Something Good

Yesterday I had an evaluation during one of my reading classes. It went well, I thought. I have gotten over that thing where I spend tons of time planning out a huuuge lesson that is all full of activities and groupwork and all those bells and whistles that make it completely different from what I would normally do in a classroom.

Now I just do what I do every day, which is not to say that my lessons aren't AWESOME and EXCITING and ENGAGING and VALUABLE; they most certainly are all of those things. I just mean that I don't go out of my way to make an extra-special lesson that focuses more on ME than on my students.

This morning, the person who evaluated me came up to me in the teachers' lounge and said, "You have really matured with your classroom management. You did a great job with your kids yesterday--and that is a very tough group--but you were right on them the whole time. I just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed your class."

And you know, on a day when I woke up, froze to death on the way downstairs, spilled cat food in the refrigerator, and couldn't find matching socks, that was EXACTLY what I needed to hear.