Thankful

I had a Thanksgiving blog post half-written a week before Thanksgiving. Yes, I’m thankful for a lot this year! So much that I never finished writing that post. Oh, well. Keep moving forward. That’s what one of my students had written on something of his and shown to me. He struggles with motivation, so he was very proud of himself!

It is not always easy at school. There’s teen drama, behavior issues, and lots of squirrelly-ness. Plus I’ve been on the hugest learning curve of my life with the new positions I have at the school. But we have our fun times, too. Tuesday was our first blood drive of the year. I was nervous because it was my first time coordinating one. But the kids did so great! They and two of the staff filled all the slots, and then even more kids wanted to donate! And for many of them, it was their first time. It was so neat to watch them go from nervousness beforehand to pride in themselves for enduring scary needles in order to help save lives. Can’t wait till the next one!

Then yesterday in my geography class, we did an activity that I’d found in the Facebook teacher group for this class. It went so well! The kids had a great time. I’ll include a couple of the links we used here:

http://greatlanguagegame.com/play/                                                                                                (I got 400 points on this one! See if you can beat me!)

And https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=1        The quiz wasn’t too far off from guessing where I’m from!

But the thing that cracked me up the most that day happened just before class. Earlier, at lunch, they had been brainstorming fundraising ideas, and asked us staff members if we’d be willing to get pies in the face. But it still took me a little while to figure out what was happening the next period, when one of the 11th grade girls announced, “Ma’am, you’re the smallest staff member here!” I politely informed her that no, Lieutenant _____   is shorter than me. “No, Ma’am, I mean that you’re the SMALLEST one.” I stared at her blankly some more, because I’m quite sure there are other staff members smaller than me (albeit not very many). “I mean, Ma’am, that you’d be the easiest one to tape to the wall!” More blank stares from me, until it dawned on me that I was being offered up as a sacrifice for a fundraiser. Yup, that’s exactly what was happening. I’m still not sure exactly what will happen after I’m taped to a wall. Wet sponges thrown at me? Pie? (better be pumpkin!) The things we do for kids… I’m grateful for these fun moments with my students.

But I’m also looking forward to Christmas break. I don’t have any grand travel plans for it (I did plenty of that this summer and never wrote about it on here; sorry!). Just relaxing and spending time with friends and family (and working some, I’ll admit). I am so grateful for all of them and for the community I have here. And for this beautiful area that looks different in every season. I can go hiking in woods with a five minute walk or drive! But living close to friends and family is still the best part of where I live.

So… that’s sort of my Thanksgiving post. Yes, there is much chaos and sadness in the world right now. Fires in California. Winter weather causing accidents in other parts of the country. War in so many places in the world. Depression. Cancer. Stress. But life still goes on. There is so much to live for, and I pray that my friends and students who struggle with depression can hold onto that hope, and learn to take joy in the present as well.

Keep moving forward, my friends. It’s worth it.