The Median Sib

I was surfing around some of my favorite teacher blogs and came upon this post writen by Graycie at Today’s Homework.  Here’s an exerpt:

My rule is that I don’t have to think about school (not in any practical way (messing around with my wiki and reading the thoughtful and intelligent words of all you ed bloggers counts as ‘fun’) until August 1st. Then I’ll figure out what day I have to go back, what day I’ll really go back to “check my room out” (read: start moving furniture and hanging wall stuff) . . .

That describes me almost perfectly this summer.  When I left school the end of May, I did not even think about school again in any substantial way until July 24th when I began six days of workshops - 4 days of writing and 2 days of coaching (academic - not athletic).  And yesterday I drove to my school and just looked around for about 15 minutes to decide how I would arrange the desks and bookshelves. 

After having a classroom all to myself for two years, I will have to share my room with the leveled book room and the teachers’ professional library.  Our school is growing and the two rooms that housed those items were needed. 

It will work out, though.  Before school was out, I drew a diagram of how everything should be.  Then during the summer when the work crews moved everything, they followed the diagram.  So my room is mostly set up - with just a little rearranging on my part.  The space for my reading groups was substantially reduced, but I’m still more fortunate than many of the other reading specialists in our school systems.  A couple of them have only a rolling cart or a closet to call home at their schools.  At least I have a room - and I don’t have to share it with another teacher - just with a lot of books.

So tomorrow (Sunday) is my last official day of summer vacation.  I will go to Sunday school and church, spend time with RT, maybe go to the farmers market to get some fresh tomatoes, and relax.  I will NOT think about school, though.  Monday will be here soon enough.

I just finished a 4-day workshop led by teachers from the NY Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.  I have to say that it was THE best professional development experience I’ve had in recent memory.  The four days flew past, and I learned so much.

Stephanie, a fourth grade teacher at my school, was my “writing partner” for the workshop.  We each wrote several pieces during the week, we read what we’d written to each other, we discussed information that the presenter gave us, and we practiced skills that we had been taught.  By the end of the four days we were much better friends and colleagues.  That kind of work and sharing develops trust.

We had a common bond.  Stephanie wrote a personal narrative about her grandmother - her “rock”, and I wrote one about my granddaughters.

Today was our last day, and as part of our “celebration” we each were to give our writing partner a gift - something to do with writing - preferably homemade.  Stephanie gave me a notebook with some of her favorite quotations inside - written by hand.

Here is my favorite.  It is taken from Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson:

Life is a game in which you are juggling 5 balls.  The balls are called work, family,health, friends, and integrity.  And you’re keeping all of them in the air.  But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball.  If you drop it, it will bounce back.  The other four balls - family, health, friends, integrity - are made of glass.  If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.  And once you truly understand the lesson of the 5 balls, you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.

Stephanie keeps a notebook of her favorite quotes and adds to it whenever she finds a quote that is particularly meaningful to her.  I never thought of keeping a quotation notebook, but I’m excited to begin one.  And the one she gave me is adorable - with a little yellow and pink angel on the front.

Here’s another quote Stephanie put in the notebook she gave me:

“Some people believe that time is money.  I believe that time is much more precious than that.  Money, as with any other object, can be found again when lost.  Time, on the other hand, is a permanently lost gift if it is not used wisely.”

~Duy Huynh~

A quotation notebook! I’m so glad I have one now.  I’m looking forward to filling it with my favorites.

When I first started working with Alicia last year, she was in the fourth grade and reading at a first grade level - on a good day.  I worked with her individually last year and in a small group this year.  I also placed her with a weekly individual reading tutor.  Today was the last day of school for this year.  When I returned to my room after running an errand to the first grade hall, I found a note on my desk from Alicia.  In one short note, she illustrated what is truly the best reward of teaching.  Earlier I had copied her note, but after getting home and after covering her real name (and yes - a rather sloppy job of covering her name), I scanned the note:

Last year she wouldn’t have been able to write that note.  Her handwriting is fairly neat and legible.  Sure, she still has a long way to go, but her progress is remarkable.  I can only hope that she will get the help she needs in middle school, too.   And, I am glad she was my “reading girl” this year.

