FLEXIBILITY

Flexibility is key for teachers. And, not always the easiest for me. But, I was able to roll with the punches this week.

It turned out to be a much shorter week at school, but somehow longer feeling week than I had planned.

My grandfather passed away Monday. So, the family went down to Wilmington for the day Tuesday for the viewing. I was at school on Wednesday, which was a half day for students and included meetings for teachers until 4pm. Thursday was the funeral. And, Friday was a normal day for this worn out teacher.

After we got the call Monday morning, I made all the necessary calls and sub plans for Tuesday since I was going to have to be out. And, my colleagues could not have been more supportive and understanding. They told me not to worry about anything! During my last three semesters of college, absences were strongly frowned upon unless there was an absolute emergency. For example, I might have had one absence (if I was lucky) in some classes that I could use at my leisure, but any after that led to a penalty in my grade. Now, I understand this was an emergency, but the little miss goody goody in me still wants to follow all of the rules no matter what, which for me means never/rarely missing work. I am thankful that App turned us into reliable, responsible teachers with this no absence pressure, but am also thankful that it wasn't an issue for me to take two full days off so early in the year and my career (not that anyone anywhere else would have had a problem with my absence...I just always feel bad if, in my head, I feel like I'm doing something wrong).

Wednesday was a half day. And, the fall fundraiser kick off. I saw each class for less than 20 minutes. However, I needed to give them a little instruction so they would know how to do the work I was leaving for them on Thursday. So, I squeezed a lesson with notes in 15-20 minutes. It was crazy rushed, but they seemed to get it...especially since it is a concept that isn't new to them. I'm no superwoman teacher who can teach brand new material in less than 20 minutes and have 95 students understand it be able to apply it on their own, without me the next day. Then, after the kids left at 12:30, we had meetings until 4pm. I decided I don't like early release days as much as I did as a student. :) It was a very productive afternoon though with some entertainment thrown in to keep us going.

Thursday I was out. And, overall, my students did very well with the sub. Funeral days are very long and exhausting. We had a steady flow of people from 10:30 am until I went to bed at 8:45 pm. I am so grateful for the love and support we had from so many family and friends! We are so blessed! I didn't realize how exhausting those days can be though. And, I crashed quickly at 8:45. A good night's rest was just what I needed for today.

Today we played catch up in all of my classes. We went over a quiz from last Friday. I gave students their missing assignments because I found out on Wednesday that progress reports go out next week.(Yikes!) We finished notes from last Thursday. And, went over notes again from this past Wednesday. I should be able to get back on track next week, but they ain't kidding when they say you need to be flexible. I had such great plans for this week prepared last Thursday and didn't get to use any of them. Oh well! I'll be ready for these lessons next year!

On the agenda for this weekend:
Go through all the work from this week that students turned in
Get planned for next week
Get organized...again

On the agenda for next week:
Teach an elective class for the week (aka my planning will go from 90 minutes to 45 for this week)
Have morning duty
Two faculty meetings
Progress reports
Introduce a new concept...that I don't even have my head wrapped around yet
Join the gym

It will be a busy and full week! I plan on getting LOTS of rest this weekend as I prepare for it and will probably crash next weekend! :) Here we go!

Quotes of the Week:
When a student realized I was back today:
"Ms. Hemric, you're not going to be out anymore are you? Because I don't like it when you're not here."
When sharing his good thing for the day:
Student: "I'm going to see 'Power Rangers on Ice' this weekend!"
Me: "Are you really?"
Student: "No. I just thought it would be funny."
Where do they come up with this stuff??