My school is cuter than yours
So I've been sad and upset the last few days about leaving my school and not having a job and I began to doubt my abilities as a teacher, but today was a fantastic day where the universe aligned to tell me I was in the right place and everything was going to be okay.
All week we have been planning events for my Language Arts mentor who is retiring this year. We had a private dinner for 7th grade teachers on Tuesday, an entire faculty lunch tomorrow, and we planned a celebration with our students today. I had tried to help plan stuff for today, but I was told my main job was to distract Carol before the party today so she wouldn't walk into the room and get spoiled beforehand. So during my prep period, I see other teachers hustling upstairs and I say I'll be right behind them. I stop to do something I need to take care on my desk and I'm called and told that I NEED TO GET UPSTAIRS--NOW! I have no idea what's going on, but I start to run because I figure I need to cut Carol off from seeing any of the party preparations. So I go into the faculty room and the 7th grade teachers have set up a breakfast for me. I'm greeted by freshly poured coffee and am instructed to eat a donut even though I haven't had sweets in a month. Then come the cards and gifts from my mentors--and tears on my part. It was so nice and unexpected and I would have remained overjoyed that the other staff showed their appreciation in such way. But that wasn't all.
So then it was time for what I thought was just Carol's party with the students. I went back into the auditorium with a mass of students, and all of a sudden, they push me back outside. Carol and I are ousted and told to wait to make a grand entrance. Apparently she had been told the party was for me only and instructed to distract me. We were both surprised. By this time we are both crying and walk into the auditorium to a room full of clapping, standing students, signed banners, and a stack of cards from all students. It was so overwhelming and we were told to make speeches. I was so choked up I couldn't get out much and then I was attacked by students who ran up to give me hugs. It was UNBELIEVABLE. Never again will I experience anything so rewarding.
The students started to get sugared up on the snacks they brought and I made my way around to all the groups of students to thank them. After a while, the food began to run out, but the social studies teacher had brought his PS2 to school. We originally planned for the faculty to play American Idol Karaoke and DDR during lunch, but he decided it would be more fun to play in front of the students. So he sang first (terribly) to Billy Joel and everyone laughed at how horrible he was, and then the students wanted me and Carol to sing. Out of the few choices we chose "Build Me Up Buttercup," and compared to the social studies teacher we would have been great anyways, but I know I totally rocked it and afterwards I received genuine applause and high fives from my students the rest of the day as they told me I should really go on American Idol. After lunch, we finished a movie started the previous day in L.A., but instead of watching Tuck Everlasting as planned, we decided to let the students do karaoke and hilarity insued. Some were good, but most of them were just plain funny. The kicker was when the Wallace twins (who hate each other) tried to sing "She Bangs," but kept trying to take the microphone from each other and eventually both got so angry they stormed off. Hilarious!
Good day.
All week we have been planning events for my Language Arts mentor who is retiring this year. We had a private dinner for 7th grade teachers on Tuesday, an entire faculty lunch tomorrow, and we planned a celebration with our students today. I had tried to help plan stuff for today, but I was told my main job was to distract Carol before the party today so she wouldn't walk into the room and get spoiled beforehand. So during my prep period, I see other teachers hustling upstairs and I say I'll be right behind them. I stop to do something I need to take care on my desk and I'm called and told that I NEED TO GET UPSTAIRS--NOW! I have no idea what's going on, but I start to run because I figure I need to cut Carol off from seeing any of the party preparations. So I go into the faculty room and the 7th grade teachers have set up a breakfast for me. I'm greeted by freshly poured coffee and am instructed to eat a donut even though I haven't had sweets in a month. Then come the cards and gifts from my mentors--and tears on my part. It was so nice and unexpected and I would have remained overjoyed that the other staff showed their appreciation in such way. But that wasn't all.
So then it was time for what I thought was just Carol's party with the students. I went back into the auditorium with a mass of students, and all of a sudden, they push me back outside. Carol and I are ousted and told to wait to make a grand entrance. Apparently she had been told the party was for me only and instructed to distract me. We were both surprised. By this time we are both crying and walk into the auditorium to a room full of clapping, standing students, signed banners, and a stack of cards from all students. It was so overwhelming and we were told to make speeches. I was so choked up I couldn't get out much and then I was attacked by students who ran up to give me hugs. It was UNBELIEVABLE. Never again will I experience anything so rewarding.
The students started to get sugared up on the snacks they brought and I made my way around to all the groups of students to thank them. After a while, the food began to run out, but the social studies teacher had brought his PS2 to school. We originally planned for the faculty to play American Idol Karaoke and DDR during lunch, but he decided it would be more fun to play in front of the students. So he sang first (terribly) to Billy Joel and everyone laughed at how horrible he was, and then the students wanted me and Carol to sing. Out of the few choices we chose "Build Me Up Buttercup," and compared to the social studies teacher we would have been great anyways, but I know I totally rocked it and afterwards I received genuine applause and high fives from my students the rest of the day as they told me I should really go on American Idol. After lunch, we finished a movie started the previous day in L.A., but instead of watching Tuck Everlasting as planned, we decided to let the students do karaoke and hilarity insued. Some were good, but most of them were just plain funny. The kicker was when the Wallace twins (who hate each other) tried to sing "She Bangs," but kept trying to take the microphone from each other and eventually both got so angry they stormed off. Hilarious!
Good day.