Why I do this...

     Today was Rough. And no that's not a typo... it was so Rough the word needed a capital R. Sticky fingers was putting on quite a show today! I was also told by my principal that she wants to move one of my old kids back into my room because the parent is riding her about every little thing. I'm not all that excited about that either. I'm finally getting routines in place and the class has been really bonding since the group has sized-down.

Anyways, this post is not about what brings me down. This post is about what lifts me up.

     Maybe after the kind of day I had calling parents for a 1-month-into-school-check-in wasn't the best idea. But I had recently finished my reading assessments and wanted to make sure every parent knew where their child stood from the get-go. After leaving about 12 messages on answering machines I finally got a real voice-- the parent of a student who's older brother I had 2 years ago. And boy am I glad that mom answered. I proceeded to tell her that her son is reading one year above grade level and she reacted as if she had won the lottery! We joked that she was just as surprised when I gave a similar call two years ago about her older son. And that's when she gave me the biggest drop in my bucket a teacher could ask for. She said,

"You know, I've always attributed my son's (the older) love of reading to you. That's when I saw him begin to use books to travel to distant lands and times."


     It did my heart good to hear her talk about books that way. It seems people don't talk like that anymore. If all I do with my life is teach kids how to love books, then I will have led a full and happy life. Thank God for parents and children who remind us why we choose this life. :)

And for no reason other than to share what I did this week, here are some shoes I made for a good friend. Their mascot is the Timber wolf.