Posting had been light lately.  It’s the end of the school year, and I’m going crazy with all the testing I’m doing.  I’m helping first, second, third, fourth and fifth grade teachers with their end-of-the-year DRA testing (Developmental Reading Assessment).  Additionally, I publish our school literary magazine which contains the children’s writing.  It’s a worthwhile project, but it sure took a lot of time to put together the ten-page issue that will be sent home with the kids today.  My next project, in addition to continuing the testing, is to get my summer reading newsletter ready by the first of next week.  It’ll be posted in the sidebar here when it’s finished.

But then, after May 26th, summer break will be here, and I should have plenty of time to do whatever I need to do.  I’ll be posting often again.

One of the questions on some of the reading tests is: What do you like best about reading?  Here are a few of the children’sreplies:

It gets you smart.

I like learning cool facts in books.

Reading gives me something to do.

It’s fun and it gives me more knowledge.

It’s very fun because you learn a lot of things.

It helps your brain.

Because I read to my dad a lot and it makes me feel happy.

I like reading quietly to myself or to my rabbit.

When you read a book it gets your mind on what’s about to happen.

It makes you smarter and it’s fun.

It like to see the  pictures.  It makes me more smart.

You learn stuff and can write a report on it.

And I agree: Reading is fun, you learn stuff, it makes you smarter, and it takes you into the world of what’s about to happen in the story.  I’m not so sure about writing a report, though.

Kristin Armstrong recently wrote for Glamour magazine about what she wishes she had known about marriage. Here are some exerpts. You can follow the link in the title below to read the full article.

“What I wish I had known about marriage”

The greatest conspiracy in modern history is not Watergate or the shooting of JFK; it’s something far more ingrained and insidious in the way it distorts the truth. The conspiracy is marriage. . . .

Perhaps we are all guilty of holding on too tightly to our own Cinderella stories, thinking that the glass slipper of the perfect marriage will conform to us uniquely. . . .

Here is the truth as I see it: Marriage has the potential to erode the very fiber of your identity. If you aren’t careful, it can tempt you to become a “yes woman” for the sake of salvaging your romantic dream. It can lure you into a pattern of pleasing that will turn you into someone you’ll hardly recognize and probably won’t like. . . .

The incredible disappearing woman

Ten years ago . . . . I had bought my first house . . . .  I had adopted a dog named Jake . . . . drove a cute little green Miata that I paid for in full. I was career-minded and single-minded. I was also headstrong and naive; I treasured my self-sufficiency so much that I scoffed at women who gave up their jobs, stayed home to take care of children or relied on men for anything.

Then I fell in love. I met Lance Armstrong. . . . Soon I was joyfully sporting an engagement ring with a hefty rock the size of my dilated pupil in a darkroom. I was so enamored with my new stature as part of a couple that I paid more attention to my left hand than to readying my heart for the journey ahead. I quit my job, rented out my house, gave my dog to an old boyfriend, sold my car and moved to France so Lance could reenter the world of professional cycling. We got married and promptly had three children—a son and then twin daughters—who were breast-fed, toted between countries and utterly adored by their devoted, full-time, stay-at-home mommy. (So much for my scoffing.). . .

If you ask me today what I truly love, I can easily tell you I love God, my family, my friends, fireworks displays, a good red wine, staying up late with a mystery novel, a sweaty run, painting abstract art, indulging my organizational compulsions, laughing until no sound comes out and taking my time. If you had asked me when I was married what I loved, I would have automatically told you the things that I loved about my husband. . . . Making him happy became my happy.

So this once-devout Catholic stopped going to church because it was inconvenient. . . . I quit reading late into the night because the light was bothersome to a tired athlete who needed sleep. I put all the energy and skills that made me a good manager and account executive into errands, planning and mothering. But the beauty of a wife is not found in those things. The beauty of a wife is in her being, not in her doing. During those years I perfected my doing and neglected my being. I remember the day that revelation first hit me: I made a joke to Lance about being opinionated, and he looked at me, sincerely confused: “You?”

Getting back the real me

If I were to do things over again, I wouldn’t have thrown myself so irrevocably into my new life. I would have guarded the things that made me feel like me —the places, the friends —and above all I would have spoken up about my needs. Instead, I will leave you with a lesson about how a woman can hold on to the bright, hard flame of who she is.

