School and the City

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Ron Clark Academy Educator Experience with my team. It certainly was an EXPERIENCE! It was an experience that I learned a ton from and will always treasure. Amy from My Bright Bunch I was the first one in the building, and it was CRAZY! I was guided through a room by a 5th grader with a line of dancing, singing kids on either side of me. It was a lot like sorority recruitment, actually! We had some kids stand around and make small talk with us (also like sorority recruitment) until everyone was inside the building. I say "small talk," but they actually had been trained to ask some pretty thought-provoking questions, such as "What is your lifelong dream?" Dang. Some of my team with the man himself! Ignore the no-coffee bags under my eyes.  Then Kim Bearden, the co-founder, asked the fifth grader I was speaking to if she wanted to jump on the trampoline. Except it turns out that Kim wasn't as...

I finally did it... "It" being the #IWishMyTeacherKnew writing project. I was not expecting my kids to take it as seriously as they did.  I cried. A lot. Big, fat, happy and sad and in-between tears. Here are some of my favorites: Cue tears.  I'd been calling him "Grandpa," too, which was a nickname he gave himself. More tears.  Totally unfair. #kidstruggles AWWWWWW. LOL - Sorry honey. I'm not planning on having any 9-year-old bridesmaids.  This last one made me ugly cry, Kim Kardashian style. It's from my major behavior problem child. He ruins my mood daily and is usually the reason I pour myself a little extra wine at night. He's the one the other teachers ask about at lunch everyday; "How's ___ doing today?" He's the one that causes me to breathe a sigh of relief when he is absent. He is the one that I ride all day long, having to give him a verbal or nonverbal cue every m...