deep breaths and just relax.
Yes, thankfully, I do still have a job. After a very stressful week, I will continue going to work and teaching my students. For the next two weeks, we are studying the presidential election. Hopefully it will help me decide who I want to vote for. Even if it doesn't, my kids are really enjoying it.
It's kind of like he loves me, he loves me not, but on a much more serious note. Dallas ISD is facing an 84 million dollar budget shortfall and it's teachers are taking a BIG hit. Unfortunately, this hasn't been a quick process. It has been a long, drawn-out, painful, stressful process. The "higher ups" keep pushing back the decisions deadline. First, it was the deadline about what they were actually going to do. On October 2, they decided they were going to have to let 550 teachers go. In effort to avoid firing that many teachers, they opened up a time for voluntary resignations. Finally, this past Monday, we were told that Wednesday, tomorrow, was the day that teachers would be getting pink slips. Mind you, we have been going about our daily lifes, teaching and just plain living, with bated breathe for more than a month now. We have been expected to act like nothing is happening; like we aren't in danger of losing our jobs at the next turn. Every single teacher is worried about whether or not he or she will have a job tomorrow. "They" say every delay is to make sure they are making the best decisions for everyone involved, but I have a hard time believing that letting us hang for weeks, going on months on end is good for us. We are expected to continue teaching our kids when at any moment our principal could walk in with that dreaded piece of paper that says "Sorry, you are no longer employed by Dallas ISD. Please pack your belongings and vacate the premises."Well, it's stressful enough thinking that tomorrow is the dreaded day, but then I get an email saying that because of a meeting that HE had with the principal's, they are pushing it back one more day, JUST TO MAKE SURE. So it won't be until Thursday. I read that email and I just wanted to scream. I don't want to lose my job, and until Sunday/Monday I had done a really good job keeping my focus elsewhere and not worrying about it. At this point, the decisions have already been made. The principals know who is going to go, so they just need to get on with telling people - so that everyone can breathe a little easier. Even if it is me, I just want to know...I don't want it hanging over my head any more.
It has been a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad week since I woke up on Monday morning. It started when I woke up late, not much, but even a little throws me off. I had a migraine and am out of medicine, so I had to suffer through it. Thankfully it subsided on it's own sometime during the super stressful, very frustrating day. We started a new free breakfast program at school and they were supposed to start serving at 7:30 so that by 7:45 kids were ready to take their sack breakfasts to class to eat. They didn't start serving until almost 7:50 and my kids didn't walk into class until 8:05 - 20 minutes late - so I was then behind 20 minutes. This is bad when you only have the kids for 2 1/2 hours before they go to the next teacher. Half the students in each of my two classes did not bring their homework which was to read and write about the story. They were talking constantly so we didn't get done half of what we needed to do. Tuesday, 9 in my morning class came without reading journals and/or no spelling homework - the same was true for 6 in the afternoon class. I am at a loss for how to make them do their homework and bring it back to school. I've yelled, threatened, the principal has yelled, I've sent notes home and made phone calls. Nothing has helped. I've never had so much trouble getting homework from so many students. Then today...I had a meeting after work in Fair Park at the Women's Museum. The meeting was for school coordinators for Arts Partners, a program that funds field trips for Dallas ISD students. I am the coordinator for my school and my teachers have been waiting to find out how much money they have to spend. At the meeting I was supposed to find out how much money our school gets and the process for scheduling. However, I probably only spent a total of 30 minutes in this 2 hour meeting because on my way, my car broke.I was driving along I-30 in the mix master when I heard a pop. I didn't know if I had run over something or if something broke. A low hum started a few minutes later and I knew something was wrong. Luckily, my exit was just up ahead and I was experiencing no real trouble. As I exited and slowed down, the low hum turned to a grinding and as I approached the light at Parry Ave and Grand by Fair Park, the grinding was so loud it sounded like I was dragging something metal along the pavement. I was having trouble steering, but I managed to get into the turn lane and stop but even when I stopped, the grinding kept going and I had lots of people staring at me. I called my mom sobbing and hyperventilating - "I don't know what's wrong and I can't afford to fix it..." She could hardly understand anything I was saying. I turned on my flashers and jumped out and look under the car but there was nothing dragging. I got back in and slowly turned into the parking lot in front of the Science Museum. I kept driving around to try to find where I was going so I could make it to my meeting while watching all my gauges to see if anything more was going to happen. Once I reached about 10 mph, the grinding stopped, but it took every ounce of strength I had to turn the steering wheel to get around corners. I finally got to the right place and was starting to calm down after talking to my stepdad and then my mom again who started making phone calls to my insurance for a tow truck, an automotive shop so they would know it was coming and so forth. When I finally parked, I popped the hood and saw that I was missing a belt - shoot! And when I looked under the car again, I saw what remained of the belt hanging down. I left the meeting at least 10 times to take phone calls from my mom, insurance company and the tow company updating me on when the tow truck would be there. However, it's Dallas, at rush hour, in the rain, and the guy was coming from Grand Prairie - the closest truck according to the tow company.I sat in the parking lot for 45 minutes after the meeting was over. Thankfully, a sweet lady sat and talked with me while I waited so I didn't have to sit alone. Once the tow truck got there and loaded my car, the lady told me to pay it forward - which I intend to because she certainly didn't have to sit there. I told the tow guy about what happened and he was puzzled at how the belts could break with no overheating and full functioning except for the power steering...We got to the shop around 7:30 and popped the hood again. Only one of the belts was broken - the one that controls power steering - the other two were fine. Thank goodness. So I'm without a car, depending on others for a ride to and from work tomorrow and back to the shop to get mine (hopefully it will be done tomorrow). I sure do hope the next two days are better than the first three of this week...I need them to be better. Now, I'm going to bed early...