If your husband asks what you think, tell him. If you have a preference, voice it. If you have a question, ask it. If you want to cry, bawl. If you need help, raise your hand and jump up and down. I spent five years juggling kids, travel, cooking, smoothing. I never once said that I couldn’t do it on my own, or that I was just plain tired. I became a prisoner to my own inability to say uncle when life squeezed me too hard. The warden was pride, and I remained in maximum security.

The time may come when you realize that the only way to restore the meaning to your marriage is to get back the real you. It requires warrior-size courage to take a stand against the miscommunication, deception and emotional distance that breed in the shadows of inauthenticity. You will have to boldly step up to the line and speak from your heart. You will have to own your words (spoken and unspoken), your actions (done and undone) and the consequences of both. . . .

[I hope my daughters] will bring to their marriages the greatest gift of all: a unique and unshakable sense of self.

Kristin Armstrong is a freelance writer and contributing editor for Runner’s World magazine.

I came home from school a little cross-eyed, loopy and head-achey today.  I gave reading tests ALL DAY LONG!  We’re entering the last three weeks of school for this year, and since I’m the reading specialist, I’m administering the DRA almost nonstop for the next three weeks.  The DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) is a valuable assessment of reading ability.  It is given one-on-one.  The DRA kit includes books on varying levels.  There a K-3 kit, and a 4-8 kit.  I have given the tests in each of the kits so many times that I practically have every story memorized.  I have the directions memorized, and I could probably give an assessment in my sleep. 

Today I had 7 hours of testing with very brief respites for a 15 minute lunch break and later a 10 minute stroll to the bookroom to shelve some leveled book sets that had been returned.  Well - and several quick restroom trips between tests.  

I heard children read the same stories over and over: “You Don’t Look Beautiful to Me,”  “Storm Chasers,” “Green Freddie,” “One Brave Heart,” Lights! Camera! Action!”  At one point I told a fourth grader that I had to stand up and stretch a little bit before starting her testing. The past four children had chosen the same book (”Storm Chasers”) and so had she.  I wasn’t sure I could stand doing a running record on the same passage again. So I got up and went to my little refrigerator and took a couple swigs of a Diet Coke. The exercise and caffeine helped. Then it was back to “Storm Chasers.”

When I first started giving the DRA last year, I had the hardest time learning how to score it.  It seemed impossibly complicated.  Now that I’ve given it hundreds of times, I’m seeing more and more just how valuable it is.  It allows the teacher to identify exactly what a child does well in reading and what the child needs to work on to become a better reader. 

I can finish a K-3 test in about 30 - 45 minutes.  However, I always spread the upper grade test over at least two days because even though it is a reading test, it requires the children to complete four pages of writing.  Actually, if I include the student reading survey, there are six pages of writing for the upper grade children.  That’s my only complaint about it.  With that much writing, it becomes a formidable and time-consuming task to finish the test, and I believe it becomes more of a writing assessment instead of a reading assessment.  Despite that, it’s a good assessment, and I gain a tremendous amount of information from it.  With the time requirements, it would be very difficult for a classroom teacher to assess an entire class of children, though.  Since my schedule is more flexible, I can discontinue my reading groups and spend all day on it.  A classroom teacher doesn’t have that  luxury.  That’s why I offer to do the testing for them.

I don’t mind spending a few weeks testing the children because I know that the results will help the teachers determine the progress of the children over the course of the past school year, and it will help the teachers at the beginning of school in the fall decide how best to teach them.

At the end of three weeks I may be a zombie. . . .or perhaps bald from pulling my hair out . . . . or I may start screaming hysterically if someone mentions “Storm Chasers.”

It’s Wednesday morning, and that means the Carnival of Education is up at The Education Wonks.  Even if you’re not in education you will find articles of interest.  I’m always pleasantly surprised at the wide range of topics and interests that are highlighted in the carnival each week.  Click on over there and enjoy.

In the May/June 2006 issue of Instructor magazine (p. 33) there is an article by Pamela Wheaton Shorr entitled “What’s On Your Principal’s Mind?”  In the article Shorr posed questions to principals and reported the results.  One question, in particular, caught my attention:  What qualities matter most in a teacher?  Here’s Shorr’s report:

Passion for teaching and compassion for students topped the list for most principals.  “I’m looking for people who teach with dedication,” notes Dr. Yvonne Chan, an award-winning principal at Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Los Angeles, California, and a member of the State Board of Education.  “Skills can always be learned.”

