A week later...

No, I didn't get eaten by first graders. Or our classroom rodent (that's right, there's a mouse that has come to visit us twice during lessons).

I have been swamped with work, which comes as no surprise I'm sure. I have been really good about making a list of manageable things that I know I can accomplish at the end of the day and NOT staying at school until 7pm. Unlike today. I just got home. But I was in a really productive groove and I didn't want to break it! I know I will always have more to do. I also know that after a certain point, I'm useless.

I've already begun using my parent helpers! I've got about five or six moms who have told me that they are willing to do cutting, pasting, assembling, etc at home for me! So if I can stay a week ahead in terms of my copies, I won't have to sit at home and cut out laminate, or staple books, or hole punch index cards! That's a lot of exclamations, but I'm really trying to "work smarter" and not harder. Burnout is no one's friend.

I do have one student who has been giving me lots of trouble. Lets call her Bridget. Bridget likes to do only what she likes to do. And now the class is getting annoyed with her. The other day at the morning game they started complaining about her. She hadn't been paying attention and didn't know what to do when the Zoom got to her. This was one of those moments when I was torn as a teacher. First, I didn't want Bridget to feel like the class was picking on her. Second, I thought it could be useful for her to know that her classmates were getting frustrated with her inattention. Third, I didn't want her to feel attacked. But number two won, because they weren't being overly harsh. And she picked up on it and continued the game. Well I come to find out that Mom started a reward system at home. If Bridget has 10 good days in a row, she gets a prize. Her behavior has improved, but now Mom is avoiding setting up the meeting between them, me and the assistant principal. Which really needs to happen, even if the reward system works. We all know that kids need to learn to self-regulate and understand why they need to pay attention. Extrinsic motivation will only last for so long. So here's hoping I can meet with Mr. and Mrs. Bridget really soon.

Coming up: Staff development day (which I think will be REALLY useful. We really need time to work on our units and to develop our English curriculum), conferences, MEA, and Halloween. AND AND AND!!! My house is getting a dog this weekend. Non-sequitur, sorry.

~J