Always a New Adventure

    This week was an especially hard week at school. The first few weeks are always hard because you are setting up procedures, rules, and expectations. However, the most important thing you are setting up is a relationship with your students. I tell my students that I try to be firm, fair, and friendly. I let them know that once we set up our rules I am going to hold them to it, but if they feel something is unfair, they are welcome to let me know and we can vote on it as a class. One thing I have found especially true for 6th grade is that you have to earn their respect, but once you do they will go far for you.       During this week I felt frustrated at times. I have a few students who just don't seem to care regardless of the motivation or consequence. I decided to have a class discussion where I was open and honest about how I was feeling. I modeled for my students the faces I was seeing during class and asked them how it would make them feel if they were presenting. I remin

     Balance. The ability to give your time to multiple parts of your life. For years I've been trying to find this, trying to give myself some. It hasn't come. I have been all consumed by one thing, and although it's positive and rewarding, it's had a negative impact too. This year while sitting in a meeting, talking about advice for the new year, I heard someone say, "This job is tough. It's a 365 day/24 hour job. It can take all you've got, but if you're not enjoying the ride, it's not worth it. All of a sudden it hit me. I wasn't enjoying the ride. I was going through the motions, trying as hard as I could to be the ultimate best I could be, pushing and pushing myself to the limit.  I was exhausted and still came home feeling unsuccessful and frustrated. For years I had heard that I needed to let the small stuff slide and take part in other things. Someone even gave me a gift card to go to the movies. The card said, "For balance."