High/Low Linky

How it works: post your highs and your lows from the month. Here are the "rules" as pounded out on the keyboard by Teacher to the Core. Read it, weep, hop over and link up. Okay, just kidding about weeping. 

  "Tell me all about your Highs and Lows of this month.

Share pictures… spill the beans… let that cat out of the bag!

Let us high five and hug you with the stories you share.

Let the comments you receive be your both

 "Oscar Moment" and your free therapy.

Grab any and all of the graphics you want.

Link up, Link back, and comment out the person directly in front of you

 and come on back to check out the person after you."

My highs... well, I have mostly posted them already in other blogs. I have had some serious ego-stroking this month. The school counselor compliments my class every time she visits, but this month she complimented my students' teacher (that's me)! And told my class how lucky they are to have me and that no other kindergarten class that she knew of (and she visits about 10 classes every 2 weeks) talked as much about feelings, and social settings and how to treat others. Of course, I basked in this glory a little bit, but the truth is, you do whatever is modeled for you and I had such a fantastic coordinating teacher during student teaching who constantly modeled to, for, and with her students how to treat others in social matters. So I do my best to follow her lead and remember to Thank God for putting me in her classroom. Okay, so she complimented me in class and cheered me to my kiddos and I thought about shedding a tear I was so touched. Then I stepped into the hallway to tell her something without little ears, and she told me that she would never have guessed I am a first year teacher and she poured on more kind words and "feel goods." "Little" things like this are what made my month. 

Another high was that my two little non-english speakers are making big strides. I moved them on the last phonics test so they would be closer to me and I could help them.  The results were amazing. They just might be ready for first grade at the end of the year! I don't have words to explain how much of a miracle this is. 

My lows... *sigh* They are the same as the others that I have read so far. I am really discouraged with some of my students behavior lately. Yesterday my students were CrAzY! C-R-A-Z-Y! nuts. crazy. And did I mention... they were crazy? I told them not to bring their crazy selves back to me today. Today was better in waves. Sometimes my students were candidates for sainthood. But then they got loud and rowdy again. There were actually times yesterday and today that I almost teared up. Not happy tears. Tears of exasperation and frustration. And the knowledge that we only have 73 more days of school. I know this because we did the math today. My frustration is that we shouldn't have to stop every activity 2 or 3 or 4 times so I can say, "everyone needs to show me how we sit on the carpet," or "if everyone was sitting like (fill in the blank) then I would know that you are ready to learn" and after so many times of talking to the same student over and over, "which choice are you going to make, sit on the carpet or at your desk, make your choice right now." (Blah, blah, blah, blah-blah, blah-blah...). And yes, there are some concepts that they should be getting but aren't. They should be writing, knowing sight words, reading, and so on. I'm overwhelmed with what I think they need to know before the end of the year. And the burden to teach them and to modify and differentiate, and help all students. Aaaaaaa. Super teacher has left the building. 

Last instruction: if you link up, comment on the high/low you read that you got the link from, comment on the post before you and the one after you. 

Teacher to the Core, a Linky Party