I never realized how much teachers probably pray for school to be cancelled when it snows just as much or more than students might. Davidson county was holding out for a few hours while every other county in the state was closed it seemed. But they finally caved. The snow here is pretty legitimate. I think we got 2-3 inches yesterday. Enough to cover the grass. So I'm enjoying my very first snow day as a teacher this morning at Starbucks with hot cocoa while Mrs. K still has class at Vanderbilt from 9-11am. Then we're going to get a gym membership at a place right down the road from our house and go work out. Then hopefully I can play the Wii a little bit today. Great beginning to a great week.
It's semester exam week, and I had to have my exams completed and copied by last Thursday (early deadline = good for me). So this week should be pretty simple. Wednesday and Thursday should be half days unless they change something due to this snow day, and on Friday students are out. And finally, Christmas break for 2 weeks.
I must share a crazy moment that happened in my classroom last week. So I finally got to do the sheep eye dissection with my conceptual physics kids last week. This was a lab that the previous teacher created and left for me as an extension to the optics and light unit. Most of my kids were really excited about it. However, this means razor blades in the hands of 14 and 15 year olds. One student had a minor cut, but really no injuries throughout the 5 different classes. After my first class did the dissection, I misplaced the small box of razor blades! The students had already been dismissed for the day, so I tracked down and interrogated a couple students who always hang around after school. They thought it could be a certain student that apparently snorts or something like that. Well I double-checked where the dissecting pans were, and I found them there. My science coach at the school helped me run the dissection and she put them there. That was the first scare.
The next day of dissections, at the end of my first class, I was taking up all the razor blades and I was missing one. We couldn't find it anywhere, so I thought maybe a student was trying to keep one. I told them no one was leaving until got it back, and I called a campus security officer (but no one ever came). Of course, instead of helping me look for the razor they just yelled and cussed trying to push me out of the doorway since the bell had rung. Nothing turned up, my next block's students were pounding on the door to get in, and my TFA program director brought a guest with her to come observe me (I told her to wait in the hallway for a second). Well, I couldn't keep them from leaving for long and they all just funneled out of the room, and I let my next block and my PD in. I felt like I was about to pass out with the thought that one of my students had a razor blade from my class. So I tried to keep my cool and just move on to the next class's dissection. About 10 minutes into class, my science coach was rummaging through the trash and she told me she found the razor in the trash! Well that was a relief, but it definitely through me off the rest of the day. That was a pretty crazy day.
My thoughts about teaching and my current state has been kind of muddled and confusing lately. I've been thinking about how I don't think I can be completely healthy if I can't enjoy my multiple interests, and teaching so far hasn't allowed that. In college, I was able to do sports, play my violin, do research, Christian fellowship, and learn new things. I'd really like to figure out how I can find time to help coach the Vanderbilt rowing team next semester, and hopefully I can get my planning together and get ahead to be able to do that. I also need to start volunteering at this clinic to keep my involvement in medicine. I'm starting to worry about getting everything together for applying to med school this summer because I know I won't be able to really think about it after this break until school lets out at the end of May when I need to get my application in. Even though I've already taken the MCAT, I need to get in contact with some people at Vanderbilt to help with my personal statement. I also need to get my recommendations together at Emory, and I'm not even sure if they'll still be current since they're almost 2 years old now.
I'm going to give my students a little gift of candy for Christmas, and I'm going to congratulate my star student in each class this week with a certificate and movie ticket or something. One thing I HAVE to change is doing much more recognizing my high-performing students and encouraging them. I just want them to know that I love them because I don't know if they have anybody in their lives that have ever told them that or if they've ever felt real love. I just watched the movie, Precious, last night and I know there are students in my classroom in very similar family situations as Precious. If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it. It really captures the dark reality that so many forgotten people that live in poverty experience every day while we (the privileged) consume our lives trying to attain our next point of success. These thoughts give me inspiration towards my work, but I so easily get bogged down by the daily struggles and burdens that lead me to lament my current position. Please pray that the drive from inspiration will win out.
