6 Things I Learned From My Bad Day

Today's prompt was to write a poem inspired by something you've learned. It is 9:25 pm, and I am just now sitting down for the first moment of free time I've found today, if you don't count the 5 minutes during 2nd period that I sat down to read over a few poems in search of a theme collection. It's been a busy day, and my brain isn't wanting to settle to write.

I've learned that foggy brain becomes a more frequent occurrence during the spring.

I spent quite a bit of time today reflecting on the experience my kids have had with inquiry circles. It was clear from their responses on the K-W-L chart we completed in class today that they are frustrated with my vague instructions. Learning for learning's sake doesn't have a stopping point. It's not something you can do the minimum on, and spend the rest of the time fiddling around on Youtube or playing a game.

I've learned that students don't understand the point of learning if it's not in preparation for an assignment.

A student asked me today if I thought he was a better reader now than he was at the beginning of the year. I answered with a question, as I tend to do. "Do you feel like you're a better reader now than you were?" I'm often met with blank stares when I ask questions like this one.

I've learned that self-reflection and self-assessment is not something students have often been asked to do.

Tomorrow we are administering the county benchmarks, and my first period kids are worried. They are afraid that their tremendous successes as readers in my classroom this year will not translate to their EoG's. To be honest, I am worried about that too. I have no idea what my test scores might look like this year. I believe they should all show growth, because I have students who have read more this year than they have in their entire lives, literally. Several have told me that their book total for this year is higher than the total of all other books they have read, ever.

I've learned that tests don't reflect reality.

My dog went absolutely bonkers this afternoon. He ran circles around the UPS truck when it delivered my son's birthday present. He chased cars, and got in a fight with the neighbor's dog, and refused to come to me for almost an hour. I was so angry and frustrated I said bad words in front of my son and made a fool of myself in front of the UPS guy and the neighbors.

I've learned that when I don't control my reactions, I'm often the one who ends up looking stupid.

Once I calmed down, it occurred to me that this is not really the way our dog behaves. It was completely out of character. I started trying to figure out the "why" behind his actions. Turns out this was the problem: a family of field rats has moved into our shed and have been stealing his dog food during the day. Additionally, I bought a different brand of dog food and he doesn't seem to like it very much. He was acting out of character because he was hungry, but I didn't figure this out until he jumped on me as I was putting away leftovers after supper. We moved his food bowl inside after dinner, he ate in peace, and now he is snoozing happily in his spot.

I've learned that dogs (and kids) don't really do things without a reason, but it takes a calm head and a lot of observation to figure it out. I could have stayed angry, put the dog to bed without supper, and had an even bigger problem to deal with tomorrow because I was irrationally angry today.