teaching

9 days of school left! Woohoo!!

Last year at this time, despite the fact that I loved my kids, I was READY for summer break. I felt like I'd done pretty much all I could with my kids and taught them what they needed to learn to go to high school. This year, while it's been l-o-n-g in many respects, has absolutely flown by for me in terms of actual time to teach the kids. There's been a lot of discipline issues in the school, for various reasons, which has made it infinitely harder for everyone to teach, even the really awesome teachers. And there have just been a lot of interruptions, because our school lost a lot of kids this year and, consequently, a lot of money. And those two things combined have brought numerous challenges.

And so, as the year comes to a close, I feel like I'm squeezing everything I possibly can into these last few days. At the same time, I'm trying not to get stressed about getting everything done that I feel like we need to, because I know that'll just make us end the year on a bad note. :) And, as much as I want to teach them as much as I can, I also want to enjoy them and continue to build up their confidence and let them know how much we believe in them as they head off to high school.

And, just as I'm trying to end the year with my students on a good note, I'm also going to try really hard to live out these last 2 weeks at my school in a positive way, because I'm at a school that, currently, is filled with negative energy. Everyone, and I literally mean everyone, is frustrated. People feel like they're being mistreated, not supported, not listened to and on and on. And, while most of it is justified, which makes it SO easy to join in the complaining, I know that's not what we're called to. And so, I'm committing to be different these last two weeks and try to bring some positive energy to the conversations--and to maybe bring some hope that next year can be better.

And the last couple of days, God has been reminding me of the good going on at our school, which I SO needed to be reminded of.

Just to name a couple--

We had an awesome talent show this year, which showcased a lot of our students and brought in tons of people from the neighborhood--and which was a total group effort between teachers and students (and even some administrators! :)).

My ESL pull out kids are putting on a little reading program for the teachers at our school and their parents. They wrote out invitations to everyone and picked out their favorite books to read in the program. And this last week, they've been diligently practicing their reading--I love it. They're nervous, but excited, and I'm just thankful we have teachers who will come and help them celebrate their progress this year and encourage them to keep working.


And so, while there a lot of things that need improving for our school to be the place that I really believe it has the potential to be, I am reminded of how much I do love the kids that go here, and that's what I'm choosing to focus on these last few days!