Thoughtful Thursday: The Students That Have Melted My Heart This Week

This week has had the potential to be an extremely stressful week. My grandfather had surgery on Tuesday, my neighbor called me asking for help with her sick horse the same day, there's been a lot of general craziness and this weekend does not promise to bring me any down time. And yet, I feel that there is little to be upset about.

Grandaddy is doing so well there is talk of bringing him home as early as tomorrow. So far, the horse seems to be, at the very least, comfortable and content. And the craziness has been mostly of my own choosing so I can't get too upset about it. But one of the main reasons I have been so positive this week is due to the amazing love and kindness my students have shown me this week.

Starting on Monday, my students were very loving, not that they aren't generally. However, ones that aren't normally huggers came up and gave me a few. I'm not sure why, maybe I looked like I needed it, but all the same I was glad to have them. One of my (mostly) nonverbal students came up to me and had me put my hand over his eyes. It's a game we play together, but he has never been the one to initiate it before. It may seem small, but keep in mind, I'm a special ed teacher. We celebrate the tiniest things, because for our students they are huge milestones.

Tuesday, I can't even begin to tell you how well they took care of me. I was extremely distracted and was having a, "loose my head if it wasn't screwed on." When I got my papers out of order in reading, they humored me. One even joked (this is a six year old, mind you) "here I have your brain, let me put it back in for you." All the while he mimed doing so. When I lost my keys, one of them found them and brought them into my class room.

Wednesday, I coached my Girls on the Run team. Those girls are something special. I look forward to coaching them as one of my favorite parts of the week. Right now, we're training for a 5k, any they are working so hard. All of them have made a lot of progress and seem to be really growing from the experience. I see so much good character and kindness growing in these girls.

I noticed one had a really cool looking notebook and asked to see it, not realizing she was taking notes in it. She told me okay, but I couldn't peek. While I had every intention of respecting her privacy, she accidentally cracked it, and I caught a glance. She was writing how many laps she had done and other positive things. I thought, "YES! She's getting this!"

We also do this really cool thing at the end of practices where we give energy awards to the girls who have worked hard or pushed through or have been super helpful to others. Anyone can give them to anyone. The girls game me two. I have no idea why, but it made me feel good.

Today, I was late for work. Not by administration standards, but by mine. I need about 30 minutes to get myself together in the morning, and I was still quite scattered when one of my students who receives academic and behavioral support from me in the morning came in. She cheerfully helped me to  get together the supplies for my first graders and for her own lessons.

Later, I was working on a reading evaluation with one of my first graders. At the beginning of the year, this student was reading at a GRL of A/B. Today, she tested as independent on level F. She is nearly ready to move to a level G. She has made 10 months of growth in just 7 months. When she finished, I told her how proud I was of her. I truly am. She's worked hard for this, and she wants to do well. She said to me, "Mrs. G.-C." and then bit her lip. She threw her arms around my neck in a bear hug, and tears came into my eyes.

Normally I take care of my students, but this week, they in their own way, took care of me and showed me hope for a better world. These are elementary school students. Many of them have challenges that impede their learning or social skills. If they can show love, compassion and kindness toward me, why can't we all demonstrate that to others? If a six year old can make me laugh with so much worry on my mind, why can't we all add a few more giggles to the world? If a little girl with a learning disability can catch up to her peers, can't we all try a little harder? If 10 girls can band together to make their coach's day special, can't we all bring a little more light to everyone's lives?

My First Attempt at Say Anything Saturday: Stream of Consciousness and Attempt to Get Over Writer's Block

I have been trying very hard this week to get inspired to write, but for some reason I have encountered a fairly significant block. Usually my posts practically write themselves but this week, forget it. I can't think of anything. I blame the fact that I've written two IEPs for students this week, and while these are a necessary part of the SPED world, they tend to beat the creativity right out of you. So in an attempt to get over this block, I'm going to try something different. I'm going to set a timer for 10 minutes and write whatever the heck pops into my head during that time. to exactly the makings of the next great American novel, but maybe it will get me past the concrete wall in my mind. Ready, set, GO!

So, I'm in the garden right now, and the dogs are hanging out with me and it's lovely and warm. Brad's planting potatoes, at least I think they're potatoes, but who really knows. It's pleasant except for his music, which is, "Kona stop digging!" definitely not my cup of tea. But I don't claim mine is superior either, so I suppose the point is moot and damn you autocorrect because it keeps changing my words and that is totally messing with my train of thought.

My stomach is starting to growl and I'm considering lunch and what I currently have in the fridge. I'm leaning toward a ham and cheese sandwich on one of the hamburger buns Brad made last night. Yep, you read right, made. There has been no store bought bread of any kind in my house since January first.   It's so much better, except for the few trial and error incidents we've had with buns, but I think we finally found a good recipe for them. We are also on a mission to start a CSA (community sustained agriculture) program that provides subscribers with a full diet, as a way to use family land in a productive manner. This year we're just doing veggies and we've started so many I can barely remember what's what anymore. Also, our house looks a bit suspicious thanks to the fact that there are grow boxes and lights everywhere. We'e not growing anything illegal, but my living room reminds me of an episode of Weeds.

However, in spite of this comparison, I love what we're doing. I love to show it off when friends come over. I can't tell if they think it's cool or that we're completely out of our minds, but either way I don't care. It mass me happy to see things we planted coming out of the ground and knowing that it's food we will be able to eat and share with others. There's a magic to it.

I'm a little nervous as we move in to the next steps. Ultimately we'd like to make our living this way. What if no one buys our food? What about insurance? How are we going to advertise this? My timer just buzzed, and that's probably good, because that has stopped me from going further into worry mode.   If there's anyone reading that would like to know more or reassure me about this farming and CSA thing, that would be awesome. If not, hope you enjoyed this brief peak into the mind of The Farmer's Granddaughter.