Why I Love Sixth Graders

For some reason I have been in a blog slump lately. Just nothing happening that seems "blog worthy!!"

I am loving my kids more everyday, however!

Here is one sweet little exchange from today that brought a tear to my eye!!

Student: " Mrs. Cole, are you coming to the band concert tomorrow night?"

Me: "I am not sure, but I am going to try."

Student: "If you do, can you keep your eyes on me?"


Some days I just know I am EXACTLY where I need to be.

My New Favorite Thing

The tea is as good as the picture looks!

Unfortunately you can only purchase this tea online at the tea forte website. Do NOT try it unless you want to become addicted. It is really that good. At first I just treated myself to it every once in a while. Now I cannot go back to drinking the regular bought-in-the-store tea bags.

It is all about the experience I guess. You have to have the fancy pitcher as well as the tea bags! I am having a hard time justifying the expense, but I truly have cut back on so many other things.....

And I do wait until they have a special buy-one-get-one-free offer to stock up. Whatever. Sometimes it is just the little things that make me happy.

Tonight, for instance, on a totally random Monday night, for a good hour I had my whole family together in the kitchen for some wonderful conversation. It reminded me of the title of the book I am reading. The Gift of an Ordinary Day.

It was and it was.

The Gift of an Ordinary Day

I have found another great book. This is a memoir of a woman about my age, although her kids are several years younger than mine. But it it beautifully written.

From the publisher's website:

The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town. It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers–holding on, letting go.
Poised on the threshold between family life as she’s always known it and her older son’s departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all.
The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women’s hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.

Here is just a sample of the touching things she had to say. The things that spoke to me. And I am only in the first chapter!!!!

“The small choices we make each day, the doors we open and close, determine the lives that we lead."

“And grace is what I need these days, as I endeavor to stop viewing the world through the needs of my children and to attend more conscientiously to my own. I guess I never quite anticipated that after all these years of family life, I’d still be on the learning curve, would still be trying to figure out how to be a mother, even as I come to the end of one of the great cycles of human existence, raising young children to become compassionate, self-sufficient adults."

“A heart full of love. That is the constant, the only thing that’s never changed, the only thing that never will. Love is the infinite, durable strand that’s woven itself through all the days and nights of our shared past and that will wind its way, uninterrupted, through our unknowable futures, no matter how much life separates us, no matter where my son’s (children's) journeys may ultimately lead them.”

"It’s easy, given the times we live in and the implicit messages we absorb each day, to equate a good life with having a lot and doing a lot. So it’s also easy to fall into believing that our children, if they are to succeed in life, need to be terrific at everything, and that it’s up to us to make sure that they are– to keep them on track through tougher course loads, more activities, more competitive sports, more summer programs. But in all our well-intentioned efforts to do the right thing for our teenage children, we may be failing to provide them with something that is truly essential– the time and space they need to wake up to themselves, to grow acquainted with their own innate gifts, to dream their dreams and discover their true natures."

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I checked this book out of the library, but I am seriously considering making a trip to Barnes and Noble tomorrow to purchase this one!

Wow, I can hardly wait to get to chapter 2!!

Why I Love 6th Graders

This has been one of the most stressful two weeks that I can remember since I have been teaching. It is really hard to put my finger on why that is. Just more on my plate I guess. I am staying late at school and bringing even more work at home than ever. I hope it will prove beneficial by the end of the year.

This week I took all of my classes to the brand new Mac computer lab. We learned how to access their textbook online so they do not have to take it home. We learned how to use a TCAP test prep website called Study Island. And we learned how to use the Knox County website SchoolFusion. Students can see all of their grades online. They can even look at each teacher's individual assignments and see what they have turned in, what they are missing and exactly what their average is. They learned how to send me messages as well. So Friday when I came home and opened my email, I found 38 messages! Here are some examples....

1. You rock!
2. Heeeeyyyyyy!!!!!!!
3. You are awesome MOST of the time! jk,hahaha

and my very favorite...
4. Hi mrs.cole you rock please bring my grade up from a F to a A

Also this week I lost the teacher's edition of my textbook. I had two copies, one at home and one at school. The one at school, I never took out of the classroom. And one day last week someone wanted to borrow it and I said out loud--

"You can't use my book, it has all of the answers in it!"

And now it is gone. So I have told everyone I am giving a $10.00 reward to get it back. But the funniest thing happened when I was talking to them about looking for it. I explained that it always stayed on my front table or the back table and it never went anywhere else. I said I had looked everywhere though. In all the cabinets and shelves....

and out of the blue one of my students said "Did you look in your snack closet?"

SNACK CLOSET? What exactly do you mean by that??

This closet?

Why.... this is my storage closet.

Or maybe not....

I guess they must see me go in and out of here several times a day. I make my iced tea in here, grab a small piece of chocolate when I need it or even fix my lunch!!!

They just totally crack me up and they don't even mean to!

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Also one little girl ripped my heart out yesterday. She is a tiny little girl. She looks about 8 years old and sounds like she is 5! She came to my desk and asked if she could call home to get some Advil. I said yes-do you have a headache? She said- as she started to tear up- Yes, my granny died a few months ago and I just haven't felt good ever since then. I said- Could I give you a hug? And she grinned a little bit and said- Yes. Love her!

It's just that good

I read this blog regularly and have linked to it before. This post just really moved me. If you have time read it.


http://6yearmed.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-care.html

Thanks.

Getting Out of the House

Hot Springs Resort and Spa

Okay so the resort and spa part might be stretching it a little, but the mineral hot tub was enjoyable! We had decided that we were going to get out of the house this weekend and go somewhere. I had seen an article in Southern Living and in the newspaper about this place, so we decided to give it a try!! It was $25 dollars for an hour. I was trying to cure David's bad hip! He said it did not work; at least not in one session!! The trip over was a beautiful drive through Pisgah National Forest. I caught up on three days of newspapers and some catalogs as well.

After our hot tub soak, we stopped at the Smoky Mountain Diner for a delicious hamburger and fries lunch.

This is what it looked like from the outside...


And this is the gorgeous view from our booth!!

On the way home we had good reception for WIVK to listen to the UT-Florida game. The first half was so good that we were dying to get to a television. So......

we stopped at the Chop House next to Bass Pro Shops in Sevierville and sat in a booth at the bar and ate again!!! We had perfect seats for the not so perfect third quarter of the ballgame.

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This was supper tonight. I thought it turned out pretty good. I am trying to use up the food I have on hand before payday and this is what I came up with. Actually Ina came up with. Here is the recipe I used. It was her Omelette for Two.

One thing I have got to learn-to remember that the handle to the skillet is very hot when it has been in the oven!!

Why I Love 6th Graders

Don't get too excited...just read the story!!

I really don't have favorite students.

I mean it.

Teachers really should not have favorite students.

But if I did have favorite students...my favorite students would be the ones that can make me laugh.

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So today in my 7th period class....(which means I have been saying and doing the same thing four times already) I was giving a quiz.

So I told the students to complete the quiz and when they finish simply to turn it over on their desks and wait for everyone to finish.

Then I procede to walk around and observe while they are working on the quiz. As I am walking, 3 different students ask what they are supposed to do with the quiz. With each one I get a little more frustrated.

But I told the whole class each time again what to do. So that makes 4 times now.

When the 4th student asked what to do with the quiz, I started to lose it. I tried to breathe in, but I let out a small frustrated scream....

And as I did that, I just happen to be walking by the desk of the student who makes me laugh and I hear, softly, quietly, under his breath....

"Am I seeing a... retirement??"

Oh my goodness is that class lucky to have him in it!!

P.S. I also updated the link to my class website, not that you are interested!