Hello blog, my old friend. How have you been?

Life is grand and I'm starting to get a hang of this teaching thing. The reason I haven't written in 4 MONTHS is because it took a lot of time to get to this point. What point? The point in my career where I feel comfortable not spending half of my week in my classroom and the other half doing work for my classroom at home. I hadn't quite figured out how to mix play and work together. I still haven't, but I feel less guilty when I just have fun.

Let me run down a list of events that have occurred in my classroom since my last post from November.
- Saw the production of "White Christmas" at the high school
- Took a few kids to a performance of "The Nutcracker"
- Had a school Christmas concert
- Took some kids to "The Music Man" at the Ellen Eccles Theater
- Went and saw Scrap Arts perform at the Ellen Eccles Theater
- Celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentines with some pretty awesome parties
- We learned some...stuff...as well

I feel like being a teacher is like being trapped in a time vortex where the time seems to pass really fast around you, but inside the classroom it tends to stand still. It seems like just yesterday I had walked in and greeted my students the first day of school. Only when I leave the worm hole of time, which is my classroom door, do I realize that I've actually been there for almost 8 MONTHS! I only hope that my kids have learned something from me.

I've changed routines, teaching methods, ideologies, and philosophies so many times that my mind is just a big jumbled mess of matter. I'm trying to wrap my head around the things that I've seen work and (more commonly) those that haven't. I hope I'm a better teacher than I was when I started. I hope I'm still as excited to walk into my classroom 120 days into the school year as I was on day 1. I PRAY my kids are smarter on day 180 than they were on day -1. I get really scared that they will have digressed instead of progressed.

This is my greatest fear as a teacher. I never realized how hard it is to reach EVERY SINGLE STUDENT! I've really tried, but no one has ever told me that it's not possible (insert "gasp" here). We've always been taught that we HAVE to reach everyone and that if we don't then we are to blame for their failure. My real job as a teacher should be what my mentor and life hero Rafe Esquith has once said. "Kids do not have an equal opportunity in our schools, but once given that equal opportunity; the students must produce." Once I realized that all I need to do is at least PROVIDE a chance for them to succeed, the students must then be the ones responsible for their overall success. You can lead a horse to water...

Here is a clip of my hero talking about a book he wrote a while ago. I would highly recommend his books to every teacher and parent. you can also visit his class website http://hobartshakespeareans.org/

CARPE DIEM...but who has the time?

So the phrase may be a little cliche...especially since Dead Poets Society came out. It seems like every teacher wants to be the next John Keating and be the inspirational teacher that every student looks back on and says, "Remember so-and-so? That teacher changed my life!" Well, I would be lying if I said I never wanted to be that teacher. The fact is I want everyone of my students to look back and say that about me.

I had so many pipe dreams coming into the profession. I wanted to do so much with my students. I wanted to take them to plays, concerts, and musicals every week. I wanted to stay after and show up early to provide extra help to anyone who was struggling. I wanted to start clubs, create programs, and just BE THERE for them when they needed me. Little did I know how exhausting being a teacher would be. Although I do show up 30 minutes early for school to help kids that need it...no one shows up anymore. Although I do take kids to plays and musicals, I can only go about once a month and only take a handful of students. Although I am THERE for my students when they need me...I'm also NOT THERE.

Team meetings, ESL classes, new teacher meetings, math workshops, faculty meetings, and committee meetings. This takes time out of my day. All of these things are supposed to help me reach out and help my kids with different teaching strategies. I think the one strategy that I would like to use is just spending more time with them. It seems to make sense that the more time a student spends learning in school, the better they do in school. Schools that implement longer days usually have better scores in every subject. So can we please get rid of these meetings and instead of TALKING about seizing the day...LET'S ACTUALLY DO IT!