Thank God for Breaks!

No, you are not seeing things, I am actually posting!  Stop the press...  Hold your horses...  and any other cliches that mean holy crap, Noelle is actually posting something.  

It has been a hell of a few weeks, but all I can say is that the best part of being a teacher (aside from making a difference and all that hub bub) is the Christmas, or Winter Break!  I am so incredibly thankful for my time off and my time away from school.  I needed it more than ever before.  I was at my wits end and needed to get away from it all, and like magic, I was home for a beautiful two week vacation from my everyday life.  Thank God for intermittent holidays in the calendar.

I have spent the better part of my break with family and friends and am so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life.  The best part of my break came tonight as an unexpected surprise.  I spent the last several hours with Maddie just hanging out on my bed, chatting up a storm.  It was so great to just be with her.  We don't get many opportunities in life to be with the people we care most for without an agenda or purpose and when that happens, seize the opportunity and run with it!  I cannot tell you how truly wonderful it was to talk with her about nothing and everything.  She is such an AMAZING young lady and I am in constant awe of the person that she is becoming.  Look out world, because we will never be the same with Maddie and her friends in charge in a few years and we will be very thankful for that.  Talk about making a difference and being aware of the state of the world...

So, let's talk about my class this year.  I have been in the education system for about 14 years in one capacity or another and I can honestly say that I have NEVER been around more students in one room who are so incredibly selfish and self absorbed.  It is ridiculous!  I am constantly dumbfounded by the lack of respect to each other and ones self in my room and it breaks my heart.  I don't know where to go or what to do.  I have the counselor in my room for at least an hour a week working on respect and other moral characteristics to no avail.  She is even at her wits end with my class.

I have decided to go with a Zero Tolerance policy in my classroom from here on out.  I can no longer take the crap that is going on in my room and I am not going to take it!  When someone gets out of hand, they are going to be removed from my room because they are breaking the law if they are prohibiting the learning of others in class.  So, their parents will have to come in and take care of them!  I am not a babysitter.  I am a fifth grade teacher.  I wish that I got paid what babysitters got paid for each child, I would be making a hell of a lot more money than I am now.  Let's see, $5.00 for each child (and that is a fucking steal today for a babysitter!), 22 kids in class, that is $110.00 an hour!  Now that's more like it.  I would be making what I should be and it would be a breeze just knowing that I have to keep the kids safe and not educate them academically and socially.  I wouldn't be responsible to teach math and morals.  I would only need to make sure that they survive the day and I would be making about $100 more an hour!  What is wrong with this picture?

I am done venting about the crappy pay and I will go back to being thankful for friends and family, especially in light of 2008 coming to an end.  I cannot believe that one more year has ticked by and I am one year older, but I am also happy, healthy, and incredibly blessed.  So, in light of all the crap being "given" to me lately, I say "Hahaha!  I win!"  I have a great life and it is going to take a hell of a lot more than 22 ungrateful kids to ruin my life!  It takes only one fabulously, great young lady to make me realize that life is amazing and I am doing a pretty damn good job because I can look at her!  Thanks Maddie:)  I love you!