Well, it’s been half month and I’ve not gotten anything out.  I look at other bloggers and their steady stream of writing, and the doubt creeps back in.  No more.  The writing is mine, period.  If I get three posts out in a week, fantastic. If I get three in a month, nothing wrong with that either!

Anyway, school has dominated my thinking to the point where my wife comments that I’m distracted.  Now, this it not a great feat by any stretch of the imagination as I swear I related to those ADHD student in my classroom, bobbing from place to place, forgetting the  most immediate things in front of me because something shiny caught my eyes.  Ok, I may not be that bad, but for my wife to notice that school’s dominating my time instead of a pluthera of other things, that’s an event.

As I’ve stated before, I work with some of the hardest working, most caring teachers I’ve ever come across.  To a teacher, we’ve all commented about how we feel like first year teachers, learning and relearning all kinds of different things. I was always under that impression that as you got older, that idea of “oh my gosh” slowly started to shrink, that teaching came, less stressful.  Easier was another word, but I don’t think it ever becomes easier.  But for all of us, the stress just seems to be more this year.  Much is happening in our district, and we’ve woven ourselves a pretty good net for each other, helping more than in the past because it’s what we have.

In other districts I’ve worked in, we’ve enjoyed each other’s company, had our Friday night clubs, but this is different.  This is a family.  We watch out for each other and each other’s students.  I’m sure that idea of “not your students but our students” is part of it, but with this year being one of huge transitions, it’s deeper than that.  And it goes to the heart of why I teach: taking care of each other.  I love that I can come to school and encourage my students to do better, be better, and help show how to make lives better through my example.  I was chatting briefly with William Chamberlain (@wchamberlain) and he laid down this piece of knowledge:

@AnIowaTeacher we can’t solve poverty, but we can help a kid decide to not stay in poverty. It’s what we do. 🙂

It’s what we do, indeed.  So, I’ll bright eyed and ready to battle again for those kids, because it’s what I do.  Yesterday, I probably failed with all the distractions we had in our classroom, but students need to see that too, that life doesn’t always go as we plan, and that sometimes, you make the best of it can come back ready for what the next day will bring.  Nope, it’s not getting easier, Common Core, new preps, and a host of other things have taken care of that.  But I’m up and ready for the day.

Come join me and we’ll learn together!