Friday, August 30, 2013

Just A Blogging Fool- Friday Edition!


Today I’ll keep it short and sweet…
Questions, comments, and concerns from the back of the class.

Question: What is it going to be like to have actual full days of school next week?

This week, although hot, hot, hot has been incredibly nice. Early outs are inconvenient for learning purposes, but oh so convenient for busy college students and/or crabby teachers. I had better start catching up on sleep this weekend because I’m sure that next week (with a normal 8:15- 3:15 school days) is going to seem eons long.

Comment: There is a very fine line between evaluating and judging.

*Disclaimer* There are two boys in my class with very similar names! Today while grading spelling papers, I noticed and commented to my rockstar teacher (she’s back today!!) that one of our students simply has NOT done very well on his spelling. I thought to myself, “self, this boy has had two weeks of bad spelling tests in a row. This boy is not trying. He does not listen in class, he must not have practiced at home, his spelling is simply not going well and it should be.” Later, I noticed that it was not in fact the same boy who had done so badly on his spelling, but rather the other boy with a similar name. And then it occurred to me, that I had not been evaluating papers for just correctness, but I had also been wrongly judging my students. (Ouch.) I am not a perfect person, nor do I pretend to be. Honestly, I felt guilty about my mistake (even though no one really knew about it.) My job as a teacher is to instruct, aid, correct, and encourage my students (sculpting minds-duh). Not to judge them. It’s an important thing to remember.

Concern- This weekend! It’s a three day-er!! Yippee!!! I’m excited to feel like I have a life outside of school again! Plans for this weekend include sleeping (such a tired little teacher lady), watching my little sister cheer for her first college football game (so proud of you sissy :)), going out with my volleyball friends while they have a free Saturday night, going home to cuddle my littlest sister (DINGUS!), visiting with my parents and family (HI MOM AND DAD!! I know you both read this often!!), planning for next week of teaching (I’m picking up Social Studies in addition to Religion, Journaling, and Spanish), and hopefully… wait for it… relaxing. For those of you who know me, it’s much easier said than done! Wish me luck!

Until next week…
Peace, love, and 12 weeks to go,
Jayna