Spring in my step

Ah, yes, it's true. It's Wednesday night and I have nowhere to be, nothing to do (officially) until Monday. This is, of course, the last time this will happen until mid-June. I celebrated today by doing my taxes and doing some classroom spring cleaning, which meant finally tossing some classwork from Thanksgiving. No recycling at school, so I lug it home one trash bag at a time and jam it into our teeny house recycling bin. Next year I have designs on some sort of school-wide program, but for now its all I can do to make sure my copious numbers of Diet Coke cans don't end up in a landfill.

I've already read two books over the break, both good, neither one educationally related. The first, Expecting Adam, was a joyous, witting and life-affirming account of the birth of a child with Down's Syndrome. If anyone is in need of some spirit (or Spirit) lifting, definitely check it out. The other book, Into the Wild was non-fiction, and not something I would ordinarily pick-up. It chronicles the last months and years of Christopher McCandless, the young man who gave up all of his worldly possessions and walked into the Alaskan wilderness, dying of starvation a few months later. Though it seemed grim at the outset, my aunt assured me that it was not, and she was right. Fascinating, puzzling and at times painful though it was, it was not depressing. The most interesting thing that I found about the book was the author's voice, which was apparent throughout. I will suffice it to say that the author was much more than a neutral party in the story's telling.

My next book to swallow whole this break is Setting Limits in the Classroom. I was recently criticized, rather harshly, for my control in the classroom, and I am interested in reading this book because I know that I need to improve, but I refuse to give in to the suggestions that I "make the students sit down" or "be more strict, even if some of them are your favorites." I know that there has to be a better way, and I intend to find it. I have another book, called the Pre-Referral Intervention Manual or PRIM that was given to me at the principal of my last school, at a time when I was in waaaay too far over my head to feel like I could analyze individual student behaviors. Now, I have the time and energy for that, and this book is perfect. It is basically a catalog of problem behaviors exhibited by students, with 50+ suggestions on what to try with the student before referring them to the office. Which is good, because I have determined that the way I will know if I have mastered behavior management is if a) I no longer raise my voice, ever and b) I don't send kids to the office...unless I, for the third day in a row, forgot to put out my attendance sheet.