It's Time for a Teaching Reality Show...

I have been thinking about this a lot today.   I have thought of it before as well,  but after all the teacher bashing I read the other day (see post below),  I think it is time.   I am hoping to get NBC, ABC or Oprah or someone on board.  People need to know how tough you really need to be a teacher.  I have even thought through some of the immunity challenges.  

• Holding your pee for as long as possible
• Eating an entire lunch in 4 minutes
• Fixing the copy machine in the 3 minutes before the bell rings
• Answering the same question 80 times in 20 minutes, without sounding frustrated
• Figuring which paper belongs to which kid in the pile of nameless multi-choice quizzes
• Deciphering a paragraph written by a 1st grade, mirror writer
• Race to find the gluestick with the missing cap
• Answering the phone about a bus change, answering a parent email and teaching someone how to regroup concurrently
• Accurately distributing all the jackets left on the fence after recess
• Figure out who is flushing pencils down the toilet
• Finish an acronym quiz - IEP, ADD, OHI, RTI, SST,  my team came up 161 of them during one staff meeting!

There are a million of them!  What would you add??

I think the contestants should start out as most new teachers do - empty room,  some textbooks (not full class sets), perhaps a box of pens and a stapler... and some furniture.  Provide a class of kids -anywhere from 22 to 35 kids of varying ability levels.  First test,  second week of school - GO!

First elimination challenge - Meet the Teacher Night (make sure those bare walls are adorably covered!) - answer all questions,  memorize each child's name, allergies, likes and dislikes,  and take notes as half of the parents tell you that there is too much homework and half the parents tell you that their child needs EXTRA homework everyday, and that they were hoping to get teacher x, and cried when they found out they would be having THE NEW TEACHER - all while smiling!

Next elimination challenge - first day of school, help all students find their desks, sort 4500 forms being sent in,  put away supplies,  stop the crying (the students, and yours), keep the students busy, engaged and happy,  move new desks into the room for students being enrolled throughout the day, establish an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust,  comfort and fun.  Keep up the the transportation changes throughout the day and then....(start praying) MAKE SURE EVERYONE GETS HOME ON THE RIGHT BUS, RIGHT CAR OR DAYCARE VAN.  

I could go on forever,  open house,  conferences, emails, parties, PTA meetings, concerts, FIELD trips.... contestants should be in this for a full school year.

Grand prize - $38,000 - the national average, beginning teacher salary!  

Do you think anyone would sign up???


If it takes off,  the spin off could be "Desk Hoarders" - a whole show about finding unfinished work (and so much more!) in student desks. 

You have to LOVE this job to do it!  I am so glad I do!

Hope your day was full of finished work!

Currently...

This fabulous idea comes from Farley .  Her website is so much fun and I know if I knew her in real life I would adore her - she is so cute and funny.  I have never done this before,  but it looked like a lot of fun... so here it is.

 Listening - to my big ol' boxer Thor sleeping.   He is 10 years old now.  He is the best dog on the planet.   He is getting slow,  but he still watches out for us,  let's the kids sit on him and lay on him.   He is our best friend.  



Loving - that I can even hear Thor.  My house is so loud.  I have four fantastic kids,  but they are LOUD.   My son Grant is a special needs kiddo and he NEVER stops talking.  If he doesn't feel he is being listened to he is not afraid to shout.   My daughter is 2 - nuf said.   My two older boys are 13 (OMGoodness) and 11.  They fight - a lot.   It is loud.   I know I should be sleeping,  but this is the only time I can really find quiet.  I cherish this time.

Thinking - about my first baby.  My Max.   Thirteen (OMGoodness) years ago I was in the hospital,  scared out of my mind,  in labor with him.   He made me a mom.   I am so proud of the young man he is becoming,  but sometimes wish I could steal back a day of his babyhood.   I wish I could smell his baby head and cuddle him and keep him safe.   It was so much easier then.   I love him more than words can say.   I pray that his life is amazing and that I am around long enough to watch him make his dreams come true!  I am so blessed.

 

Wanting - another day.   Isn't this the story of our lives though?   I love my job,  love it,  but not as much as my family.   Not nearly as much.  I wish I had more time to play. I wish I had more time to do stickers and color pictures and talk to my sweet husband.   But I feel blessed to have the time I do have.

Needing - I need an outfit for a Chamber of Commerce dinner honoring teachers of the year (I am one of them!  Yay!), firefighters and police officers.  I am excited about it,  but I have no idea what to wear.   I don't want to spend a lot of money.  It is on a Thursday night, at a swanky country club... so I feel confused.   Thursday night?   They said business clothes... but my business clothes are not business-y.  Any suggestions???


