Some may say I’m a rule follower, but I like to think of it as just doing the right thing.  I mean, some rules just make life easier and help us know what to expect.  But instead of finding myself in a world where everyone wants to make life easier for everyone else, I find a lot of people who are only wanting to make life easier for themselves.  I expect this kind of thing from kids, but a lot of days, just trying to get to the kids can be a crazy game of the unexpected.

For instance, driving to school yesterday was the ultimate game of Frogger.  People were everywhere, on bikes, walking and in cars.  I live in a neighborhood surrounded by three  large schools with about four thousand kids total.  This does not include all of the parents and grandparents driving their kids to school.  Just leaving my place, I had a school bus blocking my driveway, someone going the wrong way out of their apartment complex because it was shorter than going the right way, people not using their turn signals so you have to guess what they’re going to do based on the angle of their car or the look in their eye, kids on bikes who assume you’re going to see them dart out in front of you, kids looking at their cell phones as they cross the street in front of you and not at a corner or crosswalk.  I’m not the most awake person in the morning and it can be quite the challenge.

Even the parking lot where I pick up my donuts in the morning or stop to get gas can be an adventure.  Nobody stays in the lanes anymore as the parking lot becomes a free for all, again with those same kids looking at their cell phones as they meander without checking out their surroundings. Parents stop anywhere to drop off their kids so they can walk across the street to school, teenagers who have had their licenses for a couple of months speed their pick up trucks or daddy’s Porsche like it’s a race track, people park sideways or longways in the parking slots because they’ll only be a minute.

Ok, I’m starting to sound like the old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn, but the truth is, following rules in these circumstances and allowing people to anticipate what’s going to happen can save lives.  I recently had a friend whose husband was in a motorcycle accident because a bicyclist cut in front of him.  He’s ok but ended up scraping off a ton of skin on his arms and legs.  Everyone, walkers, bicyclists and drivers need to follow rules so we can all stay safe.

Then I get to school.  I’m greeted by kids who never look where they’re going so I gracefully dodge them because I’ve been practicing with the traffic all the way to school.  There are rules posted all over school about how to do things safely, responsibly and respectfully but every rule is broken all the time.  I spend my day trying to anticipate, being proactive so that I can be productive in my classroom and so kids can stay safe.  But just like outside of school, sometimes they take me by surprise.  Like the pick up truck who zipped from parking lot to parking lot right in front of me as I was driving down the street last night, I’m not expecting the child in front of me to all of a sudden stop in a line to tie his or her shoes so I can trip over them.

My husband says I’m a good defensive driver which is probably why I haven’t had an accident.  Not to say I don’t make mistakes, sometimes really stupid mistakes, but they’re never intentional.  I often think I’m good at anticipating things because I’m good at reading body language, taking in all of the info I see quickly and making quick decisions with that info.  I see sayings and memes that address how even the bad things in your life can be lessons.  I believe that having to read my mom’s body language everyday and either having to anticipate a problem, deflect things and/or make quick decisions/adjustments helped me survive some days.  Those skills have helped me in all kinds of ways, whether it’s playing Frogger on the roads or Whack a Mole with my kids, to teaching and leading meetings, constantly watching the environment and body language.  It helps me to be safer and a better communicator.  What was a time of fear has turned into a gift of sorts.

So, despite the fact that I would really love people to follow the rules, the truth is that people are people and they’re going to do what they’re going to do.  So in the meantime, I’ll keep trying to teach my kids to do the right thing and play Frogger and Whack a Mole to survive life.

 

I’m hoping that there are other people reading this whose minds work like mine.  I’ve done this just about every day for years since moving into my apartment building.  I walk down the hall to the elevator, take it down the four floors to the garage and get in my car.  It wasn’t until this morning, standing all alone in the elevator, as I often do, that I began to question where I should stand.  I pushed the button on the left side, backed up a bit and stood there.  Then I started to think, if someone got on on another floor and I wasn’t standing in the doorway of the elevator, would I startle them?  Would it startle them more if I was in the doorway?  I was relieved when the elevator went straight to the garage so I didn’t have to continue to overthink it.