But, administrators say, this passion for teaching must be paired with compassion – a love of students and the wish to advocate for them and help them reach their full potential.   Mike Scholz, who was an assistant principal for 13 years and is now in his first year as principal of Mascoutah High School in Mascoutah, Illinois, says he wants his teachers to be involved with kids outside the classroom.  “I look for teachers who give extra of themselves,” he says, noting that it’s important for teachers to run extracurricular activities and clubs and show up at school events to show how important the kids are to them.

Other key teaching qualities include an interest in continuing professional development, commitment to the overall school community, subject knowledge, and understanding of the developmental stages of children.

Oh my.  Where do I begin in responding to that?  Am I the only one who thinks that’s a bunch of hooey?  Okay, maybe not hooey, but while those qualities SOUND good, they’re not the real world, necessary, use-every-day qualities of excellent teachers.

Understanding of child development, knowledge of subject matter and how to teach it are givens as long as our colleges and universities are doing their job of preparing teachers.  Passion for teaching, interest in ongoing professional development and compassion for children should also be givens for anyone contemplating a career in teaching.  These “givens” are the basic requirements to be even considered for a teaching position.  Excellent teaching is much more.

There are two sentences from the article that bother me.  The first is: “Skills can always be learned.”  Well, no they can’t.  Part of good teaching is knowing when to teach what.  That’s part of the “knowing about child development” requirement.  Teachers can love teaching and have boundless compassion for their students, and then love them right into ignorance. I’ve seen it happen. Unless they know how to motivate students and teach the necessary skills and subject matter, the passion and compassion aren’t worth much.

The second thing that bothered me was: “. . . he wants his teachers to be involved with the kids outside the classroom. . . . to show how important the kids are to them.”  The best way I can show my students how important they are to me is to be an excellent teacher for them.  Teachers can’t be everything to students, and if we spend our non-school hours running extra-curricular activities and clubs and attending school events, we will burn out quickly.

I love teaching and I love the fact that I am making a positive difference in the lives of children. However,  I don’t attend school activities outside of school hours - not much anyway.  I participate in events when I can and when they’re interesting to me or when children I teach are directly involved in them.  I already put in many days of work beyond my contract in order to get my classroom ready each year and to finish the things I’m required to do and the things I want to do for the children I teach.  I come to work early and leave late many days in order to do what I need to do for my students.  However, I value my time, and I have many interests outside of my job.  Teaching is a noble and wonderful and necessary profession, but it is not my life.  If I died tomorrow, another teacher would quickly take my place.  My family, my friends, my church, and myself are ahead of teaching in my list of priorities.

Ok, so I disagree with what the principals who were interviewed said were the qualities that matter most in teachers.  What, then, are the qualities I think are important?  After teaching over 25 years in just about all the elementary grades, in different schools in different states and in varying environments, I would say that the following qualities are necessary for a great teacher:

(1) A great teacher is flexible: Schedules are changed, a child throws up, you have a fire drill, it rains and you lose your planning time because recess must be indoors, an assembly is called, a school bus breaks down,  upset parents meet you at the door.  A good teacher MUST be able to roll with the punches and not get flustered with a constantly changing environment.  You adapt your plans to the new circumstances and move on.

(2) A great teacher is a team player:  No teacher is an island.  You work with a team of either grade level or subject area colleagues.  Your schedules are entertwined.  If you can’t work well with others, you won’t be successful.

(3) A great teacher is professional:  You will be privy to confidential information about students, parents, and sometimes other teachers.  You keep that information to yourself or share it only through the proper channels. Professionalism is about respect for yourself and others.

(4) A great teacher has a thick skin: You’re working for hours each day with the pride and joy of parents.  No matter how conscientious and diplomatic you are, at some point you will have conflict with parents.  You have to be able to take criticism and questions and respond professionally and with compassion - always keeping what’s best for the student in mind. 

(5) A great teacher is organized: The amount of paperwork involved in teaching is staggering.  There are papers to grade, records to keep, assessments to make, lessons to plan - and teach, letters to write, meetings to attend, phone calls to make. . . It is mind-boggling at times.  If you’re not organized, you will never be your best.  Teaching is multi-tasking at its highest level.

