It's Terrific Tuesday!

                                       

Today is the first Terrific Tiger assembly of the school year, so I figured it's also a great day to start a new monthly (maybe more often) thing, and do my own Terrific Tuesday blog posts.  Anyone that reads this blog knows that I do my share of complaining, so I think it's high time I dedicated a blog post to share all the Terrific things that are going on with me.  

At school, Terrific Tuesday is celebrated with a special assembly recognizing the students that have gone above and beyond throughout the month, and it's a day that teachers can brag on their classes and individual students.  So, why not have a blog post where I recognize people, things I've done that I'm proud of, or just other random, awesome stuff?  So, here goes...

1.  I'm committing myself to another attempt at weight loss.

Now, I can't promise this will be all that terrific, but the fact that I'm going to at least try (once again) deserves a little recognition.  I've tried countless times to do the individual weight loss competitions at work, and failed miserably at those.  This time, however, we're doing a team challenge, so I'll be working with people and competing against other teams of people.  At first I was kind of against it, because I didn't want to be a part of a team and let people down if I failed.  Then, after some friendly words of encouragement, I realized that if I don't want to let people down, I'm going to have to try a lot harder than if I'm just competing by myself.  So maybe, just maybe, I'll be more committed and work a lot harder to make sure I can be someone my team is proud of. Plus, there's a cash prize at the end of it.  That's always pretty terrific.

2.  I am grabbing the interventions by the horns.

You remember all that whining I did about the intervention time that's going on the last hour of the day?  Remember me complaining about not being sure what to do, or how I'm supposed to approach it?  Well, after really sitting down and thinking about it, I realized that I was just trying too hard to do what everyone else was doing in my team... and as I keep being reminded, that's NOT what that time is for.  I have been given the opportunity to work with a group of kids that need some desperate intervention, and have several gaps that need to be filled.  So, it's my responsibility to do what I need to do in order to fill those gaps.  That got my fire burning, and made me start digging out all the tools and tricks I have up my sleeve.  I now have a clear direction where I want to go with the students that come to me, and I'm just going to do it.  It may not be what some people think I should be doing, but I know one thing about myself:  I can work with kids that are behind and get them motivated.  I'm good at that.  Pretty terrific, actually.  So, that's what I'm doing.

3.  I'm an organizing machine.

Last year, I got so overwhelmed by the clutter that seemed to accumulate almost overnight in my classroom.  I was constantly surrounded by stacks of paper, piles of stuff, and could never find anything when I really needed it.  This year, I committed to myself that I wouldn't let that happen again. So, I've been spending almost every afternoon, once school is over, working on organizing my classroom.  I've been busy creating binders of handouts and lesson activities so that they are easy to find and copy when I need them.  I've been getting rid of any lose papers that accumulate throughout the day.  I've emptied out the tubs of guided reading books I had piled up to on to a neat little book holder to where they are now organized in to levels, and easy to use.  I've put all my math station manipulatives and flash cards in to easy to use tubs.  And, my horseshoe table has been kept free of too much clutter so that I can actually pull kids back to it to work with them.  It's a daily chore to keep up with it all, but I feel so much better when I know where everything is, and I can use everything that I do have.  No more hunting for that one activity that I want to use, no more digging through tubs of books trying to find the books that are on my kids' levels, and no more feeling so overwhelmed by the stacks of paper that's constantly piled up.  Taking a few minutes a day does wonders for an organized classroom and a less stressed me.  

There's three things to get my first Terrific Tuesday underway.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's a good start.  And, at the end of the day, I know that my life is pretty Terrific.  I have a three amazing children, a great Hubby, a lovely home, an amazing job, and so much more to feel pretty Terrific about.

How often I forget how great my life is, and I need to do more posts like this to remind me about all the good - regardless of how small - life is being to me.  It's so easy to find stuff to complain about.  If I had a dollar for every time I complain about something, I could retire and live quite comfortably for the rest of my days.

AND I'M NOT PROUD OF THAT.

Far too often I let the not-so-perfect interfere with me missing the big picture and enjoying everything that is pretty darned perfect.  I allow negative feelings of others to interfere and overcome me with negativity...and that's not right.  I don't want to come home every day feeling blue, stressed, or overwhelmed.  I should be counting my blessings daily, and seeing all that is Terrific that I get to be a part of.

One thing that I quickly forget is being that girl that couldn't find a teaching job for anything.  How downright miserable I was because nobody would give me the chance to do the one thing I've always wanted to do:  Change lives.  Then, the ecstatic, elated feelings I felt when I heard the words "You're hired!"

I didn't become a teacher so that I could be the person that whines and complains about everything.  I didn't become a teacher so that I could pick out all the imperfections of the public school system.  I didn't become a teacher so that I could find fault in myself or my abilities.  

I became a teacher so that I could change lives.  Simple.  To the point.  There were no restrictions on that.  No fine print that I'd only work with kids that wanted to have their lives changed or only doing it if I could do what I wanted to do.  It was with the understanding that I'd change lives no matter what obstacles I had to overcome.  In fact, I should be even more motivated and excited by the fact that I have so many obstacles thrown my way.  Because then it's 100 times more meaningful when that one student has their A-HA moment and realizes they want a better life and will do anything to get it.  

How quickly how I forget how pretty Terrific my life is compared to some of the students I serve each and every day.  And, if I would just quit living in a little pity party, share some of my Terrific with them, and do what I was born to do...my life would be a heck of a lot happier, productive, and amazing.

So, I hope that everyone has a Terrific Tuesday.  I hope that you, as will I, will try and remember how Terrific life is each and every day.  And, enjoy all that we have been blessed with.