This has been a very very very very stressful month. Did I say very enough. It began very quietly enough and pleasant. Then I went to school on the third. Since that day, between the horrors of paying bills that are still not finished, the extremely busy school schedule, and the reoccurring headaches. I hope I make it to February 1st.
Bill Paying- I spent way too much on Christmas and my taxes are eating me alive. I don’t regret the money for Christmas, but I am furious about the taxes. Of course, Steve said it’s your fault, you voted for the extra tax. Well, that was 3 years ago. This raise in cost is because the new assessor decided we were not being charged enough before. The only bright spot is that my house is old and not new. One of my friends is paying double because they assessed her house for double the price. They kept telling her, “If you moved that house to Abbeville, you could sell it for that price.” She promptly told them. I can’t move it and where it is no one would pay that much! They built it the way they did because it was in a high flood zone. Oh well, such is bureaucracy.
Next School: We were scheduled this month five different visits from people to view what we are doing in our school. We have had to go into hyperspace speed to revamp our rooms while still teaching. I really shouldn’t complain, mine was fine already. But it put a lot of stress on me to be on my toes and do even better with the kids. Of course, I am doing the best I can do, but I was worried it wasn’t good enough. Three down and two to go. We did very well with their evaluations. The state one gave me a very nice review. The other two were not person specific. They were judging the school as a whole. But they did give Sandy and I a good response for the kindergarten. They were excited to see that we were teaching guided reading already and how well the children were reading. Now the next one is next week. It will strictly be during the reading time, and in the classroom. But we will be there during part of this time. So we will be under scrutiny again. This time by the man who wrote the reading program and some people from LSU. So stress elevation time again. Did I mention in between this, we must retest the entire school. The next group will be there on February 4th.
One more thing happened. We were informed in the middle of the week that we were in corrective action. Our grades were incorrectly scored in the beginning, so they did not know we had slipped. The two supervisors who are our DAT team (in english that means our assistants to getting out of this mess) tell us we really don’t have anything to worry about, since we are doing this wonderful reading program. Of course, it means more meetings. What makes this funny is that this is almost a completely different group of kids. Except for those that failed last year.
Last but not least is the headaches. I believe it is allergies, but from what I do not know. I can make guesses, but that is all they are. I take Tylenol Sinus Daytime and I seem to make it better. But once I get off, they come back again. Hopefully, it will get better. (By the way, I am also taking an allergy pill.)
If I make it through the rest of this year, everyone says it will be better. I certainly hope so. I won’t repeat that it can’t get worse, because it could. Until another day.