Fill and be filled

 Homeroom is my hardest class. It seems so silly that a 20 minute class that is supposed to be a family of people who trust each other that I "in theory" don't even have to plan for would be more difficult to teach than 47 minutes of English... but it is.

I think one of my biggest issues is that I know that a lot of the stuff I'm teaching isn't interesting or really relevant. I mean, yes, bullying is definitely relevant, but presenting the facts seems to result in more jokes than life changes.

I had a plan for today, a lesson about listening because I feel like they never listen to me. It's a terrible motivation, I know. But I also am at my wits end.

When these babies walked in today, I couldn't do it. I couldn't fight the battle again, didn't want to fight a battle again. So we spent the time talking.

I was talking to a group of girls, and they started asking hypothetical boy and girl drama questions. Oh, middle school drama. So serious. So hard. So confusing.

And I thought about my past, about the back-stabbing best friend and all the boy drama and the insecurities and self-loathing and the mess that was (and, let's be serious, sometimes/often still is) me, and I can be thankful for the ways that I am equipped to have these conversations. Because I really have been there.

I teach better on Fridays after I watch Glee. I know this is silly, but watching it with my roommate, giggling and caring about these fictional characters and their made-up lives, it giddifies me (no, that is not a word, don't look it up.) And that flows over into my students.

Today, I had a friend share her teaching triumphs after a slumpy week. It reminded me to look for little triumphs in my day.

So I'm thankful for that fact that we don't exist in isolation. I'm thankful for interconnectedness and relationships.

And I'm a tiny (lot) bit thankful that I only have 3 teaching days before Thanksgiving Break. Hey, relaxation will make me a better teacher too!