Where, OH WHERE, has the time gone?

As most of my peers have probably figured out by now, I am not much on the blogging. The only time I get on Facebook is to see what my daughters and granddaughters are up to as well as keeping up with past and current friends from church, high school, and college.. I do hereby officially apologize. After reading several posts, I now realize that I missed out on some valuable sources for lessons plans, websites, and various resources that might have the first year of the ol' lady's teaching career go just a little smoother.

The transition from the college to a secondary classroom has been a bit more difficult and stressful than I had anticipated. Things weren't going particularly well with my move to Crossett anyway and probably made this an especially trying period in my life. I never believed that I would survive the first nine weeks of tenth graders whose greatest challenge in ninth grade English was the completion of large packets of grammar worksheets. Very little, if any, writing took place. Reading literature was not a priority either. However, I HAVE SURVIVED! :~)

The turning point for me came one day toward the end of the first nine weeks. While explaining an assignment I had just given to my students in one of my more challenging classes--attitudes, WOW!--, one female student became rather perturbed at several of the male students who were moaning and groaning about the work I expected them to do. All of a sudden she speaks up, "Will you just shut up?!!! I'm finally learning something!" I immediately thought, "Thank you God! Someone is finally getting it!" Things still aren't perfect, but I no longer feel like I'm drowning in a sea of hopeless (more like an ocean really!). The stress of the next couple of weeks--one last essay for the semester, the tests from The Learning Institute, three unexpected (and unplanned) absences in a week due to administrative requirements, students being out for various trips, non-English testing, and a semester tests as well as finishing up the work for the MAT--figures to be a challenge. A challenge that I am not really looking forward to with excitement. Yet, once more, I was gifted with that little boost once more when another female student in the same class made a similar statement: "Shut up! Quit talking! I want to do well on this assignment, because Ms. Young is trying to teach us something that will help us in college." YAHOOO! I have preached that sermon to all of my classes for the past six weeks. I just might survive this first year one student at a time!