Weekend

I should have posted on Saturday. I spent several hours at the Penguin Plunge as my teammate and 21 of our 6th graders jumped in the 37 degree water. I took pictures. Like this one...

Those splashes are the kids running in... and back out very quickly!
Today we got Alexa's homework underway. I called it homework only because she is always complaining about wanting homework. I can't explain that. Anyhow her 100th day of school is Tuesday. To celebrate the teacher asked the kids to bring in 100 eatable items that fit into a zip lock bag. We choose 100 bunny crackers.

Apparently they will be have a feast to celebrate in the afternoon. Alexa counted out ten piles of ten.

All set!

We also headed to the library today. This was a sad trip as our library's children's section was damaged a few weeks back by a burst pipe. We hadn't been since. Chloe was VERY sad to find the whole chapter book section closed off. She was so looking forwadr to stocking up on new reading material. She literally had tears rolling down her face. We were able to find some things for her and she cheered up a bit.

The librarian hopes to have it open again a few more weeks. They lost a lot of books though so we know who we want to donate some money to this year.

Bringing Your Work Home

When your mom is a teacher there are certain things that happen to you that don't for other kids. You have to get up much earlier than any of your classmates because your mom needs to be at work so early. Your parent conference is always either before or after the actual conference days because your mom is having conferences on those days too. She is always off with you on vacations and snow days. No matter how much you try to convince her she actually can tell you no, that really isn't a closed syllable word and she is right. And don't even think about trying to get out of doing your homework, trust me your doing it. You also get to be guinea pigs for projects she wants to do in her own class.

Here is the lesson plan, my science class is studying geology. As an interactive lab the kids will practice taking core samples just as real geologist do. How do we practice such a skill? Well, with cupcakes naturally. The cake batter is divided into three different bowls and different colors of food coloring is added to each bowl. A little of each color is then placed in each cupcake wrapper to bake with a multicolored layered effect. The cupcakes are then frosted (we choose to make that green... you know grass). Each child gets a straw to press into the cupcake and get a sample. They sketch their findings and make predictions about what the inside of the cupcake looks like. As with all hands on activities to be done with a class of 26, it is helpful to test it to make sure it works. Bring in my test subjects...

As you can see they took their work very seriously.

And in the end it was a success!

Now tomorrow I just need to do that all over again. Hopefully they as excited as Chloe in doing 6th grade science.

Struggles

There is a funeral today. I am sure there are a lot of them on any given day, but this one is for a 17 year old boy. He committed suicide. My memories of him are as a 10, 11, and 12 year old boy. I knew him as a student in my 5th and 6th grade class. Like most of my students he will remain frozen in my memory at that age. I will remember him as the quiet little guy. I could get him to smile but quietly. Every year at the end of the school year I predict the future for the kids that are leaving my class to move on to the next grade. The kids love this. They beg for it every year. I have no idea what I wrote on this child's certificate. I do know that when I read in his obituary that he was at the technical school now and working at a part time job at the mall. It  fit with the kid I knew. He was a hard worker and would have been out there earning a way in the world. The community story is that his suicide was a result of his girlfriend breaking up with him. I don't know if that is true or not, but I know at 17 it is hard to know that things that often seem unbearable will heal with enough time.

This year of teaching has been particularly hard for me. I am bound by confidentiality not to talk about it, which has been extremely difficult. Since I live alone with my girls it weighs heavily on me not to have someone to talk to. There are the usual academic and behavioral challenges that come with any class, but this group has an emotional component that I have not had before. I have been overwhelmed by their need and their heartbreak, and that of some of their families as well. I worry for their future as much as I do for my own in this coming year that promises upheaval and change.

I struggled in writing this as I feel such a connection with anyone's pain. I can only imagine the anguish his parents must be feeling. I am constantly reminded that no matter what it might look like on the outside; we really don't know what another person might be going through. Classrooms are microcosms of the world we live in and there is so much more to each one of them than a person can tell by looking at them.

A Cup of Tea

I have been reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I am really enjoying it. It is a wonderfully powerful reminder of how one ordinary person can make a huge difference in this world. As a teacher, I am also blown away by children and communities who will sacrifice everything and work amazingly hard for the chance for their children to receive an education. I have seen so many children in this country that care so little for the opportunities that they have. It is inspiring to see other places where that is not the case.

