True Dat

As I sit in my empty classroom today, I again get a rush of emotions.  One is excitement, believe it or not. This is year 20 for me. By now one would assume I would have this down pat. Not so much.  I am always changing things up and trying new things and this year will prove to be a challenge to me yet again.  So, the excitement comes from newness if that makes sense.

Another feeling I have is that of being overwhelmed.  I take my job as a teacher fairly seriously. I know there are many times I've not done well and not hit the goals I have as a teacher. One of those goals is to make each kid know how incredible s/he is. It's a tough thing to do when the product I'm dealing with is 13 and typically hormonally driven. Add to that my impatience and my zero tolerance for idiotic behavior and you can see where not each kid will feel "incredible" after I'm done with them.  Most of them probably feel the need for therapy, I assume. In defense of my critique of me, I handwrote to every student I had last year and tried to specifically find their talent and encourage that as they start 8th grade. It did take about 15+ hours to do those cards, but ultimately, my hope is they see them as truth. 

One of my goals is to be more consistent in my prayers for my students.  I've always been a firm believer that when you are praying for someone, it is really hard to not like them. And yes, there are kids I have a hard time liking some of the time. Long ago I would sit in those students' desks before or after school, and ask God to help me see life through their eyes so I can show compassion and love for them since I know every one of us has our own battles we fight daily.  It did help, but as does everything in my world, it got consumed by the whole busyness of life. I want to bring that back this year.

Speaking of this year, better get at it. 

Family Updates:  The Little Princess still has hives after three days on steroids.  My pink eye ended up being an ulcerated eye instead (the extreme pain caused me to go in to my eye doc which saved my eye!) and I'm on meds for a few more days. It's much better once the steroids/antibiotic started working.  We didn't get sewage in our basement although all of the stuff is now in the garage for safety since rain is in the weekend forecast. Bring it on.....