2nd 1st Day of School Woes and Reminiscing....

1.19.2021 was the second first day of school. We started this school year online due to the surge of COVID related deaths, hospital visitors, and illnesses...yet it's ironic that we have more deaths and transmissions NOW and yet we are opening up schools NOW. I'm seriously baffled. They say they don't know enough about children to know if they spread COVID-19, but a study done in September of 2020 in Europe (I'll find it later)  shows otherwise. 

So today starts the beginning of a new crazy year. We have ZERO prep time and enrichment time for students, and we are so grossly underfunded that me and my friends personally fund projects happening in my classroom. It hurts my heart to believe that this is the point at which many educators find themselves in. 

I became a teacher because I wanted to make a positive impact in the lives of the most vulnerable. As a youngster I had a challenging upbringing, I was a struggling reader and a second language learner. It wasn't until 6th grade that I had a teacher that got me excited about school and made me feel safe.  Mr. Gage Smith--He was the coolest teacher. 

I remember wishing so hard my fifth grade year sitting in Mr. Sellars room hoping that the next year I'd get Mr. Smith. I'd heard he was funny, fair, nice, and had class money. Let's be honest, I just had heard he was so cool, that I should want either Him or Mr. Hansford. There was something about Mr. Smith that made me feel safe, so I just wished on a lucky star that I'd get him because Mr. Hansford was really tall and kinda scared me. Back then I was this super quiet, shy, thing with a horrible hair cut, I don't think I really "blossomed" until....wait...maybe I'm blossoming now? LOL. Anyways, that SHY kid.

Lo and behold, when summer was over and we went to check the class rosters, I had been granted the holy grail of wishes! I remember being so excited. At the beginning of the year we had a design competition for the money, and my friend Morgan's dad made a wooden treasury box for the money to be stored in with a little lock. It was a 6th graders dream. I was even voted the treasurer a few times. This meant you got to keep the box under your desk, pay people for their work, collect fines, and look important. It was AH-MAY-ZING.... 6th grade was the year I discovered boys liked me, that I was super athletic, and even popped a ball during the annual 6th grade kickball tournament.  

Everyday we would walk the Mountain View Soccer Fields and do a few laps. Mr. Smith was currently trying to undergo weight loss. He'd joke, "Do you want me to be lean and mean, or fat and jolly?!"  I wanted him to be fat and jolly!  Eat whatever you want!  But somehow his wife always won the battle and didn't hear our 6th grader cries.  He wasn't ever really that mean--Teaching is a HARD JOB.  I always knew that, but did really KNOW that until I became a teacher.  Anyways, I digress....I became a teacher because I wanted to make a different in the lives of the most vulnerable in the most vulnerable situations and life circumstance. I wanted to be able to do for others, what noone was able to do for me, or at least until I became a 6th grader.

It's interesting to me that He's one of the reasons I felt so inspired to become a teacher, and that he's also one of the Helpers in my life. So many times I've reached out on social media asking for donations and help, and so many times he has offered his help.  Last week he send funds so that we can have water dispensers in the classroom because we don't have a drinking fountain fill station. There are simple little things that add up to a lot that makes the life of a teacher so much easier and I'm so grateful for the people in my life that constantly show up and support this career that I've chosen. 

People often tell me I didn't choose this career, but that teaching is a calling, and that it's called me. I don't know what I believe or know. What I do know is that I could do this job, career, calling, or whatever you want to call it without my tribe.  Thank you to the tribe of people who always have my back, to the strangers, loved ones, friends, and beautiful humans who see the value of children and help me enrich their lives. Today was a hard day.  The days to follow will be hard. But I know I can get through it because of amazing people like YOU.  Thank you for your smiles, your positive thoughts and kind words, thank you for supporting your own children so that their teachers' job load can be lightened. We all must be the change we wish to see in the world.

So here's a day in the life of a teacher:

8:00-8:30 Login to Zoom for online students, monitor students arriving to school, get them breakfast, get them cleaned up

8:30-8:45 Crew: Have them greet each other and share information about the day. MAKE SURE TO TAKE ATTENDANCE or your day will be interrupted with emails, texts, and/or phone calls/intercom to your room to do it! Then even when you take it by 9, the time they ask, they send an interrupting intercom to the entire school.

8:45-11:00 Teacher ELA. 

11:00-11:25 Transition kids to recess, monitor them outside for recess.

11:25-11:55 Transition them in from recess, help with recess issues, have them wash their hands, monitor lunch in the classroom.

11:55 Cleanup lunch

12:00-1:20 Teach math.

1:20- First wave of dismissals, have class start cleaning up

1:25- Second wave of dismissals, make sure space is clean and materials put away

1:30- Final wave of dismissals, reading intervention students stay

1:30-2:00 Have the reading intervention kids help you wipe down the classroom, because custodial duties continue to be a part of your job description, have them vacuum and make sure the space is organized.  Take them out for a mini recess. Sneak in a pee break if you can, if you've even had a chance to hydrate and need to pee at this point.

2:00-3:20 Teach reading intervention groups

3:20 Dismiss students and clean the room again.

3:30-4:00 PLAN AND PREP AS MUCH AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN, but usually it goes after hours.

Repeat Monday through Thursday.  

I mean, don't ask my opinion, but this seems pretty sustainable, right?

Good night for now. Just needed to share a few of these thoughts/ramblings because I rededicated myself to documenting the life of a teacher, especially now in this crazy pandemic.