I was reading last night and came upon this story that was told to the Greg Mortenson about Balti custom. I love to read about real people and real experiences. The wide variety of religions and customs in this world fascinate me to no end. So I wanted to share it here. I believe we can all learn a lot about life from all kinds of people. This story focuses on the small, isolated, villages in the mountains of Pakistan and the Muslim religion. Neither of which I know much about and I have been finding them fascinating.

When the porcelain bowls of scalding butter tea steamed in their hands, Haji Ali spoke. "If you want to thrive in Balistan you must respect our ways," Haji said, blowing on his bowl. "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die," he said, laying his hand warmly on Morenson's own. "Dr. Greg, you must take time to share three cups of tea."  

I read this passage several times. I love it. What an amazing way to live. It is the sweetest, most simple idea; share what you have, take time to get to know one another, and slow down.

The Gender Difference

I received a sneak peek of differences between the genders Thursday. It came in the middle of teaching a spelling lesson. It was one of those moments when you are teaching and you really wish there was another adult in the room to share the moment with you. My class and I were correcting the unit that they had just completed. One section was working on vocabulary and asked them to use the thesaurus in the back on the book to help them choose words that were more accurate and descriptive. There were eight sentences, and each sentence contained the word "smart" underlined. They were to choose another word from the box above the sentences to replace "smart" in each sentence. We were moving along very nicely until we came to this sentence: My friend Kate is very smart about people's inner feelings.

I called on a student and he responded, "Quick-witted."

I looked at him a little curiously and said, "No, that wouldn't really fit there."

I called on another student. She answered, "Insightful."

I responded that yes, that was the best choice for that sentence. Well, hands went up like crazy. It turns out that every single boy in that class chose quick-witted to replace smart when talking about someone's inner feelings. Every single girl chose insightful. I started to laugh. I said, "Guys it is someone's feelings. How can they be quick-witted about someone's feelings?" They looked at me like I was crazy.

Now I am not saying that this explains every difference that women and men might have in the art of communication, but it is pretty telling is it not?

Mommy School

Chloe was home sick today. Thankfully a quick trip to the doctor's got her back on the antibiotics that have her feeling much better...again. We had a good day and since she was feeling pretty good we had Mommy School. It just doesn't pay to have a mom as a teacher. She was reading me stories, writing her own stories, and playing math games. Then there was science class...

We re-potted a couple of plants and then went on to plant some seeds. I found this indoor herb garden someone had given me years ago. I have no idea if the seeds will even grow, but she had fun planting them.

Who knows maybe we will have fresh basil and cilantro growing inside this winter.

Obsessively Grateful

OK so we all know I am a little on the neurotic side. If you don't, I am so sorry to blow your image of my cool, calm, and collected demeanor. Hang on to graceful... I am not really graceful in any way... but if you we mistaken enough to think I was cool, calm, and collected perhaps you could hang on to the illusion of graceful too. You know just to raise my image a little. At any rate there in the smallest chance that I tend towards the obsessive worrying type.

I have had a couple of things hanging over my head through this weekend that have caused me rather a large amount of stress. I would like to offer my humblest of gratitude to the fact that all of these things came through for me in the end.

Grateful item number one: I have been relying on Grammie Sharon to drive all the way here from New Hampshire on her days off to help me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays get Chloe to school safely. For the next two weeks she decided to... you know... have a life of her own and travel and work and wont be able to be here. I called several babysitters and wasn't able to reach any one last week to do anything more than leave a message. I was beginning to get really worried about how I was going to work this. I have to leave for work at 7 AM and Chloe can't be at school till 8:10. Plus on the 23rd Alexa's daycare is closed completely, and I was trying to find a sitter for her all day. I had to take three days off last week with Chloe being so sick so I really was feeling overwhelmed about how I was going to get us all where we needed to be safely. Well, last night one of my sitters came through for me and called to apologize for forgetting to get back to me, but said she could do all four days I need including being with Alexa all day. The girls love her as a sitter and are excited to see her. I was so relieved and amazed at how somehow these things always seem to fall into place.

Grateful item number two: This weekend I received a very bizarre letter in the mail from Allstate Insurance. I have both my car and home insurance through them. The letter was a form one and wasn't clear but mentioned paying my unpaid balance and interest being earned on the premium. I was immediately alarmed. I had records of paying my car insurance in full several months ago and I escrow my house insurance as part of my monthly mortgage payment. My records from the mortgage company showed the premium being paid in full back in September. I am sure I had dreams of home eviction last night (I didn't say my worries were logical). I got a hold of my agent today at lunch to find out that the letter was just because they wanted to tell me about a .20 credit on my account. The form letter just goes out indicating any irregular activity on the account. I thanked him for the information and obviously spent the rest of my lunch planning how to spend my big bonus.

