Stream of Consciousness

I wish I had something interesting to write about. I really do.

Unless, of course, you find the fact that my job is going full speed ahead at 100 mph and I am absolutely totally and unequivocally EXHAUSTED beyond belief every waking moment of my days - interesting.

Because, I mean, if you find that interesting then this is the blog for you!

It seems like after a few weeks of school something interesting should have happened. Something story worthy. Something that would have given me a good reason to log onto this website and update my loyal readers on my latest goingsons... (which is totally not a word.. which I totally realize.. but I'm using it anyway..)

Hmm... Let me think... there must be something!

Oh yes, here we go. Today my 7th and 8th grade language arts students turned in their first formal writing assignment of the year, a personal narrative. And, if I may say so myself, they were pretty freaking incredible, those narratives. I'm going to go ahead and give myself a nice big pat on the back on this one, because, you have no idea what a landmark occasion this is for me. When I first started teaching, I would literally want to pound my head against a concrete wall every time I read a jr. high student's piece of writing. It was torture. Truly. I can honestly say that over the course of my years as a teacher, I have seen remarkable growth in my students' writing ability, and I'm going to go ahead and take some credit for that. Hey, I have to take it where I can get it, you know what I mean?

Speaking of credit, (I knew that there must have been something interesting) today we were having a birthday luncheon for my principal and Gabriel's grandfather was there. Remember Gabriel? My failure (or so I thought) from my first year of teaching. Well, Gabriel has done this awesome life turnaround, and it appears as though his grandfather attributes that turnaround entirely to me.

That was a bit of a shocker. One of the teachers was asking him about Gabriel, and he started telling us about how well he is doing these days. He's playing football, keeping his grades up, staying out of trouble. He then turned to me and said, "I don't know what you said to him, but whatever it was, it changed him."

Whoa.

I mean, the truth of the matter is that I didn't do or say anything life changing to Gabriel. I think Gabriel had already made the decision to change his ways on his own, and all he needed was for someone to listen and support him.

But that's the truth if I've ever heard it. Most of the time all kids need is to know that they have someone who will listen to them and support them. This is also why one of the first things I did this year was schedule a one-on-one meeting with each of my 8th graders. In these meetings I ask them how their year is going so far, who lives at their house with them, what they do after school, if they foresee any challenges for themselves in the coming weeks. Last, but definitely not least, I always ask if they will feel comfortable coming to me if they have any questions or concerns for me throughout the school year. It's basically my way of telling them that I'm here if they need me. I think it's really important for them to know that right off that bat.

.....But....hmm..I do believe I've gotten a bit off topic. Where was I going with this? Oh yes, that's right, so like I was saying, I really don't have anything very interesting to write about. Nothing interesting in the least.