Today is a very long day for teachers in our district... Parent Teacher conferences begin. The students are here until 11:40 and then conferences begin at 3. I told myself I would come in a little later today (I am usually here no later than 7) since I will be here until 8 tonight. I was here by 7:05, such a creature of habit! My 3-8 time slots today are back to back to back, non stop conferences. It never fails that the parents of these really bright kiddos love to come in and chat about their children. While it stresses me a bit (I am not really a big small talker) I do enjoy getting to know the parents and seeing the similarities and differences in family members.
3 best things about this very long day... #1 - Understanding a little bit more about what makes these students tick. Not surprisingly, some of their quirks are learned/inherited by those they love! #2 - The back to back to back of my conferences make the time go by very quickly. #3 - I am not anticipating any issues! My students are pretty awesome and fairly enthusiastic so these conferences usually go very smooth.
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This morning on Facebook I saw a post that has stuck in my head all day. With so many walkouts taking place in so many schools across the country it was encouraging students to no Walkout, but to WALK UP:
Walk UP to the kids who sits along and ask him to join your group, Walk UP to the kid who never has a voluntary partnew and offer to be hers, Walk UP to your teachers and thank them, Walk UP to someone and just be nice!!! As someone who teaches the gifted; the sometimes "weird" and quirky (which I LOVE), my heart breaks when I think what may be in store for some of them in the coming years. Some struggle with social cues, or just fitting in, some just want everyone to know that they know EVERYTHING, but they are just kids who need friends like everyone else. Being an adult is tough, being a kid should be easy. Sometimes my heart just hurts. Today by best things are: #1 The smile of a 6th grader who never smiles (not one of my students, just one I notice and know she does not have much to smile about) #2 The laughter of my colleagues as a very funny story got passed around today (no gossip, just a teacher sharing her mistake) #3 7 more days of school until Spring Break!!!! My days of solitude are over... my husband has returned from his boy's weekend plus in Vegas. The house is a mess again, he has literally left a trail of junk from his suitcase from the living room to the bedroom and then back to the laundry room. It will take about a week for him to totally unpack from his 5 days and put everything away. Inside I am dying just a little bit and want to scream but it does not phase him at all. At 46 he now needs an extra 2 days off of work to recover from the fun. He sleeps about 14 hours each night and spends the day watching TV, excuse me, "relaxing". Again he did not come back a big winner, but that doesn't really matter. As he complained about his gambling losses I just kept asking "Did you have fun?". He did not take more than he could afford to lose and I never expect a big win. He spent 5 days with his best buddies, trying to act like they are 25 and just having fun. That is all that matters.
So today my best things are... 1. 5 days apart are nice... and needed... and just long enough for me to miss him. 2. Listening to him sleep so soundly this morning (makes me jealous) because I know that tomorrow the same sound will make me want to suffocate him! 3. Feeling missed. We are not romantics or real gushy or cheesy with each other, and as much as we enjoy our time apart, we also really miss each other. I'm trying to remember this feeling because in a day or two it will be gone! |