An Interesting Fact About You

Every year my kids fill out info cards about themselves: phone numbers, birthday, etc. But my favorite is an interesting fact they tell me about themselves. Most are about what sports they play or a talent they have, but some are just an excellent reflection of why I love to teach junior high. Here are some top samplings:

I like to play with my nails

I am a girl

I am boring. I do nothing.

PC NOT Mac

I love Pandas

I go to church every day

My favorite hobby is math and I love to play sports

I am aware of my surroundings and the people around me

In chess, I can beat everyone I know except for the computer.

I love and have a propensity of always using more complex vocabulary words when conversing with anyone when possible.

I mostly get "F's" in math. I don't know why.

I love to read Harry Potter books.

I have the same birthday as my sisters.

I don't know much Spanish.

(one girl's was a bulleted list):

•       I'm just a simple and nice girl
•       creative
•       nice with lettering

I am your student.

I have 2 ducks, 12 doves, and 3 parrots.

I like to dive in the pool and I can snap my finger really fast.

I like red, black, gray, white, and werewolves.

I love my sleep.

I like holding my lizards.

I could climb a lot of stuff.

In bsa (boy scouts of america) and courteous, scientific

I like to travel around the world.

I have a twin sister named Margaret. Don't get mixed up. :)

I know much about the Japanese culture.

There are haunted dolls up my attic. Really creepy. They appear every day on the ground. Then they disappear in a hour.


                This is going to be a fabulous school year...   

That's Why

God has impeccable timing. Today was a day where I felt like I can impact the lives of the kids who care, but not the ones who don't. I've been feeling that way for a while and God keeps showing me little glimmers of hope. "Don't give up," they whisper as I trudge through daily ups and downs of teaching.

I often teach both the highest and lowest math classes we offer. It creates a balance in my day and also in everyone's schedules. It's easy to feel like a great teacher when you teach kids who already understand math, feel good about their skills, and generally like school. I can take the cream of the crop and keep them there. That is a gift, but it is a daily rewarding one that is hardly ever discouraging. It is easy to feel like a lousy teacher when you teach students who have difficulty with the most basic of math skills and who are afraid of failure (or are comfortable with it) who think school is a lesser form of prison where if you serve your time, you can check out soon.

I have some of the same students from last year's lowest course in this year's regular level course (I teach that too). They are now mixed in with students of all sorts of skill levels and I can see some of my kids just trying to keep quiet and stay in the shadows. They hope to graciously accept the F and slide on through the cracks. I can't let that happen. I try all sorts of methods to prevent it and I feel like none of them are successful. If the student is ready to fail and not brave enough to put in another effort another year, there is little I can do to change that.

Last week I was teaching about simplifying expressions. One of my former (and also current) students was again doing nothing as all the other students practiced a problem together. I knelt by his desk and whispered, "You have to do one problem correctly to show me you know how to do this before you leave today or you owe me your break so you can learn it." He asked me how to do the first problem and we did it together. We continued this way for all four problems. By the fourth, he was doing the whole problem on his own. I watched silently as he did each step perfectly and explained it verbally to me as he went along. I was so proud of him, tears started to brim. He looked up nervously, "Did I do it right?" I nodded and whispered, "Look at my eyes. I'm so proud of you, I'm going to cry. It's perfect! I'm so proud of you." He smiled wide and proud. This is a student who received less than a 10% last year for his final grade and he now knows how to simplify expressions!!

The next day he was diligently taking notes, asking questions, and participating with his classmates. I wrote him a "proud of you" post-it and stuck it to his shirt as he was leaving class. I heard from another adult on campus that he keeps it in the front of his notebook - a bright pink post-it saying that he worked hard and his teacher noticed. Who knows if this is the turning point for him, but if I am able to help him see that if he tries, he may not always fail, then maybe I can see that too.

I got a visit today from a student who was big trouble four years ago when I had him. He pulled pranks, lied, damaged my property, lied about that, stole, lied about that. He was a very scary kid because he was smart and charming and used his powers for evil. Well, he visited today to tell me that he is taking the right level of math (that means he passed his math classes), he's liking school, he's learning auto mechanics, and is going to go to trade school when he graduates. He's looking forward to being old enough to vote, but he wants to take Civics first so that he can be a more informed voter and understand the process better. Here was a mature, respectful, wonderful young man who knew the importance of his education. He biked in from Fountain Valley to tell me that he was doing really well and to see how I was. How am I doing? I'm doing great, thanks, just great.

