This school year was an excellent example of how things
sometimes turn out very differently than you think they will! Back in mid-August of last year, I secured a
GRA position in addition to being asked to teach a Math Methods class for
pre-service teachers. I thought I was
set and was happy with how things fell into place. Fast forward about seven weeks, and suddenly
a teaching position was available at my former school and by November 1, I was standing in front of my fifth graders. In
between learning of the opening and my first day – which was less than three
weeks' time – our beloved Chelsea passed away, which has been the most
devastating loss of my life. Talk about
my life being turned completely upside down.
The only hiccup was that I already had plans to travel for
both fun and work, so I was only part-time between November 1 and February 1. Although that was extremely stressful, I had
amazingly skilled substitutes, and my three teammates did everything in their
power to take care of my kids while I was away.
I will never be able to thank them for being so fabulous!
Additionally, my principal and assistant principal were so
incredibly accommodating during this time…I had conferences in Michigan in
November and in California in January, and trips to Florida in November,
Iceland in December, and Norway/France/Sweden in January. They willingly worked around all of that
craziness! I was also fortunate to have
a really great class of students. They
just rolled with punches every day and handled the changes in routine with remarkable maturity. It was great when things finally settled
into a sense of normalcy once I was there full-time beginning in February.
One thing that was challenging about starting in November
was that I was moving into someone else's classroom. There was no sense of a fresh start that
comes with the beginning of every school year.
Obviously I did what I could to make it feel like mine, but it wasn't
until the last weekend of the school year when C and I spent both Saturday and
Sunday purging and cleaning that I really felt like it was my space. That might not seem like a big deal to some
people, but it is a huge deal to me! I am already looking forward to starting next year off in a space that feels like me.
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| Tinker Bell hangs right above my desk <3 |
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| a light up crown from one of my favorite people |
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| yes, my grade book features Rainbow Unicorn on it! |
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| Disney |
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| more Disney |
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| and more Disney |
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| Pascal keeping watch from my podium |
When I think about all that my kids endured over the course
of the year, I am seriously impressed!
And when I read their names at our promotion ceremony on the last day of
school and watched them come up to the stage, receive their diploma, and
officially become middle schoolers, I had to mentally tell myself a hundred
times to keep it together. I really love
these kids and I am going to miss them.
A lot.
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| from one of my sweet girls |
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| constructing dodecahedrons in social studies |
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| I am touched that this is what my students think of me - and so creative to list the attributes as a SB order! |
In addition to teaching fifth grade, I taught three graduate
courses…two Math Methods classes for elementary pre-service teachers and one Content
Literacy class for secondary pre-service teachers. Again, I was incredibly fortunate to have
marvelous students who helped me stretch and grow as a professor. I learned something from each and every class
meeting, and I enjoyed getting to know the students because their passion about
becoming teachers was inspiring. I
certainly hope I have future opportunities to teach pre-service teachers again
because I love doing it!
While I am putting a positive spin on all of this craziness,
believe me when I tell you there were days when I did not think I was going to
survive to see the end of the school year.
There were also other writing and research responsibilities and
presentations and conferences during this time that I haven't even
mentioned. Exhaustion was my permanent
state of being.
Thankfully I have the greatest support team around,
including my sweet friends, my incredible teammates, and my awesome family – who
all helped me make it to June 17 in one piece.
In terms of my sanity, it was the unwavering love and devotion of my dogs that kept me going. They consistently made me feel like the greatest person on
earth when in reality I constantly felt like I was letting everyone around me down.
However, no one did more than C. From the smallest kindness of making me
coffee when I was up late grading at night to driving me to campus after his
long work day so that I could sleep in the car, he was there at every turn
doing any and everything to make my life easier. Of course, he also plans fabulous trips and
makes me laugh nonstop. I seriously hit
the jackpot when I married him.
So now it's the end of June and I am refocusing my efforts
on my Ph.D. for a few months in hopes of making some serious progress – because
the reality is that something had to give during all of this time!
What a year! I'll end
with a few of my favorite memories from my fifth graders…
- As part of a reading assignment, I asked my students to
identify three words that were unfamiliar to them and to use context clues to
make a prediction about what each of the words means. One of my students wrote: “Catechism: I think it means it’s an annual
event where you can pet cats.”
- This gem:
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| another hilarious student response |
- I have a little bit of a competitive streak in me and there was a book contest among the four fifth grade classes, the
winners of which would earn a pizza lunch with the librarians. I sweetened the pot by offering celebratory
ice creams sundaes to my students if they won the contest, which they did! My teammate, who had been in the lead for
much of the year, graciously came in to the library during the students'
victory lunch and offered her congratulations, while jokingly adding that her
class should have won. One of my
students called out, "There's a new sheriff in town!" and it was a
comical, yet embarrassingly proud moment for me. I think I better watch out next year because
I have no doubt our two classes will hit the ground running in hopes of winning!
- My favorite quote of the year: "Mrs. King, let's get mathing!"
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| my students wore these on the day of the math standardized test |
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| messages I wrote on my students' desks on the morning of standardized testing |
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| one of my students wrote this <3 |
Happy Tails to you!