Grateful item number three (still hanging in there?): This is a big one. I am up for license renewal this year for my teaching licence. In this state you have to establish goals that you will work on over the course of seven years and then present your portfolio to the standards board proving that you have done what you said you would. Clearly this had all the markings of something I would dwell, fret, and obsess about. I mean we are talking about my job here. The way I feed, cloth, and provide housing for my children (of course now they get to split that .20 credit into their savings accounts, but I didn't know that then). I have been stressed about this for months. I have been stressed even when others told me not to stress. (Not stress! It is what I do! and I do it so well!) Well, this afternoon was my portfolio presentation. Scheduled for 3:30. I left as soon after work as I could to make sure I was there on time. I made sure to have my big giant binder of evidence with me...

The drive over I was rapidly changing radio stations (because you know when I am nervous I can't settle or find anything that will hold my attention for long). I hit on one song. It is an older song and I haven't heard it for a while. It is a song that always reminded my of my dad. There is a line in it where the guy is talking to his daughter. He is teaching her to drive and he tells her to "sit up girl you are doing just fine." That is something my dad would have said to me, and he was right I was going to do just fine. And I did. My presentation was just fine, and at the end the woman gave me this...

people are good. Chocolate is great.

The process of looking at what I have been doing for the past seven years was interesting. It has made me do a lot of thinking lately. I couldn't believe it had been 7 years. It has made me think a lot about what I really want to do with the next seven. I don't know what it will be, but it has made me start to do some preliminary Internet searches over the last few months. It has got me thinking, and right now that feels like a pretty powerful thing. So thank you world for continuing to foster my belief that if we put good energy out in the world good things will come back.

Distractions

There are four times a year when my stress level reaches a higher state than it normally is. It is shocking to imagine since I am normally juggling about twelve plates in the air just to survive, but there are times when it is worse. Next week Friday is the close of the marking period. That means a lot of extra work to average grades and fill out report cards. I brought home a lot of grading this weekend to make sure that I have as much graded ahead of time as possible to try to make the process as smooth as possible.

It gets a little tricky to balance the whole parenting/ work thing though. That led me to make an investment. Call it a peace and quite investment. It has worked well. I was able to grade an entire pile of writing journals. The trick? Two buckets of stickers.

Look at those faces. Totally fixated on creating. As long as you don't mind your entire kitchen table being buried in sticker backing your guaranteed a chunk of time.

August is Bitter Sweet

Hollywood often remakes reality and makes in not so much reality anymore. I always grit my teeth when I watch a movie where an actor/actress plays the role of a teacher. Every single time the teacher enters the classroom for the first time on the first day of school the class is completely set up. The desks are all arranged, the walls are decorated, the students have books...etc. I don't know what type of custodial staff they think we have, but it just doesn't work that way.

The girls are spending the next two nights with their dad. So I decided (after getting in a 7 mile solo run in) to go into work to start getting ready for the school year. My room was such a disaster. This is my 9th year in this building and it will be my 4th classroom. I walked in to find everything: student desks, teachers desks (there were two of those), chairs (there were 50- how many kids do they think are going in there?), bookshelf and tables all in the middle of the floor stacked on top of one another. I spent three hours moving furniture. It is finally to the point where all the furniture is in place, but I will need to go back in tomorrow to work on unpacking supplies and putting things up on the walls. Today and tomorrow are the best time to do it while the girls are off. They like to go to my room, but often end up taking out all kinds of things and it makes twice the work.

I think the Hollywood version of teaching drives me nuts because it short changes all those hours we put in before the kids even enter the building. My arms are going to be sore in the morning!

A Day With Grammie

I had to go to work today. I spent the day with my teammates organizing curriculum and spelling groups. I do not have daycare for the girls over the summer. I am the daycare. So in order to attend the meeting I arranged for Grammie Sharon to come spend the day with the girls. It is always interesting to come home after being gone all day and see what the girls have been up to. It was even more interesting to see that they had use the camera to take pictures while I was gone. So what follows is the photo evidence of a day with Grammie Sharon.

