Countdown

Spring Break came and went way too quickly. Now I can start the countdown-- 9 weeks of school left. Then 3 weeks of summer school. The 9 weeks are the worst, summer school was actually a lot of fun to teach last year. I'm looking forward to it again this year. The kids are sweet, there are no real grades, the curriculum is project based, and some fun teachers do it together. It's a good time.

Almost half of the kids I teach showed up at school today with a haircut. I guess it's that time of year. Cut off the excess for the summer time. They did not say fresh cut and hit eachother in the head like they did in Dallas.It was funny sometimes, but got old after breaking up fights because of it.

2 weeks until my 5th graders take the SOL and 4 weeks until my 6th graders take their SOL. This is always crunch time. If there are any kids on the bubble, now is the chance to work them hard in an effort to put them over the hump. Some kids just can't seem to get there. Some kids get frustrated if you work them too hard and they give up. It's a fine line-- and a different line for each kid.

No wonder I asked Jason yesterday if you can be called away from something just like you can be called to something. He laughed, said he thought you could be, and then said-- "Do you feel called away from teaching?" I said, "Mabye". He always knows what I'm thinking. :)

If I can just get through these next 9 weeks, it'll be ok. I'm blessed to have some good kids this year, but things always get hairy with behavior at the end. 9 weeks.... 45 days....180 classes..... over 1000 papers left to grade( not kidding I did the math).... we'll see if I make... I always seem to.