My good friend and fellow teacher, Trisha, led faculty meeting today and played the titular song of this post to inspire us to "go the distance" for our students. It has since been stuck in my head all day and I have a desperate desire to watch a ton of Disney movies.
 |
| Poem on the door of my advisory room. Made me smile! |
I have the chance to get an extra hour of sleep tonight by going to bed now, so I am going to do a few quick bullet points from today. Bear with me.
- My day started happily as a fellow teacher, Alphonse, surprised us all with donuts to congratulate us on the start of our second week. This was quickly followed up by a surprise gift of Double Stuf Oreos from my Secret Buddy. Between these, my personal stash and the Mint Oreos I got from Megan on Friday, I'm Oreo'd out now!
- My classes went extraordinarily well today. The kids even in my harder class seemed to really respond to the warm demander presence I channeled. I've also started sneaking pictures of the kids from when they were in 5th grade into the slideshows, which they equally love and hate. We tackled the issue of conflict today, relating it to the Confederate Flag debates and Caitlyn Jenner's transition, and the kids handled the topics maturely and with eagerness to learn and share their thoughts.
 |
| A Photoshopped magazine cover from tomorrow's slideshow featuring my kids as 5th graders! (And me looking gross) |
- I had three students say my class is their favorite. One of them, Michelle, asked if she could skip all her other classes and just stay in mine all day. It was a nice confidence booster.
- Billy, Braden and I made impromptu plans to visit Michael, Alexa and Jordan in LA this weekend for the 4th of July. I was going to stay here originally, but a lot of my coworkers are going home for the weekend, and going along with my promise to myself never to turn down an adventure, I couldn't pass it up. I'm a little worried about getting all my work done to prepare for this, but I'm equally excited for a spontaneous road trip!
 |
| My advisee Eric does this before our advisory period every day. He hangs himself from his backpack on a hook outside our room. |
- My advisory period today was super fun, though I worry a little that I have not set a rigid enough structure for that time each day. That said, after a long day of classes, it's nice for my kids to be able to kick back, do a little homework, listen to some music, doodle, make origami and generally decompress. Plus, they're all good kids and even when they get rowdy, they never do anything deliberately bad. In addition, I got an anonymous shoutout from one of my advisees (I think it was Janice) thanking me for being a hilarious advisor. I also was complemented by Matt who said he wants to channel my fun energy into his advisory as well. It was really touching to find out my peers are looking up to me as well.
- After school, the teachers stayed late for a Back-to-School Bash in which our students' parents got to meet us, learn about our curriculums, see the school building and ask us any questions or present concerns for their kids. I was exhausted leading into it, but it was actually an amazing event and a very insightful way to learn which of my students tend to struggle in writing, and in what capacities. I feel moving forward like I now have a clearer vision of the sort of differentiated instruction I need to give to many of my students to best serve them individually.
- After this, I came home, ate some Oreos, worked on my slides for tomorrow, and here I am heading off to bed.
Sorry today's post was so boring. If it's any consolation, I had a really great day! I'm just pretty sunburned from Pride and it's left me feeling drained, so a little extra sleep tonight will do me some good. As I doze off this evening, I reflect on the same inspiring words with which I started my day. Through every day here in California, the good and bad ones, and in life in general for that matter, I can and will power through. "I won't accept defeat. It's an uphill slope, but I won't lose hope 'til I go the distance and my journey is complete."
 |
| Every smile will be worth my while... |
Until next time,
Nate
No comments:
Post a Comment