Jackets and Other Fun Things

Trying to write a book is zapping my energy to blog.

That aside, there are a couple of things that I want to celebrate.

First, I recently noticed that a handful of my students still do not have warm winter jackets.  This was very saddening to me, (even more so than all of the challenging life stories that I hear everyday, funny where the line is for each of us).  I shared my frustration with friends and family and received a huge response from people willing to help me find jackets for my students.  My dad even went to Target at 10:00 at  night just to buy a jacket for one of my students, (and showed up the very next morning to deliver it!).  As much as I was saddened to think of my students cold, I was really inspired by how many people in my life care enough to change this.

Second, I worked 52 hours last week!  This is a celebration because I had been working 60!  I am cutting myself off at 5PM, (7AM to 5PM), and forcing myself to spend only a couple of hours planning on the weekend.  It feels better, even if there may at times be a mess on my desk.  My goal is to keep this new trend up.  Eventually I want to join the 4:30 club, but I'm not there yet.  And, yes, there really is a 4:30 club among some of the teachers at my school!  But, that's a good thing.  I'm feeling like the quality of my teaching is going up with the decrease in quantity of work, as I'm more patient and mentally prepared to deal with everything that comes my way.