TGTF (Thank God Tomorrow's Friday)

Some days you just have an absolutely wonderful day! And today was not one of those days. In fact, today was the complete opposite of one of those days. Today was terrible. I forgot to set my alarm back to an earlier time so I woke up like I needed to be at school by 8:15 or 8:30 and I needed to be in a meeting, not just at school, by 8:00. As I was gathering stuff up, running out the door, I didn't have time to pack a lunch and I realized that I had designated the appropriate amount of coffee grinds and water into the coffee maker but had not turned it on. So I had an empty coffee pot. Without food and coffee I arrived barely on time. After which, the teacher who's been a real stickler at us for starting PLC meetings on time and ending on time, was ten minutes late. Then, she kept us there until almost 8:55. To top it all off, they could have emailed me the information in literally two sentences instead of wasting my hour. I could have had a lunch and my morning coffee and time to work on Cheri's data. But no, I was stuck listening to nothing. The fourth grade PLC meetings are the worst waste of my time on the planet.

Great way to start the morning, eh?

Oh but it just kept getting better. By the time I fumbled through to lunch, I was planning on running back into Warsaw to Taco Bell. Third grade success had gone over and I was frustrated because they still can't tell me what 50 minutes before 3:20 was even though I had writtten it down already for them and other such things. So I had twenty-five minutes until I had to be back at school for fifth grade success. However, when I got going, I realized I had not been able to get gas this morning, which poor Libby desperately needed. I wasn't sure I'd make it back to school if i didn't get gas. Both very fortunately and unfortunately, gas was down to $3.25 today. So naturally, everyone was getting gas. It took me five minutes to get there, and just over ten minutes to get my $50.00 of gas. I now had seven minutes to get back to school. And as I drove by the Bell, the line was out on the road, so I had to go without food.

Hungry, I skidded back into the classroom just in time to pick up the division work from the copier and the class from the fifth and sixth grade hallway. I then spent the entire class period having no one pay attention to me. I was pretty much doing the division by myself. I was so mad. And hungry. And in need of coffee. And time.

Fifth grade math was even worse, if that's possible. I waited to see how long it took them to start working on what I was projecting on the board. That's how math class works. You come in, sit down, get to work. Ten minutes later, I informed them that I was still waiting for them to figure this out. Their response? "You didn't tell us!"

......

I swear, there was probably smoke billowing out of my ears.

Then, we went over the homework, and they couldn't tell me how to change a fraction to a decimal. Even though yesterday they were complaining because it was so easy.

More smoke.

We spent another ten minutes discussing the definition of an equivalent fraction, a term we've been using for a month now. Literally. And they didn't know it. And on and on and on it went. Until I had to put all my focus into not crying. It was awful!

I finally sat them down at the end of the period and told them straight up that I'm reporting data to Mrs. Sleighter and taking notes on who was paying attention and giving their best effort and so on and so forth. And a couple of them looked at me shell-shocked. I guess they thought they had three months of freedom and no accountability. News flash, kid! So I told them they had two more classes to change things around before everything was imputted and finalized. Tomorrow, I said, we were going to try this all again. I fully intend to give a test on Tuesday. I need the data for when Cheri comes back on Wednesday. I'll have to put it all together on Tuesday night now. But I can't not have them performing. If a couple more days gets them to perform, then the delay is worth it.

I've now discovered that I only have a fraction of the data I need for the third grade math class as well. I'm going to have a long couple of school days in front of me. I will have so much to do on Tuesday night since I won't have most of what I need for fifth grade until then.

However, right now, it's 7:15 and I need to put all of this away and go home.

Walking away....

The Beginning of the End

I don't have a whole lot of time. Things have gotten pretty crazy lately. I've wanted to make note of it all as I've gone along, but I haven't really had the chance. Right, now, I have papers cluttered around me in desperate need of reorganization. Cheri is coming back in just over a week now and there's so much to be done. Randy has asked that I collect data for her so she can see what skills her students have mastered. The thing is, none of them can ever remember anything. This is going to be extremely difficult. Skills are intertwined and documentation is scarce because of her grading system. Fortunately, a few of the skills have been tested for success times and we'll be finishing up our work with fractions and mixed numbers this week so I'll have a test for that data.

I still have success group things to organize and create and there's lessons to be written, skills to be retaught. I have no direction for second grade success this week, or third grade math really, because the grade level teachers haven't really told me much, if anything. I have to work tonight and tomorrow night so I can't stay after school, then I have BYC after school on Wednesday and Thursday. I'll have to stay late on Friday then because I work again on Monday and Tuesday and Cheri's coming back on Wednesday. HOLY CRAP! So there's a lot of chaos in my mind right now. I also have to find time to meet with Rebekah who's been doing the assistant job so I can get up to speed on what's going on there now. Fortunately, it's changed since I've been there. That I'm excited about.

I still haven't gotten all the data from third grade. Maybe I'll be able to pick all that up before I leave today so I can start punching in numbers after work tonight. Although I do need to make up some lesson plans for tomorrow. Every Monday I have to fly by the seat of my pants because the directions are never very clear until about Tuesday or Wednesday.

Everyone was awful today. Behavior was terrible. I was disappointed last night's fog didn't hang around long enough to get me another couple hours of sleep, but I was still here and they were still here and school was still going as normal.

CUPCAKE FROM ONE OF THE THIRD GRADERS BIRTHDAY! WINNER!

Anyway. We were all still here, and we had things that needed to be done. And they weren't getting done because I only had half of an idea of what needed to be accomplished and the kids were all over the place mentally. By fifth grade math at 2:00, I almost just didn't care anymore. But I had to care, and that was really hard. But we made it!

So here I sit, almost 8 hours later, and everyone's made it out alive. My voice was raspy and cracking by the end of it, but the end has still come for today. This is just going to be a long week. I'll probably have to come in extra early to make sure things get done. It's hard to believe it's December already, but at the same time, it feels like it's been ages. My hair has got to be turning grey.

Now that the final stretch has come, I have one more push, it's like finals all over again. At least, that's how I think I need to look at it. One final project. While still taking classes and doing volleyball (teaching and working). It's the same thing, right? Only I'm getting paid to do it! Winner winner! I'm going to miss having my own space, own classroom. Krista's room is dimly lighted and I have to share it with her, and our personalities don't mesh well. Maybe I'll just get a desk lamp to put on the table back there where I sit.

All that aside, I have work to do. I have a fine Sharpie to borrow and third grade success data to collect. And so we go, on to this next great adventure!