Favorite phone call...Robertson county schools will be closed!

When the weatherman mentions snow, every teacher anxiously awaits that phone call that means sleeping past 5:30am, lounging on the couch, and doing whatever we want! Since the beginning of this semester, the month of January, I have not taught a 5 day week. I am ok with that, but oh how tired I will be when I actually have to again. It is looking like next week will bless me with another 4 day week since the snow will not be gone by Monday morning.

So..what have I done with my snow days? Started with about 7 loads of laundry. Yes, that is a lot for only two people. When you have to go to basketball games every night of the week, and you have TV shows to watch, laundry waits. I cleaned the house. Garrett actually looked disgusted at how dirty the water was after I moped. I might have been slacking on my wifely duties. I have lessons plans done for the next two weeks (more to come with that- I still have tomorrow and Sunday). I have completed all my graduate work that is due next week, and started on some for the next week. I took a nap, both days. Yesterday we watched our entire line-up of snow day shows. It is: Reba, Reba, Reba, Reba, Will and Grace, Will and Grace, Yes, Dear, Yes, Dear, Everybody loves Raymond, Full House, Full House, Everybody loves Raymond, King of Queens, King of Queens, and then on to night time TV. Yes, I agree that is a lot of TV. Last night, after much deliberation over what movie to watch- we finally agreed on Twilight. We may watch it again tonight.

Everyone deserves days like this. I don't have kids, or any real responsibility if I am not at work. So why not do all of these things I want to?

Enjoy your days of complete laziness. We do.

ISS

ISS, also known as In school suspension- is how one of my children has now spent a total of 4 1/2 days. In an earlier post, I think I mentioned the discipline system that we follow. It all evolves around apples- green the best, black the worst. So far this week, 3 kids have been on black- one of them twice. There have been 8 red apples pulled, 7 yellow apples, too many blues to count, and not very many stayed on green. To say the least- really not been the best last few days. My only hope for survival this week: the winter storm moving our way.

So back to ISS, my lovely little one was in there for a few different reasons. Here are some- he and another boy spent half of yesterday talking about and spelling a not so nice name for their male area. I shared with them that even when they spell it, I still know what it spells, and I know what they are talking about. I also said the word they had been enjoying several times- one response "uhhh Mrs. Dickerson, my momma dont let me say that at home!" . Please keep in mind- he had been saying basically all day. He also went to ISS for trying to trip a child. He was sitting in the corner- timeout- and as a child walked by, he stuck out his leg and attempted to trip him. Not good.

So...he got to go sit at a desk and do about 17 worksheets. My other students asked me alllll day where he was until one finally just said- "you know he is in ISS, he was bad"

So with the week I have been enjoying, I am looking forward to going to church tonight. I am looking forward to seeing my friends, relaxing, and listening to some good encouragement. Hope you all are going tonight- it will help your day- I promise!

Freedom...MLK....Kindergarten.

Last week in Kindergarten we studied citizenship, freedom, and the flag. This week we studied MLK Jr. Just think that over for a few minutes- I taught those things to 5 year olds. Let's start with freedom. Think about how you would explain that to 5 year olds. Here is how I did...
I started with "freedom means you can go to school where you want to go"...except wait, we bus students all over creation so that they can go to school where we want them to- to satisfy racial quota.

"Freedom means you can do what you want with your money"...except, the government takes about half of my paycheck to invest in Social Security that I will never see, and forces me to pay for insurance, and wants me to invest my 401K in government bonds

"Freedom means you can pray if you want"...except in school, even though they do everyday in the communist nation of Germany

Try to explain freedom, to someone who does not understand, or better an adult who forgot most of us like the freedom we used to have...

Next, MLK.
My class is 100% white children. The town they live in, probably 97% white. I understand that they need to know why we take the holiday, and how what he did was important for people of our country. But, it is extremely hard to relate this issue to their lives. So, I showed the movie "Our Friend, Martin". This movie showed real footage of the times (such as dogs attacking people), and horrified most of my children. I might come up with a better system of teaching this topic next year- any suggestions? Maybe wait till they are a little older to introduce such a topic? I think yes.

The Sub.

Well my fear became reality this morning at 7:23 when I walked in my room. In began when I went to my mailbox to find a note that the assistant principal would be doing a formal evaluation today at 9:10 and I needed to have paper work filled out prior to that (these evaluations are mandatory by state law). So of course, I immediately am panicking. My kids have not seen me in two days- they have been enjoying the freedom of a sub, and now they have to look like civilized people for an hour why the assistant principal was in my room- not good. I then walk into my room to find that none of the work I needed for my children to get done- actually got done. I actually have no clue what they did for two days...

So after a lot of complaining I began to dig through the piles of paperwork. If your not a teacher, its hard to imagine the amount of things that we fill out on a daily basis. My desk would scare a lot of people. So anyway, I missed two days of those things. By this time it was close to 7:30 and my kids come in my room at 7:35, that gave me five minutes to get control of my life, and not just cry before they arrived.

The behavior today- resembled our first few days in August. Not really an enjoyable thing. I got a note that said no one had to pull apples the two days I wasn't there...I laughed out loud. We have never had a day that no one pulled an apple- for any reason. Pulling apples is what they do for their behavior system. They start on green and it goes down blue, yellow, red, black- that tells what type of day they had. By the end of today- ten people had moved their apple, most past blue.

To say the least about the whole situation- I would just be better off to go to school sick.

