I will take charge!...

New Leaf...I decided to take the plunge. I want to change the way things are right now at work and so I am using this platform to make a committment to myself. I have to endure this year. That is all I have to do. I do not have to be great, I don't have to win any cuddos, in fact, I will never get my principal's approval. It does not matter. I don't have to be great, I have to survive. I want to have my act so together when I get there every day that getting through the day is a walk in the park. If she comes in and is all intimidating, I will just continue and ignore her. I will concentrate on my students and what they are learning. I will continue to be a person they can relate to and someone they knows cares about them. To hell with her.

Sometimes I wish people knew how really hard it is to be a teacher. Very few I know are in the field for their subject. We are there for the students. It is the give and take of teaching on our part and the learning on theirs that fuels us. I don't know many that are just there for the job. I personally am not naive enough to think that I reach all my students. I don't even think I reach the majority on the level I would like to, but I do believe that I make a real difference for a few. Right now my focuss is on Jose. Gosh I wish I knew how to really reach him. If you are the praying kind please pray for Jose, Javier and Kyle; three little guys in my class that really have not had the self confidence or motivation or something to achieve. It is heart breaking to think that they consider success something they will never know. How do you help someone who is pretty much ignored at home and left to make their own way see that education can be a tool to help them be more. I haven't figured it out. Please let me know if have ideas.

I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about my students as individuals. Sometimes I think it is wasted energy. I am not sure it matters.

I will return.