So God is reminding me that I do my job not for the results of this moment, but for the future. I may never see how I impact them and I may feel like I fail every day with some kids. But my success is not measured by some number from a test or even some grades in a class. I teach lessons that go deeper than any test can assess and I need to be reminded that this is why I do it.

My Genetic Inheritance

I look just like my mother. I don't exactly have her coloring, but I have her face. Sometimes in photos of her at my age I can't even tell the difference between us. "I don't remember wearing that shirt," and then I realize that I never have worn it. My mother majored in math and teaches it, so do I. She explains things the same way I do, down to each individual question she asks her students. We cook the same (except she's better at it), we think similarly, we even have the same precise lists we make whenever we're planning things that we both call "our brain". It seems I've inherited almost everything from my mom.

But there are three distinct things I've inherited from my father: my hair, my athleticism, and the crazy. My father and I both are pretty mellow people. We like to mingle with friends and strangers. We tell stories and laugh and can take a lot of abuse and let it roll off our backs. But some triggers are deadly. There are some things that happen that make us just snap and suddenly we are acting impulsively and intuitively and plain old crazy. The trigger is usually some supposed injustice or someone endangering themselves or others.

Yesterday, after school, I was walking from the office to my classroom. I had several things in my hands and had left my phone and keys in my room. The school was locked down at this point and several students were waiting outside of the gate for a ride. About seven of my girls were huddled at the corner giggling and pointing at the high school boys strutting across the street. The boys made flirtatious comments and generally pea cocked for the girls. There were so many boys that they could not all fit side by side on the sidewalk so several started walking in the street. I yelled out to them to get out of the street. No response. My girls echoed my demand and the boys, proving their manliness, started to walk out farther into the street. I screamed again that if they did not get on the sidewalk, I was going to call the cops. All ten were now walking in the street taking up an entire lane and causing the cars to swerve around them. Something inside me snapped.

I put down all the things in my hands, walked toward the fence, climbed over it (with only a momentary hesitant voice inside my head saying, "This could be really stupid...") and started to jog toward the crowd. When I reached them, they seemed very confused. I recognized none of them as previous students, but I herded them to the sidewalk anyway saying something like, "You will not die in front of my school. Stay on the sidewalk!" and I'm sure they noticed the crazy in my eyes. "Sorry, we didn't hear you!" "Really, we're really sorry," "Yeah, we'll be more careful!" Saying anything to just make the crazy lady stop.

I instantly realized how dumb this was. I had to walk the block back to my school's crosswalk (I couldn't very well jaywalk after that.) I didn't have my phone or keys and I had no idea how I was going to get back in. After I used the cross walk and tried to greet observing students normally (the whole time feeling totally embarrassed) I noticed that the office door was open. I went in and confessed my stupidity to those inside and hoped that my new principal has a sense of humor.

Later that night, I realized that I'm not quite as young as I used to be and I was a little sore from my hoisting over. I called my dad and said, "Thanks for the genetic make-up!" "Why, did you hit someone?" he asked. Thanks for the crazy, Dad.

Words Matter

It may surprise you, but I love to talk. I know, I can hear the collective gasp of shock. I think God has a good laugh at me when I lose my voice completely. I love to speak and sing and make noise, even when no one is around to hear it. I love to read and write words. My love language is words of affirmation. I love words.

And yet, there are times when I seem to forget the power of words. I speak to people all day long. It's my job to do so. I have 200 young minds that listen to me, in varying degrees, for 43 minutes a day. Sometimes I say things in frustration to my students that I cannot believe have come out of my mouth. I say things that I would never say to an adult. Sarcasm comes spewing forth and I feel better for an instant, but I wonder if I've hurt their feelings. Yesterday I had a lunch party in my room for one period because they won a competition for raising money for cancer research. The kids did an amazing job of cleaning up, but the smell of Italian food filled the class. The two classes after lunch noticed and complained again and again. Finally, at the beginning of sixth period, I opened with, "Yes, it smells like food in here because my first period class had a party at lunch. I am sorry it smells like onions." The kids responded by shouting out simultaneously about what else it smelled like - 15 or so comments at the same time. I shouted back, "Thank you! It's not like I live in this room and have been smelling this stench for hours. I don't need you to describe every smell!" My face was turning red and they were surprised to illicit such a violent response of sarcasm. They got over pretty fast, but I certainly was mad over something pretty small.