Strep Throat...my death

Well I have now been on my couch since Sunday complaining, sleeping, and more complaining. Thus meaning, my students have been at school two days with a sub. I fear what it will be like when I return tomorrow. Here is some of the things that happened last time I had a sub, and it was just one day.

-SEVERAL things had fallen off the wall
-They didn't get to go to the treasure chest, which trust me I never heard the end of..until they finally got to go
-We had a reward party- one of very best students didn't get to go, and one of my worst did?
-There was the largest stack of papers awaiting me when I got back- I don't grade papers, send them home.
-There was trash all over the floor
-Someone went to the wrong dismissal spot

That is just a small list of what can happen in a day when I am not there to control things. So two days...it could be scary when I get back tomorrow. I hope that my students have behaved, things are in order, no one is hurt, and papers are not over-taking my desk (well unless I left them there)

I am ready to get back to my kiddos. Not so much excitement on my couch.

Read Luke...approx 3 hours.

On one of my last post, I mentioned that for grad school I was assigned to sit down and read the entire chapter of Luke in one sitting. Now let me go on and confess that my normal Bible study takes place in about 15 minutes before I leave for work at 6:30am. I know, not a real great lengthy study, but I have worked out a system that seems to be working for me. So taking on this reading, was a bit overwhelming. But..I did it! My teacher wanted us to do it to get some insight on what Jesus was like as a teacher, and apply it to our own teaching strategies. I have never really thought about Jesus as a teacher. Normally when I am reading his teachings, I am reading them to gain something for my life from them. This time, I looked at how he was teaching, how he was managing the people, managing his time, and getting his point across. It was crazy the things I learned about how Jesus taught, and how it correlated with what I had been taught about teaching in my undergraduate studies. For all you teachers out there, great read, I encourage it. It will allow you to look at your teaching and what you can take from it. Everyone else, pretty good story to read as a story all the way through. I read it from The Message (which if Donnie ever reads this he will die that I did that) which I don't normally read from. I don't really like the way it presents some things. However, if you plan to read Luke all the way through I encourage you to do it from a story like source because it is a story and it reads a little easier that way.

Mom...I mean Mrs. Dickerson!

Can't tell you how many times a day I hear that! I wonder when I have my own children if they will say my name as many times as my students do, and they will say it until you answer- there is no end. When I come home, I just can't answer any questions or talk to anyone hardly. I need about 20 minutes of silence to regroup. I sometimes feel bad for Garrett because I am quite unsocial when I first get home. Luckily since basketball started I normally am home first and have time to relax a bit.

Today didn't start out as the best day I have had at school. Our school's bookkeeper has been fighting cancer for awhile. I don't know much about the situation since it is my first year, and I do not know her, just of her. The faculty gathered this morning in the library for a few minutes before school. Throughout my undergraduate work, it was crammed in our heads that religion and education do not mix. I am so glad that I work in a small town. My faculty knew that it was important to pray for the family this morning- so that is what we did. I am so glad that we do not have to worry, we just pray as a faculty if we want.

A co-worker asked if any of us had not been directly affected by a death of a family member due to cancer. No one could answer that they couldn't. I feel like someone is constantly battling it at church as well. I guess the only thing that can make it any better is constant prayer. I am going to add this to my daily prayer- even if I am not directly affected.

For the bookkeeper and her family today- "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" II Timothy 4:7

Who were those kids?!

I told Garrett yesterday that if today started with any four letter words, any four letter words spelled, talk of sex, or any talk of the boy "area"- I was probably going to have to quit my job. Lucky for me, angels came back to school today. They were so cooperative, behaved, and quiet! I wont let it get me too excited though because I know that at some point my actual class will return- these angels will disappear. But as for my first day back after what felt like several months, I was very happy. Also, how do five year olds grow that much over a months time!? They left as babies really, and some of them returned so HUGE! I was almost in tears this morning when one of my kids wrote their name, and one knew every letter of the alphabet! I cant imagine how I will be when it is my own children. I got a new student today. It was a little sad because one of sweet loves moved to a couple of hours away. All of my kids were telling the new kid he was sitting in his seat. I am sure that made him feel welcomed. The good news is- this kid might have been my most functional student! I was so happy!

Have any of you ever read the chapter of Luke in one sitting? That is my masters homework this week, and I am just trying to get a feel for it. I am kind of looking forward to seeing how different it reads in one sitting as opposed to chapter studies. You might try and see what you think.

My first!

After 72 hours straight at home due to some snowy conditions, I have created my blog! I am excited about where this might take me. As I look ahead to my first day of my second semester tomorrow, I am excited. This first semester was spent simply trying to survive. Bless my kids parents, I know they think I might be a little crazy. There were several days I sent things home misspelled, or just wrong. They would come into my room, and I felt like I was always drowning in papers, runny noses, questions, or just stress. I hope to be less of those things this semester. My goal now- really engage with my children. Do everything I can to get them ready for first grade. I am past just survival, it is time to rock it out. I am looking forward to how much they will grow, or have grown over the break. I pray for my kids and for me everyday before I leave for school. If any parents are reading, I urge you to do the same for your kids. It truly could change the experience they have. So here are some "resolutions" I have for my classroom in 2010:

• Show God anyway I can- even if not out loud (because I like my job and want to keep it)- in my actions to my coworkers and through love and attention to my kids
• Talk and listen more with each child- sometimes I am too overwhelmed in the work we have to get done to stop and really listen to the things they are saying to me

• FUN- something fun every single day

"But just as he who called you holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, "Be holy, because I am holy." I Peter 1:15-16