One Step Forward, One Step Backwards

With five and a half weeks of school left, that last period class is still one of the most dysfunctional groups I've ever worked with. As we do every. single. day. my co-teacher and I collapsed in chairs when the last student left the room.

"I had my evaluation meeting today," he told me.

"How'd that go?" I asked.

"Good. She just asks three questions to get you to reflect on the year," he said.

"What did you say?" I asked, thinking What will I say?

I laughed when he was finished. "You didn't mention this class?"

"No," he said, "but you feel free!" 

Overlap

It was still raw and rainy when we woke this morning-- yesterday's unseasonably cold, damp weather had hung around. Did I mind lacing up boots and pulling on a sweater over my jeans and t-shirt in the middle of May? I can't say that I did. Soon enough, days too warm for comfort will be here, and so I enjoyed the comfort of warm clothes one more day.

Reverse Shopping

We spent the day in an unusual way for us-- returning things that didn't work out the way we thought they would when we bought them. We hopscotched from mall to strip shopping center to box store to outdoor gear co-op to good old Target and returned home with more money in our accounts than when we left.

Weird!

Self-Care

Today was a ukulele playing, gym workout, haircut kind of a day.

Just what I needed.

Dime a Dozen

Heidi stopped by my room today after school today and found one of the regulars hanging out making a 2D model of the Hydro Flask she was hoping her dad would buy her this weekend out of modeling clay. "Are you going to come back and visit Ms. S. next year when you're in 7th grade?" she asked.

The student shook her head.

"Oh, I think you will," Heidi smiled. "You really seem to like it here."

"I'm going to another school next year," the student sighed, "boundary changes," she explained.

Heidi nodded sympathetically.

"It's okay, though," the student said. "I'm sure I'll find another cat-loving, ukulele-playing teacher over there."

I snorted and almost spit out my water.

"They're not as uncommon as you think," she told me.

Spreading the Sweetness Around

The Jolly Rancher Challenge for the day was for students to express their appreciation for a teacher and then come tell me about it. I figured it would be encouragement for kids to say what they were thinking anyway, and for the most part I was right. Once they started thanking, the candy really did become secondary to most.

Many students wanted to appreciate me, mostly because I was standing right there with a bag of Jolly Ranchers, but I stopped them. "Not me," I told them, "another teacher. There are plenty of them around here!"

"Why?" asked one girl. "I do appreciate you! You're my favorite teacher!"

"Thanks," I said, "but--" I hesitated.

"It would be pretty pathetic for you to give candy for compliments, right?" she finished.

Much Appreciated

Teacher Appreciation Week was halfway over when a student walked into my room with a cardboard box filled with beribboned jars. "I appreciate you!" she proclaimed, handing me some Christmas Jam.

"Thank you very much!" I replied, politely. "This is so nice."

"I'm glad you like it," she said, "because my mom hates this stuff, and my grandma sends it every year, so we have like 10 jars we can't get rid of."