Semester One... done, finished, grades closed out.... progress reports printed and handed out... report cards come out next week.


Whew................


It's been a rocky half a year, no doubt. The bad days have outweighed the good, at least two to one.


Is it getting better? I don't know! Somedays, I think YES, maybe, just maybe, I am making progress, if not with all of them, at least some. Other days, I think NO WAY. I check my retirement possibilities. I consider a job application at McDonald's. I ponder just moving away, far far away.



Some of the problems are politics. Others are the kids. I've never felt so overwhelmed, so inadequate, so like I cannot get a handle on what needs to be done to help them be successful. I've never struggled so to manage classroom 'control', maintain a safe and productive place for kids to learn.


But once in a while, once in a great while.... the little moments make it all worthwhile. One young man today.... and he's a frequent office flier.... far from a model student. This guy announces at the end of his second hour in a row in my resource room, "I don't know what it is Mrs. George, but after two hours in here, I just feel relaxed, like school's gonna be OK." and even better, than that.. and I will admit, THAT was amazing.... another kiddo, one who butts heads with me CONSTANTLY about everything - yes, EVERYTHING - to the point if I said the sun was shining, he would point out the one lone cloud in the sky.... he piped in, and said, "Yeah, don't you wish we could be in here ALL DAY?"



I didn't know whether to cry, or hug them, or just let them go to lunch as the bell rang.... But here I sit, with a smile and a sigh of relief, that maybe, just maybe, it isn't ALL bad.