The Day My Ego Almost Killed Me

That is, today. 
For the past I don't know, but it is more than 4 years it has been a 4th grade tradition to take the kids out the track at the end of the day and have them run/walk A Mile a Day in the Month of May. 
(catchy, aren't we?) 
Basically, we send 'em out to the track, and give them a time period in which to make 4 laps around. Even walking at a s  l   o   w   pace, every child can get 4 laps in. and i have seen some SLOW ones. 
Anyway, every year we giggle because the students see where we are standing as they approach (yep, same spot every day...) and as they round the corner, they bust out as fast as they can for the last 20 yards as they pass us. 
As soon as they pass us? They stop, gasping for air. And repeat. 
For fun, I'll jump in for a lap or two and pace them, race them, or just visit as we jog. 
Today? It was Ego vs. Sara vs. Student


I see a student, and go flying out onto the track. He sees me and starts sprinting. I speed up. He looks at me and says, "You'll never pass me."


My response? "You won't make it to the first corner and I'll take you down." 


We give each the LOOK (something like, I AM NOT GOING TO BE BEAT BY A TEACHER or I AM NOT GOING TO BE BEAT BY A 4th GRADER) and start sprinting faster. Other students come up by us for several yards, laugh, then drop off. 


I'm beginning to wheeze a bit here. Yeah, I am a slow twitch, not a fast twitch sprinter. (Okay, fine, my sprint isn't really a sprint either, more like a Boston runners race pace going into the wind on heartbreak hill low on fluids with a bum knee and chaffing issues.) 


I'm thinking, "How much longer can this kid GO!? I am going to faceplant here soon." 


He speeds up. (Reminder: See what the kid eats for lunch tomorrow and copy.) 


I speed up. 
We are headed around the last turn, full out sprint, and I am nearly dead. I think about running into the fence on "accident" to save face- yes, that was one of my saner thoughts. 


As we take out, he gives me one last look, pulls ahead...and stops. 
"You got me." 


I give him a high five, congrats, and continue to trot back to the start line. 


Where I stop, wheeze, and gasp for air. My coworker asks, "Should I go grab the defillibrator for you?" 
and I am all, 
"YES. But? I was not beaten by a fourth grader." 
That's right. H-E-L-L-O ego...I can't beat anyone in my own age group, so I'll kill myself taking down a 4th grader. #irock


Let's hope he doesn't want a rematch tomorrow. 

Back to the Grind and loving it

As I get ready to go back to work, I have been thinking about the good 'ole days of college. I remember how stressed and busy I felt (without kids, or a house!) Now, looking back, those seemed like the glory days. Of course, there were stressful times, like getting the syllabus and freaking out thinking "how am I ever going to do all this work in a semester? Is my prof crazy?!?" Largely though, they were great. Sitting around between classes bitching about professors, laughing about people in class, worrying over assignments- I loved it! Group projects where nobody did any work, expensive worthless textbooks, professors with big heads, parking in the z lot and walking 3/4 mile to class in January- bring it on.

Now I can't wait to go back for my masters. If I were tenured, I would be back in school right now. I have taken a few of my master elective courses and can't wait to go back for more. I loved college- except for the math courses, they sucked. And that stupid elementary music course where we had to play the recorder and sing Hot Cross Buns. (Yeah, that made me a better teacher.)
So if you are a college student, enjoy. The real world comes at you fast enough. those are my pearls of wisdom for the decade.

A Little Counting Game

14- Number of trips I took from my classroom to the copy machine located furthest from my room- which was broken from 9-1:30 (who knew the recycling bin couldn't be that close to it?)

10- Number of trips to the bathroom. More if you include trying to find a bathroom in the school that had t.p. - we might need to remedy that before Tuesday.

6- Number of trips to the office for misc. junk & gossip

6- Number of seating charts I had to make today

1,453- Number of copies I made today

6- Number of trips to others classrooms for the gossip and grumbling

4- Number of trips to the library to get books, laminate and get stuff I forgot the first time I was there.

4- Number of times I seriously thought I was going to spaz out and die today.

4- Number of trips to the supplyroom to grab textbooks/ect.

8- Number of times I passed the donut box before giving in and taking one. (whoo-hoo, yesterday I only made it 3!)

2- Meetings I had to attend

1- Number of lessons I still need to plan for next week.

1- Friend who texted me and said "take a deep breath and relax" How did she know I needed to do that? How did she know I was spazzing? Am I that obvious?

1- Stressed out teacher ready to pull her hair out- and school hasn't even started yet!!!!!

I am utterly exhausted. I have about 2 more hours of work at school left to do, and then about 3+ hours I want to spend going over new curriculum and mapping it out for the year. Then, maybe, I will sleep.

Back with a bang.

Well yesterday was a treat. Got up, got ready for workshop, had the kids ready, (all the while crying because I didn't want to leave them) packed the car and was ready, and I was only running 10 minutes late.

 Then I remembered how Monday I put the keys to my car in Corey's car in the glove compartment (we were at the state fair and I didn't want to lose them or have a purse snatcher find them and my wallet and know the address to my house and come in and hide under my bed and grab my feet when I was sleeping.) Corey was 3/4 of the way to work- 25 min away. Shoot. 

I was already spazzing, so that just sent me off again. I called my dad to see if he could rescue me (thanks for the great voicemail dad!) Finally, I had to call Corey and have him come back and give me the keys. Meanwhile, Asher clung onto my leg crying because he wanted to cuddle. 

I made it to work with 8 minutes to spare before the superintendents address, got my photo and settled in for a looong morning of listening to welcomes, right to know info, blood born pathogens (hey, we got a new video this year! Yippee! Before it was circa 1982)...

Then I ran like a crazy woman the rest of the day trying to finish my classroom. 

It was nice to reconnect with all my 'teacher friends' and have some laughs though. It makes you feel like a professional again after being a slug all summer. 

I have a math workshop in 1 hour and 27 minutes, and Open House tonight. Wish me luck 

The time has come.

Well folks, the time has come. The school has notified all the teachers that if we want the paychecks to continue to be deposited, we had better show up for workshops. 

its not that I am not ready, I mean

-my bag is packed

-my lesson plans are started

-my room is almost done

-name tags are made

-welcome letters are sent

- grapes are washed and in my fridge in single serve packs to easy grabbing

-my alarm is set with good intentions of getting up early and running 3 miles before getting ready

So yes, I am ready, but not really ready. 

- It is technically still summer folks!

- I am going to miss my boys

- Asher is used to having me cuddle on the couch every morning. Will he freak? 

- I like being lazy

- What about Ann Curry? Who will listen to her say "good morning, good  morning, good morning?" 

- I still haven't finished (or even cracked) my summer to do list!

But, it is here. The smell of fall in the air. Soon I will be excited for the coming school year. I just have to get through the Blood Born Pathogens and Right To Know video tomorrow. Then, open house on Wednesday, then, I'll be ready. Wish my lazy butt luck. I'm off to bed like an old school teacher.