I get used to the idea that maybe my words don't really matter. I think I can say hurtful things and they'll let it pass or I can say encouragement and it just flows past their preteen ears without making any difference. Some students respond to a discussion with me as if they had ear buds in their ears with music blaring. They smile and nod (or frown and nod) at all the appropriate places and wait for the lecture to be over.

But words are more powerful than that. I should know. I have remembered words teachers said to me ages ago. I have remembered good and bad things people have said in passing to me. Authority figures especially make a mark on my memory. (My favorite is when a teacher wanted a definition for effervescent and someone in class responded, "Brenda") I have post-it notes of encouragement that I sometimes give to my students. They say things like, "You can be proud of yourself for ..." or "I noticed something special about you today. It was..." or "You have no idea how much you helped me when..." I fill them out and just stick them to a kid's desk. I know for some kids, this is a special thing. For some I assume it means nothing...but I am wrong.

Yesterday, I was talking with a student who is really smart, but doesn't always do his work. His effort (and eventually his grade) fluctuates up and down depending on his mood. He had done nothing in class on his project that day. When I asked him during class, he said he was working on it at home. I told him that he had to do at least one part today. I checked on him at the end of class and he had not met the goal I had set for him. He had nothing. He then confessed that he had lost the paper explaining the project and didn't know what to do. He opened his notebook to show me the one part he did have and I saw a purple sticky note that said, "You can feel proud of yourself for working so much harder in math class." I gave that note to him in third quarter. He had saved it in his notebook.

On the surface this kid seems unfazed by me or my teaching. He seems too cool for school. He knows all the answers and can choose to participate or not, it doesn't matter. And yet he kept my note. He wasn't going to show it, but my words affect him.

I need to be so careful with what I say. I have the power to motivate and bring down 2oo times over every day. In my frustrations I need to be an example to my kids of what's appropriate. I need to use words that lift up, even in discipline. What a responsibility! I need to never take it lightly.

Let me end with an anecdote from one of my classes during a discussion about Einstein:
Kid 1: Wasn't it true that Einstein was only good at one thing?
Me: No, he was good at a lot of things.
Kid 1: That doesn't make me feel better about myself.
Me: But did you know that one of Einstein's teachers said that he would never amount to much?
Class in a bored, drone tone: Yes
Me: Ahh, the power of a discouraging word to motivate someone to great heights.
Kid 1: Man, now we'll never amount to anything, Miss D.
Me: Why not?
Kid 1: You encourage us too much!

The End of 'Me' Time

I often hear the admonition to "take some time for yourself" or "you can't please everyone" or "maybe you should reduce some of the stress in your life." I hear these admonitions, but I don't usually listen. I fill my life with all sorts of activities and obligations. Someone once asked me if my work was my life and I answered, "Yes, but so is my family and my church. I try to squeeze three lives into one." Is this wearing? Is this something that brings my stress levels up and my sleep time down? Yes.

So this spring break, I decided to heed those warnings and take some time for me. I went on a women's retreat to start it off and had a wonderful time. While there, I tried hard not to think of what I should be doing to maximize my effective use of time. I tried not to squeeze in as much conversation time with each person I knew and while talking with her thinking, "I need to also talk with those thirty other people." Instead I just talked with whomever was near. I talked as long as I wanted and listened wholeheartedly.

After I got back, I hid away at the beach house. I brought a little food, some clothes, and some books and I just sat outside and read. For three days. It was wonderful. I even spent one whole day where I didn't think, "what should I be doing now instead of this?" I ignored my potential responsibilities and just existed. It was glorious. Nine hours of sleep each night, food all day and two books completed.

