Praying for Patience

It's been the same prayer every morning for quite some time:

"Lord, please give me patience with these kids!"

Apparently I should have been more specific like:

"Lord, please give me patience with the students I already have. Please do not add a wild one to the mix in order to teach me what patience really is."

A couple of weeks ago Jemerril* joined my homeroom. Prior to him my biggest problems were a few chatty students, one disrespectful girl, and a couple of unmotivated boys. My, my how things have changed! God must be trying to teach me patience with Jemerril.

Jemerril seems to think that he does not have to follow our school's expectations or any teachers' instructions. This means that it is okay for him to leave the room (or the building for that matter!), walk around the classroom calling out student answers on a quiz, talk when no one else is supposed to, and be generally disrespectful.

In moments when Jemerril is out of the room, I realize that I have much more patience with the students that used to get on my last nerve. I suppose that's the patience I was praying for.

Listen! I think God is laughing. . . . Not really, but I do think I've had about all the patience training I can take!

*Name changed to protect privacy. :)

It's the Small Things in Life

I just bought a Libman Wonder Mop. . . and I'm excited! :)

Does anyone else ever get excited about new cleaning supplies, or am I just a big dork? Nevermind, don't answer that.

You're Fired.

Those really weren't the words used, but they may as well have been.

My assistant principal came into my room saying, "Sometimes we've got to do these things." Things like what, I wondered.

Then the assistant superintendent of student services came in and asked what my lesson plans are like. I happened to have a copy of last week's plans nearby, so I handed them to him. He looked them over and was full of praise. "I like how you caught their interest by first showing a video clip. . . Wow! Look at all of the detail you put into your plans." Truly I don't believe my plans look any more or less wonderful than anyone else's.

Our small meeting soon grew to include our new superintendent as well as my principal. The superintendent asked me how I felt about teaching lower grades. I asked her what she meant and she said, "Well really I mean how do you feel about subbing or being an aide?" She said this like these were two wonderful options to teaching.

I understood what she was getting at. I asked her if she was demoting me. The answer was yes. WHAT?! I asked her if I could speak to her in the hall. She obliged.

Once we were in the hall I loudly asked her why she was doing this to me. She asked me if I understood that students could hear me and I told her I didn't care. She went on to say that the district had told her they needed to cut the budget by $7/hour. She decided that could be done by getting rid of me. I was beside myself. I didn't know what to say or what to do.

Then I woke up. It was time to get ready for school.

THE Big News

We're building a house!

Here's a picture of our lot. The expected completion date is July 15th.

Big News!

Eric and I have some big news to share! I don't have time to blog about it right now. I'll try to get around to it after work tomorrow. :)

Unwrapping Fun

Last year Lucy was too sick to care much about the Christmas festivities. However this Christmas is different. . . . Turns out that Lucy likes to help us unwrap our presents. :) Here she is in action:



Have a Merry Christmas!

Front Page News

Stolen from the Temple Daily Telegram:

Temple police officer Michael Meadows, left, and Eric Thornal, a teacher at Travis Middle School, celebrate with a chest bump after their team’s 25-14 victory over the school’s volleyball team. The school marked the last day of classes before the holiday with a volleyball match, a production of “The Toymaker” and a basketball game with teachers playing against Fort Hood Army personnel who will be deployed to Iraq.