The Highs and the Lows

Life always seems to be a roller coaster of emotions! This week has been no exception.

Life at School
On Sunday night I was checking out Facebook, and I noticed a number of messages directed toward Sam (one of my students from last year). Turns out that Sam lost his father on Sunday evening after a long fight with leukemia. In fact, Sam's dad was brought home by ambulance from Vanderbilt Hospital a few weeks ago, and Hospice care was called in to help. No one expected Sam's dad to make it past that weekend. Like he has always done, Sam's dad fought with all he had. He held on for several more weeks. Sam came back to school today. He is definitely a trooper. The memorial service for his dad is on Friday at their home. It is what Sam and his sister wanted. His dad was cremated on Monday, per his wishes. I asked Sam's aunt what we could do to help, and she said nothing but prayers. Well, that won't do for us. A number of the staff members have been sending money to me to help purchase gift cards to help the family with meals this week. I am going to go visit Sam and family tomorrow evening and will deliver the cards then. More than ever, I plan to keep a watch out for Sam. He has come so far in the past year, and I don't want to see him fall. Such a wonderful kid!

This week is the last of the quarter, and our kids know it. They are absolutely going insane. They are lacking focus...and frankly, so am I. We all have to push forward until Friday. We will make it, but they are wearing me out.

Today, I made a student cry...before 8AM. Our school has a very strict cell phone policy (remember, I teach middle school). The policy states that students may have cell phones in their backpack and in their lockers while at school. However, they must be turned off during school hours. This morning, I heard a cell phone in a locker right next to where I was standing. I look over, and I saw Jake scrambling to turn off the phone. He looks at me, and I told him I had to confiscate it based on school policy. He begins to cry and cry. I told him to stop crying, and that I would do the same thing to any student whose phone went off. That didn't appease him. He kept on crying. I sent him to the restroom to gain his composure. Ugh! What a way to start the morning. On a side note, I did return his phone to him at the end of the day, which is not the prescribed policy. However, I know this kid, and it WILL be the last time that happens. I am such a sucker!

In a more interesting part of my day, we took the kids outside for the last 15 minutes of the day. While out there, two of my girls came up to me and said that they saw another student urinating on the nearby fence. One of our other teachers asked the girls if he could have just been pretending to pee on the fence. One of my more astute girls said "I saw something coming out." I just about fell on the ground from laughing so hard. Bless this girl, she is one of my best students. The boy did admit to urinating on the fence. Good grief! The adventures in teaching never cease! LOL

I got called to the principal's office this afternoon. I am always nervous when she calls me into her office, even if I am an adult. She asked me if I was going to be on a field trip on Friday. I told her yes I was. She said that she was wanting me to work on curriculum council on Friday if I was going to be at the school. I asked her why me, and she proceeded to tell me that I had the highest science and social studies test scores in the school for 6th grade. WOW! I was not expecting that, especially since last year was my first year teaching science and social studies. What did I do that got my students to perform better? Who knows! I do know that I had a few students who got a perfect score on their state science tests. MY KIDS ROCKED! I don't normally gloat, but I had to share that information. It made my day!


Update on Justin


I have had a few of my friends ask me about the status with Justin this past week. The truth is that it all seems to be over between us. Communication between us has been sparse this week. We had quite a lengthy conversation over the weekend. We discussed where we were going in this relationship. Trying to define where we were was awful. Knowing that I hate drama, this only added to my frustration. Looks as though we are going our separate ways now. I must say that there is a bit of sadness in all of this. I had hope, but it is no longer there for the two of us. Well, life must go on!


Vacation Plans

I had thought about going to St. Augustin, Florida for fall break. I have decided not to go right now. Life is too crazy here, and I have a ton of things to do over the break. I am also saving money for a longer vacation! I am trying to decide on New York City, Seattle (Washington), San Diego (California), St. John (US Virgin Islands), or maybe an Alaskan cruise. These are all just random places I want to visit. Anyone want to chime in on these options?


Gifts
The other day I received a very unexpected gift in the mail. It was a postcard and a bear from the United Nations. The gift was from my friend, Nabil, who was in NYC during the UN General Assembly. It was a great surprise, and it was most certainly something I needed to brighten my day. Thank you, Nabil! Hope you had a great time in the USA. We will definitely have to meet up next time you are in the states (or if I decide to jump across the ocean for a visit, too)!

More to come...good night, all!