Eccentricities, Education, and ... Everything

Just Rolling Around

I learned a lot today in the space of two hours and it originates with the time-honored tradition of strapping wheels to my feet and attempting to locomotor around a gymnasium.


1. Skills from one area do not translate into others. 
I am a “natural” at many athletic activities, but rollerskating, not so much.

2. My tendency to move quickly is not my friend.
Walking, running, driving, talking, and thinking quickly are my natural tendencies. I MUST slow down on skates. (Mostly because I don’t know how to stop.)

3. If I must fall, I do it with style.
I wiped out three times on my own today. Every single time, my students and coworkers were impressed with my grace under pressure, er gravity.

4. I love my students so much, I am willing to do things that make me look imbalanced. (unbalanced?)
I did not plan on skating today and intentionally wore no socks in order to avoid peer pressure. Because one of my darlings begged me to skate, I went to the car and found mismatched socks, wore those and staggered my way around on ancient roller skates. I changed quickly, because one sock was one of my black ankle-height running socks and the other was a knee-high gray sock. (I know, I’m awesome.)

5. Older men and junior high boys are my biggest fans. (I think it’s because they like to laugh at women who fall.)

6. Even when I’ve got things under control, something always happens.
After my third and most painful fall, I slowed down and was just starting to get into a rhythm again. Just about the time I was ready to speed up again, a 14 year-old crashed into me and had me skating on one foot. As I desperately searched for my other foot, which was somewhere behind me, he grabbed my hand and tried to pull me back up. No dice, I just sat down. It was easier.

7. I am always concerned about the other person first.
Somewhat foolishly, as the boy dragged me along on one foot and was the one who knocked me down, I still asked him if he was okay.

8. And finally, it’s always better to get back up and go again, no matter how bad it hurts.

And here I thought I was just chaperoning a field trip.

Thank You

It’s funny how I was ready to give up teaching three months ago. I was tired of parents. I was tired of teaching. I was tired of paperwork. I was just… tired. I was going to flat-out walk away from the last 11 years of my life (school and career). I thought I could do it and I was ready to try. 

Then, of course, there was the issue of money. So, what does a person do when they’ve been teaching for the past 7 years and there are few jobs out there that will pay the bills? A person goes with her experience and expertise.

So, I applied for a long-term sub position, not thinking I’d get it and I probably wouldn’t have done it if somebody hadn’t pushed me into it.

Then I got a phone call, asking me to come and do a trial day with the students. If I was good at my sub day, then I would get the job. Straight-up terror sank in. These were 5 and 6 year olds. I’d been teaching adolescents for the past 3 years. Self-doubt, terror, panic, etc. set in. 

That same person who pushed me into applying told me that I could do it, that they believed in me. 

I didn’t even want to go, and that person told me that they understood my fear and that it was okay if I didn’t. So I went.

And it was good, but i didn’t know if I got the job. I wasn’t even sure I wanted the job, but I got it. I didn’t want to reply to the e-mail or return the call. My person told me they understood and that they would support my decision no matter what, so I returned that call.

And I love teaching again. I have huge successes and miracles every day, mixed in with some disappointments and heartbreaks. I love my students so much that I don’t know how hard I’ll cry on the last day of school. I owe my career and so much more to that person. I hope they know that.

… and made with only a typewriter

… and made with only a typewriter

Things that matter are not easy. Feelings of happiness are easy. Happiness is not. Flirting is easy. Love is not. Saying you’re friends is easy. Being friends is not.

—David Levithan, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List (via perfect)

(Source: larmoyante, via mollygolly)

Hoard it like it’s made of gold

Apparently I’m parenting the right way.  Upon discovering that we were down to our last roll of toilet paper,  (I need to go shopping.)  my teenage daughter clutched the last roll to her chest and quoted our favorite show, “You hoard toilet paper… Hoard it like it’s made of gold, ‘cause it is.”

Please say that grand gestures have not disappeared. Everything is so in-your-face all the time that we may have become desensitized, but this, this, would never get old.


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