Teachers just have too much extra time...right? Even as we speak, teachers all over the world are just sitting around doing nothing. And...if you're still reading, go ahead and have a laugh on me. I know all about that "free time". That "free time" that sucks up all of my to-do lists, organizing, sanity and those good intentions. When I starting writing this blog I had very good intentions that I would use all of that "free time" to write. In the midst of all the free time came, a new grade level to teach, a baby, a side buisness, and well just loads of life.
Put together and organized people just truly amaze me. They are like lights at the end of a very long tunnel that I think one day I might get to the end of. I won't.
So here we are, with more good intentions. Taking it one day at a time.Intending on making more of just sitting around.
Friday, October 26, 2012
A Name should be approved
The first thing you need to understand about choosing a name for you child is that he/she will be the exact opposite of what you wish the name to say about him/her. For example if you name your child Angel, you can be sure you will be speaking with a police officer at your door late one night in her teens. The same applies with names such as Shy (the world will know everything you may not care to share), Princess (come on really?) and Heaven (do we even have to go there? Sidenote: Nevaeh counts as Heaven).
Second, pay attention to how the name sounds, by itself and together. Bart rhymes with Fart, you may not catch this but I assure you that every seven year old will. If your last name happens to be Cox, Peters or Johnson. I must address the need to stay away from names such as Fonda Lyn, Lil, Seymour or Anya. In fact, although a beautiful name, avoidance of Anya is recommended as is Seymour. Canneon, again however a nice name, should not be used with a last name or middle name of Abel. And however crude this might sound, it is necessary that I mention Mike Hawk and Mike Hunt. As you see the combination is very important as it will be the name that is called over the loud speaker for your child throughout his/her life.
If you would like your child called by a different, name them THAT. If William is written on the roster, how am I supposed to know you want him to be called "Storm". What is he a rockstar at age five? I understand that some names are family names, and some names just flow better, and blah blah blah, just use the name you call them.
Maybe not last, but wrapping it up for now, remember that your child WILL have to pronounce his/her name AND write it. The weird spellings, however cute, are HELL on the teachers. Just a tidbit, the shorter the better. If you weren't the grand champion speller of your school, don't name your child with half the letters of the alphabet. Oh yeah, and just because you think the letter should make that sound, that doesn't mean it will in print; Abcd is not awebeesedee.
In closing, your child's name will follow him/her everywhere. It is not a short answer on a fill in the blank test nor is it a place to "express your creativity". Take it to heart that you don't want to hear "Buster, Buster Cherry please come to the office please" over the loud speaker at school.
Second, pay attention to how the name sounds, by itself and together. Bart rhymes with Fart, you may not catch this but I assure you that every seven year old will. If your last name happens to be Cox, Peters or Johnson. I must address the need to stay away from names such as Fonda Lyn, Lil, Seymour or Anya. In fact, although a beautiful name, avoidance of Anya is recommended as is Seymour. Canneon, again however a nice name, should not be used with a last name or middle name of Abel. And however crude this might sound, it is necessary that I mention Mike Hawk and Mike Hunt. As you see the combination is very important as it will be the name that is called over the loud speaker for your child throughout his/her life.
If you would like your child called by a different, name them THAT. If William is written on the roster, how am I supposed to know you want him to be called "Storm". What is he a rockstar at age five? I understand that some names are family names, and some names just flow better, and blah blah blah, just use the name you call them.
Maybe not last, but wrapping it up for now, remember that your child WILL have to pronounce his/her name AND write it. The weird spellings, however cute, are HELL on the teachers. Just a tidbit, the shorter the better. If you weren't the grand champion speller of your school, don't name your child with half the letters of the alphabet. Oh yeah, and just because you think the letter should make that sound, that doesn't mean it will in print; Abcd is not awebeesedee.
In closing, your child's name will follow him/her everywhere. It is not a short answer on a fill in the blank test nor is it a place to "express your creativity". Take it to heart that you don't want to hear "Buster, Buster Cherry please come to the office please" over the loud speaker at school.
Let's get a pet continued...Still thinking it's a great idea
When your pets are safely in their respective cages and the students are cooing and watching them in awe, all seems right with the world. However, that is just too good to be true. If this scene begins, know that it will only be the beginning of, let’s just say “a new adventure.”