RAK - I listen to KLTY every morning on my way to work.   Right now Christmas wish is on and I pretty much bawl every the whole way to school.  But at other times of the year they promote RAK by paying for someone else's meal or drink in the drive thru.   I always want to do it,  but never have.  But this has inspired me.   I will do it this week. I am excited!

This makes me so sad...

Have you seen this post?   http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Teacher-Charges-Second-Graders-for-Bathroom-Breaks-181634781.html


I woke up and saw this on facebook and I honestly feel sick for this teacher and all the comments I have read.   One person wrote that they would go to her house and hold a gun to her head and make her pee her pants.   People are calling for jail time,  for termination of employment,  a lawsuit,  for her head on a platter.  And no one knows the whole story.   I have read the article 5 times to be sure.   But it does not even say that this child ASKED to use the restroom - it just says he didn't have bucks so he sat back down.

To be very clear... I do think this policy is WRONG.   Using the restroom is not a privilege,  it is a right.   Children should not be charged to go to the restroom,  but there has to be some common sense put into the equation. 

This is a FIRST YEAR teacher.  She has been teaching for less than four months.  She made a mistake.  But can you imagine doing this to any other newbie in any career?   Teachers are thrown in to a classroom their first year.  They are expected to do everything that their seasoned colleagues are doing from day one. We are in our room alone with the kids all day - no one to bounce ideas off of,  no one saying, "hey, let's think that through".  There are NO classes in college that teach bathroom procedures.  She was probably told she needed a procedure, and that students should not be going all day.   No other input.   We do not know how "Boyd's Bucks" are awarded.   Students may be given 20 a day and he had already used his.   The story does not say.   It hurts me so much that people just choose to make her a villian and then start throwing all teachers under the bus with her.

This reminds me of my first year of teaching.  I was teaching fifth grade in a different district on the other side of the state.  I had done so well in college,  I thought student teaching was a dream, I was so sure I was going to do so well in the classroom.  I was so excited.  I thought I was so ready.  I was letting students go to the restroom whenever they needed.   I was called into the principal's office.   Students were purposely clogging the toilets and writing hideous things about each other on the walls.   I was told I needed to have a pass.  One kid at a time.  Period.  So I did what I was told.    Then I had a boy tell me that he needed to go.   I told him he needed to wait until the pass came back.   I did not tell him no,  I told him he needed to wait - until the other child got back.  IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES.  He proceeded to pull down his pants and pee on his desk and the girl in front of him.   I sent him to the office.  

The next day I was met with his furious mother.   She told me she wanted to, "kick my stupid ass". She was completely in support of her child peeing on his desk and another student.  She told me I FORCED him to do this by making him wait.   I was told that even though there was no medical reason,  her child should be allowed to go to the restroom the second he needed to go,  no questions asked. My principal at the time sided with the parent (I am sure to avoid talk of being sued). The child was not given a consequence for peeing on his desk and another student.  I was told off by a parent for doing what I was required to do.  He went about every 20 minutes every day for the rest of the year.  I threw up from stress every single day that year.  He failed.   But he was allowed to go to the bathroom whenever he wanted.  

I felt like a failure and decided I had wasted 4 years of college and all that money. I hated teaching.  And that was before Facebook and social media and the apparent witch hunt for teachers heads.  I could have just as easily been this teacher in a different time and place.  No one would have listened to my story.   I would have just been wrong for making him wait. 

This NEW  teacher made a bad decision her first year of her career.   Did you do everything perfectly your first year of your career?   Did you ever make a mistake?   Were you sued,  threatened at gunpoint or torn to threads on social media for that mistake?   Do you think you should have been fired or jailed?   Do you want this for your precious children their first year of their career? 

I wish I would hug this little sister of mine in education.   I hope she is not reading all these comments,  but I know she is.   She is probably contemplating all her life choices because she made a mistake.  I want to pubicly support her and let her know we have all been there.   Keep your chin up.   You are not a bad teacher because you made one mistake.   I am so thankful I made it through that first year,  you will too!

And I want to remind everyone to think.   To look at all sides of a situation and to withhold judgement,   because we all make mistakes.   Teachers do not teach because it is easy,  or because they want to bully anyone.   They do not teach because they hate children,  quite the opposite.   We teach because we want the best for them,  but we are not perfect.   The hate HURTS us all.

