Parent teacher conference week always offers up some good thoughts for blog topics, so thank you for bearing with another blog. It seems that so many times topic are lightening bolts that are there and gone in a flash. Conferences gives me so many great ideas that percilate around.

It seems like I’ve been emailing apology letters to many people as of late. The volume of my email has easily doubled from last year and the number of students have tripled which means so many things get lost.  I missed a phone conference because I misread a date, I was emailed about my evaluation because that message got pushed off the front page, and Wednesday night, I took off soon after school, leaving a couple of co-workers who were working on a schedule for Thursday morning. I’d been up at school by 6:30 AM three days in a row and Tuesday night was at school until 8:15 PM and just found myself not able to function well at all.  I woke up during the night feeling guilty as heck because I’ve not been shouldering my part of the load, so that morning, I wrote them a little note saying apologizing.  The response from one of those co-workers:

“Who cares!  WE  are a team, where some will carry others as they need to be carried.  That is what teamwork is about.”

Yup, that’s exactly what I needed to make the day better. Thursday was a chaotic day with kids moving all over the place (activities, a matinee at our high school, a reward afternoon, then conferences) but working with an attitude like this makes these days less stressful.

The reply from my other co-worker was very much the same, and both reinforced why I absolutely love working where I do.  As we talked later on that evening, the fact that we focus on the kids, we build relationships with our students in a personal way, it creates a unique kind of stress.  We all walk out brain dead and tired because we see over 100 students a day with our sixth and eighth grade cherubs. These students are quirky, goofy, obnoxious, and we all love them to pieces. They are our kids, and as a team, we are doing great things for each and every one of them.

So my Friday thought: WE are a team. I’m not sure how many more years I’m going to get working with this team before they realize retirement might not be a bad place! Until then, I will savor each laugh, tear, and uncomfortable moment with them. We are doing good work, the right work, and I’m truly lucky to be in a team like this.

On a side note: we had our first T.I.N.A. meeting (go back in my blog to find out what this is) of the year last night, and it was mentioned more than once that one of these meetings a quarter is not enough. It was so cool to see close to 25 teachers and para-professionals around the table, decompressing from a tough week: laughing, smiling, and just enjoying each others company! I will say though, I can see I’m no longer the “young” one anymore! I felt a bit old, and that’s ok too! 🙂