My CrAzY First Week at FFA

Monday:

School was closed because of Irene and the janitor found water in my room and attempted to clean up my flooded room before the students and I came in the next day.

Tuesday: My First day of school with the students.

I woke up in the morning super excited and nervous and at 4:30am. WAY TO EARLY! I started my journey and was listening to my book on tape as I went. I was in a great mood and excited for the day until I walk into my classroom and notice that all of my desks are not where I had left them. I didn't think anything about it until I turned on the light and scanned the room. MY HEART SANK INSTANTLY. There had been water in my room and had ruined a pack of water color pencils, 2 sets of water colors, 10 packs of colored pencils, all of my poster board, some colored and special teacher bordered paper, my grade book, several of my teaching books, markers, pencils, notepads, and lots of other tiny stuff. I started to cry thinking about how I didn't want the students to walk into this mess and that I did not have time to clean all of this mess up before they came. Thankfully, two teachers were there to get me back on track and tried to cheer me up.

The day started to get better as I was working with the students and they seemed really fun.

The day ended better than it started and even though I was overwhelmed, I knew it would all be ok.

Wednesday:

Started off again very early in the morning. Today started off much better than the other. We were finishing about me name tags and taking pictures of the students so that I could start to learn their names when I had two students start to push each other. I rushed over and pulled both of them in the hall, while telling the rest of the students that they would be starting their tests early and I better not hear a peep from them while I am talking at the door of the classroom. Three periods later as we are going to lunch I have two students start pushing each other and arguing over something. Here to find out, they were fighting over who was the toughest.

Thursday:

A fairly normal day…

Friday:

I was exhausted, barely able to get up and function in the morning. However, it is amazing how when the kids get there you get a sudden energy. Praise the Lord for that. His strength that He gives to get through those days is a amazing.

I survived the first week of many to come.

First Day #2

4:40am
 It is really dark out and my head feels like it is in a cloud. After a Shower and some breakfast, I was coming around and ready for the day.. or so I thought. It shoulda been an orange juice morning like in the commercial where everyone tells you want is going to go wrong... but that doesn't happen. By that, I was already on my way to work with the early morning rush that is set on just getting there and is too sleepy to change lanes and cause traffic  to get slow, while listening to "The Time Travelers Wife" over the speakers. It took less than an hour to get to work because there was absolutely no traffic. A great start to the day, I thought.

 6:35am
 I walked into my classroom and nothing was where I had put it the week before. My heart sank and I could feel tears rushing to my eyes and that thick feeling that you get in the back of your throat just before you cry. I wanted to shout IRENE what have you done??, but was able to keep that to my head. I knelt over my containers of colored pencils and watercolors and could feel those tears coming slowly down my cheek. My co-workers were great and two of them just came over and gave me a hug and reassured me of the day and that it would all pan out in the end, which I knew, but was just having a moment. They also reminded me that as teachers we all have our MOMENTS. After this short breakdown, I ran upstairs to attempt to make my copies for the day, which of course took longer than expected and by the time the copies were done students were starting to funnel into my room and I had no idea who belonged and who didn't because we had no rosters. CAOS!! But the teachers and I were just rolling with the punches and trying to make jokes to keep the others laughing and somehow we managed to make it through the entire day. Many of the students were really sweet and seemed exited about math for this year. Others didn't seem so sure, so hopefully I will be able to win them over soon.
 3:15pm
 Buses were supposed to take students home after school, but there were too many children supposed to be riding the buses that another 2 buses had to be called. aye aye aye.

So the words of the day were Craziness and Flexibility. I wonder if I shall ever have a NORMAL first day of school where something crazy or disorganized doesn't happen. And this was all in One Day's Work.
May God bless through me as I am there. Not sure what this new ministry will be, but I am sure it will be QUITE the adventure. I never get the easy roads.

In His Time...

As my day of waiting seemed like it was coming to an end. I tried to go exercise, but my class had gotten cancelled. Then Aaron and I went for a walk around the Mall and then we went over to Target. As we were pulling into the Target parking lot, I heard my phone start to ring. It was the unknown caller ringtone and I started to get excited.
I was then asked if I would like to take the position. The board meeting had just finished and they would like to extend an invitation to teach. SO EXCITED!!! and Aaron was sitting right next to me listening and holding my hand.
What an opportunity. We shall see how God uses me in Delaware.

