Progress Reports---ALREADY???

Where, oh where, has the time gone?  Tomorrow my little chickadees will be taking progress reports home.  I cannot believe this.  Five weeks in and I feel as if we are five MONTHS into the school year. 

This year, as every year (so it seems), has brought on some changes.  Instead of Frameworks, we are now teaching Common Core Standards.  I really like The Standards, but like all things new, it is taking some time to get used to them.  It seems that instead of being bombarded with one  change at a time, it is several.  This can become frustrating.  Frustrating...because it is hard enough to learn ONE new thing, and like many teachers, you want it to be fully implemented TODAY. 

Teachers are not given enough kudos and high-fives.  Yes, I am a teacher (so you think I am biased), but I was first and foremost a parent.  I only began teaching a couple of years ago, and late in my 30s at that.  So technically, I can still make the call on 'teachers'.  While everyone says teachers have the summers and holidays off, what people do not realize is that they are WORKING for the time they go back.  Researching, professional development, reading professional texts, making powerpoints, and lessons, and work center materials, and...need I go on? In my house, the common statement is, "You bought/made that for your students?!  What about me?"  Yes, my OWN children feel ignored because of my occupation. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I smile everyday.  There is something worthy about the occupation of teaching, and I have students that have justified that feeling.  That student who was 'headed down the wrong path' and had a list of behavior problems?  Well, that child is now on the Leadership team.  That child who never spoke in school?  That child now speaks as if there had never been YEARS of not speaking.  I'm not boasting, because frankly, it wasn't me.  But it does make me proud that those students were in MY classroom, and it does make me feel as if I had reached that child and made a difference.  Isn't that the point? 

It is thrilling to hear of students immediately the following year.  Yet, I know that there are children we will never know how we made a difference in their lives. With that in mind, teachers still strive to do the best by their students each and every day (I speak for my school). They take the unfortunate hits from parents, administration, and even government levels.  But really...it's all for the children, right?  So, we roll out of bed with teaching on the brain, and drive home with teaching on the brain.  Even now as my bedtime nears, I have thought of a dozen or more things pertaining to my students, my duties, and the days ahead of me. 

So, the next time you see a teacher, give them a thumbs up and thank them for trying to change the world...one child at a time. 

~D~