Educators with PRIDE Unite

[sis]

In less than 24 hours I will be off for 12 glorious days of no tattle-tales, no tear drying, no nose wiping, no solving disagreements with words rather than fists. It will be a blessed silence.

I will also not experience the lit up face of a child who is able to tell me they have a new puppy, or baby sister, or pair of go-go boots, in words that I can understand. I will not receive my daily hugs from children who frequently tell me 'Miss Deb, I love you my teacher English and I no love my teacher Chinese. Chinese time not very many funs.' (you get the drift!) I will not give out any stickers or stars. I will not make any 'happy phone calls' to the parents of students who earn 10 stickers.

I will have 12 days of personal reflection; time to re-energize; time to take care of me.

I will miss the voices of tattle-tales, the drying of tears, the wiping of noses, the solving of disagreements.

I my profession.

Happy Holidays to each of you - here's hoping you're able to have some 'me' time and able to re-energize during your break!

Deb

[Miss Scarlett]

[sis]

And, they're already raising my blood pressure! lolol While I had 10 days off, the students only had three days off - they were with their Chinese teachers during my usual class times. They were extremely excited to see me, however, the enthusiasm of 30 six and seven year olds can be overwhelming at times. lolol

As is typical, buildings here are unheated so we generally wear layers of clothing in the classroom. I was starting to warm up and took off my sweater and then my scarf.

I discovered that I put my t-shirt on backwards!

Not the most auspicious start to the new year! lolol

Hope everyone's first day of the year goes well!


Deb

[sis]

In two more sleeps I'm off school until February 17th! Happy Chinese New Year! This week, I only have students on Friday ....... a day that will be spent celebrating the end of the term! Yup, a party in the morning and a party in the afternoon ...... two groups of 30 or so Grade 1 students colouring, eating, cleaning up, and watching a movie.

Right now, I'm prepping for the first month back after the break. Ahhhhh, the reward of wrangling two groups of 30 kids for five months - a week of clean-up and prep followed by a month off!

And, now, to indulge in my favourite non-teaching activity:


Deb

[Martina]

It's break, and I need it. I have been running so hard that I don't know how to stop. Seven weeks after we come back from break, it will be summer vacation. But it will be a long, hard seven weeks. I have quite a few IEPs left to do. And it's time to make sure all the seniors have everything done in order to graduate (very stressful). And there's paperwork, reams and reams of paperwork, due at the end of the year. My mother was an elementary school teacher, a Reading Specialist, and she tells me what they had to go through at the end of the year in the pre-computer days. I guess I should be grateful. But there is one spreadsheet I haven't kept up, and thinking about doing that . . . well, it makes me nauseated. And then there are the grades.

All hell has broken loose on the HR side at work. My Assistant Principal was fired (unfairly). The Director of Special Education was also fired (she deserved it). That happened a while ago, but they told her she could stay till June. I guess they changed their minds because they walked her and her personal belongings out the door last Tuesday. There's only one person at the manager level over there (normally there are two). There are not enough Program Specialists (the third level down and the folks we deal with the most). One gave them two days notice and moved to another state. Another went out on medical leave, and I think they were down one to start with. So no one picks up the phone or answers emails. I had one Program Specialist come over for an IEP (in and of itself a miracle), but she was a nervous wreck. She was so out of it that she didn't seem to understand what was going on. Stress, I am sure.

In my instructional unit (a weird conglomeration of alt ed sites), most of the teachers are unhappy with our Principal (in part for firing the Assistant Principal, but also for other -- good -- reasons.) We had a secret meeting with the union president to try to figure out what can be done. I am ordinarily a rabble-rouser, but I had nothing to do with organizing this although I attended and cheered them on.

Admin and Special Ed moved a much-liked colleague -- who was a big part of my daily life at work -- to another site and gave me her caseload, which made me both sad and overworked. She still stops by and visits (bless her).

The students seem to be having more problems right now too. Just coincidence, I guess. Except for the four who are stressed about graduating, the causes are completely different.

On the home front, the maintenance required light went on in my car. I took it in, and it will be a five hundred dollar repair. And I can't drive it far till my Thursday appt to get it fixed. So my mini-trip to visit a friend is off. Spending money on the car instead of fun sucks.

Oh, and I am on a diet because my arthritis is worse, and restricting some foods really does help.

AND I am working on a short paper for an online course. Normally, I might actually enjoy that, but not right now. Right now, I just feel *grrrrrrr*

There's actually more. Lots more. God, I do not love the couple of months before the end of the school year.

[sis]

Well, I think I'm almost ready to say quite loudly "AAARRRGGGHHHH"! lolol I'm an early years specialist but I'm in a second language Grade 1 class this year. I've never taught children to read. I've never taught phonemic awareness. I've never taught so many kids to stop picking their nose. Yup, I am seeing the humour in some of my everyday activities but at the end of the day I feel so unsure about 'how I'm doing' as I know 'how and what I'm teaching' is the correct method.

I work with an awesome team - 5 educators for 270 first graders in groups of 30. Its a 'big' undertaking and at times very overwhelming. I guess I'll 'know' if I'm successful when the students are finally tested near the end of June. Until then, I'm going to enjoy every little hug I receive. And not worry about it.

Deb

[Martina]