Celebrate 10/11

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During our math stations time on Wednesday, a little group of students was sneakily working on something. I pretended not to see them doing it, because I knew they were trying to surprise me. I let them work on this for about 5 minutes or so until I called them back to work. The survey started out as who loves/who "disloves" Ms. Payan and evolved into this when they realized that it might not be very nice if people "dislove". They also put a little tally chart with a few teachers to do a survey about favorite teachers. They were completely off task but completely engaged in this endeavor. I posted it on Facebook that night and had comments from a former student and a parent of former students that basically said I was the best. Warm fuzzies all over!

We had Parent-Teacher conferences this week. I really enjoy talking to parents. I like meeting them and touching base at the beginning of the school year, but I really wish our conferences were a little later in the Fall.  I am still working on solidifying my procedures and don't have as much to say about academics as I could later in the Fall. Many parents absolutely love ClassDojo and I was glad to hear that.

This time of the school year also means visits from former students. I loved hearing about freshman year from a few of last year's 8th graders. One girl is going to the high school of the arts and majoring in creative writing. She credits her writing passion to me and my ELA class. I was flattered to hear that and so happy that I could inspire her to be creative. I also love it that many of my former students went to see The Maze Runner. I read it aloud to them last spring and they were eager to share their thoughts about the actors, "Thomas is HOT" and the way the characters were portrayed.  

The day off on Friday almost made it worth being at school until 8:15pm both Wednesday and Thursday. I sat and mindlessly binged on TV watching all afternoon after helping a colleague figure out her Educator Effectiveness plan in the morning. 

I love the Fall and pumpkin everything. I tried another great pumpkin beer last night. I think I will look up a recipe and make pumpkin bars today. At this time of year, I am glad to live in Wisconsin and get all the seasons in all their glory. 

We got to see the lunar eclipse on our way to work Wednesday. I thought it would not still be visible, but it was.  So COOL!

What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!