Seriously though, just think about it.  How many times during the day do you have to contemplate where you’re going to stand?  We stand in line at the DMV, the grocery store and the airport.  We sometimes have to decide which line to get in for a sporting or concert event and if you’re like my husband, you analyze which line is going faster before you get in line.  Going to a football game, I stand in line to get in the correct gate, to get to my seat, get my concessions and to get back out again.  How many hours do we spend standing in line for things?

Think about how we use the word “stand” on a daily basis.  Expressions like stand tall, I can’t stand them, stand on your own two feet, stand down, take a stand, and stand by your word  all represent strong emotional expressions or directions.  The word “stand” is powerful, whether it is literal or not.  I suppose that makes it worthy of thought and maybe not as crazy as it sounded in the first part of my blog.

Standing can be a sign of respect or show the importance of an event or occasion.  We stand when a judge enters a courtroom.  We stand in front of God and witnesses to get married and we stand as the bride walks by.  We stand for our National Anthem.  We stand to give outstanding speakers and performers ovations.  Standing in unity can be a powerful thing especially during a peaceful protest.  Have you ever just thought about when and why we stand?  Does it have meaning or is it just something we do because everyone does it?

As a teacher I stand all day, but it’s more a matter of proximity than straight lines.  Except for the students, of course, who struggle with maneuvering into lines throughout the day.  There really has to be some thought put into where you stand during the school day.  During my classes, I’m constantly observing my students to see who is struggling with behavior or might need some help, so I move around a lot.  One of the problems with new teachers is that they’ve just come from college classes where the traditional professor stands at the front of the room and lectures.  Standing at the front of the room all of the time, especially for little people is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, especially when making music.  We tend to refer to that person as thinking of themselves as “the sage on the stage”.  It’s not about the kids, it’s about them.  However, when you walk around the room and stand beside a kid who is struggling and put a kind hand on their shoulder, where you stand has more meaning and is thinking of the student first.

Where I stand outside during recess or inside for duty depends on what my students need as well.  Standing in an area where I can scan a large group of kids instead of congregating with my fellow educators can help alleviate any possible safety issues.  Standing in the right place inside while kids are trying to find their new classes can help alleviate any fear they might have.  Again, it’s more about the kids than it is me.  I wonder if the kids recognize this trait in their teachers?

So going back to the elevator.  Maybe not such a bizarre thing to contemplate after all because where we stand and what we stand for are so important. So where do you stand?  Maybe a better question might be, where should you stand?

 

I know I’m a little slow here, but I think I have it figured out.  Teaching – it’s all a game.  I mean, think about it.  You’re placed in a room with 20-25 little entities who can throw you for a loop at any time and you have to find a way to win the game.  What makes it challenging is that the scenario literally changes from class to class to day to day.  Some days you win and some days you lose.

Oh sure, you’ve got some little entities you know you can depend on to not upset the apple cart, but just when you think you’ve got the hang of it, something pops out of nowhere and you’ve lost the game.  It could be the kid who decides to make a comment or noise every time you speak to the class.  Do you have enough tricks in your bag to combat such a distraction?  If not, you lose.  How about that kid who decided to have a  fit because they want to sit on the top riser and not the bottom?  Can you defeat the whiny monster with your bag of tricks?  Can you find a way to distract the whiny monster or do you lose it and make it worse?

Like a video game, it’s a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute test of ingenuity, doing instantaneous personality studies and making decisions with lightning speed in order to get your lesson taught and still maintain your sanity.  Like today for instance.  As I’m showing one of my kindergartners where her seat is on the risers, another little girl says, “it looks like she has to use the bathroom.  The back of her pants are wet”.  And so they were.  The little wet girl says she has an extra pair of pants in her backpack, and so the strategy begins.  It’s the 3rd day of school.  I can’t send her back to her classroom at the end of the building by herself.  So I ask if there’s another person who feels comfortable walking with her.  I immediately have a couple of volunteers.  I only met this bunch 5 minutes before, so it’s a total guess as to who looks the most reliable.  I pick a bright looking, enthusiastic little girl, tell them to walk to the classroom, stay together and walk back.  As soon as they leave, I look at the class of about 18, ascertain whether or not they can hold it together for a minute while I call the classroom to alert the teacher, who of course, doesn’t answer her phone.  Nor does the second teacher I call.  Or the office.  At this point, I check out the kids again, decide they can’t be patient any longer, say a quick prayer for the kids going down the hall and keep teaching.  A few minutes later, the kid I trusted comes back by herself, says she stopped at the health office instead, her friend was being helped and would be back soon.  Can I pick them or what?  See – all a game.  A game I happened to win today.

