Today was exhausting.

Today was exciting.

Today was draining.

Today was fulfilling.

Today was “salty” (as the kids love to say).

Today was a blast.

Today was a day I dreaded.

Today was a day I looked forward to.

Today, we had our reward for our students. The attitude is usually “this is dumb”, “this is stupid”, “I hate this”, “I don’t want to do this”, and on and on. Sometimes, after three quarters of that attitude, it begins to weigh on your soul. You start to wonder, even before the activity: “What did we do wrong now?”

We did not hear that attitude today. Not once. The whole day.

#whattheheck

Our stations consisted of a dodge ball tournament, playing mat ball, cooking snacks for the rest of the 8th grade, and board/card games. We had ONE incident of poor sportsmanship, at which point that student lost his privilege, and beyond that, the day was hectic, but so worth it.

We learned that our students without the negative influence of some of their peers (who lost this privilege to participate) could compete, cook, play games, and have a blast doing it. The students who were in our groups smiled, they laughed, they worked hard, they were disappointed with losing, they were joyous with winning, but never did we see the attitude of this class rear its ugly head.

Today is a day I wish we could replay in the minds of all of our students on how they CAN act appropriately, how they CAN talk appropriately, and how they CAN come together as a class and demonstrate good character.

Next Tuesday, we are back with the entire class, attitude problems and all. I hope that the student who were able to participate are able to talk with those students who couldn’t join us, showing them that it’s ok to be a kid, to have fun, to smile and laugh with your friends. It’s not a bad thing to be respectful, to keep your tongue in check, to learn you don’t need to argue about everything, because when you do, you lose out on the good stuff in life.

I’m encouraged enough by the students I was with today to believe that the last 34 days of school can be the best of our semester.

Now, I hope my expectations aren’t crushed.

Today was a day that was a hard day.

Today was a good day.