Counting down the days....

I went to work this morning with fire in my veins to get everything completely caught up...that is of course until I was called to my department principal's office. What had I done wrong? Nothing - evidently, I am doing such a great job that I get to pilot a new reading program next semester. Wonderful, right? Not so much. Since it is to start on January 4th when students return, I am being pulled out on Thursday and Friday to complete the training.

So, the day before finals start I will not be with my kiddos. I won't be there on the day of the first final with my freshmen who have never taken finals. Since the end of October, I have only had two weeks of full teaching. My students are bummed as am I. While I understand the administrations desire to increase reading scores, it really doesn't help my students' faith in me when I miss so much. Here's to illness and professional development. My New Year's resolution is to not miss more than one or two days second semester.

Another frustration is that this program is computer-based and being used with my double block English I students. While I have an extra block with them, it is not simply to do homework. We cram all of the English I curriculum into second semester. With this new program, I am losing class time. I hope that the powers that be do not mind if we skim over The Odyssey and Romeo and Juliet. I still plan to teach them, but they will be much shorter versions. I really do hope to see some progress with my students' reading scores. These kids could use some positive encouragement!

Holidays = Illness

It is inevitable that each holiday season my family gets sick. It is especially true this year with an infant in the house. Olivia was sick for three weeks in November. My husband had a bout of the flu last week which he so thoughtfully passed to me. While I haven't actually gotten sick, I am achy and have no energy. Since my daughter was sick for so long, I missed several days of work. Now that I am sick, I do not have the time to stay home - too much to do.

As the end of the semester quickly approaches - 1 1/2 weeks - I have final exams to prepare, assignments to grade, gobs of late assignments to grade, and a debate to work on. I am really looking forward to the two week break from master's classes. Tonight is the first night in three days that I have been able to stay awake past 7:30. All of this is putting a damper on my holiday spirit. I think that some snow would make things feel a bit more festive. My icky attitude it sneaking into my classroom - not a good thing! Need some snow now!