Teaching in December

Teaching in December is hard. Really, really, really, really hard.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas teachers are trying to wrap up units while navigating absences due to illness and trips with students who are so excited for the upcoming break they can hardly sit still. And in the Archdiocese of Seattle, it's also the end of the first trimester, so it's report card time. AND for teachers of eighth grade students applying to high schools, it's high school application time. Several hard deadlines and squirrely kids. Here is a sampling of memes that I have scrolled past on my various social media feeds since the start of December:

I am happy to say my report cards were ready on time with a minimum of fuss, and I completed my part in the high school application process today, stuffing envelopes and enlisting the help of the school secretary to scan and send application packets to the school that required digital versions. 

But on top of the typical December crazy, my fall on the ice last week tweaked my knee out in a delayed reaction. I fell on Friday, and a tiny bruise was visible on Saturday. The bruise got bigger, more colorful, and more swollen each day through last week. It didn't hurt at first, but it was strange to watch it increase in size without feeling it. On Tuesday, it exploded in pain. But the doctor's office couldn't schedule me until Thursday.

Diagnosis? Strain with possible small tears in a ligament. Prescription: Two weeks of keeping my weight off of it as much as possible and 800mg of ibuprofen three times of day (with food). I was told to brace it if I could tolerate a brace over the bruise and crutches would be useful if they helped me move around without putting weight on my knee. My friend and co-worker had an extra brace for serious injuries, and it's helping much better than any I could pick up at a drugstore. For one thing, I can tolerate it even with the colorful, swollen bruise. However, my favorite is one that holds three ice packs that I have been wrapping around my knee at the end of each day. It is very soothing.

But even within the chaos that has been the last week, there is a lot of work to complete before the break. My eighth graders are finishing up our unit on Washington state with a boardroom presentation designed to entice a fictitious global corporation to open their next manufacturing and distribution center in our area AND a Time Magazine project where they choose a famous Washingtonian to research, draw, and write an article about. Here is an exchange I had with a student at the start of the Time Magazine project:

Me: Pick a famous Washingtonian to research for your project. Remember that in your essay you will highlight their positive contribution to the local community, our state, the country, and hopefully the world.

Student A: Can I do VInnie Hacker?

Student B: He's not from here!

Me: He *is* from here. I taught him fifth grade in *this* school.

Student reactions run a funny range of shocked expressions, gasping, and "I told you so."

Student A: So, can I research him?

Me: Yes. But be sure you can meet the expectation of highlighting his positive contributions to the local community, our state, the country, and hopefully the world.

Student A: (excitedly) Okay!

Time passes as students work on the assignment.

Student A: (quietly) Um, can I do Dove Cameron instead?

In another class, I used animal cards to randomly pair students for a class period. This exchange ensued:

Me: (noticing best friends working together after the random pairing) Wait, you two got randomly placed together?

Student A: Yes.

Student B: (the partner of student A who claimed to be an atheist until a couple of weeks ago) Truly there is a God!

Meanwhile my oldest child flew to Wisconsin to pick up a car to drive to Massachusetts. It's a long story but suffice it to say that she would not be dissuaded from her perfect plan that sounded bat-crap crazy to everyone I explained it to. Then my husband flew to Las Vegas for a work conference. My house has generally been quiet since we stopped fostering, but it is weird to be home with just my 18-year-old and our myriad of pets.

Tomorrow most of the middle school is headed to sing at a senior living center and cap off their trimester of choir with ice skating. I was slated to attend, but with my knee injury, I've been benched. It will give me time to catch up on grading and write some reflection questions with my administrator for the staff book study to send with people on their winter break. They're going to love that... But our study of Grading for Equity has taken a back burner to other priorities this year. The break is a good time to re-kick start our look at how and what we grade our students on.

Wednesday is the Christmas Pageant. Preschool through grade 5 and the band are performing. I will be the point person in the building during the performance in the gym for the band kids and student government kids who will be runners for the performers. It's entirely possible Thursday is supposed to be a normal day. Or perhaps I've forgotten something. That's also entirely possible. Friday is a half day that begins with a prayer service and ends with a school wide caroling "competition" and indoor snowball fight.

It's really a fun week. But it is made easier knowing a two-week break starts at the end of it.