(6) A great teacher is a cheerleader.  This ties in with passion for teaching and compassion for students.  Sometimes we are the only cheerleaders our students have.  We must encourage them and brag on them and push them and guide them and love them. 

Those are my six necessary qualities for a great teacher.  What do you think?  In your opinion, what are the most important qualities in a teacher?

If you are an elementary school teacher or parents of elementary school age children, you might be interested in the reading newsletters that are posted at the top of my sidebar.  Click “Reading Newsletter - May 2006″ for the latest edition.  I have a newsletter each month of the school year, along with a summer edition and a back-to-school edition.  You are welcome to read and use it. 

The Education Wonks has a story about a young Texas teacher who came up with a unique way to address a common problem.  One thing I’ve learned in my current teaching position is that even in the wealthiest school systems there are pockets of poverty.  In the midst of million dollar homes, there are children who come to school hungry, with no books to call their own and no jackets to keep them warm in cold weather.

Each Wednesday I look forward to reading all the fine posts highlighted in this week’s Carnival of Education.  The Carnival is up now at The Education Wonks.  It’s an easy way to find the best writing in the blogosphere about a wide variety of education-related topics.  The Carnival does the work of searching for me!  I’m always thrilled when one of my posts is included, as it is this week.  So click the link above and settle back for some good reading.

As a teacher who’s not real keen on the NEA, I was happy to find an article in the April issue of NEA Today that was supportive of the military - at least on the surface.  The article is entitled “Heat, Bugs, and Bullets,” and it’s about the experiences of education support professionals (ESPs) as citizen soldiers in the Army Reserves.First of all, what are education support professionals?  They’re people who hold such jobs as school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and fleet mechanics in school systems. Schools couldn’t make it without them.

The NEA Today  article highlights three ESPs who left their jobs temporarily to serve our country.  Karen Mahurin, president of the National Council of ESPs says:

“When our country calls ESPs, it’s hard for them, having to leave their families and jobs.  But they don’t hesitate to defend America and everything we stand for.”

Staff Sgt. James Smith, a school bus driver in Las Vegas, tells about being in Iraq and driving a truck in an army convoy.

“Cars would come up beside you and start shooting, or kids would run up to the truck and throw a grenade in the cab.”

Spc. Kimberley Potter, a school bus driver from Las Vegas, tells that:

“In other places people would sometimes shout at us and slide their index finger across their throat.”

Staff Sgt. Kenny Ham, a fleet mechanic for a school services board in New York who flew combat missions as a door gunner while in the Middle East, writes of the poverty suffered by the local people he saw during several humanitarian missions to Afghani villages in Kandahar. He tells us how:

“People came running out of their homes - which were mud huts made of straw.  As word spread, more and more people came on foot, by camel and donkey.  It was chilly, and the kids were barefoot, wearing a single layer of clothing.  Their little hands were chapped and weathered. (Afghanistan) is so far behind the modern world, it is beyond belief.”

These soldiers left their civilian education support jobs in the United States to go to a combat zone to fight for their country.  I know I’m not alone when I write that I would like to see MORE reports about the extraordinary people who give of themselves to protect the rights of the useful idiiots back home to protest and otherwise endanger more of these fine warriors with their anti-everything blatherings.

It’s TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program - i.e. standardized testing) week, and that means the special area teachers (of which I am one) handle recess duty each day in order to give the classroom teachers a much needed break and planning period.  There were three recess sessions, and I helped supervise the one for the second and third graders.

Today was a stormy day, weather-wise, and that meant recess was in the gym rather than on the playground.  It wasn’t bad.  There were games, drawing paper, crayons and markers, large sheets of paper for murals and a video.  Some children sat with friends and chatted.  There were six classes of children in the gym - it was loud but organized.

As I walked around the gym watching the children as they played and stopping to chat occasionally, I started noticing t-shirt slogans - not the typical sports or restaurant shirts, but the ones that “make a statement.”  I swiped a sheet of the drawing paper and a marker and started copying them.  Here’s a sampling:

Warning!  Attitude Out of Control!

For Sale:  Parents - Buy 1, Get 1 Free

Tough Enough to Wear Pink (on a third grade boy in a bright pink shirt)

I DIDN’T DO IT!

Wanted:  Parents who let me shop as often as I want - Never ask me to get off the phone - and Always give me money for the mall!