Now that I'm back in the real world, the dam is no longer able to hold back the waters of responsibility and I feel that I've stayed away too long. Tomorrow I have choir, church, missions report, time to spend with my family (especially Paul and Erin), hundreds of papers to grade, and laundry to do. This week at school I have "Annie" rehearsals, lesson plans to refine, sub plans to write, grades to enter, seating charts, and meetings. After school I have Bible studies, dr. appointments, and friends to see.

I don't want to complain (too late, I suppose) because I love my life. I love to do all of the things I do. I love my family, and I love my friends. I love to devote myself to these things. As my friend, Aleta, said: I like to keep my cup full, to the brim and just above so that I cannot take one more drop.

It was nice to have a couple days of just me time, but now I feel like I've not spent my week off as well as I could. I certainly procrastinated on the important stuff enough. Let the busy days begin.

More things my kids have said

I was going through my papers I brought home from work and found some papers on which I've written funny things my kids have said. Here's a sampling.

1) "I had my homework this morning, but then I had too much pie and I lost it."

2) Bryan entered my class just after PE. He called to his friend from across the room, "Smell my PE shirt, it smells like a man!"

3) While speaking in a British accent, my student and I had a conversation.
Me: You sound so intelligent, sophisticated.
Her: Yes, it's like glasses for your voice.

4) "Ah the sweet smell of second period!"

5)Me: "I've been to every one of Josh Groban's concerts in Southern California...but I'm not obsessed. Not like some of his fans."
Kevin: "Like the ones who go to every concert?"

6)student 1: "Arnold Schwarzenagger, who's that?"
Me: "He's our governor and a famous actor."
student 1: "Really?"
student 2: "Yeah, he's from Germany."
student 3: "No, he's from Australia."
Me: "He's from Austria and speaks German."
student 1: "Is Austria the same as Australia?"

7) "Insurance money is good motivation for murder, you know."

8) An: "If chocolate releases endorphins and exercise releases endorphins, why can't people just eat chocolate?"

9) Me: If you say "Youler" instead of "Oiler" other mathematicians will laugh at you.
Anna: Where is this math community you speak of?

10) Ty: "Do you ever even think bad thoughts?"
Me, dripping with sarcasm: "No, my mind is as pure as the driven snow."
Nicole: "I believe it Ms. Dempsey. You're like a saint. You're like the Virgin Mary!"
Me: "Thanks?"

People who don't understand why anyone would want to teach Jr. High just need to see this snapshot of my life with these kids. I never stop laughing.

Things kids write

Have I mentioned that I love my job? Well, I do. This was the last week of school which is also fun because it's the drama time. Everyone gets so emotional about saying goodbye and leaving school - I love it! I got to read names this year at graduation. I love to do this because I look at each kid as I say his/her name and smile at them. If I've had them, I pat them on the shoulder or smile tenderly at them. I thought for sure I would get emotional about some of my geometry kids. I love that bunch and they work so hard. I develop such a fun relationship with that group, but I didn't cry while saying their names. No, it was the two boys who caused me the most pain and difficulties last year that made me get choked up. I looked into their faces and realized that despite all of the pain and difficulties in their lives, they had actually passed eighth grade. Maybe because the challenge for them was greater so the success was more sweet or maybe because I hoped that my class was a chance for them to see kindness and love, but whatever the reason, these boys made me tear up.

My favorite moment of graduation was after all the names were read. Our principal thanked Dee Brundage, a teacher who is retiring this year, for her service to our kids. She is the only 7th grade science teacher on our campus so she has had every student. After the principal said this, about 1/4 of the students instantly stood up and cheered for her. The standing ovation quickly spread to the entire graduating class and lasted for over a minute. I thought, "Now this is a testament to a great teacher." Each student loved her so much. She really was the nicest teacher on campus...and now that she's gone...it's my chance to steal the throne. Bwaa haa haa!

This year I received many letters and notes of thanks. I even received flowers from several kids (my favorite kind of gift!). I thought I would immortalize some of the nice things my kids have written to or about me (directly quoted with spelling and punctuation):

1) I couldn't ask for a better teacher! (cos' there is none!) :) I can say that you are my most favorite teacher! :) You have alot to offer, and I love how your so happy all of the time! Thank you for everything.

2) How could I live without MATH?

