This post serves a dual purpose: 1) celebrating the week with Ruth Ayres’ Celebration link up and 2) the Slice of Life Challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers. Thanks to Ruth,, Stacey, Betsy, Anna, Tara, Beth, and Dana for sponsoring these opportunities.
One. By this time every year things start to snowball. The anticipation of approaching “end points” are all of a sudden here. One of those endings, Open House, is now over. I’m celebrating that is it done, and off my plate, but at the same time, it is kind of sad. This event marks the beginning of the end Which means my students won’t be mine for much longer. Bittersweet.
Two. Open House was put together by my students. Call me exhausted, but after a serious discussion with myself, I felt this is their show. It’s their work, let them show it. They cleaned up the room, straightened the library, set up stations for parents to interact with,
put up their work
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decided which charts should be shown (many of my charts are only pulled out when we use them)
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and made sure all iPads were fully charged. It wasn’t something I’d post on Pinterest, but it was ours. Fourth grade students came with their parents to check out their future. My current students explained the world of fifth grade. I did not organize this or tell students to do this, they just did. Families came, talked, and seemed to enjoy the low stress, student created and explained environment.
Three. I made QR codes for the classroom blog. I’ve been meaning to do this FOREVER, I just kept forgetting to do it. Such a great thing. I put them out, parents took. No more not being able to get to the site. Why I didn’t do this sooner? This was one of the many side benefits of Open House. It forced me to do it! Next year I’ll do this at the beginning of the year.
Four. I have strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and it’s ok for me not to be excellent in all areas (think really cute charts). It gives me room to learn from those folks (going to get better markers) who are and honor them for their strengths, but at the same time, not beat myself up for not being them. I’m celebrating the differences that help me grow.
Five. I put two and two together. Friday afternoon, students were discussing their books, club talk. Effort was less than what I wanted.. Pressed for time, wanting to complete the task in the little time we had, I was less than the teacher I want to be. I gave them a lecture.. Most took it in silence. Two reacted negatively. Completely predictable. It’s not that the students’ performance shouldn’t be examined, it’s my reaction to it that I’m most irritated with. I lost sight of what was a reasonable expectation and instead of accepting it and turning it to a positive, I pushed and stepped backward. Negative never gets positive. I know this, but the moment got me.
Here’s to the weekend to recover, rethink and recharge. Happy Saturday.
To Read To Write To Be 