I’m so glad that my students have our cute little gerbils to care for, that is, until one day we return from lunch and I see that one of our furry little companions(see previous rat-like creature remark) belly up and stiff. If this isn’t enough the other friendly class gerbil has helped himself to a snack, the feet of the dead friend.
What a way to pay tribute to a fallen roommate. Tastes like chicken I’m sure.
Now the task, once again, to keep the twenty seven year olds NOT to notice the stiff, belly-up classroom companion that they have come to love with no feet as they walk past the cage on their way back into the classroom. This is not something they teach you in college.
Little voices, again..."what's wrong with the gerbil?"
Oh no! I have failed! Damage control, must have damage control!
Before anyone can be sent back to the safety of the seats, the cage somehow becomes the most interesting item in the room. They are being drawn to it as if moths to a flame. I am bombarded with children as I become the bodyguard of this poor unfortunate creature. I am now just trying to keep myself in between the growing number of children and the gruesome scene behind me.
Okay, that's it. I take in a deep breath...
"Everyone SIT DOWN!"
The small feet scurry off to a seat. Eyes are all wide as they try to figure out what could have caused their previously calm and sweet teacher to, for lack of better words, lose it. As if a room full of small children demanding your attention each second wouldn't be enough to send someone over the edge.
All of the students are seated and I begin to think I might make it through this unscathed. Ha! Yeah right. I continue to try to be ambiguous and pretend that nothing is wrong. Yeah...it's not working...and it hasn't been.
Now to get the carcass out of the tank, I certainly don’t want to touch it! Without thinking of the fact that it will look like an episode of CSI, I grab a tissue and lay it over the body in order to extract it from the cage. I hear all of the innocent voices behind me with the questions that truthfully I didn’t want to answer.
“What happened?” “Is the gerbil okay?” “What are you doing?”
I stop mid extraction and turn to look at their worried faces.
Crap…(again). What do I say now? What else…
Make something up.
So I say, “one of our gerbils has just gone to the big gerbil wheel in the sky.”
“Is that like gerbil heaven?”
“Yes, that’s exactly where she has gone, gerbil heaven.” Leave it to a six year old to make a more profound statement than me. I turn back to the small body under the tissue.
“Are you going to bury her?” a voice asks.
I think for a minute, “Bury her…um…yes, I will take her home today and bury her. I reassure the children that this poor unfortunate gerbil will definitely get a proper burial, complete with a shoe box coffin and a small pebble headstone. I wrap the body in the tissue and place it in a plastic bag until I can take her home. At least that is what I was thinking then; of course what happened next was different.
Good ideas, great ideas and well let’s just say interesting ideas are all parts of being a teacher. The best laid plans are never that and hardly ever followed. (Even when I started this, I don’t think I actually planned on admitting my…stretched truths) When I headed for the door at the end of the day I did remember to take the dead body in the plastic bag out of the room. Unfortunately, (for whoever empties the trash) the large trashcan outside looked like much more of an appropriate grave for our friend, or at least just easier for me. Not to worry, I did say a few words as I tossed her in. “You’ve been a really good pet, thanks for not biting us, I hope we were good owners…”
Of course in the morning when the students asked…yes, she is buried in my yard beside my shade tree.
What? I have to at least make is sound good.
I’m so glad that my students have our cute little gerbils to care for, that is, until one day we return from lunch and I see that one of our furry little companions(see previous rat-like creature remark) belly up and stiff. If this isn’t enough the other friendly class gerbil has helped himself to a snack, the feet of the dead friend.
What a way to pay tribute to a fallen roommate. Tastes like chicken I’m sure.
Now the task, once again, to keep the twenty seven year olds NOT to notice the stiff, belly-up classroom companion that they have come to love with no feet as they walk past the cage on their way back into the classroom. This is not something they teach you in college.
Little voices, again..."what's wrong with the gerbil?"
Oh no! I have failed! Damage control, must have damage control!
