Third Week of March

MONDAY
Resolution Report: Last week, I did a fantastic job on my in-classroom coffee resolution. Hurray for me!
Five days until spring break, and I feel like I have far too much to get done before then. It’s like planning a vacation and having a mile-long to-do list of things that have to be done BEFORE you can go on the trip. I have to grade papers and return them so kids can fix things over the break. I have to print and put together a packet of all of the transfer orders I've gotten from teachers throughout the district because we're meeting next week to go over them. I have to prepare the homework papers for my kids because I know it will be easier for them if they have a worksheet. I have to clean off my desk... Has anyone seen my brain?


TUESDAY
We had a surprisingly productive staff meeting this morning. We discussed PBS and how to reinforce student behavior expectations for the rest of the school year. I was impressed with the thoughts shared by various staff members, and we ended up with some great ideas. Mostly, I was thankful to be working in a school where staff input is welcomed, not squelched. We have a dance/activity hour on Friday of this week, and our principal said he was going to start pulling that privilege from kids who are failing multiple classes or who can’t manage their behavior successfully this week. Last year at this time, the principal at my old school was refusing to allow staff questions at staff meetings and telling us that kids who are failing classes or missing assignments need to dance more than anyone. I feel like I’ve stumbled into an alternate universe. It's all so weird and wonderful...


WEDNESDAY
Three days until spring break, and I’m losing it. This morning, I opened up Esis to take homeroom attendance and then started checking my seating chart. I ended up marking 11 kids absent before I realized that I was using my 1st period attendance list instead of homeroom. My mental faculties might not survive the next three days.

This afternoon, at our monthly union rep meeting, our union president stood up and reminded people to email her or the two grievance chairs (an elementary lit coach and myself) if they were concerned about transfers or placements for next year. Then she admitted to the entire rep council (about 30 people) that if the emails she receives from members are nasty, she doesn’t answer them. Instead, she forwards them to me and expects me to deal with them. It’s totally true; in fact, the treasurer stood up at that point and said, “Yeah, if members are calm, I send them to their building reps. If they’re upset, I send them to you,” and pointed at me. I guess I’m okay with this. Since I can manage to deliver a healthy mix of gentle tone and harsh reality all at once, it’s a logical part of my job. What occurred to me in the meeting was that this could explain why I’m always so much more tired than the rest of the officers. I’m the one dealing with all of the crazies!


THURSDAY
Two days until spring break, and I think I’m going crazy. (Wait... I think I've said that before. There seems to be a theme developing in my week.)

Hurray! The rest of the staff is just as crazy as I am! Today, the principal walked up to me in the hallway and handed me a sticky note with a smiley face and the number 28 on it. When I looked confused, he grinned and told me that was the number of hours left until we were free for spring break. (I had to calculate it… he’s counting down to 3 p.m. on Friday.)


FRIDAY
What an insane day!
I stopped at a different Starbucks this morning and actually went inside to buy coffee. I ordered my typical drink: triple grande, nonfat, extra hot, vanilla latte. When the man at the counter repeated my order back to me, he left out the triple part. I think my hands started shaking. PLEASE don’t deprive me of extra espresso shots on the craziest day of the month!

Dance duty was interesting. I was assigned to monitor things right outside the gym door, and to be available to run errands to various other activity locations as needed. It wasn’t really needed. Everything went fine, and then it was time for the kids to go home. Freedom… well, not really. I had to go back and clean up my room, pack a bag with all of my spring break work in it, and put some grades in so parents don’t panic about GPAs in the next week. Then I drove out to Clackamas for a haircut. I like haircuts; my hair salon lady is super funny and really nice. (I don’t think I’m supposed to call her a hair salon lady. My stylist? That’s not quite right. My hair care expert? I don’t know.) Anyway, she’s hilarious. She said she wanted to try something different, so she blow-dried and straightened my hair. It looked lovely, of course, but it’s not something for which I would ever sacrifice 30 minutes of morning sleep. She knows that; she just wanted to play with my hair, apparently.

And now I’m on vacation… tune in next week for a spring break update. If all goes according to plan, I'll be doing absolutely nothing!