There are some days however, even with my deep bag of tricks, that I get overwhelmed by the unexpected.  Usually they’re behaviors I could never imagine any child would have the gall to try, much less as a group.  This is when I find myself just looking at them and thinking what the heck do I do now?  I never would have behaved that way as a child for fear of punishment to follow, but my hands are really tied.  So, some days, like in PacMan, I feel myself being gobbled up by the monster and losing the game.  It’s certainly motivation to make some plans as to how to add more tricks to the bag and win the game next time, but it is not a good feeling.  I hate losing.

Of course, it’s not just winning or losing at classroom management, it’s the big game of learning that’s most important.  So important that if I lose, they lose too, so I had better have my A game on.  Again, it’s having that bag of tricks, thinking fast on your feet that can save a student from thinking they can’t do something.  Knowing when to push or challenge someone and when to encourage or hold a pep rally for them again takes an analysis of personalities.  One move in the wrong direction and you both lose.  It’s a serious game, one that some teachers aren’t willing or able to maintain due to the pressure.  It’s much easier to play the game when the product isn’t a child with an impressionable mind and psyche.  But that’s what makes those teachers who stay to play the game so amazing.  They understand the need to improve their skills so that not only do they increase their changes of winning, but they lead their students to win the game as well.

 

I should know better.  I’ve been doing this for years.  The problem is that I need to go over expectations and procedures with kids at the beginning of school, especially with the kindergarten.  Unfortunately, they tend to succumb to the power of suggestion very easily.  But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Let’s go through my routine this week for Kindergarten.  They come into my room and I ask them to sit on a dot in the circle.  This year I’ve added an additional direction in that, once they choose a dot, they have to stay there.  Why?  Because they’ll find a dot, and then find a BETTER dot on the other side of the circle.  Which opens up a dot where they were for someone else to move to.  You get the idea.  And of course, you always have the kid that MUST sit on a red dot and there are no more red dots open.  This can open a serious can of worms as you try to convince them that another color is just as good as red OR “it’s just a dot”.  Never works.  Today I had those kids who were trying to pull up the dots or the velcro from their shoes was getting caught on the carpet next to the dots.  You don’t realize just how annoying the sound of velcro being pulled on and off can be.

Then I proceeded to explain the risers to them and what they were for and that they would have a seat on it that was all theirs.  I sit them on the top and then the bottom, but what happens is that I have some kid that says, “but I want to sit on the top!”.  And another that’s sitting on the top who has almost instantaneously figured out how to kick the risers AND play with the wheels on the back of the risers at the same time, creating the most irritating noise.  Almost as bad as the velcro.  We practice going back and forth from the dots to the risers, making it a game until the giggles start.  Then I know they’ve got it.

We take a tour of the room, showing them where the instruments are, where you invariably have some kids shout out “I know how to play ALL of those!”.  Then there is the kid that starts off with “do you have one of those, those, those – you know, you do this (making a motion with his hands), and it sounds like this (makes a sound) and it kind of looks like a frog…. ”  Yes, I have one of those.  “What is it called?”  A frog.  Phew – bit the bullet on that one!

Then we walked over to where the Kleenex, sanitizer, water fountain and bathroom passes are.  Here’s where we get into trouble.  Immediately I have hands raised; can I go to the bathroom?  I really have to go!!  I need a drink (fake cough or hiccup).  I need to blow my nose! (followed by a loud sniff with no substance).  So then comes the guessing game for me.  I’m pretty sure about the nose and the fake cough, but it’s the bathroom thing that gets me.  Do they really need to or was it the power of suggestion?  We have to be careful here because once I say yes to the first one, the rest of the class will need to go too, one at a time interrupting the rest of the class.  So, using my best teacher intuition, I check to see if they’re wiggling, holding themselves or if their eyeballs are turning yellow.  Shoot, if I can wait all afternoon to go, they can too.  Ok, maybe not.

