Home

I was recently laid off from a teaching job at a charter school. I was unemployed from June through December of 2010. It was rough. That is for another blog entry.

To make a long story short, I was hired by that school's sister school in a nearby town. I have been teaching for ten years, or thereabouts, and I can honestly say that this is the second place where I feel that I belong. I work on two teams as a special education co-teacher. I work with a group of sixth graders and within that group, my main focus is a handful of students with minor needs (minor to me in the intensity, not in importance). This is the first group of boys and girls that I completely like. LIKE! I love everyone I have ever worked with, but I have not always liked everyone. I'm the kind of person that tries to find something redeeming in all people. I have run across a few that threw me for a loop.

Not this group. They are all rambunctious, pre-pubescent, hormonal bundles of talkative, sassy energy. They all love me to pieces and I love them to pieces. I can joke with them and hug them and cut my eyes at them and even raise my voice (I don't yell) at them and we still have fun. They know I care. I had one of them tell me last week that I have "an amazing personality." I have NEVER been genuinely complimented in such a way by one of my students. I nearly cried. Today, an administrator labeled me as "loving" as she has observed me loving my kids... I nearly cried. Besides my first administrator, I have never been genuinely complimented in such a way.

I truly feel like I am at home. I *am* glad to leave at the end of the day. We work hard at my school. But I don't hate going there in the morning.

On top of that, I love the special ed team and the middle school team that I work with. They are all awesome, loving, genuine and tender souls and I am glad to be a part of their world 10+ hours a day.

<3