Waiting...

Right now I am waiting for the SECOND year in a row to find out what I will be doing this fall. I am trying to do this as patiently as possible, but as a human and sinner, my patience only lasts for so long before having doubts again. Thank the Lord that His patience is not like ours!!
Let me rewind to tell you how I got to this point as you have just read about my year in review. After teaching a year in the school district of Philadelphia, I was one of 3000 employees to get laid off in June. Since then, I have applied everywhere I got a lead from and have filled out so many applications it is pathetic. Mixed with that the Lord gave me some things to occupy my time and mind, which was a HUGE blessing and made the summer pass at light speed. I was able to counsel at WHBC Day camp for a week, cook chicken at the Farmer's Fair, go to the beach a couple days, and write like 600 multiple choice math questions for an online school.
This brings us to the month of August, the time when waiting becomes even harder and hope starts to wain and trusting God goes into overdrive while having constant trust battles between the logical and spiritual sides of your brain. It is within this time frame that tears fall, as prayers are lifted to the Lord while a heaviness hangs on your heart and mind when left alone to think too much. It is this time of year that tricking yourself into thinking that you have a classroom and must prepare for that classroom is a necessary thing to keep your mind and body busy. (PS... Much creativity came out of this time and will be useful for later experiences and did help prepare for the interview process) It is this time of year that the clock moves slower and faster at the same time. Slower in the fact that it seems like forever when someone is supposed to call you about a position and faster as you on the computer for hours desperately trying to convince someone that you would be a good fit for their school. It is this time of year when you start to see time as an hourglass that is getting very low as Labor Day weekend approaches and some schools are already having their first days and you just check them off of your list as being a possibility for a full time job for the year. It is this time of year that many struggle with being positive.
It is will all of these thoughts and feelings that change in an instant when the phone rings, in hope that someone may want to offer you an interview or job. Last Wednesday, I received a phone call while shopping for school supplies in Staples... A Phone call that came from DELAWARE. Thoughts rushed through my mind of who do I know in Delaware or Should I answer this, It could be a sales call. Good thing I answered it because it was a charter school looking to give me an interview. I was so excited, that I wanted to cry. It was the first call I had gotten all summer and gave me hope that not everyone had made their decisions already and that there was still time to get a job for the school year. Thursday at 5pm I was at the school and writing an introduction letter of what could be given out to the students and parents as a way to introduce me as their teacher and let them get to know me before the school year got started. It was then time for me to teach a lesson to the principal and two other ladies. It seemed to go well and they were writing all over their papers as  I taught. My confidence started to build as my nervousness subsided. Questions and Answers were then flying back and forth and papers were getting filled with answers and separate papers needed to be started as much was being written down. When I looked at the clock as I was walking out the door it read 6:30 pm. My interview had been 1.5 hours. That's a long and hopeful interview. They said they needed the weekend to think about it and I was on my way home. I was excited and content that it had gone well and whatever came out of it was what was supposed to come out of it and if I did not get the job, then there was still some reason  that I had to go to that interview.
It is Monday Afternoon After the Weekend of thought, when WAITING is becoming especially hard as I just want to know and start planning or know and move on with my day. I keep thinking and wondering what kind of a day they have had and when the fauculty would have had time to think about it and whether I should call and ask how the decision making process is going, BUT I know that I need to wait and not pester.
I am trying to wait PATIENTLY, but excitement and nervousness is getting the better of me right now and the Hope and Desiree to have a job is overwhelming me.
So here I am still waiting... I guess I should start doing something else again... to get my mind off of the fact that it is almost 3.

By the End of the Year...

