Why So Serious?

I came into work early this morning - the day before Fall break - and practiced my breathing. I knew today was going to be crazy, but I had planned for students to turn in a final draft of their narrative today. I warned them to get it done earlier so they could use today as a reading day, but.... 'Nuff said.

Moral of the story: big mistake.

Second moral of the story: flexibility is everything (does this sound familiar? Oh yeah. Even I need to learn lessons multiple times. I guess I was meant for middle school!).

1st period? Everything went love-er-ly. Students printed without a problem and even submitted their final drafts on Edmodo. They left with smiles on their faces and a shout-out of "Have a great break Mrs. Brown!" and "We're going to whip your butt in the soccer game today, Mrs. Brown!" Loved it.

2nd period? Super chatty. Won't listen to directions. I got to practice my procedures a lot here. "I expect to hear nothing but the clicking of your computer keys in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." I'm realizing that count downs are GOLD in getting student attention. I don't know why I ever thought students could give me all of their undivided attention at the drop of a hat. Expectations adjusted and feeling great.

3rd period? Will not sit still. I stood at the front of the class for a good three minutes before students got a hold of themselves. They were firing questions off at me like firecrackers on the 4th of July. I finally just stopped trying to explain things and (very quietly) reminded them that Mrs. Brown's super power is over-explaining and that I would probably answer all of their questions if they just listened. Isn't it amazing what a quiet voice will do to get a class to listen in comparison to a loud, booming one? They got their narratives printed and turned in (though my stapler decided to act like a hormonal teenage girl after the first staple. Temperamental as heck!).

4th period? Oh. My. Gosh. I had the chance to talk to some of those students I referenced yesterday. I made sure to keep everything positive and I put the challenge on them. Coolest moment ever: about 20 minutes after I had this conversation with one student, he started fooling around in the computer lab again. All I had to do was put my hand on his shoulder and say his name quietly and he responded. Immediately. "Sorry, Mrs. Brown." It was the greatest feeling. However, just as I'm having students print and upload their assignments to Edmodo, the fire alarm goes off. I felt like throwing my hands up in the air. I got the students outside (it was a drill that we hadn't been warned about. yay.) and thought to myself, I need to be okay with things not going according to plan. I have to be flexible. Yes, half of my class didn't turn in their narratives, but that's okay. We'll get it all worked out after fall break. Then the librarian tells me that people will be coming to take the computers in the lab we've been using over the break... so all the work these students did will be gone if they didn't save it to edmodo. No biggy. Well, that's technology for you. Flexibility, I will conquer you.

6th period? The class did surprisingly well. Most all of them got drafts turned in, but guess when the printer decided to stop working? Yes. 6th period. Again. I felt so bad for these students (and I'd even planned some procedures that would prevent them from overwhelming the printer with print jobs). I just clasped my hands in gratitude that so many of them were able to send it to me over edmodo.

7th period? Forget plans. The day before, the administration let us know that we would be having a student vs. staff soccer game during 7th period. 7th graders would play the faculty during the first half of class and 8th graders the second. I had (stupidly) thought that students would still be able to accomplish things during that last half of class - I'd even warned them the day before to get as much done as they could because they would have half the time that everyone else had. After the faculty whooped on the 7th graders (2 to 0, baby! 2 to 0! I'm going to pretend like my lame defense had something to do with that), my students came back to the classroom and I just knew - my plans were never going to work. So, I showed students how to upload documents on edmodo in case they wanted to work on it over the weekend. And the class went berserk for the idea. We'll see if anything happens over the weekend! But I feel no guilt - there was no way that they were going to work for the last 15 minutes of the last period of the last day before fall break.

This is me. Getting real.

In college, I used to shake my metaphorical fist at the professor who assumed that his class was the most important thing in my life, as if I had nothing better to do than all the work he had assigned. Now I'm forced to eat that same fist - I think I've been treating my students like my class was the most important thing at that moment in their lives. With that mentality, I find myself getting frustrated in nanoseconds when students misbehaved, when technology failed, when things didn't go according to my plans. And when I get frustrated, my students know it; however, I've learned that 7th and 8th graders internalize that frustration and conclude that I don't like them. I've got to be able to just let it go. Yeah, it's frustrating, but I can't lose my head over it.

Roll with the punches, my friends. Roll with the punches.

And NEVER EVER EVER plan for large assignments to be turned in the day before a vacation or break. Just don't do it.

And if you ever get frustrated, go play soccer with a bunch of 7th graders. You'll feel like an idiot because, if you're like me, you haven't played soccer since you were ten years old. But your students will make you feel like you're on top of the world as they shout out, "Go Mrs. Brown!" or "Yeah, Mrs. Brown!" And when they rush to the field after you win to come and give you a hug and a smile, you realize that this is what you want them to learn more than anything: how to build someone up and make them feel good about themselves.  Then they walk back to the classroom at your side like you're the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Here's to a vacation filled with jeans (gosh I miss wearing them everyday!), with exercise (since I could actually have time for myself!), and with lots of papers and journals to grade. It's going to be a blast.