And the worst part of today was...definitely the blisters on my feet! The first day of school is always crazy, and today didn't fail to meet expectations, but at the end of the day, the pain of blisters on my feet overshadowed everything else that happened. I hate wearing shoes, especially dress or work shoes...I spend my summers barefoot or in flip flops so putting work shoes on my tender feet makes them very susceptible to blisters.I'm teaching 2nd grade for the 7th year in a row, but what makes this year different is that I no longer have one set of kids all day long. We are team teaching so I am teaching reading/language arts and social studies and my team teacher has math and science. I have to learn the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of 41 students (so far) instead of just the 21 on my homeroom roster. The challenge today was that I had maintenance stuff (such as enrollment info and sorting school supplies) to accomplish with my homeroom class and that took up all the time I had with them plus some, but since I didn't have to do all that with my afternoon class we had a lot more "free time". I don't want one class to get ahead of the other, so 2C (the afternoon class) and I spent time getting to know each other just by talking. Nothing crazy happened. In my homeroom, I have 12 boys and 9 girls - a much better ratio that last years 6 girls and 12 boys; in my afternoon class I have 11 boys and 9 girls. The end of the first day came much faster than I was ready for...I guess that just means I have extra to accomplish tomorrow. We'll see how it goes...and if I can avoid any more blisters.
Since my last post, my summer has wound down and come Monday, it will officially be over. I went back to work last Monday, but the 25th makes it official because that is when the kids come rolling in.My last activity of the summer was a weekend trip to New Braunfels with my singles group to tube down the river - if you've never done it, I highly recommend it. Tubing down the river made me reminiscent of my old college days - it was so relaxing, but it was hot and after just 3 hours or so I was burnt to a crisp (yes...I applied sunscreen - twice...I learned that the spray on kind doesn't work for me). We topped off our Saturday afternoon of tubing down the Comal River with dinner at the Gristmill http://www.gristmillrestaurant.com/ (a wonderful meal, but you always have to wait at least an hour for a table) and a concert at River Road Ice House http://www.riverroadicehouse.com/. Most of my friends spent the night at a hotel in San Antonio, but Michelle and I crashed with my cousins in town. Sunday, they were all ready to spend another day on the river and headed out to tube the Guadalupe (they didn't finish tubing until after 6 pm and then had to drive back to the Metroplex). I chose to spend some time with my cousins, Billy and Margie and on Monday morning I took off on the 2nd part of my weekend get away. I left New Braunfels around 7 a.m. and took a 7 hour drive to the far northeast corner of the state where I spent 2 days with Kim and Owen. I hung out at the Pop Pop Shoppe with Kim, Paula and Owen and learned the art of making gourmet popcorn. On Wednesday I headed home for a few days of absolutely nothingness - it was wonderful. The following week I had 3 days of staff development training for school - I learned a little, but not a lot. I spent the week of the 11th up at school painting my classroom, moving around furniture, throwing out old stuff that never gets used and finding places for all my frogs. The paint, a blue gray and light yellow, turned out great and really gives the room a calming feel - much better than the dingy white it was before.On the 18th, Dallas ISD employees reported back to school, along with many other school districts across the state. We had two days of inservice training on campus and then on Wednesday we all (some 20,000 Dallas employees) headed to the American Airlines Center for a school year kickoff celebration. We were welcomed back to school by the likes of the mayor of Dallas, the DISD board president and through video, Nolan Ryan, Cynthia Izaguirre and John McCaa (Channel 8), Marty Turco (Dallas Stars), state senators and representatives from the Dallas area, Barney (the big purple dinosaur) and many others. The superintendent spoke for a while about where the district is heading over the next few years in attempt to become the premiere urban school district in the country. He discussed how far we've come since we began this journey in 2006, how far we have to go to meet our goal by 2010, and the things we need to do to get there. About 10:45 he finally introduced the keynote speaker for the morning - this is one of the most dynamic speakers I've heard in a very long time. Dalton Sherman only spoke for about 10 minutes but his message was powerful and touched the heart of every teacher sitting in the AAC. Dalton is a 5th grader from one of the Learning Centers in Dallas - after listening to his speech, I can only imagine the great things in store in his future. Take a few minutes to listen to Dalton's speech and see if you aren't moved by it...http://www.dallasisd.org/keynote.htm.Well, in about 48 hours, my first day of second grade (for the 7the year in a row) will be coming to a close. I'll let you know how it goes and post some pictures of my home away from home. For all the teacher out there (new and experienced), and all those going back to school or sending their little ones off to school...Happy School Year 2008 - 2009!
