reflections from a snowed in teacher...

Last week, we got LOTS of snow and ice in Hohenwald, and it was BEAUTIFUL! We were out of school for four days!! With the weekend between those days and church being cancelled as well, I was at home for SIX days in a row!! CRAZY! I didn't go farther than the porch for six days...I'm thinking that's a personal record;) Several people were getting on facebook talking about cabin fever and such, but I could not relate. I enjoyed being at home. It was a nice break from the routine. Actually, I've had lots of breaks from the routine recently, we had another smaller snow a couple of weeks ago and were out of school for a couple of days, and we had MLK Day off, so I haven't worked a five-day-work-week since sometime in December:) The reality check after President's Day and before Spring Break may hit us hard around here!

I had a pretty good balance of relaxation and productivity while I was home, with a bit more relaxation, of course;) One of the things I worked on was going through all of my first-grade stuff. I had about 30 boxes of first-grade stuff in storage...yikes! That's way too much. I could have gone though more of it before we moved, but there was not a lot of time for that, other people were helping me pack, and I had no idea what grade I'd be teaching when we got here. There were about 10 boxes of files and five boxes of children's books. Once some of the snow melted and we could safely drive the couple of miles to get it, Keith braved the elements and got the files and books for me to sort through. I may teach little ones again someday, but it seems silly to store 30 boxes of stuff until that day may or may not come. It was a tedious job, but I sorted files to keep, recycle, and give away, and I sorted books to keep and books to give away. I still have a big stack of boxes in the corner of the living room. Hopefully they will leave soon:)

As I worked I had time to reflect on the differences in teaching first grade as compared to sixth. There is plenty to miss about the little ones. I miss teaching fundamentals, such as putting sounds together to read and write words and putting those words together to read and write sentences. I miss teaching the basic number sense in math and working with the five senses and changing seasons in science. But perhaps more than anything, I miss all of the celebrations in elementary school. We had at least one per month:)

September: Johnny Appleseed's birthday

October: Halloween

November: Thanksgiving

December: Christmas

January: Martin Luther King

February: Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day

March: Dr. Seuss's birthday, Easter

April: April Fool's Day

May: Mother's Day

As I sorted, it was fun to think about the books and activities I will use as a mother of my own children. Keith laughed at me when I declared I was going to do "units" with Itty Bitty:) It made me even more excited to be a mama!!

Even though there is plenty to miss about teaching first grade, and I have mourned those days from time to time throughout the school year, I am enjoying teaching sixth-graders. The challenges are different. Sometimes I struggle with seeing the relevance of the things I teach, and it is more difficult to build relationships with my students when I have 150 for an hour a day instead of 22 for six hours. But, as the year has progressed, I have convinced a few students that proper English is important, and the depth of my relationships with them has increased.

Sixth-graders are at a hard age. They're stuck right between childhood and teenage years, and sometimes they struggle with their identity, playing with legos one minute and writing love notes the next. I have had fun hearing their stories and talking them through some of the struggles of growing up. So, I think I'm finally beginning to deal with my own identity struggle of feeling like an elementary teacher in a middle school world. I will always remember first grade fondly...I have to remind myself that there were real challenges there too...tiring ones;) But, for now, I'm embracing the middle school world, and I'm thankful for the opportunity for a new experience.

My sixth-graders have been sweet and encouraging about my pregnancy. Almost everyday I come home telling Keith something sweet or funny that one of them has told me. Pretty much everyday since I told them the news, someone has asked me if it's a boy or girl. They cannot seem to remember that I've told them 25 times already that I won't know until March. I guess it's not unlike telling them the difference in an adjective and adverb 125 times! Several of them have offered advice on a name for the baby, including plenty who have requested I name my child after them. A couple of the little girls have already touched my belly and talked to the baby. A few have asked me when I'm going to get fat. One little boy pointed out to the class that I was finally beginning to show on Friday, and when a couple of them didn't understand what he meant, he quickly explained that I was getting fat:) They've had fun asking me how big the baby is, and it's been neat explaining that even though the baby is teeny tiny, he or she already has a heart, brain, arms, legs, and even fingernails. They like to warn me of things I'll have to deal with when I become a parent like kids not wanting to eat vegetables and begging for their own cell phone. Some of the boys told me that if it's a boy, I have to buy him a cool game system, but not to worry about buying any games, because they'll let him borrow their games:) I'm glad I get to share this journey with such sweet kids, and I'm thankful to have a job that I enjoy!