#SOL17 - Day 13: Organized ChaosThis weekend I spent most of my time on report cards, standards, grading, laundry, travel planning, and more grading, standards, and checklists in preparation for sending home report cards later this week. My dining room table is littered with stacks of checklists, goal sheets, make up work, sets of science papers, folders, and lot and lots of sticky notes! No matter that at mid-term I endeavor to be caught up with grading, checklists, standards, etc., for the quarter up to that point. Never mind the fervent promises the two weeks before the end of the quarter that THIS TIME I won't be caught up late trying to finish. Forget that last full week when I claim to be ready to do rechecks each day a little at a time, so it's not so overwhelming. It's not quite the zero hour—that comes on Thursday morning, and I AM going to check off quite a few things today, but I am in full-on scramble mode...scrambling to have this child find her social studies work and that child complete missed tests from a week ago and another darling take the missing 4 AR tests she never took even though she insisted she had. It brings to mind the Helen Reddy song "I Am Woman" - if you are old enough to remember it: I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an' pretend 'Cause I've heard it all before And I've been down there on the floor No one's ever gonna keep me down again... Except my version is this: I am teacher, hear my pleas Search every folder in your desk, And I know you think you already turned it in 'Cause I've heard that one before And let's look way down at the bottom Now let's check inside that backpack once again.... The best part is the conferencing that takes place with each child to check on progress made to meet various goals. Conferencing is one of the fun parts, even if it is time consuming. It's time well spent because I get to hear first hand how it's going from each student's perspective. I get to be a part of the celebration and the strategizing to set new goals. The good news is that we will get through this. All grades, checklists, grade verifications, standards reports, vocabulary scores, conferencing, and conduct comments will be done and ready to print on time. And come Thursday, my grade book won't have any holes at all—it will be a clean slate ready to begin afresh. With it will come a renewed effort to keep up and be better organized, for a few weeks. Don't let my moaning and whining fool you, I really do enjoy reporting on the progress and achievements of my darlings! As we head into the last quarter, my instinct is to throw on the brakes to halt this thing called "the end of the year" that will be here before we know it. So for now, I'm content to check in with each little dearie to see how they would characterize their progress this quarter, and to celebrate successes big and small.
3 Comments
3/13/2017 08:31:54 am
This time of year can be so stressful, and add to it Slicing, state testing, and Spring Break around the corner....making a plan and sticking to it will be key! I love the way that you are able to insert something fun into each slice- a new media, or some song lyrics...this is all so inspiring!
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I LOVE HELEN REDDY'S "I AM WOMAN!" I sing it whenever I need a push to tackle something that feels impossible (or when I need to do something I can do, but don't want to do). I love when other people know that song. Too many people have forgotten how powerful it is.
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Vanessa Worrell
3/15/2017 07:35:45 am
Great slice. Thanks for sharing this in such a creative way. Half my student's missing assignments are right there in their desks!
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