SUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMER!!!

It's here!! Finally!! A few things transpired the last week of school and on the teacher days. As I went to check out with my principal, we finally got to discuss my plans to have the library open for 6 weeks this summer. I had emailed her and the AP several months ago with my plans, but I didn't hear back from her (not unusual). I was being passive-aggressive about the whole thing, refusing to ask her about it again. Instead, I assumed that "silence was consent". There's a nice French way to say this statement, but I don't remember it. So as I was preparing to leave, we DID discuss it. And she told me that she wasn't sure about the hours I wanted to keep it open, but since she saw it in the monthly newsletter, the point was moot. Indeed it was. Since I'm in charge of the newsletter, I decided to put it in as if she'd okayed it already. The good news is that I will have the library open on Tuesdays starting July 10 this summer. We're going to have food and literacy activities and do fun games and allow Internet access, and I will do a little advertising and remind people to come. I think it will be great and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes on July 10!!

4 Days with Kids / 2 Without

I truly don't know if I can make it. Since my post last week, I spent a few days at our local hospital with what I thought was a heart attack. Well, I certainly HOPED it wasn't a heart attack, but it was behaving like one. Turns out it was STRESS pure and simple. STRESS--ANXIETY--PANIC ATTACKS. These things have the same symptoms as heart troubles. After three days in the hospital and countless tests, I have been proclaimed well. Ha. At least I know my trouble isn't physical, and that in itself is a relief. Unfortunately, the stress remains, although a big chunk of it will be over in FOUR DAYS!! (I'm totally not counting the two teacher work days as being stressful.) I can make it. And it looks as if I'll be here another year. I can make it. Outlast. Outteach. We will band together and make it through. And if this sounds cryptic, it's because I would put my job in jeopardy telling you about the stressors at my school. 4. more. days.

10 more days...

I am sure every teacher in America is counting down the days this time of year. I almost truly just can't even get out of the car in the morning. I would sit in the car and bake in the summer sun rather than walk into that building and teach. This week is testing week and our state standards tests are just wreaking havoc with the daily schedule, not to mention the poor kids. The library is the repository for students when they finish their small group (read: special ed) testing, and at one point today, we had 35 kids in there. Thank goodness the AP came to help with crowd control. And the GALL of this one teacher who came in to tell me that she was leaving her kids with me until her class went to lunch because they were just too disruptive to bring back into her room, considering that the other classes were still testing. Oh. My. God. I am not a babysitter, and I REALLY resent when the teachers treat me like I am. Obviously, I am ready for this school year to be over. And I haven't even WRITTEN about my boss. Ugh.