Sweet (Indirect) Revenge

So, I'm going to do something that I'm pretty sure I shouldn't do in a publicly available website... complain about my boss.  Here it goes anyway...

This week report cards were due on Thursday.  Report cards aren't what they were like when I was growing up.  I still have five different letter grades to give, but there are also a billion little subcategories within each I need to take data for as well.  If it were only those two things, I would've been done during my Teacher Work Day this Monday... but we have COMMENTS.

We are to write individualized narratives on each student.  My comments usually run about 20-25 sentences PER CHILD.  It's a lot of writing and it all seems to mash together in your brain.  Now, I do love each one of my students individually, but when you need to sit down and write that much specific stuff about every child you feel like your brain is going to explode. 

Now don't get me wrong, I think that comments on the report card are a GREAT way to communicate with parents.  The problem is that ours are scrutinized by one of the administrators to the point where the teachers are literally having nervous breakdowns over them and sobbing in the hallways.  Yeah, I'm not joking.  It's bad.  REALLY BAD.

One of our administrators will just glance over them and say, "Great!"  Which honestly sucks because you do need an extra set of eyes.  The other will comb through them and instead of giving you specific critiques, will tell you that they're not good enough and that you need to REDO them.  Now, I haven't had that personally happen to me, but I've seen it happen all around me.

I've worked 14-15 (5am-8pm) hour days this week... no dinner breaks.  Unfortunately even after working all of these hours at school, I was late turning in my monthly citizenship certificates.  I had the names submitted a while back and the certificates just needed a quick signature.

I was on my way to sneak them onto the guidance counselor's desk when the administrator popped out of nowhere and saw the certificates in my hand.  I tried not to make eye contact, but she stopped me and asked incredulously, "Are THOSE citizenship certificates?!?!"  I responded sheepishly, "Uh, yes?"  Then comes the smart-A remark. "You know those are LATE!" (REALLY?) I was tired, completely and utterly overwhelmed, but I responded desperately, "I've been working 14+ hour days this week and It just didn't happen on time."  She turned and stared down at me with this look of complete disgust and said, "You're not the only one!" and then stormed off.

I had JUST HAD IT at that point.  I walked quickly down the hallway, taking deep breaths, and turned the corner to make a copy.  There were two teachers already at the copy machine and I said pretty loudly, "I am so PISSED at ____!" (This is as foul as my language gets for those of you that know my personally, so you KNOW I was upset.)  I was on the verge of tears as I explained to my teacher friends what had happened and they weren't surprised at all.  This administrator has a reputation.

I was able to cool down quickly and put on a big smile for my kids to welcome them in the morning and greet them at the door.  We actually had a really great day.

Then I had to see HER at the faculty meeting after school that day.

At our faculty meetings, we do this compliment thing.  We write compliments on little slips of paper and a few are randomly drawn and read aloud at the meeting.  The remaining ones are delivered to our mailboxes.

I was thinking of a couple people that I could write compliments to and the guidance counselor came to my mind (because she is so awesome, probably).  Anyway, I got this naughty idea in my head... and I wrote it down.

Dear (Guidance Counselor),

THANK YOU for being SO understanding about my citizenship certificates even though they were turned in late this month!

Thanks, Jen :)

Yeah, and it totally was randomly selected to be read OUT LOUD.  I didn't know it at that point, but word of my little run-in that morning had spread to the whole staff.  Just about every teacher in there knew that it was a indirect blow to the person running the meeting.  I had people totally giving me high fives in the hallway after the meeting. :)

I'm so bad.

Free Babysitting?

First off, I'd like to thank all of those that commented on my post, Operation: Nursery.  I am using many of your ideas as I try to add a little structure to the nursery program.

I've done nursery now three times and I feel like I know what I'm doing even less each time I'm there.  My first day doing nursery, I was enthusiastic and ready to make it all work.  I came home afterward and made the little schedule cards below, I googled for fun ideas, read nursery blogs, and even researched the developmental milestones for the ages of the children I would be working with. 

My second week in nursery happened... and not at all as I had planned.  The schedule cards that I had fun making are at the bottom of my nursery bag and still have yet to make an appearance.  Now after my third week, I'm not even sure I will use them at all.  It seems like all of our time is spent just trying to keep the little ones from crying.

After a month in my calling, I've now met and talked to the other two nursery teachers.  One is a college student and the other is a newlywed.  All three of us were there today for the first time.  I think they've both been doing nursery for about the last year or so.  Both are very nice, but they seem pretty quiet right now and it makes the two hours there pretty lonely.

