What Day is It?

I woke up this morning...sluggish...slow.  I can barely get my mojo on.  It IS the first Saturday after going back to work.  Let me tell you about work so far -- we have spent the last three days in meetings and getting our classrooms ready to meet our students.  It is not difficult work, yet for someone who has not been working for several weeks, it is killer.  You see, we just get into the summer schedule of lounging poolside, having lunches out with our friends, late nights and even later breakfasts and BAM!  Time to return to work.  This sluggish feeling will be gone in say, three weeks?  In the meantime, sleeping 11 hours on the week-end and drinking a pot of coffee in the morning is not unheard of at this time of year.

Yes, going back to work is definitely difficult for a teacher.  Now, all you naysayers out there are complaining and saying, "You ONLY work 6 months out of the year!"  True.  But those are a tough 6 months.  Seriously.  In our line of work, our authority is constantly undermined and challenged.  We work countless hours planning and preparing lesson plans.  We are "on" 7 hours per day.  We cannot take a break for water, coffee or to even pee.  And it can be VERY intense, especially with class sizes of 36+, which is the majority of my classes this year.

As a special educator, our job is even more intense, as we need to make sure that schedules match student IEP's.  We need to check confidential folders.  We test students, write up IEP's (and from the looks of it, we will have a LOT this year -- I'm guessing 27 or more), schedule meetings, send out notices (sometimes in English and Spanish -- thank God for GoogleTranslate), coordinate who is coming to the meetings, make sure the school psychologist and school nurse are in the loop, hold the meetings, close the documents and write implementation documents after the meeting is held and mail everything to the parents.  Then, file and document everything.  Sound like a lot?  It most certainly is!

This year, we have learned that student achievement on the End of Course exams count for 20% of our evaluation.  Next year and forward, it is 40%.  So, for our ELL and special education teachers, it should be interesting.  I am curious as to what my evaluation will look like in two years.  I'm not sure student achievement on testing is the way to evaluate our performance.  Do we want to teach to the test or do we just want our kids to learn?  I am getting to the point where I am wondering if all this is worth it?

Right now, it is worth it.  Why?  Because I want these kids to understand that their self-worth is more than the size of their wallet.  I want them to understand that bad things do happen to good people and you can survive.  I want them to know that there are people who care about them - just because.  I want them to know that they can be more than they were taught to believe...they can overcome their circumstances.  It is not easy but it is doable.  I want them to know that "what the mind believes it can achieve."  Great people are not born -- they learn and grow from their mistakes.  They move past them.  They can do it.  Right now, I am their greatest cheerleader.  I will remain so until the end of my teaching career.  

I'm on my third cup of coffee and I can barely open my eyes.  Is it worth it? Hell yeah!  This year, I will be at the graduation of my students from last year.  It is an honor and I can't wait to see them with their diplomas.  On Monday, school is in session.  Bring it on...I.Am.Ready!