Thankfully there were no rude or off-color slogans on any of the shirts.  However,these children were all in the 7 - 9 age range which means their parents were almost certainly the ones who purchased the shirts for them.  It gives one pause, doesn’t it?

NOTE: added Friday, 4/21/06 - Today was another stormy day - another recess in the gym.  The children were decidedly more “restless” the second day of inside recess.  More t-shirt messages.  Here are today’s”

Blame my sister

Sassy

I’m a ‘lil Redneck

(front) Angelic Outside  (back) Devilish Inside

Hottie!

Future Hall of Famer

School Computers are fun!  (Hmmm — so funny/dorky I had to include it)

Yeah yeah!  I know I’m a Princess

Then there was the assortment of Gap, Bugle Boy, XBox, Spiderman, school shirts and teams shirts. 

The pièce de résistance for the day was when a third grader came up to me to tell me his throat was hurting and declared:

“It hurts when I swallow my spit.”

My day was complete.

It was the first day of school and a new student named Pedro Martinez, the son of a Mexican restaurateur, entered the fourth grade.

The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American history.”Who said ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death?”

She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Pedro, who had his hand up.

“Patrick Henry, 1775.”

“Very good!” replied the teacher. “Now, who said, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?”

Again, no response except from Pedro: “Abraham Lincoln, 1863.”

The teacher snapped at the class, “Class, you should be ashamed!  Pedro, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do!”

She heard a loud whisper: “Screw the Mexicans!”

“Who said that?” she demanded.

Pedro put his hand up.  “Jim Bowie, 1836.”

At that point, a student in the back said, “I’m gonna puke.”

The teacher glared and asked, “All right!  Now, who said that?”

Again, Pedro answered, “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”

Now furious, another student yelled, “Oh yeah?  Suck this!”

Pedro jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouting to the teacher, “Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”

Now, almost hysterical, the teacher cried, “You little snitch.  If you say anything else, I’ll kill you!”

Pedro frantically yelled at the top of his voice, “Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001.” The teacher fainted, and as the class gathered around her on the floor, someone said, “Oh shoot, we’re in BIG trouble now!”

Pedro whispered, “Saddam Hussein, 2003.”

Finally someone threw an eraser at Pedro, and someone else shouted “Duck!”

Teacher woke up and asked “Who said that?

Pedro: Dick Cheney 2006!

(h/t to Ruth)

Everyone should occasionally have the opportunity to listen to a conversation between kindergarteners.  It’s rarely boring.

Today as I worked with two kindergarten boys, they started talking to each other.  Here’s a transcript:

Alex:  My name starts with the first letter!  (definite bragging tone to his voice)

Linc: But GOD has the beautifulest name.  (slight pause to let that sink in)  You’re supposed to think that. You should believe in God and Jesus.

Alex:  And God and Jesus are the same thing . . . person.

Linc: Yes they are.

Alex: And black is the goodest color.

Linc:  It’s a BOY color.

Alex: Yeah - the famousest color.

Linc: Like Elvis.  He’s famous.

Alex: Yeah - and Jack Black.  He’s famous.  (They both solemnly nod their heads in agreement)

And there you have it.  From God to Jack Black in 20 seconds.

As usual, I walked into the gym this morning for bus duty. My fellow bus duty monitor met me with the following words:

“Only 38 days!”

I immediately knew what she was talking about, and I’m sure that anyone who reads this and is even remotely connected to a school also knows what she meant. There are only THIRTY-EIGHT school days left before summer vacation! That’s a news item worthy of a poem. So here goes:

The Countdown Begins

Joy! There are only thirty-eight days of school left!

Panic! There are only thirty-eight days of school left -

To rise at five as day is dawning

To sit in meetings without yawning

To race to the gym for morning duty

To teach children that reading is beauty

To test, assess, instruct, inspire

To coach, to cheer, to light their fire

To comfort, listen, encourage and chide

To drill, enlighten, inform and guide

To get them ready for next year’s grade

And hope by August their zeal won’t fade

Thirty-eight days of bustling and running

Come day thirty-nine, I’m at the beach sunning!

 

Let me know where to pick up my poetry award.

(Note: This post was selected as part of this week’s Carnival of Education.  Please click the link to find much more to read in the realm of education.)