I was appointed to be an assistant principal exactly a year ago. Friday was one of those days. It was a long week. Everyone was mad and negative energy was everywhere. The teachers were at their breaking point, and I caught the brunt force of it all day. When another administer told me no one really read or cared about the celebrations I sent out each week, I was walking wounded. When a hurtful e-mail came through, I broke down and cried. One of the teachers I work with came in, apologized for being negative, and hugged me.
The negative energy stuck to me all weekend, but I decided it needed to change before Monday. I made a tear-away thankfulness card with six things I am thankful for about each teacher. I snuck in early Monday and hung them on each teacher's door.
Today I wandered from classroom to classroom enjoying all of the fun holiday activities and engaging lessons going on around me. When a 2nd grade teacher told her class to "keep their fingers crossed" that the movie would work, they crossed their fingers, arms, toes, eyes, and one girl crossed her tongue.
In a 1st grade class, a little girl was crying because the other kids accused her of peeking. The teacher told her, "It's okay. You are in charge of you and what you do. The other kids are not in charge of you. You are in charge of you." The little girl stopped crying and went back to the activity.
The Kindergarteners were having a feast. The teacher told them to bring a fun Thanksgiving food to share. The kids ate Ritz crackers, fish crackers, apple slices, Teddy Grahams, and Cheese Nips. It was the best feast I have ever attended.
The 3rd graders were doing Turkey Trivia Scoot. The teachers put cards on each desk with interesting statement about turkeys. The kids stood next to the desks, read the cards, answered true or false, then "scooted" to the next fact. When they learned the answers, they giggled and talked about each one. When they found out it was true turkeys lived ten million years ago, one of the boys said, "They lived with dinosaurs? There were turkey dinosaurs?"
The 4th graders were doing a review of math facts, but the answers were graphed for a Thanksgiving picture. The kids told me it was the "funnest math day ever." The teacher laughed and said, "If I gave them the same thing as a worksheet, they would think I was the meanest teacher ever, but put it like this and they love it." A spoonful of sugar...
In 5th grade, we watched a portion of Johnny Tremain. The teachers showed pictures of the historical places they visited last summer from the movie. After the discussion, the kids were asked to stand and move to one side of the room if they were loyalists and the other side of the room if they were patriots. One lone boy stood and told the class why he was a loyalist. I was in awe of his bravery.
6th grade was the highlight of my day. The teacher had arranged the desks by the amount of land for each continent, so some groups had lots of desks and other only had one. She placed students at each continent by the population represented there. It was pretty crowded in Africa. Then she gave them a baggie with graham crackers that represented the amount of food the people of the continent have. Some groups had several crackers, while Africa had 1/24 of a cracker. It was just a tiny square. After the discussion, she told the kids they could eat their crackers. Without being told to share, the kids all got up and walked over to the kids who didn't have enough food, pulled out their crackers, and shared with each other. It was a beautiful moment of compassion.
At the end of the day, the teacher who had caught me crying on Friday asked me if today was a better day. I told her it was. She said, "You have a hard job." I replied, "I do. Some days I wonder if I made a mistake and should go back to teaching." She said, "You are in the perfect spot. You smooth out the rough spots for all of us when we get so negative. You bring peace and calm to our school. We are so lucky you are here." I am in the perfect spot. I have so much to be thankful.
The negative energy stuck to me all weekend, but I decided it needed to change before Monday. I made a tear-away thankfulness card with six things I am thankful for about each teacher. I snuck in early Monday and hung them on each teacher's door.
Today I wandered from classroom to classroom enjoying all of the fun holiday activities and engaging lessons going on around me. When a 2nd grade teacher told her class to "keep their fingers crossed" that the movie would work, they crossed their fingers, arms, toes, eyes, and one girl crossed her tongue.
In a 1st grade class, a little girl was crying because the other kids accused her of peeking. The teacher told her, "It's okay. You are in charge of you and what you do. The other kids are not in charge of you. You are in charge of you." The little girl stopped crying and went back to the activity.
The Kindergarteners were having a feast. The teacher told them to bring a fun Thanksgiving food to share. The kids ate Ritz crackers, fish crackers, apple slices, Teddy Grahams, and Cheese Nips. It was the best feast I have ever attended.
The 3rd graders were doing Turkey Trivia Scoot. The teachers put cards on each desk with interesting statement about turkeys. The kids stood next to the desks, read the cards, answered true or false, then "scooted" to the next fact. When they learned the answers, they giggled and talked about each one. When they found out it was true turkeys lived ten million years ago, one of the boys said, "They lived with dinosaurs? There were turkey dinosaurs?"
The 4th graders were doing a review of math facts, but the answers were graphed for a Thanksgiving picture. The kids told me it was the "funnest math day ever." The teacher laughed and said, "If I gave them the same thing as a worksheet, they would think I was the meanest teacher ever, but put it like this and they love it." A spoonful of sugar...
In 5th grade, we watched a portion of Johnny Tremain. The teachers showed pictures of the historical places they visited last summer from the movie. After the discussion, the kids were asked to stand and move to one side of the room if they were loyalists and the other side of the room if they were patriots. One lone boy stood and told the class why he was a loyalist. I was in awe of his bravery.
6th grade was the highlight of my day. The teacher had arranged the desks by the amount of land for each continent, so some groups had lots of desks and other only had one. She placed students at each continent by the population represented there. It was pretty crowded in Africa. Then she gave them a baggie with graham crackers that represented the amount of food the people of the continent have. Some groups had several crackers, while Africa had 1/24 of a cracker. It was just a tiny square. After the discussion, she told the kids they could eat their crackers. Without being told to share, the kids all got up and walked over to the kids who didn't have enough food, pulled out their crackers, and shared with each other. It was a beautiful moment of compassion.
At the end of the day, the teacher who had caught me crying on Friday asked me if today was a better day. I told her it was. She said, "You have a hard job." I replied, "I do. Some days I wonder if I made a mistake and should go back to teaching." She said, "You are in the perfect spot. You smooth out the rough spots for all of us when we get so negative. You bring peace and calm to our school. We are so lucky you are here." I am in the perfect spot. I have so much to be thankful.
