Sooooo tired! I am so incredibly glad that I have
a 3-day weekend coming. We’re just going to stay close to home
and relax. We resisted my mom’s begging to go to Vegas with
them. Somehow Vegas just did not sound relaxing. 
Still working on report cards. All of the grades are done, but
the comments just aren’t flowing this time around. I either have
very little to say or too much to say to fit in a little box.
They’re due on Friday, but I had hoped to turn them in tomorrow.
I guess I’ll stay late tomorrow and get them finished. 
I am NOT going to spend another night staring at them.
Today is the first day since Friday that I haven’t exercised … just
feel like a slug. Came home really exhausted and grouchy.
One of my kids lied to me today and then denied that she was lying even
though at least ten of her classmates disputed her lie. I really hate
it when students lie. I’ve told them that everyone makes mistakes
(even shared some of my better ones from my own childhood) and that
lying only makes the mistake worse because then instead of one mistake,
you’ve made two. Worse yet, this little girl is the one who is
constantly condemning others. So tomorrow she and I will have a
one-on-one conversation and get to the bottom of this.
A reminder to me to take it easy with her … one of my former students
came to visit today. He is a seventh grader now and visits
frequently just to chat about what’s going on in his life. He
mentioned a time when he was a second grader and I was frustrated with
him because he was not bringing his homework. He and I had
stepped outside the classroom so we could discuss it. I expressed
my disappointment with him and it made him cry. Five years
later, he still remembers it. He said today that he understands
now that my disappointment meant that I had high expectations of him
and knew he could be better, but it still really struck me that he
remembers it so vividly. Every word said to a child has such
power. I don’t regret that particular conversation because it was
not angry or hurtful … it was what he needed to hear … to know that
I cared and I knew he could do better. But it did remind me to be
mindful of my every word because you never know what will stick with
them.
Poisoned by Fairy Tales
Poisoned by Fairy Tales 
comments are the most difficult…need to get your point across…in a nice way. =) My favorite comment…”your child should start practicing, would you like fries with that?” haha…j/k…don’t use. =)
hmm take a rest girl..i wish i had one…. and yeh ryc: anne it does remind me of too….lol
I still remember my third grade teacher– Miss Thompson– she accused me of sharpening my crayons in the class’ pencil sharpener. I didn’t do it– and all it did was make me realize how extremely fallible some grown-ups were– and as a consequence I often have problems with authority figures… but whatever she did was balanced out by my all time fave teacher Mr. Simmons who showed me that sometimes a teacher’s kindness can be life-transforming.
I place you in Mr. Simmons’ league.
“if i had a million dollars” (echo) “if i had a million dollars”…buy you a monkey
So true, so very true; no matter how much they don’t listen when you want them to, more of what you say gets retained than you ever expect. For the record, my mom still has a note from my third-grade teacher stating that she wishes she could have me every year.