Thrilling Thursday

Today was an almost peaceful day as one unruly child is spending a week off courtesy of out of school suspension and the biggest of the unrulies spent the day in in school suspension. We started the day off by answering questions using direct quotations from our reading book.

They all worked.

Quietly.

Like angels.

I smiled with the biggest smile. We were like a real classroom uninterrupted by the ridiculousness of two unruly children. You'd be surprised how awful acting two small people can be. It's so bad at times that I feel bad for the rest of the kids. I wish they'd rise up and tell the other two to shut their pie holes but they are too afraid and too intimidated to do it.

Isn't that a shame that two people could potentially wreck the environment for nineteen other individuals? I thought the benefit of the many was supposed to outweigh the benefit of the few? Isn't that how it generally works in society?

Thoughts on this anyone, anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

Wednesday wahooooooo

It's finally Wednesday and I have made it through hump day. Now we're on the other side of the hill rolling towards the weekend. Wahoooooo. That makes me happy.

I will say that I seem to be getting back into the swing of things. I'm able to fly by the seat of my pants more. I'm able to say for the tenth time, "Put your science book on top of your desk." I can even sometimes do this without wishing harm on anyone. That's a move in the right direction.

I can get through math class with the TA and the Special Ed teacher in the room to save me from pulling a math kamikaze run. I hand out pencils without expecting to get them back. Then I do it again the next day.

I can keep track of who owes me what homework, mostly.

I can even sometimes crack a smile and send out a bit of sarcasm to the others who work in the room. Sometimes we all smile. It gives me hope.

Next week is a four-day week with Friday off. I have a half-day workshop in the morning on Thursday. I think I also have a half-day workshop on Wednesday to learn how to use the SMART board that isn't in my room yet. (It is in everyone else's room in fifth grade.)

These are small victories but I will claim them.

Sunday night sniffles

It's Sunday and I wish tomorrow would be Friday instead of Monday. I'm scared and anxious of this Monday because of silly things that I worry about. School is stressing me out but it will be fine once we get rolling for the day.

I have a cold or some allergy issues, not sure which. I'll just call it a cold. I'm sniffley and coughing and have watery eyes and I'm running a fever (again).

I think part of my agitation is not from taking any Xanax either yesterday morning or this morning. I am definitely irritated and agitated about tomorrow on the horizon. In the end it will all be fine though.

After all, I am a fantastic genius or so I sometimes think.

Week one

I made it through the entire week! I did it. Yippee for me. It wasn't easy because I have been away from them for so long and they have their other routines from the subs but slooooowly we are making progress and I am roping them back into my routine.

I have remembered all their names and haven't lost any paperwork yet, although I did misplace a paper but it was where I thought it was when I finally got my wits about me again. (Did that make any sense?)

I took a nap only one night this week on Wednesday so that was progress too. I threw in some Klonopin a few nights to finally get some decent sleep. I have been waking up on time at 5:20 with the alarm, albeit groggy on those days after the extra hit of Klonopin.

I am arriving at work early, about 6:45 so I have an hour to get myself ready for the day. I leave shortly after work ends, usually by 3:30 although one day was after four this week due to a meeting.

I am slowly adjusting my bladder to the structure of my day. I take a diuretic in my blood pressure pill so I am restricting how much I drink in the morning and at lunch. I can now pretty much make it through the day okay. I also restrict my food intake for the morning and afternoon as well. I come home hungry and thirsty but I make it through the day.

I'm trying to stay on top of the grading and my special ed teacher/wonder pal is helping out with that. She is really a wonderful helper and assistant in the room to me. She works wonders with her kids and helps me to stay on top of the whole class. Thank you MH!

In news not about school, let me throw out a happy Mom's Day to all you who both read this and mother to little ones and big kids. Moms are teachers 24/7!

I also had some fresh corn on the cob tonight but it was a major bummer. I paid fifty cents for each ear and it was so NOT worth it. That's a dollar I'm not getting back but hey it's fiber so my bowels will be delighted.

On that delightful note, I'm done.

Survivor

Tonight is Thursday which means Survivor night on TV. It also means I have completed 5 days back at work. Yahoo!

I feel a bit as if I'm on the show without the bugs and wild animals. Wait, I just deal with a different sort of wild animals.

We painted Mother's Day gifts today. There were no spills and that was the quietest part of the day. I wish we could paint for hours. Daily.

