Survival Mode!

Anyone else being eaten alive by this school year?

It's been a huge learning curve for me, that's for sure! Has it been that way for you? In honor of my 29th birthday this week and a whole week off school for snow/extreme temperatures, I'm posting 29 things I've learned from this school year. Yep, 29, and I'm sure I could name more!

1. Six years of teaching mean diddly squat when you are switching to a new area of teaching. 
2. The kiddos make every single day worth it, and they remind me of it every single day.
3. These Common Core standards are deeper and more intricate than I could've possibly imagined.
4. Maybe, just maybe, I might be pretty good at this classroom management thing.
5. I hate state testing and its judgement of my students with a fiery, fiery passion.
6. SLEEP is the number one most important thing I can do to prep for my classroom.
7. As much as I would theoretically like to teach the K-2 crowd, I'm finding that I actually really enjoy my third graders and the independence they have.
8. A good principal can overcome just about any other issue in a school, and losing a good principal can ruin a great school no matter how great the staff is.
9. A supportive team is worth its weight in gold - I seriously don't know how I would've made it to the end of February without my teammates!
10. As much as teachers complain about having to stick to district-based alignments and curriculum maps or textbook series, trust me: the alternative - not having any - is much harder to work with!
11. I'm a pretty good scavenger in regards to putting together resources from nothing.
12. High expectations and scaffolding are KING in helping struggling readers. I have so many kiddos that have grown much higher from this than from bringing down lexile levels in texts.
13. Oh em gee do I love my struggling readers! Seriously, they are some of my favorite kiddos. I wish I was a more effective teacher for them alone.
14. Science is my favorite subject to teach by far, and it shows in my kids and how excited they get to dig really deep into the NGSS standards.
15. As much as the Common Core math standards are foreign to me (being a child who grew up in the memorization era of math), I can see the purpose behind their existence and I can see how they challenge and support my kiddos. I actually am growing in my support of the standards from where I was previously.
16. But going back to the standards, I HATE how much stress my kiddos are already under, knowing KREP is 13 weeks away. Third grade is the first year they are tested in Kentucky and while we try our best to prepare them for the mental stress of the upcoming exams, it breaks my heart that we even have to prepare them. 
17. There is nothing that makes me madder than testing, lol. To harp a little more on it, we get zero data back on our kiddos - only their proficiency level in each subject. No data on their subscores. No data on how they performed on each standard. How are we supposed to improve our teaching and improve each child's education without this? If we are going to subject our students to this rigorous exam and developmentally inappropriate test stress, why not at least give us what we need? I'm looking at you, Commissioner Terry Holliday. Rant over, for now ;)
18. I thought I would have a tougher time with the stamina of having one class all day, but I actually have settled into our routine nicely and so have my kiddos. In fact, they often help me stick to it. 
19. The personal laminator is the best creation ever! I wish I had two.
20. Working in a K-8 school has its advantages. My middle school aides help me so much throughout the day and take away a lot of my stress.
21. Working 1.5 hours away from your house exponentially decreases your job happiness and is not sustainable. Something's gotta give for next year.
22. I miss the resources of a big district, where technology and other resources are more abundant.
23. Even though I miss teaching French, and would be quite happy if the rest of my career was teaching French, I'm starting to think that I could teach elementary for the rest of my career and be equally as happy, too.
24. If I would've understood how the ins and outs of each day and each unit worked, I would've done much different prep all summer long instead of what I focused on (physical environment and classroom management). Hindsight, eh. Although, my classroom does feel really homey and functional, so that's a plus.
25. I still get super jittery when people come in and watch me teach, even if it is really good teaching that they see. I'm such a big baby when it comes to this, haha.
26. I really need a Starbucks next to my school! My caffeine intake is really high.
27. Elementary schools that start at 8:30 definitely know what's up. I'd much rather work until 3:30 than start at 7:30 (after an hour and a half drive).
28. I don't think there is any routine that could ever help stay on top of grading! Seriously, if you have one, I'd love to hear it.
29. I couldn't possibly imagine doing something else with my life.