toot your horn tuesday!

Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes right? Yes, I said RIGHT.

Yesterday and today were those days for me.

I’ve been battling a cold the past week – it’s been a hard Monday and Tuesday, especially because I’m doing important lessons that require A LOT of energy. However, yesterday & today were a couple of those days that everything went right. Everything fell into place, like magic.

So I’m going to toot my own horn!

I’m teaching a new course this year, (Honors 8 Language Arts), and I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into creating the curriculum. I’ve spent HOURS researching online, brainstorming engaging, yet challenging lessons, creating TONS of rubrics, hand outs, and assignments. It is my baby – it gets the most attention of all my courses – and I’m only at mid-October… A lot of school year ahead.

Last week my building principal stopped in my classroom as my 8th graders were presenting group projects that they had been working on for a week, (an analysis of fairy tale stories from different cultures). They worked in groups of five or six and creating prezi presentations with required materials we had discussed weeks previous while reading Brothers Grimm tales & Charles Perrault. He could not have walked in my classroom at a better time. They nailed these projects. Grand slam, out of the park.

SO, fast forward to this week – every Monday we get an email from our principal laying out the week’s events and housekeeping items. He always writes a shout out to a staff member or group of staff that are doing something positive for the school – I look every Monday and congratulate whoever is given that extra pat on the back. I think you know where I’m going with this…

This week, it was me!

It was pretty cool to see my name, especially because of all the hard work I have been putting into this course.

Today, I had some students turn in their ending quarter project – a portfolio which is a collection of writing pieces, some vocabulary work, & a variety of book report requirements – I have had some amazing work turned in. I had no idea what some of my students were capable of producing until I’ve read some of the work turned in this week.

Word travels fast in our school, (some other teachers saw some of the portfolio work in my classroom), and my principal came by AGAIN, to look at these projects and tell me how impressed he was with the level of rigor, active involvement, and the overall atmosphere of my honors classroom. Seriously? I have never gotten so many compliments in my professional career as I did today and yesterday.

Today was one of those days… that everything went right.

I have about four hours of grading ahead of me tonight, with a pounding headache from my cold, but I am taking time to sit, reflect, and write about a job well done.

Take time to bask in the glow of something you have accomplished for yourself – it really isn’t done enough – & you deserve every minute of it.

Happy Tuesday 🙂