3) One teacher deserves an apple, but Ms. Dempsey deserves the whole tree. Best teacher, Ms. Dempsey is her name! She's my geometry teacher and an awesome math wizard. She's awesome, crazy, smart, nerdy, pretty, cool, weird, outgoing, creative, stylish etc. She's the best! Every day, she has a simle on and always cheers everyone up in her class. She's a twilight freak and loves Hish School Musical. She even makes a math lesson fun! How? Well, one interesting way is she imitates a foreign accent to get our attention. Another way is making boring math formulas into happy songs. That's very creative and makes the classroom a very fun place to be in. I love Ms. Dempsey. On thing that surprised me is that she isn't married! She's wonderful to be with and extremely smart! I have never had a teacher like this and I wish I would meet more teachers like her! I can express my feelings to Ms. Dempsey and I trust her. She is a MAJOR NERD; which is awesome! She loves using expo markers of every color. She has good taste in music and loves singing. She's an excellent singer, even though she rarely sings in class. She takes time in her lessons because she cares about her student's education. Everyone loves her and she loves everyone that loves her. She will always be there for her students. That is what makes her the teacher to write about.

Can you believe that last one? I should have this girl write an ad for me! I especially love that I am stylish, have good taste in music, and she is surprised I'm not married. So funny.

Well, for one who's love language is verbal praise, this is certainly an encouraging time of year. I love my job (have I mentioned that before?).

Clubbing it

I am a sucker. I know this. If you don't know this, ask me for a favor or invite me somewhere that is important to you and see how much of a sucker I am. Now, if you are a child then there is no hope for me.

Two of my former students invited me to a concert their band was performing in. I bought a ticket under the premise that several other teachers were going. Their band is a scream metal band with a name that I don't want to repeat here because it offends me. By the day of the concert only one other teacher and I were left standing and willing to go.

Jeri and I carpooled to the club (my first trip to a club ever...I might have been in one in Europe...) and had a great time talking along the way. We neared the club and certainly felt in the rock element. Picture Tijuana, then add several car repair shops with tires lining the front of the spray painted signs. Now between an "adult" shop and a skate board shop in a brick building with smokers puffing away out front is an under-18 club. This was our destination.

"We don't stick out at all," Jeri whispered as we neared the door. I had to turn off the urge to direct and advise every kid we saw. The room for the concert was a fair size and the stage was just being set up for our kids. Several students were in the audience and some were embarrassed to have us there, but most were excited that we would come.

"Why don't they have any chairs?" Jeri asked.

"For the mosh pit," I replied. I don't know if she heard me or understood, but she soon would.

I passed out the earplugs and our kids started playing. They actually were not that bad. I was most impressed with their ability to play and simultaneously head-bang. They had some really good guitar riffs and the bass player kept a good rhythm. Their drummer certainly had talent. I could not make any sense of their "singer". I feel like I have a generous appreciation of music. I can appreciate music that I don't enjoy and see the difficulties in things that I wouldn't really want to listen to. I don't get the screaming.

I could only distinguish a few words in every song and it was mostly one that begins with 'f'. For the most part it reminded me of Wakko Warner from Animaniacs. Animaniacs was a great cartoon on the WB that had two Warner bros. and their sister, Dot. Wakko would often do weird things including burping classical pieces. He would belch out instrumental songs while wearing a tux and taking a break to drink carbonated soda. This is EXACTLY what it sounded like.

There were moments where I would look around and my heart would break at the choices some kids were making. I seriously considered counseling two girls in short jean shorts, torn t-shirts worn off one shoulder and 4 inch heels. My heart broke for them, "There's more to life and love than what you think!" I wanted to scream.

I held it all in and made it through the set with my poor hearing well preserved. The boys were so excited that their teachers made the effort to show their support and it was neat to see them put so much effort into something positive.

As I was introduced to the band, the drummer said the f-word and my student looked at me. I didn't reprimand, because he wasn't mine. But then my student said, "That's right we're not in school, I can saw whatever the 'f' I want." I gave him my teacher look and said, "Do you think that means anything?" He didn't swear again at me.

The boys were so happy and I was glad to see them in their element. I know it was certainly their element and not mine, but then again, maybe I've always been the awkward adult among a crowd of kids...

What are some kids thinking?

