My mom used to always say this when I'd come home from school moaning and complaining about something gone wrong. Little things have always gotten me in such a tither...
Which is why I wasn't so optimistic about this year. I haven't been for a while. I've tried little things: making really cool bulletin boards (Jason laughed at me, my colleagues ooed and aahhed), smiling a lot, setting personal deadlines (leave by 3.30 everyday), and even hiring a superstar teacher to replace my last superstar.
But even still, I leave each day overwhelmed, stressed out, and extremely frustrated. And so, I here by commit to writing down POSITIVE things that happen at my job -- I dwell so much on the negative and forget to share the positive (so, essentially, this is my therapy and you get to watch!)
1. Yesterday we began a review of sentence parts. "What's the difference between a subject and a predicate?" Immediately, Kevin (who missed most of last semester, but in the end turned out to be a pretty good kid) shot his hand up with the right anwswer -- and answered all of the worksheet correctly. He even helped his classmates. He remembered. What I taught stuck -- it wasn't just for show.
2. Today Takla and Abanoaub stopped me and asked if I knew a few of their Egyptian friends. I did. Then they said "You know Bassem? He really thinks your an amazing teacher. When he saw my schedule, he told me I was so lucky because I had you!" This really tickled my toes. How sweet.
I'm sure there'll be more. I need to write them down and dwell on them -- because the sad, frustrating stories get to me and bring me down. And I can't let them. Or I won't make it through this year, let alone a lifetime of this as a career.
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