You Have Brains in Your Head. You Have Feet in Your Shoes.

This week was our fourth official round of state testing at school. As a teacher, I feel the weight of these tests in all their forms. I have a data binder filled with this years tests results, school leadership encouraging me to "target" low-scoring students, and my own self-induced teacher test anxiety.

But the brunt of the anxiety and stress falls on my students. Behavior problems run a muck as kids feel the pressure to achieve. Kids get cry, get out of their seat, go to the bathroom for long(er) periods of time and even hide... (see picture)


All and all, this past week was just a little nuts. The testing anxiety was partially lifted when I received 4 giant boxes of supplies from my Donor's Choose project right before the kids took their Math Galileo. The kids were in awe at the large box of testing barriers (just in time!), supply buckets, intervention flash cards and other supplies. They were especially excited about the highlighters :) I told them that my friends knew all about them and wanted to give them supplies to help them do well in school... you should have SEEN the smiles! The kids feel the love! (They still talk about Ms. Gina who gave them "ALL THOSE PENCILS!")

I am still so awe-struck and grateful for all the support on this project and others. All together donor's have given almost $1,000 in donations to my classroom in the form of books and other supplies. This is in addition to the unwavering love and support I have received from family and friends near and far. I feel blessed and honored that I have gotten so much support!

The craziness continued two days post-testing. On Friday, I was about to loose my mind (go figure) and I decided to facilitate a classroom intervention. Coincidentally, Friday was Dr. Suess' birthday and "Read Across America Day." I pulled out "Oh, The Places You'll Go" from my secret teacher bookcase and read the first two pages to my students...

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to great places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

I looked at my wiggling students... "YOU decide where to go. YOUR brain makes choices and YOUR feet decide where to go. I want you to think about what Dr. Seuss is telling us.... he wants us to decide how we are going to spend our days. Let's DECIDE to make the rest of today a good day. How do you guys feel about that?"

They looked at me with their little eyes. "OKAY!" After that, it was a totally new day. We spent the rest of the afternoon making Truffula tree poems and talking about the meaning behind Dr. Suess' "The Lorax." It was a wonderful day to be a teacher... I am so proud of my students.