For several weeks this summer, I worked as a nanny for an almost 4 year old little girl. I gained a new respect for parents through this experience. I have been around kids in different avenues for the last 17 years: babysitting, working in my church nursery, working at a preschool and a daycare, teaching, younger siblings (my youngest sister is 14 years younger than me), younger cousins, and my niece and nephews. However, I have never been solely responsible for their moment by moment daily life. I enjoyed hanging out with Blair and I tried to do as many fun things with her as possible, as well as just running simple errands. We went to a couple of parks, the Dallas Zoo, the Science Place in Fair Park (a great children's interactive museum for those Dallasites with kids of all ages) and we watched Happy Feet at the Studio Movie Grill. I took her with me to get my tires rotated, to get a new cell phone after I demolished mine and school supply shopping for when I head back to teaching. I fixed breakfast and lunch; gave baths; cleaned so the house wasn't totally demolished at the end of the day; tended to boo boos; put together puzzles; colored; played hide and seek; and even had to put her in time out some. I was tired at the end of each day - but it was a good tired. For you parents out there, I only got a sneak peek, but I applaud you because it's a tough job. But as tough as it is, I look forward to the day when I can join your ranks. I thank Blair for teaching me all she did about being a "mom".
I'm a teacher. I try to be at school everyday because I am responsible for the knowledge my students are required to gain throughout their year in second grade. However, just like everyone else, I occasionally get sick enough to have to stay home from work. And every once in a while, I just need a "mental health" day. But the concern of every good teacher is what a substitute will do with their class (think back to a class you had on a day when there was a sub - movies, talking, playing, no work, etc). Because I am a very organized person in general, my sub lesson plans are very detailed, often even down to the words I want the sub to say to explain a concept to my students. However, I never really imagined what it would be like for a substitute to walk into a classroom of students and be expected to teach, regardless of how well planned the lesson - I will admit that I have frequently been irritated with my substitutes for not getting done what I've left for them to do. On Tuesday and Thursday, I was a substitute for one of my co-teachers for her summer school class. It was 4th grade (I've never taught anything but 2nd) and it was reading (I do teach this, just at a lower level). When I arrived, I found very detailed lesson plans which she had gone over with me on the phone the night before, but I still found I was very nervous when the students walked into the classroom and often felt like they were listening to nothing I had to say - a couple of times I asked "Is this how you act for Mrs. W?" They replied no. On Tuesday, it was all I could do to make it to the end of the day, wondering if this was really worth the $20/hour I was getting paid. Thursday morning was fabulous but that afternoon I wanted to pull my hair out. Now that it is over, I've decided that it was worth the $20/hour - 2 days, 8 hours a day...but I have definitely developed a new respect for substitutes. In the future, when I have a sub, I will be much more understanding if they don't get everything done.
Today we had an Academic Fair for the 6 elementary schools that feed into the same high school. Our 1st - 5th graders competed in different areas: 1st - 3rd competed in math, spelling and poetry and 4th and 5th competed in math, spelling, poetry, number sense, science and geography. We only had a few weeks to prepare our students, but we had a few winners place between 1st and 6th place in every grade level except 3rd. But watching those kids who competed anxiously wait for their names to be called and then not hearing it was heartbreaking. There were so many that were extremely disappointed at not placing. Hopefully, we will be more prepared next year and will have more winners and fewer disappointments
