No Voice, No Voice, Tra-la-la-la-la-la

So, I'm not going to lie, I've had a pretty rotten week. Without going into detail, I have to say that this has probably been the worst week since I've started teaching. Let's just say I have been giving some serious thought to what else I could do with my degree. Haha. (Even to the extent of thinking of going back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and trying to work my way up the Totem Pole). But within all this, there have been a few things that have made this week (and last week) slightly better. They are as follows:

1- One of my students who normally has terrible handwriting and difficult behavior was an angel all of last week and used his very best handwriting in every subject area. Success!
2- One of my students is always on task, always looking to me to follow what I want him to do. We were walking in the hall, and, as always, he was following all of our rules for walking in the hall. I gave him a thumbs up, he smiled, and winked at me. I almost busted up laughing because it was so cute and funny! This same boy has walked past my classroom and said goodbye to me the past few days about 5 minutes after the bell has rung. Definitely a good way to end my day.
3- One of my hardest students is on a behavior contract now, and his behavior improved immensely last week. In fact, twice last week he came and gave me a big hug and said thank you for the scores that I gave him for various parts of the day. Then, yesterday, he brought in a bag of salt water taffy for us to use as our "mystery prize" this week. He told me that he earned 2 dollars, and he wanted to use it to get something for our class, so he bought the taffy for a prize. He said that it was very generous of him. :)
4- I have been sick this week. I started to lose my voice on Monday, and one of my little girls gave  me a couple of hugs during the day, and told me that she was sorry that I was losing my voice. Yesterday, she gave me a hug before recess again, and told me that she was sorry that I was sick. So sweet!

Because I have no voice, I have a substitute today. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of nice to have the day off, especially because I have strained my voice at work the past couple of days. So, I slept in (until 8:05), and then took a hot (or at least as hot as I can get at my apt. complex...) bath. Now I am reclining on the couch with vicks on my chest and feet, eating lipton noodle soup, drinking water and sprite, blogging, and watching Pride and Prejudice (the 5 hour version). I have to admit that I have also been talking to myself this morning. Not so much because I'm lonely, but because I've been trying to gauge how my voice is doing. This is kind of how it's been going: *cough, cough* "Oh, do I have my voice back now? Oh...not really," or "Can you hear me now? Uh...nope, it's still gone!" or trying to sing along with music....let's just say it's incredible how many wrong notes you can hit in a row when you are trying to sing along with Pandora when you have no voice. 

Well, I think that's about all I can think of to "say" right now. I guess typing will have to be my way of expressing myself for now, because I sure can't do it through talking. Haha!

Adios!

Once upon November

Once upon a time, November seemed really far away. But, here we are over halfway through November already! It is super crazy how time can seem to be moving so quickly, but so slowly at the same time. But perhaps that's because I'm a bit of an impatient person. It is moving super quickly in that I have so much that I need to do and I feel like there is never enough time to do it. But then again, can you believe that it's already NOVEMBER? It's only 37 days until Christmas, which is just enough time to get all excited and ready for it. But, before Christmas I have so very much to do, including: finishing out my last semester at UVU (projects, portfolios, evaluations, the works), one final teaching evaluation by my intern coach, teaching my students a song for the school Christmas program, having my students make a Christmas craft to give to their families as a gift the night of the Christmas concert, planning games for our faculty Christmas party, not to mention trying to teach my kids all the material for math second term so we can take the district test BEFORE they go on Christmas break where they would forgot all the math they had learned due to sugar and presents and fun overload. (I know, that was a terribly long Christmas and not grammatically correct, but since this is not a paper or anything formal for that matter, I feel like I can do as I please. :) ). 

One funny story that happened a couple of weeks ago in class: We were watching The Magic School Bus and one of my students pipes up and says, "Miss Hansen, these are really old!" To which I responded that they were kind of old. He then said, "Yeah, I used to watch them when I was a kid." So, apparently being a "kid" is now redefined as being under the age of 7. (I just have to add a little disclaimer that this is the first time that I have shown my kids The Magic School Bus or any longish movie. But, my elbow started to hurt almost as soon as I got to school and I was without painkiller--what a great start to my Friday! I was just going to try to tough it out, but it kept hurting all day, and I was starting to feel kind of icky. On top of that, one of my girls sprayed perfume of sorts in the classroom, and it gave me a headache. So, on my lunch break, I went to the office and begged--okay I just asked-- for some painkiller. My request was satisfied with some tylenol, and I went back to work. But, my energy was kind of low, so we just watched Magic School Bus, and it was great! The kids loved it, and I think they learned something too, which is an added bonus!)

That is about all I have to say, other than I am super excited for this week to be over, as cynical as that sounds, because I am super excited for a break! And, what else could you ask for in a break other than spending time with friends and family, eating great food, relaxing, and playing some games! Sounds pretty wonderful to me!
  
Well adios, y'all!