Then I sit them back down at the front to read them a book “The Music Teacher from the Black Lagoon”, a favorite of mine from way back.  As I begin, a little voice, not preceded by a hand being raised asks “when are we going to sing?”.  After the book.  A few minutes into the book, “when are we going to do music?”.  After the book.  “Are we going to sing now?”  Yes, in a minute.  At least today it was only one child and not several.

Then we finally get to the song at the end.  I play the little tune on the piano and sing to them.  “Wow!” one of the boys exclaims”. How did you do that?”  And I’m reminded that it doesn’t take much to impress a five year old.  Then I introduce my duck puppet to sing the next song where they need to clap.  “Listen to the duck go quack, quack, quack…, clapping on the three quacks.  After a few times, the kids are ready to take it on themselves so I let them go.  The big teddy bear of a kid in the back row sits up straight, smiles and sings “Listen to the duck go kwap, kwap, kwap!”  Well, at least he was clapping at the right time.

First Day of teaching #28.  My husband asked me last night if I would have trouble sleeping as it was  the night before the first day of school.  Not so much, although I did check my alarm several times to make sure the volume was up and that I hit a.m. instead of p.m.  Other than that I slept like a baby because, after all, the first day is like riding a bike – once you learn how, you never forget.

It has taken a couple of years but today my newest school finally felt like home.  I walked into my room, ready to go for students, everything where I wanted it, and I did my usual routine of checking the mail, setting up my desk, and reading email while I ate some breakfast.  It’s nice.  In the old days, I would have been too wound up making sure I had stuff ready for my first class to eat or relax, but not so much anymore.

I was met with little voices saying “hi Mrs. Bush” and “I missed you Mrs. Bush!” There were smiles, hugs and shy waves.  I asked one new student if he needed directions as to where to go and he said, “no, I’ve got it”, walked a few feet more, turned around and said, “well, maybe I could use some help”.  Almost 100 kindergartners with parents in tow, many of those parents with tears in their eyes, found their teachers to begin their new journey in education.  It’s a ritual I never get tired of.

This first week will consist mostly of teaching procedures.  I’m not crazy about taking all that time, but I know that in order to teach and for my kids to learn, they have to know my expectations.  My goal this year is to be more focused on the process than the destination, so I want to make sure my students are following those procedures so that they can work to achieve their fullest potential.  Today, a few of my students that I know well didn’t even give me a honeymoon period however, they jumped right back to where they were when they left in May, still struggling with certain behaviors that distract everyone else in the room.  It’s hard to be really firm with them on their first day, but next week will be a different story.

Then there were my new little people, some surprising me because they jumped right into the routine like they had been there forever, others quickly letting me know that they were going to be my new challenges for this year as they tested the waters to see how much they could get away with.  And it’s funny how much those students will gravitate towards my other little guys who struggle.  Guarantees that there will never be a dull moment, that’s for sure.

We began today with some improvisation, starting with a chant and letting students use some instruments to accompany the chant.  I’ve decided that I don’t let my kids experiment enough and this is what we’re going to try this year.  We’ll see how it works.  My kindergartners began singing for me for the first time today, some of them singing their new song as they left my room.  The tune wasn’t quite there, but the idea was that they were trying.  I can do anything with a kid who tries.

Each day this week I will see about 100 of my students and every five days I will see them again.  It’s a little bit longer time in between than I’m used to but we’re growing.  The challenge then this year is what is to determine what is essential to focus on and how do I get them to retain it over that week of time between classes.  Somehow I don’t think the classroom teachers have to even think about that, seeing as they see their students every day, but then, that is part of what makes specialists “special”.

Today was day one of 176 days I will spend with students this year.  One hundred and seventy six days to teach them content, vocabulary, connections, and how to create, perform and respond to and with music.  On a five day rotation, I will see each child between 35 and 36 times this year, 50 minutes at a time.  My list of essential learning outcomes is long, my time is short but it has to happen, so it will happen.  Another reason why we’re “special”.  We have to be miracle workers.