Now Grammie is known for her picture taking. She uses actual film in her camera. She gets some wonderful shots. It is thanks to her that I have actual pictures of myself with my girls! However apparently Alexa felt that we needed some pictures of Grammie too...

Flowers and the beauty of sarcasm

So I got to work today and readied myself for the 7:55 onslaught that results from the ever so charming announcement of, "All students please report to your classrooms." Now today is special, different, unique.. you get the idea... today is the last day of school (for students). Which means they hit the classroom door with more than a little gusto. It also means that some of them arrive bearing presents. This is always a sweet gesture from parents and children to say thank you for all the effort you put in to the job of teaching their child. Some children, of course, require a little more effort than others.

Now one of my students, a sixth grade boy, arrived carrying flowers. He thrust the bouquet at me and announced, "Here Ms. Galyean, it wasn't my idea."

I should pause here and tell you that for those of you who don't know me, (can't imagine why you would read this if you don't, but I digress) I am a sarcastic wise ass. My students know this and, quite frankly, it is part of my classroom management. It keeps their attention and keeps them on their toes. That said I could not let this moment pass by. I placed my hand on my heart, closed my eyes, and said, "Well, let me just take a moment to let those heart felt words sink in. Be still my heart with the overwhelming joy that has been our two years together." We went on to have what I affectionately call our teachable moments where I give them pointers on etiquette. Oh yeah they love that stuff- you can just imagine.

The day did progress rather uneventfully. Leaving me with a little energy when I got home for a short run. I decided to stop at the end and sit on the rocks at Waterfront Park and enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. I haven't run much over the last few weeks. Just a few miles here and there. That is pretty normal for me after a race. I cut it back quite a bit. I have run enough marathons to know that even though my sore muscles go away; I still have deep tissue healing to do. I will begin my regular running this weekend.

With next week being the first week of summer vacation it also means running with the jogger. Summer means almost full time parenting for me 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In order to get a run in I need to use my double jogger. I mentioned this to the girls a few days a ago. I asked Chloe if she made sure not to grow at all so I wouldn't have to push anymore weight this year. She looked at me and said, "Mommy that's sarcasm."

Ah maybe.

Temporary Fame

There is one brief period of time in the year where if I squint just right I can almost imagine what it would be like to be famous. My school mails letters home towards the end of each school year letting kids know who their teacher will be next year. This year they mailed them home last Thursday which means kids received them over the weekend. For the last few days I have been walking through the halls so whispers of , "I think that's her.... That's Ms. Galyean..." Every time I pass a 4th grade class.

I have to admit it is kind of cool. I mean when else do people get excited to see me? On the other hand it puts me at a decided disadvantage as I really have not a clue who they are. I have seen the list and all, but the names don't mean anything. And trust me if the names do mean something. It isn't usually in a good way. It is usually in an oh-please-don't-let-me-get-that-one way. I have taken to calling them all sweetie, so they don't get sad that I don't know them.

Still it is cool though. You know, I am a public school teacher, so I have to enjoy the small things. There is only so much joy you can find in the recycled art projects they make you in art class. Trust me- no matter what they do to it- a toilet paper tube is still a toilet paper tube. And
you better just pray those art teachers pull that unit out in May, or your stuck with that thing cluttering up you classroom for months!

The Teacher's Work is Never Done

I have been a teacher for twelve years now. Sometimes that amazes me because I can't picture how long it has been. My first class of 5th graders are done with college now. In my mind they are still 10 and 11. It is crazy.

Some people have a vision of teachers having the cushy job with summers off. Goodness knows I have put up with my share of razzing when someone finds out what I do for a living. It is usually pointless to try to correct them that the extra hours during the school year average it all out.


There is another week left of school. This means that there are papers to be graded, grades to be averaged, report cards done, and you still have to teach them for the next week. With that in mind I want to point out that tonight I have brought home reading journals and essays to grade. Before I can get to that, I am traveling back to school to deliver speeches for two of my former students who are graduating eighth graders. They asked me to deliver the speech at their eighth grade dinner. I am glad to be asked. It means whatever I did for those two years they were in my room; they left and felt a positive connection. So I will travel the 30 minute drive back to work deliver the speeches, drive home, have my own kids dropped off from dinner with dad, put my own children to bed, pack lunches for tomorrow, and then sit down to grade. Not sure when my day will end, but tomorrow I will start my day again at 5 AM.

I mention all this because when I am sitting on the beach this summer on a Wednesday morning. I earned my time off.