At the end of third period today, I noticed a kid had writing on his hand. This kid hates school and often ditches to hang out with his older brother. He is a quiet and unassuming kid during class. He plays the "if I don't get noticed then I can skate by" philosophy. I waver about which battles to fight with him. Showing up every day was our first goal. So when he does show up, but doesn't have his homework, should I press him about that or just have him accept his zero quietly? I usually just make sure he does his class work and don't press the homework issue for fear that he will not show up again. I figure that it's better that he be at school and gain something from my class than not be there at all.

So I looked at his hand and saw three symbols: a swastika, an anarchy symbol, and a pentagram. I waited until the bell rang and I knelt by his desk.

Me: I noticed some symbols on your hand. Did you draw those?

Bob: No...yes...

Me: Why did you choose those symbols?

Bob: They're things that I like.

Me: Really? Do you know what anarchy is?

Bob: Yeah, they teach people to hack and stuff.

Me: Well, no, anarchy means that there are no rules and no order so basically the biggest and strongest win. It means that I can take your backpack and there's nothing you can do about it. It means I get to do anything I want to you if I'm stronger than you. What about the swastika, do you know what that is?

Bob: Yeah, it's the Nazi symbol.

Me: Do you know what the Nazi's believed?

Bob: They hated the Jews.

Me: Do you feel that way?

Bob: Not much.

Me: Do you realize that the Nazi's hated more than just the Jews? They hated every race that wasn't white. The Nazi's would have hated you. They murdered many people just because of their race or beliefs.

{At this point, "Bob" started to get up to go to his next class.}

Me: I want you to wash this off of your hand, because those symbols are evil. I'll call your next teacher and let her know that you'll be late.

I wrote a note to our counselor so she can talk with him more. Later that afternoon I saw another two kids: one with a new haircut and a drawing on his arm and the other was his friend.

Friend: Doesn't he look like Hitler with his new haircut?

Me: No, he looks like a rockstar!

Haircut kid: Yeah, I have half of a Nazi symbol on my arm.

Me: Is that half of a swastika?

HC kid: No, no. It's a lightning bolt, see. {It was a lightning bolt}

Me: Good!

Friend: Nazi's are cool.

Me: Excuse me! Do you know what they stand for?

Friend: They hated the Jews.

Me: Not just the Jews, but a lot of other groups of people too.

Friend: They're still cool.

Me: (not very successfully holding back my angry glare) They murdered 12 million people and would have murdered even more if they were not stopped. {the lecture continued for a while}
So no more swastikas, ok?

Friend: I get it, they're not cool.

The kids are reading Anne Frank right now and I think that they see the Nazi's as some kind of video game bad guys. The reality of the situation doesn't seem to hit them. I want to take all of my kids to the Simon Wiesenthal or something so they can have an idea of what fear, pain, evil, sin, and truly vile actions the Nazi's were responsible for. I wish these kids would see outside of themselves and look to the struggles of others with empathy and concern and a desire to act in such a way as to make genocide and hate be defeated. I know that it is ignorance and not a true passion for the Nazi's that make my kids delight in such shocking symbols, but if they could see for themselves what those symbol really mean, I think that they would have a clearer perspective and perhaps a greater purpose in their own lives. Well, there's my soapbox. I will now stop preaching to the choir.

Drugs make me sad.

Some strange things have been happening at my school this past week. You may know that this is red ribbon week - a week in which we focus on drug use prevention. I have a discussion with each of my class periods about drug use and I always seem to get some pretty interesting conversations.

I was pretty disturbed, but not surprised, at the large number of students who said, "When my dad gets drunk..." not "one time my dad got drunk..." but "when". For my geometry classes I discussed high school and college temptations. I told them that this was the time in their lives where they could choose who they would be. They should choose now the kind of person they want to be so that when they are in those situations, they have already made their decision. I told them that I decided to never get drunk. That meant that when people invited me to drink in college, I didn't have to think under pressure. I just knew that I would say no.

This was my speech I gave on Monday and apparently I should have given it on Friday. On Friday six students at my school, six beautiful girls, decided to take ecstasy while on campus. One of them was a sweet girl I had last year and the other is a really cool kid I have this year in geometry! I'm so mad! What could they possibly be thinking? I'm just so overwhelmed by the sin in the world. People make such stupid choices and they can have such long term repercussions. I hope that these students learn from this and decide to never do this again.