But just like every year for the past 27 years, I will find a way, just like getting back on that bike, to do what I do again.  I will work to get kids excited about music, about learning, and about becoming better people in the process.  Here’s to year 28 and trying to make a difference in the lives of kids through music.

 

 

So often people ask us who we are and we answer with what we do for a living or where we spend the majority of our day.  I’m a mom, I’m a teacher, I’m a musician, etc.  What you do may be so important to you that you refer to it as a “calling”.  I know a lot of teachers who consider teaching their calling as it is their way to serve others, particularly children.  But what do you do when you feel that your calling has shifted or changed?  I know in my case, I feel a little guilt, like perhaps I wasn’t trying hard enough to do things to keep myself excited about my original “calling”.  However, I heard a woman today who caught my attention when she said, a calling doesn’t have to be for a lifetime.

Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor is a writer and teacher who, among other things today, talked about callings.  She began as a an Episcopalian priest and then felt called to writing and teaching.  Many asked her how she could leave her “calling” as a pastor but she decided to follow another calling instead and her response was that we can have many callings during our lifetime, that our life is not a train ride where there are scheduled stops but it’s more of a sailboat ride where we go where the wind takes us and we should resist formulas to find callings.  It sounds a lot like allowing myself to be the hummingbird that I am, sipping from flower to flower as I’m led to do.  I wonder if this analogy of the train and sailboard makes some people crazy, especially those who feel like there’s only one track in life to get you where you want to go.

For those of us who are baby boomers, what we view as practicality and loyalty kick in. Once you begin a career, you stay with it.  You’re loyal to your job, your boss, your co-workers and you stay for the length of your working life, even if you no longer love it.  After all, you have retirement, benefits and other things to consider.  Millennials may actually have a thing here as they tend to change jobs and careers whenever something better comes along, and they are actually improving their circumstances in the long run.  And maybe they’re happier – I don’t know.

For me, a calling is just what it says.  It’s what you feel like you were called to be or do in this life as a way to serve others and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a career.  Sometimes stepping into places that make you uncomfortable, places you never intended to go wake up callings in you that you never knew you had.  I never wanted the stress and fear of having premature children, but it has allowed me to talk to other moms who are going through the same thing.  Is that a calling?  I never wanted to go through parts of the childhood I experienced, but it has allowed me to pick up on needs of kids and the opportunity to encourage them.  Is that a calling?  I never wanted to be a college dropout and have difficulty deciding what I wanted to do with my life, but it has allowed me to help others who are struggling with thinking they have to do everything within a certain timeline when in reality, we all have our own individual timelines.  Is that a calling?  Definitely not career options for me, although I suppose they could have been.  Maybe if they were my passions, I could have been a neonatologist or a child counselor or an academic advisor.  So maybe passions aren’t necessarily callings.

I know that my calling is shifting and it’s because of opportunities that have been afforded me during my teaching experience.  Right now my calling is to help people see their purpose in life, whether it’s through leadership or advocacy or learning where their strengths are.  I’m already doing some of that but feel so strongly about it that I’m making plans to do it on a more professional level.  That’s how I know this is a calling.  It’s pulling strongly enough that I’m taking steps to become better at it so I can make more of a difference in people’s lives.  It’s something that’s worth the potential fear of something new or different, it’s something worth the effort, the possible discomfort, the financial investment and the time.

So while teaching has been good to me and was my original calling, in a few years I see a time to say goodbye so that I can say hello to a new calling and I’m getting excited.  What is your calling and what are you doing to make it a reality so that you can do what you were meant to do for others?

I’m slightly embarrassed to share this with you today, but this is life for me right now.  I’ve never been a very disciplined person, especially when it comes to keeping my house straightened.  It’s either all or nothing.  Right now, there are at least six pairs of shoes laying on the floor around the dining room table which is covered in mail and things from Doug’s pockets.  Bookbags are in a pile by the door, because lord knows we can’t just have one or two.