You know those really perfect school days? When everything goes just right?

Well, today was NOT one of them. Today I felt so congested and icky I felt like I was teaching underwater. BUT... we did get a lot done. We are working on my Stone Soup Unit and my students are LOVING every second of it. Tomorrow we are making soup and I think they might explode from the excitement - which is kind of funny, because soup is sort of the opposite of exciting, but when you are in second grade,  everything has the potential for excitement, which is why I love it.   Here are some pictures of what we have been working on.   You can pick up my Stone Soup unit here - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Stone-Soup-A-Folktale-Literature-Study

 

 

 

My class really is the sweetest group of kiddos ever.   We received bean bag chairs from a Donors Choose grant this week and it was like Christmas had come early.   They were so excited!   They were also super excited when I had to run around, throwing them in the air while chasing a scorpion that was running underneath them this morning. - LOL!   But it all comes with the territory... right? 

 

 

When I got home this bit of awesomeness was waiting for me!  I ordered this from an incredibly talented (and funny) former classmate of mine.  She is a high school art teacher and a clay artist!  I LOVE it so much!  If you would like one you need to check out her facebook page right here... https://www.facebook.com/pages/aj-clay/247148188628716?ref=ts&fref=ts .  

Happy, Happy Friday Friends!

 



 

I love a contest!

 

Check out this great contest for a $50 Kohl's giftcard!  And get to read an adorable blog!!

So what did ya get???

I have been so excited about the TpT sale I have been placing things in my cart for days.  I wanted to share some of the GREAT things I bought today and I want to know about yours!  First,  I found these two ahhh-mazing units by Linda Kamp...

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Catch-Me-If-You-Can-Activities-for-Favorite-Versions-of-the-Gingerbread-Man

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Tomie-dePaola-An-Author-Study

 

They are so cute and SOOO thoughful and complete.   I will use every bit of each one!  I am terribly impressed with this lady!   I can't wait to see what else she comes up with!

 

 

I also picked up this FABULOUS Geography packet!   I am so excited about it,  I already have a copy of the entire thing ready for my class TOMORROW!  



 

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Geography-Challenge-gr-1-3

 



I also picked up this fabulous set of doodle frames from The 3am Teacher!

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sweet-Doodles-Frames-Borders-Lines-Accents

 

 

For math I picked this little treasure...

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Aar-You-Ready-To-Learn-Addition-With-Regrouping

 

 

 

Finally, I picked up these great little sets about economics and wants and needs - so important this time of year!!!

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Wants-Needs-Goods-Services-Producers-and-Consumers

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Economics-Consumers-Producers-Goods-Specialization-Assembly-Line

 

 

I also picked up every awesome set of  Second Grade TEKS that Sweet Dixie at  http://teachinlittletexans.blogspot.com/ has created!  I love them!  Texas teachers - DO NOT MISS THESE!  We are required to post objectives daily... now I am just going to laminate these guys,  stick a magnet to the back and HELLO - done!

 

Y'all,  along with my own Auntie Claus and Hot Chocolate, Mittens and Snowmen set - I am set until the NEW YEAR!  Woot- woot!

 

 

This does not mean I am done.... YET.  Tomorrow is another sale day!  Oh my!  Loving it!

 

I hope you are having as much fun as I am!  

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



 



Got Entitlement? You might need Lydia Grace!

So we hear about it all the time right?  About every 6 or 7 words or so during the election... entitlement, entitlement, entitlement.   And with Christmas season and the "gimmies"  right around the corner,  I started thinking about this.   We all see it in our classrooms.   Sadly,  I sometimes even see it in my own babies.   So this time of year, I like to add a dose of a precious little character... Lydia Grace Finch.  Lydia Grace is the antithesis of entitlement.   Do you know her?   You NEED to.   Lydia Grace is the main character of the beautiful book The Gardener by Sarah Stewart.  She is growing up in the 30's and her parents are out of work.   She is sent to live with an uncle she doesn't even know,  and she is an example of how a positive attitude changes everything.   It is a series of letters from her to various members of her family that show their thankfulness in hard times, and their ability to keep giving,  even when things are difficult.  It is a great letter writing book,  but it is so much more than that.     It gives kids so much to think about... and maybe a chance to look inward?   It is a great book to get a discussion going.   I made a little unit to go along with it, which is up on TpT.   It is inspired by the questioning in Debbie Miller's amazing book - Reading with Meaning.

For the next month,  I will send a free copy to anyone who follows my site and leaves me a comment (and an email address I can send it to!).