Ups and Downs of Teaching

Yesterday my "best" 7th grade boy threw his chorus folder at my head. He stormed out of the room and I whispered, "wow." That was that story. 19 more days of teaching middle school chorus.

on the flip-flop...

This afternoon I got this e-mail from a Kindergarten kid's mama.

"I am (______)'s mom and I wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoyed the Spring performance last week. As you may know (_______) is diagnosed with autism and there has been no opportunity to see him do anything like what he did for that performance. He had fun, participated, and he played the xylophone! AWESOME! Thank you for that opportunity and faith in him! It means the world to me. I want to share with you a post I wrote about that evening. Again, thanks for believing in my kid.
thoughtfully, ________ _______"

She followed this will a copy of one of her blog posts which narrates her thoughts of the evening, ending it with "a beautiful, perfect 45 minutes!"

It feels good. Real good.

The Color Run

http://thecolorrun.com/albuquerque/#race_info


Just registered. Yay!

Emotional Health

Today's topic in Girls on the Run was emotional health. Identifying what you're feeling and how to handle a situation with a "Girls on the Run mindset." My girls are in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades and most are primarily Spanish-speaking. Answers included "bad," "sad," and "happy." As I ran around the elementary school with the silly children, I thought of all the feelings of the past week and ones I have for the upcoming week. Compassionate, Jealous, Angry, Joyful, Insulted, Flabbergasted, Apprehensive, Invigorated, Frustrated, Punchinface, Anxious, Victorious...

Concert season coming, kids with Spring Fever, me with Spring Fever, tired body. Must...remember...to care for...emotional...health...

Dude and running's been getting harder and I'm wondering if i have asthma. I cough every time and my chest gets all crazy.

I am now cast as Mimi in a local production of RENT and am very excited about that. Good thing for emotional health. Even playing a drug addict.

Anyway...tonight I'm taking a pilgrimage from Nambe, NM to Chimayo, NM. It's this thing all the Catholic people do for Good Friday. They pray the whole walk. Starts at 10 and goes all night. Should be a beautiful experience. Though sleep sounds really beautiful too.