Dishes are on the counter and in the sink, laundry is piled up and things just need to be picked up.  And because I’m the only one in the house who will clean the bathrooms – well, you get the point.  I was doing pretty well over the summer but now after a week of meetings and school starting on Monday, the things I hate doing go on the back burner.

So, why am I sitting here writing instead of cleaning my place?  Because cleaning is so redundant.  You clean so that you can mess it up and clean again later. I have learned that if I’m the only one here I don’t have as much difficulty keeping things up, but I’m not and I’m also not the only one here whose schedule has changed.  Band camp is starting for Doug and so the office is overrun by drill writing, the huge water jug is on the dining room table and pretty soon my carpet will be overrun by what he calls “turf turds” brought home from the artificial turf at the stadium.

I’m always envious of my friends who are so good at popping things in the dishwasher as they dirty them and wiping up the counters as they do it.  They have routines for things.  Our schedules are so wonky that it’s hard to get into a routine at home but I’ll also just be honest and say I hate doing it.  I used to make my mom crazy when I would say something about how keeping the house was boring especially when she would emphasize how important it was to impress people when they came into your house.

This is not to say I NEVER clean. When it gets to the point where I can’t stand it anymore I go on a cleaning binge and it looks great for about a day.  When I don’t have something major scheduled on a Saturday, that tends to be my cleaning day.  Of course, that gets shot to pieces during football season and well, who wants to clean on a Sunday, right?  There are just so many other things I would rather do when I’m not working!

All or nothing seems to be my lifestyle.  I’m either going full out or I’m a vegetable, so it’s not very balanced.  But as I look at my fall schedule coming up I know I’m going to have some really long days so I know things like housecleaning will fall through the cracks.   If it were just me I wouldn’t worry about it, but sometimes it’s that pressure about being the wife and therefore the ultimate keeper of the house that brings on the guilt trip.

Maybe the solution is hiring someone?  There are actually people who LIKE to do this kind of thing.  But then I think, probably not because I would feel like I needed to clean BEFORE the person came over to clean (thanks mom).  It also seems like a waste of money but as I get older it’s definitely more tempting.

How do other working women do it?  I don’t have kids at home anymore and yet it seems I’m busier than ever.  Do I need to suck it up and be an adult here or is it really not that big a deal?  For me there really is that pressure of being a woman and feeling I have to do it all – successful career, family, and still keeping the house looking like a comfortable home, not one big junk drawer.

Well, it’s Saturday and I’m thinking I have some time now to be an adult and clean stuff around here.  Chances are I’ll feel better once it’s finished and then I’ll think of all the other things I need to get finished in all of those other areas of life that I participate in.  It’s starting to look like an all in kind of day.

The yearly ritual of open house, where students and their parents get the opportunity to meet their new homeroom teacher and see their new classroom happened tonight.  I’ve participated in the ritual from a couple of points of view, as a parent, many years ago, and as a teacher.  In both situations, the children in question tend to nervously peek into the room to check things out and tentatively introduce themselves to the new teacher.  There are the few on either end of the spectrum as well, who either hide behind their parent or immediately begin running around the room, completely at home wherever they are.

Tonight I had quite a few current students just pop in just to say hi and critique the room decor.  Some came in with younger siblings to show them around the room and explain how things run from their perspective.  However, most of my time was spent introducing myself to new Kindergartners.  “Hi, I’m Mrs. Bush and this is the music room!” as I put out my hand to shake theirs.  Most of the kids tonight actually gave me the correct hand to shake, however a few students wouldn’t let go of their parents long enough to use the correct hand and that was ok.  They look up at you, assessing whether or not you’re going to be an ok adult to be with and I spend my time trying to find the right thing to say so that I can see their eyes light up and their faces relax some.

Like the little guy hiding behind his little sibling’s stroller wearing a Star Wars shirt.  I shared with him that I loved Star Wars, that it was my favorite movie.  He immediately looked up to see if I was telling he truth and, believing I was, began to tell me all about his Star Wars backpack and his Star Wars bedroom – you get the picture.  We’ll be big buds, I just know.  There was one little guy who was especially uncomfortable, so I asked him if he was nervous.  He said yes, and I told him that it was ok to be nervous when you were doing something new.  His little face looked at mine and his eyes asked “really?”.  Yes, even adults get nervous when they’re doing something new and it’s ok.  He smiled a shy smile and his parents said thank you.  And that’s the idea, isn’t it?