Nursery doesn't seem like it should be all that challenging.  I don't have to spend hours preparing a lesson.  My class doesn't text or complain.  We get snack and play time!  It shouldn't be that hard.  The manual for nursery is wonderful.  The lesson on prayer today had some great interactive ideas.  I loved all of the ideas and was completely prepped before nursery today.  I really thought it would go well.

In my work as a teacher, I am constantly looking at the facial expressions of my class to be able to direct my lesson.  I use their reactions and participation to gauge interest and understanding.  Today I got a bunch of blank stares, drooling, and crying.  I don't feel like I have super high expectation for them, but it was really hard to even teach a lesson for five minutes.  Right now, I'm trying to adjust my expectations to their age group and figure out what will get their attention and participation.

Trying to structure two and three year olds seems kind of like herding cats at this point.  My ideas for organization and structure keep fading away each week I am there.  Next week, I will get to see someone else teach a lesson for the first time, so I am really interested to see what works and get more ideas. 

I'm trying not to get discouraged about the calling, but I feel like I'm starting to think about this calling as it seems everyone else does... as free babysitting.

Side Effects

So the hot flashes started last week... I was teaching and I suddenly felt my face get flushed like I was embarrassed. It's not anything severe, but definitely noticeable. They last for only a few seconds and I usually have maybe a dozen or so a day. I don't even know if my face turns red. My students haven't said anything about it, but I've felt like a broken record the last week, so I'm not even sure they're looking at me or into outerspace...

I've also been waking up several times a night. It really pretty impossible to get too warm in my house, seeing that we turn the thermostat down to 60 during the night, but it happens to me several times a night. I've always been freezing cold while I sleep. I used to wear a huge sweatshirt to bed and turn my heater blanket way up. Now, I'm in a T-shirt, my heater blanket is on low, and I usually drink 1-2 full water bottles each night. I see why my doctor said it was a good thing to go through this in the wintertime. :)

The best side effect though, is that I have no pain at all in my right side!

I was a little worried in the beginning that the shot would be ineffective like the birth control was and I would just be wasting more time, but I guess completely shutting down your estrogen shuts down the endometriosis as well. I'm definitely missing my estrogen though. My hair and nails have become really brittle and break easily. Hopefully everything returns to normal whenever this shot wears off.

I still have a ways to go, but these side effects make me feel a little bit more confident that this medicine is working.

Operation: Nursery

So, I've been serving as the Sunbeams (3-4 year-olds) teacher at church since January of 2011.  I've really enjoyed working with the Sunbeams and seeing them grow and change so quickly throughout the year.  It really has been one of my favorite callings to date.  The week before Christmas, they asked me to go work in the nursery as I was originally called back at the beginning of 2011.  There were two other nursery workers that were already there, so I was just added in for some extra help.  I have absolutely no experience in nursery, so the primary president gave me the manual, took me on the grand tour, and kind of introduced me to what they do in nursery.

Fast forward two weeks to today... my first Sunday in nursery.  I kind of assumed since I was the new one to nursery that I didn't really need to plan anything, but that I would just show up and "learn the ropes" from the two other veteran teachers.

Whenever I was asked to do nursery, the primary president was specific about being there on time, so that the parents could drop and then get to their meetings and/or callings, SO I headed RIGHT out of sacrament meeting after the closing prayer and was waiting in the room for the two other nursery leader to get there.

Well, one kid shows up... and its just me... then two, three, four kids... still no other teacher... five, six, seven (that parent opted out)... still no other teachers.  So yep, my first Sunday in nursery it was just. me.  I had no plans, no snack, and no idea how anything worked.  They got a sub to come at the last minute and the kids ate some old pretzels and raisins that we found in the cupboard.  We didn't really have a lesson.  Most kids just sat and played and others waited crying at the door for their parents to return.

So next week, I'm coming prepared.  I don't do a half job of anything and I intend to put my best effort forth into making this calling work.  I mean, I work with children for a living, these kids shouldn't be THAT much different from my fourth graders, right??

Just kidding, I know it will be a lot different, but I'm going to try to do my best.

The first thing I want to do is start routines and add structure.  We have the kids in there for almost two hours, so I figure that time needs to be split up.  There are nine kids on the roll and three teachers, so it is all very doable.

I've been online looking for ideas and there are tons of great ones out there.   I just wanted to hear any practical experience/advice that anyone has to give me.