4 AM Planning Time, Who Says Teachers Don't Work Enough Hours?

 It is 4 am and my brain is working overtime on details for my behavior class program. Do I get flex time for the hours I lay awake in the middle of the night planning? Some of my best ideas come while I am asleep. I think that is a bad thing to admit. My principal says I am doing cartwheels in the halls these days and he is right. Being back working with kiddos who have emotional and behavior needs is right where I am supposed to be. I am so glad I said yes when God tapped me on the shoulder for this last February. Who says a 55 year old can't shift career gears? It was the best decision I have made. Not only is this challenging as well as exhausting. It has given my mind something to focus on as I continue my grief path from losing my son, Ryan. Just days before his would-be 25th birthday I was offered this position. What a heart saver that was and has been.

 God distracted me with a brain full of ideas, planning, and gearing up for these precious students that I am allowed to help mold everyday. The progress we have all made in 2 short weeks is incredible. Having 5 adults in a classroom with 7 students is challenging and crowded but we are all quickly learning our roles and building our relationships. Each of us is interacting and challenging all the students and getting to know our own strengths.

So far we have been able to get all the kids into their routines of school again and allow them responsibilities for their own learning as well as responsibilities to their classroom community. Watching kids take on roles of leadership and willingly open up and be vulnerable to each other makes me so proud. We are not creating a classroom here, we are creating a family. A family where kids know we expect great things from them and for them. So far each and everyone of them has stepped up to the challenge.

Going into this I thought we would be dodging chairs that were being thrown but so far not 1 pencil has been broken. Our expectation was to need support from several other district level experts but so far classroom staff has been sufficient. The fear was some of the students wouldn't succeed but so far each of them has blown the roof off our expectations.

For this program, these kids, and this group of professionals, I gladly plan awake or asleep and don't mind 4 am sleeplessness. Being productive and exhausted feels great!

In Him,
Joyful


Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. 
       -Mark Twain