Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Thankful

Hard to believe that only four months ago, when a friend asked me, "Do you ever think you'll return to the classroom?'  I quickly, without a thought, responded with, "Probably not!"

Three months ago, on my way home after visiting with a friend, I picked up a substitute teacher packet--it took me a month to fill it in and gather all the necessary information and update my resume.

Two months ago, I hit "submit" on my online application, and delivered the remaining documents to HR.

Last month I interviewed and was hired for what I thought was a long-term sub position.  If I had started this position only two working days later, it would have been a long-term position, but it wasn't.  A big jump in pay, as well as full benefits, and all the responsibilities!

As I stated post, I'm tired.  I often come home, eat dinner and go straight to bed.  The students drain me.

During our language rotations, the students were working in various groups, while I pulled students to my table to help cut up vegetables (thanks to my Pampered Cheif chopper, no fingers were near sharp objects) the principal entered our classroom.  After chatting with various groups, she walked over to my table, asked the student what we are doing, he proudly announced, "We're making STONE SOUP!"  She looked at me and simply said, "Amazing!"  and walked out!

I LOVE this little group of kids.  It both breaks and warms my heart when various school staff will stand at my door and just watch the class and share comments with me such as, "I love watching your class and seeing that the chaos is gone and they learning and laughing."

I'm so thankful that things have changed so much from August when I never EVER thought I'd ever return to the classroom, and now, though always tired, I have the BEST class in the world!

2 comments:

Gracey is not my name.... said...

I am so happy for you! I love being a teacher, it really is a calling and I've been lucky in that I've really not had to deal with nightmare situations. There have been some tough times, but nothing that made me want to stop teaching. Today I posted about how grateful I am for my students - I looped with 17 of them. And I am blessed that I have many former students that keep in touch. I wish for you a wonderful remaining school year! We made Stone Soup last year!

FiberJewels said...

In my 21 years of teaching, I have been lucky. Until my last year in the classroom when the principal threw me under the bus for an error he made, which lead me to call the union for support and a meeting. The principal retaliated on me through my evaluation. I had always received outstanding evaluations (including from him). In August he thought highly enough of me that he requested I mentor the new Behavior Support teacher, and by my evaluation the following spring, he rated me so low I would have been on a plan of improvement!