As an empath, this hurts. I told my kids that if I heard that they were doing any drugs, I would hunt them down and yell at them. Now that I really have this situation in front of me, I don't know how to respond. Drugs suck!

Reasons why I love my job.

I love my job. I know that doesn't surprise some of you. In fact, I heard someone say, "You'd love your job no matter what it was." That's possibly true. But there's a difference between looking for the joy in your job and having your job throw joy at you daily. That's how my job is. I love it and there are few jobs that I could love better. Here are some reasons why:

1) I am greeted every day with smiling faces, hello's and general well wishes by dozens of kids.

2) I get to speak all day. To a captive audience.

3) I get to create systems and then implement them.

4) My students think I'm funny and they politely laugh at my stupid jokes.

5) I get to read teen fiction and watch the Disney channel and claim that I'm doing it to keep in touch with what my kids are into.

6) There are students who offer to help me every day. They clean over-heads, wipe the board, will carry things, and even will purchase my ice cream for me on Tuesdays (if I give them the cash).

7) I get to help kids feel better about themselves in so many ways.

8) I can makes kids see how they're smart.

9) I get to dress up for Halloween.

10) Everyday is a challenge that I can usually overcome. So I feel both challenged and successful almost every day.

11) I get to wear cute work clothes.

12) I have a giant office with two big windows. I do share it with 180, sometimes lacking in deoderant, pre-teens, but it certainly is spacious.

13) I don't sit at a computer all day.

14) There is very little down time so my day goes by really fast.

15) Everyday I feel like I've done a little bit to make the world a little bit better.

16) I get major holidays and two months off in the summer.

17) I get to expose my kids to new music, books, and cultures every day.

I wish that everyone could have a job that they loved as much as I love mine. May your job throw joy at you this week.

What time is it?

SUMMERTIME! It's our vacation (all HSM2 fans know what I'm talking about and if you're asking yourself "What's HSM2?" you're not one of them). Today was my last day of work until the end of August and it's not real yet. This year has been the toughest of my teaching career and I certainly learned a lot. Here is a list of lessons I've learned:

1) I am a good teacher, but I still need to work on discipline. I need to realize that all kids aren't like me, so some don't need reminders of what to do, but need to be told, every day, several times.

2) When reading the names at commencement (my first year doing this). I looked at the faces of each kid as I said his/her name. I was overwhelmed by the number of kids that I had somehow been a part of. What an amazing job I have! I get to be a part of thousands of lives. Whether they remember me or not, I still can make a difference. That sounds cheesy and I know it is, but it’s still cool.

3) I need sleep. I've been working on about 5 or 6 hours for the past two weeks and I'm cranky and moody and unmotivated. Well, as cranky as I get.

4) Respect is really important. I have students that respect me because I've poured respect on them. I have two students who don't because after constant disrespect from them, I caved and was rude back. That was when the battle was lost. I could no longer say, "I've never been disrespectful to you..." That is sometimes the hardest part of my job.

5) Words are powerful. My students have encouraged me so much in these last few days. They have written me letters, signed my yearbook, or said to me how much I've helped them. What a great job! People say that teachers don't get appreciated and maybe in some ways that's true. People outside of education may look down on teachers as a group (those that can do, those that can’t….). Yet in my job I get accolades every day from coworkers and from students. How many people have jobs where the people they work for cry because your job is finished? They give you gifts in thanks and say that you've changed their life for the better? Maybe Dr.'s and the people from Extreme Home Makeover.

6) Kids can change for the better. One student who was a particular challenge this year actually ended the year with a wonderful showing of maturity and leadership. He got an A in my class and was so respectful. I have hope.

7) Teachers need summer to remind them that they love their job. They also need to experience life without homework. And for those of you with 'real' jobs who are still working and are complaining about the cush 3 months off we get, let me tell you some things. First, it's only 2 months. Second, we don't get paid time off. Third, have you ever spent 7 hours a day with 168 Jr. Highers for 180 days? Trust me, you'd need the break too.

Well, don't call me at 6:15 in the morning tomorrow, because I will be sleeping. I'm free as a bird for 5 days and then my crazy summer starts. I'm going to enjoy every minute.