Before anyone can be sent back to the safety of the seats, the cage somehow becomes the most interesting item in the room. They are being drawn to it as if moths to a flame. I am bombarded with children as I become the bodyguard of this poor unfortunate creature. I am now just trying to keep myself in between the growing number of children and the gruesome scene behind me.
Okay, that's it. I take in a deep breath...
"Everyone SIT DOWN!"
The small feet scurry off to a seat. Eyes are all wide as they try to figure out what could have caused their previously calm and sweet teacher to, for lack of better words, lose it. As if a room full of small children demanding your attention each second wouldn't be enough to send someone over the edge.
All of the students are seated and I begin to think I might make it through this unscathed. Ha! Yeah right. I continue to try to be ambiguous and pretend that nothing is wrong. Yeah...it's not working...and it hasn't been.
Now to get the carcass out of the tank, I certainly don’t want to touch it! Without thinking of the fact that it will look like an episode of CSI, I grab a tissue and lay it over the body in order to extract it from the cage. I hear all of the innocent voices behind me with the questions that truthfully I didn’t want to answer.
“What happened?” “Is the gerbil okay?” “What are you doing?”
I stop mid extraction and turn to look at their worried faces.
Crap…(again). What do I say now? What else…
Make something up.
So I say, “one of our gerbils has just gone to the big gerbil wheel in the sky.”
“Is that like gerbil heaven?”
“Yes, that’s exactly where she has gone, gerbil heaven.” Leave it to a six year old to make a more profound statement than me. I turn back to the small body under the tissue.
“Are you going to bury her?” a voice asks.
I think for a minute, “Bury her…um…yes, I will take her home today and bury her. I reassure the children that this poor unfortunate gerbil will definitely get a proper burial, complete with a shoe box coffin and a small pebble headstone. I wrap the body in the tissue and place it in a plastic bag until I can take her home. At least that is what I was thinking then; of course what happened next was different.
Good ideas, great ideas and well let’s just say interesting ideas are all parts of being a teacher. The best laid plans are never that and hardly ever followed. (Even when I started this, I don’t think I actually planned on admitting my…stretched truths) When I headed for the door at the end of the day I did remember to take the dead body in the plastic bag out of the room. Unfortunately, (for whoever empties the trash) the large trashcan outside looked like much more of an appropriate grave for our friend, or at least just easier for me. Not to worry, I did say a few words as I tossed her in. “You’ve been a really good pet, thanks for not biting us, I hope we were good owners…”
Of course in the morning when the students asked…yes, she is buried in my yard beside my shade tree.
What? I have to at least make is sound good.
Grand Idea! Let's get a pet for the classroom!
A pet in the classroom is one of those many ideas that seem really good at the time. It’s good for children to have something to take care of to instill some sense of responsibility. Pets can make the classroom feel more like home and they can create a more loving environment. See? Great idea, right? Sure, that is until the unusual or possibly the inevitable happens.
The day begins just as any other day. When I look over my classroom in the morning, the students are all filtering in and completing their morning duties . Perfect angels, I can just see all of their halos shining over their heads. As if in a dream I hear a small voice say, “What happened to the other gerbil? Where did she go?” At first I shrug this off and reply with my usual, “Oh their both in there the other is just sleeping, look harder.” Yet, in the back of my mind I am replaying this morning, when I replaced the water bottle that had fallen through the hole in the top of the cage.”
And again I hear that small voice, “ The other one’s not in here Mrs. Powell.”
Crap
Are gerbils really that industrious? Do I just happen to have the adventure seeking breed of gerbils? First thing to do? Reassure all of the kids that, “Everything will be just fine, just calm down and go back to your seats she couldn’t have gone far.”
Well at least I hope she hasn’t gone far. I begin to have visions of unsuspecting custodians finding a large “rat-like” creature dead, or maybe even worse, alive in some dark corner of the school. Then I begin to feel for this small rodent. What if she is hurt or someone hurts her? Thus begins my quest to hunt for our dear lost companion while trying to be inconspicuous as not to insight panic amongst the twenty-some seven year olds.
Behind books, under paper, amongst all the, well…just stuff. Note to self; must strive to be more organized in the future in order to make gerbil hunting easier. Then an idea hits me. Enlist help. Now who…yes, yes the wonderful seven year old angels will certainly be able to help me. Now I have two helpers pulling random items of (perfectly useful) boxes of (previously stated)stuff off of shelves.