Tomorrow is the completion of one full week solid back at work. One week down and seven more to go.

I will survive, hey hey.

Vengeance

I had them move desks this afternoon. Vengeance is mine!

I made it through another day but had to take a nap tonight.

They are still talkative but one of them was much better today after I called home last night. Small victory. There are so many great kiddos in my classroom but teachers know their days are spent corralling and cajoling the unruly into some sort of passive attempt at actual work.

Peace out,
Wobbly and Weary Weeble

OMG

OMG the kvetching is driving me nuts. They never shut up. I am still standing though.

Peace out.

Addendum at 8 p.m.:
Bowel problems and MS are the shits. Literally. Sigh, could always be worse.

Monday Monday, la laaa la la la la

I made it.

It was a day with all the makings of a Monday except one of my unruly ones was indeed absent. I made it though. All day long, a regular day and we worked on the big South America project that my sub started which is way too big a project for this time of the year and for my fragile mind to handle.

Sigh, I will do it though. I've made some changes to it to make it easier and more fun for all involved. Okay, that's probably a lie. It may not be fun for all involved, especially me. But we are still doing it.

That's all I have time for, oh, except my dad had his defibrillator put in. The surgery went okay. He was supposed to have three wires put in but they only did one. He's a little bummed about that as he is worried that his heart is not pumping as well as it could.

Thanks for all the positive comments and support everyone. I appreciate it. G'night.

Back to school: the gritty reality

If you follow this blog then you know that Friday was the big day, my return to school. Thursday night was "something" but I was mostly calm with a slight case of the jitters. I tuned in to watch Survivor but got tired about halfway through. So I went up to bed around 8:30 and read until about 8:50 and then I drifted off to slumberland.

The first time I woke up it was about midnight. I read for a bit and then was back to sleep. Until about three a.m. Then I was really awake. I was up until about 4:30 or so and then I surrendered back to sleep.

The alarm went off about 5:20 and I jumped out of bed. Okay, maybe I didn't jump, but I rolled over with more than the usual enthusiasm for that time of the morning. Down the stairs, fed the cat, and eased myself into the shower within a reasonable amount of time from waking up.

After the shower I decided to go with shorts regardless of my slightly hairy legs as it was going to be about 70 for the big day. I got fully dressed and coiffed (not that my hair ever looks good as it is so limp) and put on sandals for the day. I skipped down the stairs, okay not skipped but walked without much of a limp, and found that I still had a quarter hour before I could really leave yet.

I packed a lunch without worrying too much what was in it. I also forgot a spoon for my yogurt, drat. (Thankfully, there were plastic ones at work to use!) The good thing about school is that I hardly eat any lunch and I generally forgo breakfast unless I am jonesing and stop at Dunkin Donuts. True to form, I ate a bite of a mozzarella cheese stick, not the fried kind, and about half a yogurt.

But what about the kids and the actual work? It went very well overall. I think most of the kids were pleased to have me back. I even got some hugs in the morning and a few when kiddos left at the end of the day. Before the kids arrived my special ed teacher that works in my room had me say, "I'm fantastic and I'm a genius." I did this a few times and it made me laugh but I swear it worked to pump me up.

Now picture my kiddos all seated and ready and me going over all the rules and routines again. It may sound silly but you have to do that kind of thing. I wasn't super happy with how they had behaved for the sub when I was in the room the past few times. I believe that most kids will live up to your expectations and that most of them like routines. Everyone likes to know what is expected from them in the world. It makes life easier.

The kiddos were mostly good with the exception of one unruly bugger who is a special ed student. That's where the special ed. wonder teacher/pal of mine comes in and sweeps him away and puts him in the room next door so I can continue teaching to everyone else. She's like a vulture swooping in for her prey and she does a good job of it.

We made it through the day and I even received a beautiful flower arrangement and a welcome back balloon from one of my students on behalf of her and the rest of the class. It made me smile big and it's home now where I can look at it and enjoy it. It makes me feel good inside that someone cared enough to do that!

That was my day. I gave two tests, we took notes, I introduced Latin America, we talked, we cleaned out our desks, we passed out folders and notebooks. We were a classroom again. I was a teacher again. It was a very good day indeed.

School shorty

I am tired, finally my mind is catching up to my body in this, so this will be a short one. I just wanted all those inquiring minds to know that my day went very well.

I had success!

You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog.