The first good cry of the school year

I wrote my brother (who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) a letter and told him the following:

"Well – my life has reached the point where I am prone to some serious meltdowns. It takes very little to tip me off!.

Exhibit A: After 4^th period today, I realized that one of my classroom ipads was missing. I totally freaked out. I looked all aver my classroom and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I had planned on going to my apartment during lunch to put dinner in the slow cooker, and then I had to write an IEP (a document that includes present levels, goals, accommodations, etc. for a student with a disability) during my prep period. My meeting was after school at 3:00 and I needed to be ready! I went to my apartment and put dinner together, then I went back to school and heated up my lunch, then went into my classroom and just cried. I couldn’t believe I had lost one of the ipads. I felt like I had finally lost it. Grad school and full time work and the business of my schedule had finally gotten to me and I was performing insufficiently. I was so sad. I called in the students from my last class (I called their 5^th period teachers and had them come to my classroom). They were awfully confused, but when I started explaining what I needed and asked them to open their backpacks so I could check inside, I started bawling – in front of them. NBD. Seriously. It was terrible and embarrassing. I let the kids go because they didn’t have the ipad and we had looked all over my classroom. So again, I started crying, and then I realized I needed to write my IEP, so the ipad was going to have to wait. So I wrote my IEP and then went to find my facilitator. I had texted her about the missing ipad, and when she saw me, she asked about the ipad and I just started crying AGAIN. (Seriously – there was no end to the tears. It was terrible.) I had to have one of the classroom aides cover my 6^th period because I still couldn’t control my tears and my face was red and splotchy. Holy cow I was a mess. Right as 6^th period started, another classroom aide went into my classroom to look for the ipad and she found it on my desk. I couldn’t even believe it. Was I blind?! Who knows how it got there or if I’m truly blind. It was seriously ridiculous.

That is just one story of how my days seem to be going lately. It’s just one more thing every day. Yesterday I realized I had brought the wrong computer to work (because I have two matching computers now). I couldn’t access the internet (because my computer was not registered at the school), so I was on my own. My smart board (which uses a projector) is out of commission because the light bulb burned out last Thursday morning and in the chaos of things, no one ordered it (although I was under the impression that it had been ordered). So I’m going old school style because I don’t have my smart board that I can use to project my lessons on! Ack.

That sounds awfully complainy – I really am happy and satisfied with how things are going. It’s just been one of those weeks!" 

I am fairly certain that sums up my life right now. I am seriously embarrassed at how I reacted to the whole missing ipad thing. When I brought my 4th period students in for a poorly executed interrogation, one student said, "Don't cry Ms. Damron! Everything will be okay." Another student looked at me and calmly said, "Ms. Damron, the worst case scenario is that someone stole the iPad." He further explained that said thief could have put the ipad in a locker or placed it somewhere hidden where it would not be discovered. It was kind of cute. 

That same girl who told me not to cry stopped by 7th period and asked if I had found the ipad. She sounded very concerned. 

I really do have great students. I love teaching. (Really - I'm not just saying that to make up for the apparent stress that my job/current emotional state sometimes incurs.)

-Ms. Damron-