Parents are trusting us, especially those first time parents, to take care of the child that has been all theirs for the past five years.  This is precious cargo for them and they want to know that the people they leave their child with on a daily basis will not only teach them, but love them, reassure them, and give them a safe place to call a second home.  So after I spent almost two hours greeting parents and students, I left to attend a second open house, this time for my grandson.

This was a first for me.  I’ve been the parent and the teacher, but never the grandma.  I came dashing in late and he had already checked out his new classroom, but he was excited to show me, so while mom and dad were taking care of lunch accounts and turning in forms, I was taken down the hall, hand in hand, to meet his new teacher.  I found myself watching this teacher as she talked with him, along with his specialist teachers we spoke with, to make sure that they were genuinely interested in this child, the child that has become so precious to me. The child who is going to need some extra love, patience and understanding so that he will begin to trust adults again.

I don’t want the excitement I saw in my grandson to be squelched because he gets too excited for other to handle sometimes.  I remember being so excited to go back to school each year – nervous, but excited, because school was a safe place for me too.  This is a child who has expressed an interest in teaching.  A perfect career for someone who understands the hardship of life at such a young age and yet has persevered, someone who is loving and kind at heart who might one day have the opportunity to serve others, just like I hope his teachers do for him this year.  And one day, I might hear him say, “Hi, my name is Mr. Bush and this is my classroom”.

Meetings began Monday after a great district wide pep rally of sorts.  After the meeting at school, I had another meeting with colleagues about practicum students, dashed home for dinner and worked on a few other assignments.  Tuesday, I was up bright and early for a lovely breakfast provided by our administration and then sat through more meetings, worked in my room and out to celebrate my son’s birthday.  Into bed a bit earlier, I was at our professional development across town at 7:45 this morning, grabbed some lunch on the way to school and worked in my room until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any more.  I walked out the door when the bell rang, went straight home and took an hour and a half nap.  Why am I so tired?

Other teachers I’ve talked to have shared similar stories.  Everyone is taking naps and going to bed early.  I mean honestly, all we’re doing is sitting in meetings and preparing our rooms, so what is it we’re talking about that may be wearing us out?  We have spent time looking at ways to teach life skills to students in a way that is fun and motivational.  We’ve looked at ways to increase achievement academically for our students.  We’ve talked about building relationships with our kids, spending time one on one with those kids who may need it the most.  And we’ve talked about what to do in the case of emergencies of all kinds, evacuations, lock downs and lock ins, all the while knowing that in the case of the real deal, we’ll have to use our best judgement to keep our kids safe.

I’ve climbed up and down chairs to put things up on the walls, created a circle of sit spots on the floor (thank goodness for marching band!), moved flip forms, arranged instruments, unboxed new equipment, cleaned out cabinets, created calendars, put together choir contracts and t-shirt order forms, filled out other forms…. you get the idea.  Ok, maybe now I see why I’m tired.

The scary thing is that it’s not even close to being finished.  Oh sure, the room is basically done with just a few little details to do, but open house it tomorrow night and on top of the hours put into preparing for that and the first day on Monday, we’ll spend another hour and a half at an open house, greeting parents, old and new students, keeping kids off of instruments and equipment, answering questions about band, strings and choir, where they can get piano lessons and rent instruments.

So once preparations are done and school gets into a routine, it gets easier, right?  No, the prep time is just easing us into the rest of the 184 days we have left.  This pace will not slow down until the very last day of school sometime at the end of May.  Teachers will attempt to juggle all of the duties of teaching, all of the after school commitments, the constant prep, adjusting, and communications with families and still maintain relationships with their own families and work at home.

