Finding the Motivation

So yesterday I updated you guys about where I'm going to be this year and about my amazing principal. I did start to talk about the new superintendent and seeing Ron Clark at Convocation. I'm not going to talk about that a lot here, because if you wanna know what it was like seeing Ron Clark I'm sure he's all over YouTube and Instagram, and seeing him do his thing will leave a better impact that anything I would be able to put into words. I know I said this was going to be like a part 2, but this is really more of it's own separate post (sorry Uncle Paul it's not going to resolve the cliff hanger lol).

After we left Convocation I was so pumped up! I was ready to take on the world, I was #AllIn4Aldine. But that was over a week ago, and I haven't had to deal with students yet. I know that when the students get to my room tomorrow it's going to start the slow decline on my motivation to get out of the bed every morning. So that's why I'm writing this post, because I know that at some point that you'll need help to keep going.

You've got to find something to hang on to. It could be as simple as wanting the achieve perfect attendance, or as deep as your students are counting on you to be there(honestly I'm somewhere between the two). Here's a list of some of the things that keep me going, and some that I borrowed from other teachers.

1. "Read in Case of Bad Day" book- this one takes a little planning, but at the end of every school year I pass around a journal for my kids to write a little snippet in. Of course you get the little "have a great summer" ones but then you get to the ones from kids you didn't expect to hear from and it makes you want to cry because it's so beautiful to see how you touched their lives. Reading a few entries from your previous students is enough to keep you going until the end of the year.
2. Keep track of the little extra things that students give you- last year I had a lot of cartoonists in my class, and they doodled things on the back of their assignments, or they gave little pictures that they drew. I kept it all. Some of it I have hanging up in my room, and some of it is just pictures I have saved on my phone. It doesn't seem like much, but it's enough to remind you that your students took some time out of their day and they thought of you.
3. Get you a theme song- athletes have one they listen to before a game to get them pumped up, teaching is the same thing. It's the little things that help.
4. Have a support group- if you're a new teacher usually they assign you a mentor to work with, and they can help you with questions and problems you might have. If you don't have a mentor, then there's always the teacher around the corner (hi Shirley!), or the other young person on your team (hi Alyssa!) or some combination of them all.
5. And to quote a fellow teacher, "Its just one day, once class period. You have a group of kids that love you so you can't give up" Alyssa Barber 2018. You can't come into today's classroom with yesterday's problems. 

I hope one of these things will help you guys out when times get tough. Or if you have one that I didn't talk about then mention it in the comments. 

Happy learning, 

Casey

What's Happened Since Inservice Started

Hey guys! I know I took the summer off from posting, but summer has officially come to a close. It's the end of August, I've been back at work for two week now, and the kids are coming back on Monday. Heck some districts have even had their kids back already.

A little catching up/update about what's be going on since summer, one of my last posts I was talking about all the changes that were going on in my district. I know I mentioned that I was going to be moving campuses, but I have some good news to share! Before I get to my news, I have a little backstory I need to tell you guys, I love my principal; shes an amazing person. My first year teaching I had recently torn my ACL and I was starting the year off on crutches. My principal made sure to check up on me while I was putting my room together, making sure I wasn't doing anything to further injure myself, like getting up on a swivel chair. She even got onto me if she saw me and I wasn't wearing my knee brace! When my grandfather passed away she pulled me aside whenever she would see me in the hall and ask me how I was doing, even made sure to ask about my mom. Ms. Bell is an amazing person, and I love her so much. I was so sad that I was going to have to leave her this year, but yet again, Ms. Bell proved that she's a wonderful person. I had applied for a transfer back to my original school, but it was looking hopeless. Finally, just before the end of school I got an email from HR asking if I would accept a position back at my school. I was so excited! It was even for Science, that subject where I did my student teaching, and where I had been begging Ms. Bell for a job since she hired me. So I get to stay at my school! I didn't have to move to the new school across town and I'm finally getting to teach Science. Of course Ms. Bell still likes to joke whenever she sees me in the hallway that she's going to switch me back to math, but I'll gladly laugh at her joke, because she has done so much for me. Thank you Ms. Bell, you are the greatest boss I could ask for.

That was a bit of a tangent I didn't think I would be taking when I started to write this, but it was something that i needed to say, and I think its something that you guys needed to hear.  This year has also been different because our district has hired a new superintendent, Dr. LaTonya Goffney. I got to hear her life story, and her passion for education when we had convocation this year. I'm not going to lie, I was a little apprehensive when we hired a new superintendent with all the other changes that were going on in with dissolving the intermediate campuses, and opening several new schools, but she erased all doubts from my mind. Dr. Goffney could take over the world if she set her mind to it, and I'd gladly be on her side. Convocation was freaking amazing! We had the performing arts group put on a show for us, I got to see some of my former students, Ron Clark was there. Yeah, THAT Ron Clark! That was just what I needed. I left feeling so pumped, I can only imagine how amped up everyone else felt.

Okay so now that I'm done going over those two things, I feel like I've already talked a lot, and I haven't even really gotten to the point I've wanted to make and I haven't even started talking about all the magic that was Ron Clark! I'm gonna have to make this a two part where tomorrow I make sure I talk about the major important message that's been laid on my heart.

Tl;dr- Thank you Ms. Bell you're amazing and thank you again for bringing me back to Lewis!!!!
Happy Learning,
Casey