Happy New Year! My personal success this year...

by GrreatTeacher 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  GrreatTeacher

  We've just got finished banging the pots and pans and screaming on the front porch. A few shotgun shots ( I hope they were blanks!) and we can hear the low rumble of the fireworks in Baltimore about 25 miles away. A New Year's kiss from my husband, and now it's time to go pick up my son from his girlfriend's house. He wanted to spend the night (No!) and then he asked to stay to 3am (No!). It's hard letting your 15 year old grow up, or rather, find the right pace to let that happen.

  Our goal for 2017? Teach the kid to drive! Yes, he turns 16 this year. Just spent the day turning the Peter Rabbit nursery back into a spare bedroom with a full size bed, convenient when spouses snore!

  And time rolls on...

  My personal success this year? I started a full-time teaching job in August, so I am officially finished half of my first year teaching! It's been so difficult, but so rewarding, too. Baltimore's a tough town, but there are some really sweet kids and some really smart kids whom I need to push hard so they can reach the next level. I can't save every kid, but I am really going to focus on those I can push forward.

  So, I feel gratitude, but trepidation for the final years of child rearing. I'm working, I'm paying off debt, we had a great holiday. So much to be thankful for!

  I hope you all will be able to move forward in your journey, wherever it takes you in 2017. Thanks to all of you in this wonderful community. I haven't been able to keep up as much lately, but I think of lots of you often and drop by occasionally to keep up with things.

  Ps. I finally earned my name. A little friend of mine that needs a little extra help, but also a little extra discipline threw a paper airplane at me. I angrily snatched it out of the air and scolded the child. A few days later, I was clearing off my desk and found the offending piece of paper. Before I threw it away, I opened it up and there was a hand-drawn picture of this student and myself holding hands. The caption read, "I hav a gret teatcher." I cried. It's for moments like these that I do what I do. I hung it up on a cupboard in my office, pointed it out to the student and thanked him for the sentiment. I then suggested that a direct delivery rather than airmail might have been more appropriate!
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  GrreatTeacher

  Sorry! I meant to post this in the wee hours of the morning last night, but when I checked this morning it was still in the text box. I hope everybody is having a great New Years day!
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  Xanthippe

  Well done on getting half way through your first year of teaching. You've worked hard and deserve to pat yourself on the back.

  Kids learning to drive is scary isn't it? My daughter started driving to and from university this year to do her masters degree. A journey that takes her three hours on the motorway. Scares me to death. Good luck with your son learning!
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  GrreatTeacher

  Thanks, Xanthippe!

  I only have the one child, so at least I only have to go through this teaching him to drive thing once!
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  smiddy

  I think you are going to live up to your post name GrreatTeacher with great success.I wish you well .What age are the kids you teach ?

  Dont underestimate the influence you might have on children either. I still thank in my mind and heart the teacher I had for the first 4 years of my schooling for drumming into us kids the times table and spelling .

  I left school at 14 years of age not appreciating an education at that time and going to work as a factory hand ,luckily at the time doing an apprenticeship in the leathergoods industry ,then changing my vocation after 12 years and got a job in a laboratory , umpteen years later I retired with my own home

  And I believe I owe it all to my first teacher , Miss Staples.
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  freddo

  @GrreatTeacher.

  You wrote "Ps. I finally earned my name."

  You'd already earned the first half of your name by being you and especially by getting away from jwland! Well done on making the second part of your name come true.
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  GrreatTeacher

  Thanks, freddo, for reminding me that I should be proud of myself. Yes, I did get away from jwland and I did manage to finish college. I really wish the same for everyone else on this forum, too!

  Smiddy, that means a lot to me that you still remember the teacher that you credit for your success. It's what teachers hope for when they start teaching. Then it gets hard when you realize that you also have to be parent, nurse, psychologist, security expert, etc. But, you truly do hope that something you teach will get through to them and stick with them for a lifetime!

  My kids are in third grade which means 8 years old and turning 9 through the school year. It truly is the year where they come in as babies and leave as big kids with individual variations. Some of them need hugs and love and others are already roughed up by the streets and need me to assert my dominance. (The streets don't matter in my classroom; I'm in charge.) So, I have to say things as varied as:

  "Good morning, pumpkin? How are you this morning? Ready to learn?"

  "You look tired this morning. Did that new baby wake you up last night?"

  "Oh, you look like you don't feel well, sweetheart. Here, let me check your forehead to see if it's hot."

  "Oh, no, no, no. I know he made you angry, but you cannot get out of your seat and go challenge him to his face in my classroom."

  "The custodian has had complaints about the condition of the Boys bathroom. If you're 8 years old and don't know how to operate a toilet or urinal, please see me after class!"

  "I was so excited when I graded your papers. You all did very well!"

  "Thank you for standing so quietly in line, everyone. We are setting a great example when we walk past kindergarten!"

  "If you waste my time by talking in class so I can't teach, then I am taking it back during recess. The timer starts now."

  "You may not act that way in my class. You may not kick chairs and desks and scream at people. I'm calling the office. You have to leave."

  "Have you taken your medicine this morning?"

  "I am so sorry that happened to you, hon. I'll see if you can go talk to the counselor."

  "You may think you are in charge here, but you are not. Period. Whose name is on that door? Welcome to my house!"

  "Since you think you're so funny, I'm going to email Grandma right now and share that with her. Would you like that?"

  "John, come here. Your father is on the phone. He told me to call him if you ever acted up again."

  "The new chapter books are here! You may check them out from my library cart. Who wants to be librarian?"

  "You guys make me so proud! The music teacher told me our class is the best behaved in the whole 3rd grade!"

  And that is the schizophrenic life of a teacher in a high-poverty urban school. Never easy. Never uneventful. Always got to be on your toes!

  Paid every other week, with fewer zeros on the end than I would prefer!