best of intentions

Let me just lay this out straight: This week has been CRAZY! I really meant to get around to "Wordless Wednesday" yesterday [which you will all just have to keep hanging on the cliff for until next week], but it didn't happen. Here is a rundown of my week thus far:

Sunday: Started our first small group. Went great. Got home later than intended. Began the week with not enough sleep.

Monday: Well, for starters, it was a Monday. I had to administer the "Winter Benchmark" reading test to my students. In short this entails a student reading a passage for a minute. I grade for words per minute and fluency. They then read two more and I do the same thing. So essentially it takes roughly 3-4 minutes per student. I have others helping me because I cannot physically do 115 in one day. That being said, my entire day was spent listening to the same three passages being read over and over and over and over...you get the point. It was intensive and a boring way to start a Monday. [However, all but 4 or 5 of my students reading scores went up! Awesome.] I also stayed late this day to get everything ready for my pre-observation meeting with my principal scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Tuesday: Wake up, look outside, notice some flurries. Turn on my phone and we have a one hour delayed start. Awesome right? Wrong. At my school teachers still have to report on time, regardless of any delays [WHAT?! I know...right?!]. So I left my house only 5-10 minutes later than I normally would have, decided to go ahead and stop for gas [I mean, let's be honest I wasn't going to RUSH!]. However, I pull onto the interstate and realize that I will most likely be getting my delay. Over 2 hours later I pulled into school... Oh and did I mention that whilst in traffic I managed to get a bloody nose? Awesome. Once at school I immediately start helping set up for the luncheon that the 8th grade is hosting that day, and make it to my classroom with out 10 minutes to spare before the kids arrive. After my first block passes in a fog, I release my students, only to realize I have written down the WRONG schedule on the board. I gather them back into my classroom for a little while longer and track down the correct schedule. However, even with the second attempt I fail to realize that lunch has also changed. So I take my students to lunch approximately 5 or 6 minutes late [when you only have 21 minutes to eat, this is a big deal]. Needless to say, I felt very "out-of-sorts" all day and it passed in a haze.

Wednesday: Oh, it's just getting better. Wednesday was a pre-scheduled "early release" day. We have one once a month this year, so the students are dismissed at 1:30 and we meet in our departments until the end of the day. During our department meeting I become slightly overwhelmed by the new reading program I am implementing, and end up staying until 5:30ish to work out some issues with it and enter grades. At this point, I was finally feeling caught up for the week, grabbed my coat and bag with a smile on my face, only to realize that my keys are locked in my car [in the ignition no less]. Awesome. [Also, while checking to make sure they are in the car I was locked out of the building and had to go bang on a teacher's window so he could let me back in]. Because I stayed late on an early release day there were only about 4 other teachers in the building. Bob, our band director, tells me he is playing downtown and could take me halfway home if Brent wanted to meet us. I thought, Great. Perfect. I don't want to even have to mess with this right now. So I hopped in the car with him and his fiance, Laura, who is an 8th grade science teacher I work with. I call Brent, he says he'll meet us at the planned McDs. In the next 3 minutes we realize Laura has triple A and that if she is with me they will unlock my car for me. So we call, Triple A can be there at 6:30. Perfect. I call Brent. I call Brent [times 30]. He has jumped quickly in the car and left his phone at home. There is no way to get ahold of him now. So I wait at the car with Laura, Triple A comes, I hop in, glad to be back in my vehicle, and begin driving home. I go to the McDs, assuming Brent will be there...and he is...and he has been for about an hour. I finally get home shortly after 7.

Thursday: FCA in the morning, so I have to get up and leave a half hour earlier than usual. Not a big deal, but still something. I am observed in 3rd block. The kids were out of it and dead from the previous two off-schedule days. Perfect. Oh well. And then in 5th block my Principal, Literacy Coach, Superintendent and Vice Superintendent all came in my room to observe. Instant sweating in the armpits, but they thought my "book talk" was awesome. Bullet officially dodged. Began needing to use the restroom around 2. Stayed until 5:15 creating a quiz, never thinking to walk down the hall and go to the bathroom, rushed home to quickly make supper for Brent who has a game at seven. Sit down and hastily eat with him. Instant "i-just-ate-too-fast-and-feel-as-if-i-may-throw-up-feeling." Decide it would be best if I didn't go to the game. Finally went to the bathroom at about 6:30. Sat down to write this blog.

WHEW!

Good news: Tomorrow is FRIDAY! :)

And THAT, my dear friends, is why I didn't get around to blogging yesterday.