Teacherhood

Last night, I fell asleep at 8:27. I merely glimpsed at the clock and succumbed to sleep. Why not? Who says you can't go straight from teaching til 5, a dinner date, then bed? Does this mean I'm slightly adultish?

Well, God was preparing me for today...Feb. 2...otherwise known as Groundhog Day in elementary school.

The Smart Cookies February Bulletin Board
All I did was Mr. Phil

It was all planned out...I had signed up for the February bulletin board. I was determined to get it up now rather than 2 weeks into the month.  Our theme was Groundhog Day. I had the SOLs tied to it (Reading-prediction, Science-shadows, Social Studies-American traditions, Math-rays from the Sun...I know a stretch). We had watched a clip on Youtube about Phil yesterday and made our predictions. Students made different aspects of the board in groups they volunteered to participate in. We were going to watch Punxsutawney Phil on the Today show or Youtube today.

Backtrack: Last night I read the first chapter entitled "Teacherhood"in Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done. I LOVE his books, not only because he's a third grade teacher. But as my friend Rebecca, a 4th grade teacher, confirmed in more or less words, 'he just gets us (teachers) and affirms what we do everyday. We just don't teach.'  Here's an excerpt...Why don't we have word that captures the essence of being a teacher--a word that encompasses the spirit of teaching? Motherhood and fatherhood are words. Parenthood is a word. I think teacherhood should be a word, too.  Then, he goes on to describe the essence of a teacher. For example, teacherhood is knowing that softer voicers are more effective than louder ones and students read better under their desks (both of which I do or allow-woohoo! I'm doing something right...well, according to him.)

My day in a nutshell...

I felt like Dr. Quinn. I barely ever write. I type.
PC, projector, and Smartboard.
Made me grateful.

Teacherhood is getting to school early to make sure to catch Groundhog Phil on the Today show, walking into flashing strobes lights because the power is out, suggesting the school have a Rave for the kids during the outage, writing on a whiteboard (what, who does that?) the morning message and making the situation a teachable moment about electricity, knowing that the kids will LOVE school because the lights are out,  acting like it's a typical day as I hold a flashlight to brighten the room, hugging and consoling a child who had pneumonia while debating with another student that the power outage doesn't mean the end of the universe, stealing from the kid's candy treat box, creating all the math problems to have the students' names in them because then they'll feel the problem, knowing that students will never hear the difference between than and then, recognizing that students will not indent the second paragraph no matter how many times you tell, show, jump, and dance for them, making skip counting multiples fun by creating a race that ends with the teacher having objects thrown at her to decide the winner, understanding that my kids will never tell the difference between permanent and washable markers, seeing your principal roll a wheelchair down the hall for a person with a medical emergency yet continue teaching let it happens all the time, reflecting that the shape of someone's mouth speaks more than words, learning that desks eat missing papers, constructing makeshift wardrobe options for too big pants, too long pants, stuck zippers, or missing hair pieces, knowing full well that when a kids' nose scrunches then there's about to be huge sneeze, knowing that no-matter-what that sneeze will hit you, prying staples out of a stuck stapler, having paperclips spit into your hand because a kid thinks they're gum, knowing 500 options for paper plate crafts, evacuating 22 kids (2 with their shoes originally off) during a firedrill, tasting satisfaction when a school evacuates in less that 2 minutes during the unannounced drill, crawling around on the floor looking for a screw that magically flew out of glasses, recognizing that a hug does a lot of good, savoring 10 minutes of indoor recess while students play with Tec Decs, write plays, practice recorders, rehearse for drama club, and of course help me, pushing desks back at the end of the day that scoot slowly closer to the front, having kids know transitions by songs on my iPod, and pulling up a Youtube clip of Phil's 2011 prediction within a minute of having the kids go on the bus.

A must read for ALL. Very light and humorous.

And, that was just a drop in the bucket. Because in between all that so much instructional learning occurred in Room 23B. Like the all the cool stuff I went to UVA for.



Moral of the Story: Only Kat subbed at the middle school today...her text this afternoon made my day..."Let me just tell you...middle school teachers have it SO easy!" And, I hadn't even told her about my day. And guess what? I loved my day. But thank goodness for the sleep last night. Here's to teacherhood and the elementary life!