For my Bad Day Box

After a particularly challenging week left me questioning why I became a teacher in the first place, I was feeling really down about my position at my school, and wondering if it was even worth sticking around at Grady. When my students were driving me crazy with their lack of respect, their disinterest in learning, and their overall attitudes, I decided to email the parents of some of my best students. Rather than contacting parents of the "bad" students, I got to praise my good students. Not only did I get to brag about these wonderful kids, I received some amazing compliments in return. I printed these emails to remind me why I love this job, and they are headed toward my Bad Day Binder (I didn't end up making a box). And posted here for constant reminder to me and anyone else who may be struggling through their first year or student teaching experience....

My virtual Bad Day Box:

Thank you so much for your email. It is so nice to hear good things especially when a parent usually only receives information if something is wrong. He is enjoying Spanish so much. I appreciate all you do to make learning a second language a fun experience.

Ms. Aho,
Thank you so much for your wonderful note. I will certainly pass it along to A. He is loving Spanish and comes home talking to us using whatever he's learnt that day Even I'm beginning to pick up on it! Thanks for making it such a fun and positive experience.

Thank you so much for such a refreshing email. I must return the compliment and let you know the girls think you are amazing. They are so excited to learn and that thrills me as a parent. Keep up the great work, I can't wait to see the progress from now until the end of the year.

Wow! Thank you so much. S's first language was actually Spanish. Although she only spoke the language for thee years, she stopped being exposed and forgot all that she had learned. I also studied Spanish and was equally enthusiastic about learning the language. She has my complete support in learning. Thanks for noticing.

Hello Ms. Aho,
Please call me Laura. Thank you very much for your words. I am very proud of him. I can tell you that N has taken Spanish lessons in the past however no one ever seemed to catch his attention the way you have. He actually comes home and wants to have trial conversations. Keep up the great work as you are doing a great job yourself!
Thank you!


Sigh. It warms my heart and makes me want to get up and go to work on Monday, when not 12 hours ago I was having panic attacks at the thought of it! It is amazing how special my students are and their enthusiasm is the only thing bringing me back each day.

Crazy for Claymation!

We learned how to do claymation in class this week, and I have to say it was a ton of fun. I'm still struggling to figure out how I would like to use it in my classroom, if I can. My students really seem to enjoy art-y activities, and I think they would have a BLAST with this. However, it's also very time-consuming, and I'm afraid it may eat up too much class time. It's something I need to spend some time thinking about, because I would really like to find a way to incorporate this activity. I know when we were done, all I wanted to do was come home and make claymation videos all day!

So, without further ado:



Claymation by Tricia Hewitt, Ingrid Macon, and myself, with help from Tiffany Liu. Spanish storyline by me! :)

Poor little clay folks fell down at the end, which just added to the humor.
This is the rated G version for my class :)