The long lunches and bathroom breaks whenever we feel the urge are over, replaced with a regimented daily schedule which is a true test of endurance.  Those of us who are veterans know what’s coming and as I look at all the new teachers who have joined us this year, I know I also have a responsibility to check in on them occasionally to make sure they’re not losing their minds to the point where they don’t want to do this anymore.  Those young teachers won’t understand that there will be rewards for all of this work eventually.  There will be those kids who will come back and share how their lives were changed because of them.  There will be those kids who choose to go into teaching because they were inspired by them.  And that’s enough for all of us to continue this crazy lifestyle called teaching because it DOES make a difference.  It also means that making a difference is tiring.  So as I begin year 28,  here’s to embracing naps and going to bed early.

Ah, the county fair.  A place where people purposefully go to sweat, take in the aroma of animal poop and ride rides that make them nauseous.  It’s a chance for those of us who are clueless about how things work on a farm to get a tiny taste of what it might be like.

My husband, who grew up in the country calls things like this, hayrack rides and pumpkin patches the kind of thing that country people like to do to make fun of city people.  I mean, I’ll be honest, I didn’t know there were that many kinds of chickens.  Or rabbits.  I didn’t know a rabbit could get that big.  I’m sure when it hops it’s like the dinosaur in Jurassic Park.

Let’s talk bushels.  The only reference I know of a bushel are the song lyrics “I love you a bushel and a peck”.   So, how was I to be impressed that a bushel could make over 200 servings of pasta if I didn’t know how big a bushel was?  Thank goodness I had people in my party who had a clue.

And then there’s the food.  Everything is on a stick.  Hamburgers on a stick were a new one for me.  Everything is fried including potatoes, pickles, and turkey legs.  Have you ever watched anyone eat a turkey leg?  I did today and I have to say, it’s not pretty.  The good stuff is all in a hall with ribbons attached, each slightly eaten and despite the fact that they’ve been siting in a case for several days, they still look better than the giant corn dogs next to the carnival rides.

In another building were the “fine arts” where people created clothing, quilts, fairy gardens and art pieces.  My favorites were pictures done by the 5 years and under group, a delightful array of finger paintings, crayon drawings and scribbles.  The blue ribbon went to a lovely mermaid drawing with great details in the flowers in her hair, perfect profile, sitting on a rock in the middle of the ocean.  Obviously done by a VERY gifted 5 year old (or under), or someone whose science project one day with get an “A” for her parents.

The carnival rides all go in circles.  Big circles, little circles, high circles and low circles.  Rides to sit in, stand up in and lay down on.  Some have you going in multiple circles, you spinning while the entire ride is spinning, almost guaranteeing you will be nauseous.  My grandson’s other grandma  carried an extra large drink cup with her just in case he needed it.  He didn’t, but smart lady.

The fashion styles at these kinds of things are interesting too.  No matter what you wear, put cowboy boots with it and it makes it country.  I get it for the people working with the animals, but for us city slickers, not so much.  Of course, boots were better than the short tight dresses with high heels.  Really? And can we talk mullets?  I saw the most magnificent gray mullet, short and curly on top, long and straight to the waist in the back.  Stunning.

So, taking this all in, feeling the sweat running down the back of my neck, taking in the aromas of the poop alongside the corndogs, I thought about how much I am like my dad.  I love a great steak in a nice air-conditioned restaurant, I just don’t want to see or smell it before they butcher it.  I love my bacon, but I don’t want to see the pig or what part of the pig the bacon came from.  It’s not necessary.  I’m perfectly content with buying it at the grocery store in a package or having it served to me on a plate.  I have a great appreciation for those who make farming their passion, their career or livelihood, but I don’t need to be anywhere near it.

The one positive thing I got from all of this however, during a time when I was trying to be more mindful, was just how creative God is.  I honestly didn’t know there were that many types, colors and sizes of chickens.  It’s an amazing array.  In that small area, there were animals of every conceivable size, shape and color, with different types of coats, hair or fur, producing different sounds – you get the idea.  If we believe God is the example of what we should strive to be, creativity ought to be at the top of the list.  I am not as creative as I would like to be, but I certainly appreciate it when I see it.

Well, not sure I felt like I was being made fun of, but I wasn’t seeing this from a country person’s point of view.  I felt like I learned some things and this excursion solidified the fact that I’m a city girl through and through who is looking forward to that hayrack ride this fall to the pumpkin patch.