Bye-bye now. Bye. Bye-bye

Yesterday I was making copies and a 5th grade teacher came into the work room.  She stood there, trying to remember what she was doing, and said, "I am SO tired."

Parent teacher conference week is quite a week.  It is exhausting on many, many levels.

On Tuesday I only had two parents not show up, which is kind of amazing.  We'll see about tonight.  It is great to talk to parents and give them both compliments and...suggestions.  Inevitably someone cries.  A mother of one of the criers told me she was grateful that I was "so frank."

I don't sugar coat it.

I also try to pile on the good things too.

One of my little ones comes to school hungry and pretty much catatonic from staying up too late playing video games.

I told his mom (through his 6th grade brother who was translating into Spanish) that he was struggling in math because of how he comes to school.

She started rapid fire Spanish aimed at my student.  I asked the older brother, "What did she say?"

He said, "No more video games."

My student came yesterday morning a different kid.  After math, I said, "You were great today!  Did you go to bed earlier?"

He said, "Yes.  And my mom made me quesadillas for breakfast."

I hope it lasts!

Also, he can get breakfast at school, if he comes early enough.  Getting the parents on board is half the battle.

By the time we had our dinner break, I felt the Barbie in Toy Story.  

So much smiling.

I went home completely spent from how people-y it all was.  One really bright spot was that during one of my lulls, a student I had years ago stopped by because she was there with her kindergarten brother.  As a third grader she struggled a lot with reading and math, going to special ed for a good portion of the day.  She has a sparkling personality and she happily told me about how seventh grade is going.  She told me math is really hard.  "How do you feel about pi?" she asked.

I said, "I love apple pie."

She said, "Well, yeah, but I'm talking about 2 pi r."  She shivered with the horror of it all.

She seems to be thriving and I felt so proud of her.  She told me she is getting an A in Spanish (which is easy to believe since it was her first language).  I loved seeing her poise and confidence.

Every day I'm grateful for the interactions I get with so many wonderful people.  These children make my heart sing.