By the end of the year, I loved those students even more. Even though some days they REALLY tested my love and patience. It was going on their class trip and the formal dance that they got to know me as a person and started getting comfortable and able to talk to me about anything, somethings I asked them not to tell me because as a teacher, I shouldn't know those things. It was field day that simple yellow tee-shirts and fabric markers became a craze and a buzz around my classroom. I had never seen my students so pumped about an activity and I was right behind them having them sign my shirt and cheering them on every step of the way.
It wasn't until the end of the year when I had the students do course evaluations for me and write me recommendation letters, that I finally got a small glimpse of the impact that I made in one year. Here are the five that I received. I cried the first time I read these as I was able to praise God that I touched someones life  this year. And not just one, but at least five.

I can give 5 reasons you should hire her.
1. She's cool, calm, and nice.
2. She always stays on task.
3. She will give your students all of the attention they need.
4. She will be one of the best math teachers that you will ever have.
Best math teacher up for grabs.
DE

To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because:
1. She's a good teacher.
2. Have great discipline when needed to student.
3. Have a great train of thought.
She is a god teacher even though I had times when I had a problem with her it got resolved. She's nice and funny. Gives too much homework in my opinion. In her eyes more work can help your grade get higher. She wants students to get what they deserve.
Sincerely,
CD

SA
You should hire Mrs. Thatched because she is a nice teacher, she cares for everyone in her class or outside of her class to do god things, she helps get their grade up by giving choices of what to do.
Mrs. Thatcher is a good teacher who loves all of us and cared for us like family.


To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because she has given students and I choice projects and even extra credit assignments to those who need it. She also has shown us our grade throughout the semester. This helped me, as a student, know how I could bring up the grade and made me less anxious and worried about my grade. It also helped me know how I improved each time my grade went up. Mrs. Thatcher also has prepared me for my future. For example, we did an assignment for writing a check and this helps me know what lays ahead for me when I need to do a check. Lastly, Mrs. Thatcher should be hired because she also puts her time into teaching, helping me know what I am capable of doing for homework and tests. This is why Mrs. Thatcher should be hired.
Sincerely,
E P

To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because she is a great math teacher also she knows how to work with kids. And she's good with what she do and she is one of the best teachers you'll ever have. Also she just don't give you work, she explains it and will give you an example on how to do it. Also one thing she doesn't do is yell like the other teachers. So you should hire her because she is the best teacher.
Sincerely,
BS

Project Based Learning

It is amazing what students will do with pop-cicles, glue, markers, pieces of paper, and laptops. The rest of the year became about exploring different math concepts through projects. It all started with creating scale models from pictures, then building pop-cicle bridges from a scale drawing, to playing lemonade stand or coffee stand then creating a business plan and presenting it. These projects were what made the end of the year fun and made the students start succeeding so much more. It was with these projects that I got to know my students better and see what was important to them and how they interacted with each other. I had one class while they were doing presentations have other students go up to help struggling students. I got to see just how creative my students were, and it was a blessing.

PSSA Madness

The dreaded letters that every teacher... or I should say most teachers in PA have come to hate, yet must teach to. This was my first experience with the PSSA's. My school/class started reviewing different math concepts each week based on the topics of the PSSA in multiple choice form and taught test taking strategies starting in OCTOBER and these tests were not until MARCH. And these tests were not just one week, but an ENTIRE month. Needless to say we drilled students on the content, taught strategies till we as teachers were blue in the face, and gave incentives that, I thought, were way over the top [tvs, ipods, bikes...]. Well, I guess it sorta paid off as on each benchmark and predictive, my class was doing better and knowing the content. At the end of the year the teachers finally found out that for the FIRST time, our school had made AYP. Praise the Lord and my students did marvelously. Before the tests started in the mornings, I would try to play simon says and lead them in some yoga poses, which was always entertaining to watch 8th graders do and I also tried to make it the least stressful environment. Praying for them in the mornings during our moment of silence, encouraging them as their cheerleader before starting, and giving little pieces of candy half way through the test letting them know that they are almost done and they were doing a great job. Also during that month I started my season of projects as I had 90 minutes to just do a lesson now instead of all of this PSSA prep. It wasn't until now that students started coming out of the woodwork and were getting INVOLVED IN CLASS. This concept was so exciting for me, as I finally was getting a little glimpse of making it through to some of them.