Wow.

Teaching is a roller coaster. Well, I don't like that metaphor very much. Teaching is (I have now been staring at my screen for 3 minutes trying to think of a more evocative metaphor, and I, apparently, cannot. So...) a roller coaster.

One class is great. The next stinks. The next gets even worse. Then it gets good again. Can you see my roller coaster. I've given you some great imagery here....

One rough day, recently, I had to send out an e-mail in order to prevent some unrest. I thought I was doing the right thing, but an e-mail came into my inbox that made me want to cry. It basically said that I was horrible at my job and suggested I find a new career. Ain't that lovely?

I can't even really describe how I felt after I read it. Sort of a combination between being hit in the face and rising to immediate rage and being told I wasn't good enough to make the baseball team.

Sometimes I really wonder if people have any regard for others. I have been working really hard because I want to change the way these kids see and interpret the world, and this both makes me want to keep doing it so they don't turn out to be someone who would do that sort of thing and simultaneously throw my hands up in the air and say screw it.

As long as I have this metaphor going about roller coasters.... maybe I'll just throw my hands up and try to enjoy the ride. I can learn to ignore what needs to be ignored and still work hard to make sure these kids get off to a good start.

I can tell you one thing. I'm glad I've learned how to use restraint. Restraint. Get it? Like on a roller coaster. Like I'm wearing a bar over my lap. Man, this roller coaster thing sure is paying off!

I Think Nickelback Said It Best

It's been awhile!

To all of you loyal followers..........I mean to all 4 of you who occasionally read this blog because I posted something about it on facebook, or your video is loading and you're bored, or you are pooping with your ipad. Thanks to those people for sticking with me during this long absence.

I have been so incredibly busy with school I feel like sometimes I can't breathe. There is so much to do. Prepping for 4 different classes over 6 periods, 150 kids, grading, tutorials, pep rallies, meetings, conferences, parent phone calls, and now directing and designing the school play.

The crazy part is that I actually really still like it. I'm exhausted and annoyed and frustrated and exhausted again, but I really do enjoy it. I find myself laughing throughout the day more than I want to pull my hair out.

The thing that has kept me going the most is actually the thing that is driving me crazy. This play.

I had an idea last summer to uses some of my connections in New York to give these kids an incredible opportunity that I'm fairly certain most kids never get to experience. I decided to have Anna, a playwright friend of mine, create an original show just for my students. So my kids get to be the first people EVER to perform this play! How cool is that?!

When I see how excited and grateful they are for this opportunity, I can't help but feel guilty for being annoyed or overwhelmed by the amount of work it takes to put the show together. I get down or scared because I am doing the work of a dozen people just for the play on top of all the work for school, but every time I hear them talking about the play or wanting to call and thank Anna for the opportunity, I realize how incredibly worth it this is.

So here is to being incredibly over-worked, over-tired, and overwhelmed! Because damn if it is not so amazingly worth it.

Here is where I would write an incredibly cheesy line about "actually making a real difference," but I'd rather write a joke I think is funny. You know, at least I'll still be cheesy.

The Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop. He looks at the guy behind the counter and says, "Can you make me one with everything?"