I'm Back!

Woohoo! I'm back! It's summertime and the living is easy! Well, maybe not easy, but definitely less stress. Sadly, my brain is already in school mode. I've been on two vacations this summer and now my brain is saying "Enough! Let's get to work!" Maybe I'll start the new school year (in less than a month) with less stress with all the work I'm doing during my "summer off." Ha! I know that in reality, I'll be just as stressed and overworked, but at least I feel like I'm achieving something right now!

Fellow teachers: Enjoy your summer and don't work too much!

Web 2.0

I'm trying to embrace this whole web 2.0 thing. I really do love it and think it's where we need to be going, but.... I am so overwhelmed with all of my normal tasks and learning how to do all this new stuff. Parents don't really know what teachers do to make sure their children are growing and learning every day. They seem to think we come in and work and go home and forget about it. Maybe there are some teachers who do this, but none that I know. We all work ourselves half to death and do everything we can for our students. I must admit that we count down the days until every holiday, but that's because we are so overworked and exhausted from all the extra hours we put in. Of course, then we end up spending at least part of every holiday working! At this point, I am just going day by day to get to Thanksgiving and hopefully a break. However, I already have a list of things I'll need to accomplish during the week we are off, and that's not including having time with my family.

I guess the whole point of this post is to say that I love learning new things (web 2.0) and I love my students, but I really wish parents and people in the business world would understand how much we put into this job and "our kids."

I will continue to put tons of extra time and energy into my classroom and students because that is what they need. I will also continue to try to make non-education people understand!

Love/Hate

Every day holds its challenges, but some days are just crazy! Can I just say, "Why can't we all get along?" When adults act worse than children, you know there's a huge problem!

One good thing that came out of the conflict today - I now see one of my students as extremely fragile and needing love, where before I saw this child as someone who loves to cause trouble. When trouble follows someone, there is always a reason! All children are deserving of love. Some children are just a lot more difficult to love! We have a love/hate relationship in many aspects, but I do love this child! Lord help me to keep my patience and help this child.

Next time you hear from me, I hope I've survived conference week! I'm signing off to work on all the paperwork that entails! Wish me luck!

But You Get Summers Off!

For my first blog post, I wanted to address my biggest pet peeve as a teacher. Many things about being a teacher aren't easy. That's okay. However, the lack of respect from EVERYONE (sorry to yell) is ridiculous! My sister-in-law, the lawyer, once said, "What are you complaining about, you get summers off!"  Mind you, she said this to me, a teacher, and to her mother-in-law, also a teacher. We both showed the restraint that teachers must and didn't say anything back, but I sure wanted to!!!

What I wanted to say is that while teachers may not have to go in to work every morning and teach students during the summer months, they are working. I don't know a single teacher who doesn't plan new units, complete training sessions, and in general, work during the summers. Many teachers even have to get a paying job during the summer just to make ends meet. Yes, I said a paying job! Teachers work every summer, but it is without pay.  "But you get a paycheck through the summer," you say. Yes, we do, but it is only for the 191 days that we are required to work. The rest of the days we work (nights, weekends, summers) are unpaid.

So... the next time someone disrespects teachers with this ridiculous statement, please stand up for the people who got you all where you are today. Yes, some teachers are great and others not so good, but I know if you think back to your years of schooling, you will remember a wonderful teacher who made a difference for you and they were working during their summers too!