Wait, now there is yelling. Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, or smooshed, or eaten or… Yes! She is alive, the wonderful first grade army has found our gerbil. Now…all I have to do is catch it.
The day begins just as any other day. When I look over my classroom in the morning, the students are all filtering in and completing their morning duties . Perfect angels, I can just see all of their halos shining over their heads. As if in a dream I hear a small voice say, “What happened to the other gerbil? Where did she go?” At first I shrug this off and reply with my usual, “Oh their both in there the other is just sleeping, look harder.” Yet, in the back of my mind I am replaying this morning, when I replaced the water bottle that had fallen through the hole in the top of the cage.”
And again I hear that small voice, “ The other one’s not in here Mrs. Powell.”
Crap
Are gerbils really that industrious? Do I just happen to have the adventure seeking breed of gerbils? First thing to do? Reassure all of the kids that, “Everything will be just fine, just calm down and go back to your seats she couldn’t have gone far.”
Well at least I hope she hasn’t gone far. I begin to have visions of unsuspecting custodians finding a large “rat-like” creature dead, or maybe even worse, alive in some dark corner of the school. Then I begin to feel for this small rodent. What if she is hurt or someone hurts her? Thus begins my quest to hunt for our dear lost companion while trying to be inconspicuous as not to insight panic amongst the twenty-some seven year olds.
Behind books, under paper, amongst all the, well…just stuff. Note to self; must strive to be more organized in the future in order to make gerbil hunting easier. Then an idea hits me. Enlist help. Now who…yes, yes the wonderful seven year old angels will certainly be able to help me. Now I have two helpers pulling random items of (perfectly useful) boxes of (previously stated)stuff off of shelves.
Wait, now there is yelling. Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, or smooshed, or eaten or… Yes! She is alive, the wonderful first grade army has found our gerbil. Now…all I have to do is catch it.
What's it all about
Too many times have I been told, "you should've written that down!"
If you haven't guessed by now my fellow blogger and I are both teachers, elementary school teachers. I wanted to create a place where we can share our (sometimes outlandish) daily teaching life happenings with others. This is NOT another place for us to pitch our classroom ideas or share professional development opportunities. However, if you would like to contribute an idea I promised you won't be burned at the stake.
After ranting and telling my husband ALL about my day at home, he reminded me (as many have before) I should be writing all of this down. That's what he said but I'm sure what he meant was..."please just write it down so I don't have to listen to it." He, as you might have guessed, is NOT a teacher. This inspired me to create a place to get it out there. What actually happens in a school day? How does spending the entire day with 6 year olds affect a person when they only have limited adult interaction.
Teachers have so many ideas and (suprisingly) many of them crash and burn. Likewise, in all the education that teachers go through, the majority of the job is never taught nor mentioned. I fear that if it was, all of the education students might run screaming.
Like it, love it or hate it; Here it is, uncensored and unabridged. You might laugh or you might cry, all of these experiences make us exactly who we are; Teachers.
If you haven't guessed by now my fellow blogger and I are both teachers, elementary school teachers. I wanted to create a place where we can share our (sometimes outlandish) daily teaching life happenings with others. This is NOT another place for us to pitch our classroom ideas or share professional development opportunities. However, if you would like to contribute an idea I promised you won't be burned at the stake.
After ranting and telling my husband ALL about my day at home, he reminded me (as many have before) I should be writing all of this down. That's what he said but I'm sure what he meant was..."please just write it down so I don't have to listen to it." He, as you might have guessed, is NOT a teacher. This inspired me to create a place to get it out there. What actually happens in a school day? How does spending the entire day with 6 year olds affect a person when they only have limited adult interaction.
Teachers have so many ideas and (suprisingly) many of them crash and burn. Likewise, in all the education that teachers go through, the majority of the job is never taught nor mentioned. I fear that if it was, all of the education students might run screaming.
Like it, love it or hate it; Here it is, uncensored and unabridged. You might laugh or you might cry, all of these experiences make us exactly who we are; Teachers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)