Skip to main content

Sunday Night

Sunday night.
6:20 p.m.
Starting to get anxious,
antsy,
fidgety.

It's a familiar feeling
as I head back to school tomorrow
after a week off for Spring Break.

Most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
will be spent getting ready for student led conferences.

Thursday, the kids host their parents
to celebrate their learning.

Friday will be my only real teaching day.

There is so much I want to do with my students,
but I have to wait until Friday
and then the following week to try out some routines
and activities I've been spending this week reading about.

But, I'm sure (don't want to check my calendar to confirm this)
that next week there will be other interruptions to our routines.

Ah, yes! I remember. (I checked my calendar.)
We have a consultant coming for a week,
though each grade level will take turns working with her.

The week after that is a four-day week.

The week after that...wait!
I can't think that far ahead right now.

But, whatever the week after that holds for me and my students,
it will signal the one-month mark until the end of the school year.
THAT is mind boggling!
I feel like I just got started with this group of students.
We have finally found our groove, our rhythm
and soon, we will have to say goodbye for the year.

Some days, summer vacation looms too close for comfort
and, other days, it can't come soon enough.
Which goes to prove that we are never satisfied with the moment.
So, I commit to enjoying these last 40 some odd days left of the school year
with my students.

Sunday night.
Take a deep breath.
6:33 p.m.
It's all good.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou
Post a Comment
Read more

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversational skills .  As in
Post a Comment
Read more

Are we listening?

A child sits alone with a ripped worksheet packet on his desk. He appears to be singing or subvocalizing something though no one hears him. Or, perhaps they're ignoring him. The teacher stands at the front of the room teaching on the SmartBoard. The children follow along in their worksheets. Except the child sitting alone. He is in his own world. No one engages him and he engages no one. My heart aches for this child. He is physically and emotionally removed from the class. I ask him why his paper is ripped. (It's not an accidental rip.) He says he did that on a different day. When he had been frustrated about the work. He tells me that he sometimes sits by himself because the work is too hard for him. He later tells me that he sits by himself because the teacher thinks he talks too much during the lesson.  He says he does that because he wants to find out about the "lives of the other children". My first impulse is to rescue him from the wrongheade
10 comments
Read more