Entheos Academy

I have been reading information about Entheos, a school I've applied at, and just finished reading their vision statement. It's almost embarrassing to admit, but as I was reading my eyes welled with tears. YES, it is true. But how could I not when I completely agree with the statement. I found myself nodding in agreement and screaming a mental, "Hallelujah!" At one point I jumped out of my chair, ran upstairs, and told my husband about what I was reading. He's thrilled that I am so excited about a particular school, and I can barely contain my excitement that they are interested in me. =))

I like that this school is an Epeditionary Learning school because the more I read about what that is, I'm finding that it is the type of learning that I encourage and the type of place I have been searching for. =D

entheosel.org

Thank You Teacher-Teacher!

I must admit that the application process is a little tedious. I completely understand the necessity of it, I'm just thankful that I live in the day and age when we have TECHNOLOGY! Have I mentioned that I LOVE TECHNOLGOY!? LOL. I do. And thankfully I was able to go to Teacher-Teacher and it made this process a lot easier and smoother.

Application Update:
So, as of right now I am continuing to apply for jobs that seem interesting. The future is looking bright and I am looking forward to all the new interesting things that will be happening to us due to possible changes. =)

Changing of Seasons...

I felt that my new background was more appropriate for this time in my life.

As the trees are getting prepared for the new and exciting changes that winter and spring will present itself with, I too must prepare for the changes that will happen with my career. I must accept that what will fall will fall and what will regrow will be something tremendously spectacular. I will allow God to lead me where I need to go now. May God bless us all and that we may all allow him to work miracles in our lives, no matter how scary or turbulent of a ride he may lead us down.

RIF (a.k.a. Reduction in Force)

I've been preparing myself for this day since last spring. Yet regardless of all the preparation, I feel that you can never fully prepare yourself to lose your job unless you already have a job lined-up, which I do not.

I guess what I mostly feel right now is anger and sadness. Yes, I understand that the economy is bad and that there somehow isn't funding for the most important thing in the world (Education), but seriously, how is there not funding for the future leaders of our world? This is a question that has kept me up countless nights. People say I will move on quickly and that moving away from Pahrump will be the best thing that could happen for me, yet I am still angry at the lawmakers who have done this to the children that I love and care about. I've poured my hard earned money back into my classroom and have found technology grants to give my students what I feel will prepare them for the 21st Century, AND I am enraged that this could be happening to the kids that have become my surrogate children. I worry about my students I have come to know and love. What about them!? Did the politicians who failed to fund their classes ever think about them? They are not just a number that needs to be balanced! They are real. They are just like us. AND they deserve to have an education that is equal to students in other states…yet how can they in a state that has bottomed out as the state with the least funding per pupil?!

My only hope is that the teachers who remain will have the strength and stamina to keep up with 30-45 students they will have in their classrooms. That they will somehow be able to help these students overcome their family/friend issues, build their character, stop classroom bullying, identify troubled students, identify students with learning disabilities, help below-level students reach on-level reading and math scores while challenging students with on-level or advanced scores, grade countless papers, tests, and essays for the two assignments per week for each subject: Spelling, Reading, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Health, plan/make differentiated activities for students that are engaging and interactive, and all the while ensure that students pass the CRT's for the No Child Left Behind Act.

I hope that somehow politicians will figure out that it is unwise to bankrupt the children that will one day be making the decisions that will affect us. Sadly, I'm sure that this thought hasn't crossed their minds.

And even though I'm sure politicians had the best intentions of not "leaving a child behind," they have now left behind an entire generation of learners. Shame on them! Shame on us for electing them...May we learn from our mistakes and make the future a brighter place to live.

Getting High Tech....

It has been a long time since I have blogged. So here goes--

I've gained and lost a lot of students, but I'm finally settling in on 21 students. AHHH...what a wonderful number. 20 or 22 would be better, then we'd be even. Now I have to be someones buddy or hope that if someone is absent, it's an odd number gone.

The Smart Board technology has been so much fun to use, and at the same time overwhelming. I'm wishing I had more time in the day to prepare lessons and use it for every subject, but I've haven't had enough time. I'm thinking that next year will be easier because I can accumulate lessons over the summer. Geez....teachers never stop working!

I've gotten more technology since then. GOSH AM I LUCKY! Our whole fifth grade just received IPod Touches! It is really so fabulous. I have to spend a lot of time for class on it though. I have class for the IPods and the Smart Board. I'm really glad, it's been enlightening, and draining at the same time. I'm learning a lot and have discovered that I want to get my masters in Technology. I LOVE TECHNOLOGY! It excites me! It makes me interested in what I'm doing. It gets me a LITTLE crazy. Or maybe A LOT? I'm learning so much and it makes me feel like my brain is exploding with information. I like that. But most of all, it helps me reach my students. My students are so excited that they have been behaving soooo great! With the exception of one incident today at the end of the day, they have been doing great. It makes me happy to think that a little machine the size of my hand is capable of so much good. =)

Today a student from another class told me in awe, "Mrs. Jones, your class is so high tech." He continued to tell me the differences between his class and my class and it made me laugh. I love technology. My students love technology. And this visitor in my class could tell just HOW much I love technology, and I LOVE THAT. =D I hope that one day all classes can be "high tech" and full of resources that will get kids even more excited about learning and help teach them the skills they will need in the 21st Century.

Thankful for Christmas Break

Wow, Christmas break could not come at a better time. Although I had time off to be with my husband I am feeling drained. In fact, I'm feeling like I should change my career. I have never felt so underappreciated. It's such a strange feeling, but as a teacher you would think you would get a Christmas greeting or thank you, etc. but this year is the first year I felt a little jipped by my students. I was speaking with a friend who is also a teacher and she informed me that that's the reason she no longer bought her students presents. I had not realized that fifth grade was such a difference. In third grade I felt so appreciated by my students and their parents. Anyhow, this year, not so much.