magic chairs.

This short 4 day week has been a whirlwind of meetings, deadlines and demands outside the usual requirements of simply teaching. When one becomes a teacher there are many things that the high powers decide to leave out, to discover it on your own. Before I began teaching, I had this ideal vision in my head. This is much like anything I do, as an event slowly approaches I imagine how its going to be, try to picture myself in the scenerio. I thought about the lessons I would teach, the children I would get to know, and similar circumstances. However, there are many aspects of teaching I was never prepared for. One thing, for example, is being a "boss," so to say, to other adults. No one prepares you to walk into a room and be in charge of adults who 1. have over ten years expereince each and 2. are easily old enough to be my mother. This part, I choose to approach as a team effort rather than a "boss" sitituation.

Second, no one mentions the overwhelming stacks and stacks of paperwork. There are two sides to teaching. One is where you work with kids and teach lessons, shape lives and all that. Second is where your time is tormented with clerical nonesene. I swear, the amount of paperwork that I go through each and everyday, consumes whole forests. From the assesments, IEPs, state assesments, programs, school forms, district letters, and so on, it is begining to pull on my sanity.

I WANT TO TEACH. Honestly, I enjoy it most and I think the demands of nonsense paperwork are unfair to my kids. Today I spend an entire hour and a half in my classroom. Does that make sense? This truly confuses me. This morning I had a new techers meeting. It was followed by writning goals for a triannual IEP review, which I was infromed about yesterday at 2:30. I had to finish a trip request, a form that my school requires we fill out in order to justify us going to McDonalds, I hope this sounds as ridiculous to you as it is to me. Finally, I draged myself to a triannual IEP meeting for another hour. On way back to the classroom, I heard my friend's class getting roudy and stopped in to see if I could offer a hand. I walked in to find her wearyly trying to assemble lunch, begging for the end of the day to come as her rambonsious six were bouncing of the walls screaming. I sat with one student trying to get him to calm down and eat his snack, so she could work with the others.

Eventually I made it back to my classroom. I just wanted to enjoy the time with the students. I moved our kidney table and chairs to the side. The radio was already playing, I started the head, shoulders, knees and toes song. I gathered the particpating students and began some real exercisse, for children who lack recess. We continued with simon says. The students and I did some stretches. Everyone was having a delightful time. The cd ended and I went to my ipod to find some chidlren's music. After this, we danced for a while. I encouraged them to dance with each other, as I danced with them for one of a time. Most kids were laughing and playing. Then I decided we'd play the game with chairs, magic chairs? Oh wait, musical chairs. We played a rousing three round game of musical chairs. By the finally round, everyone was playing and laughing and having a blast. I would dance around with them and evern the kids who were out continue to dance and sing to "Under the Sea." We danced, laughed and played for an entire hour and it was fantasitc. The children enjoyed themselves and were able to get out some of their pent up energy. This is what I want to to do everyday, if only....


:)

no here I am at my aprtment where I need to clean for the bf.