jenanderson
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2003
- Messages
- 2,965
Today was a day with huge challenges and huge successes. Hmmm...how to make the story short???
I woke up - did my pilates AND did my couch to 5K walk/run. I was really feeling pleased with myself for not sleeping in and doing what I had promised myself I would do.
Here's where it gets messy - I checked my e-mail and discovered one from a parent. The e-mail basically said that they did not agree with the homework I sent home and they did not allow their child to do the homework AND that they wanted a meeting to talk about the homework. This is a child who really struggles with math computation as well as recalling information from previous units. The homework was a simple math review worksheet!!!! My whole class was given this math sheet. We had just started a new unit, they had no math homework to go with that so I thought it was a great opportunity for a review.
When I get to school, the parent calls me and talks for 25 minutes about what they think it is okay for me to give for homework as well as what they will allow their child to do in class. She tells me that I cannot have her child doing flash cards - EVER - in class. This is a 4th grade student who does not know their math facts. I spend 5 minutes, 3 days a week having student play flash card games to help improve their multiplication and division facts. Nope, they don't want him doing that.
There is so much more to the story, including a meeting after school that lasted 1 1/2 hours and solved nothing. Here are the important parts though. I was mad at first, I was hurt by the fact that I do a lot for this child and their parents are always complaining, I felt totally disrespected and I was very stressed to start my day this way. I knew it could potentially be a bad day. First thing I did when I got off the phone in the morning was to pack up all the snacks and treats in my classroom and bring them to another teacher's office so that I would not be tempted. I know that I am an emotional eater and this was enough to push me into opening the Twix candy packs! I also took 10 minutes of our class reading time for silent reading and played some instrumental music my students like. I took this time to really breathe deep and focus on not letting the stress impact my whole day.
Finally, when I got home, I knew it had been a horrible day so back on the treadmill I went. I walked for 75 minutes! I will be honest about it all...I walked, I read the book "Marathoning for Mortals" and I drank 1 light beer!!! My family laughed so hard at the sight of it all. It made me feel great though! By the time I got off the treadmill, I felt like the stress of the day was gone.
Alright, that was such a long story I will try to be brief with the rest.
Exercise: 95 minutes walking/10 minutes running on treadmill, pilates
Water: 10 glasses
Veggies and Fruit: Yep
Time for me: tons - it was great to read and relax on the treadmill tonight.
Food: Used all 24 of my WW points today but no flex points or exercise points. I eat almost the same breakfast and lunch everyday so it is boring to list that. For dinner we had homemade chili. I like rice in my chili and next time I think I am going to try brown rice.
My quote tonight is one that a WISH friend shared with me...
Dead Last Finish
is greater than
Did Not Finish
which greatly trumps
Did Not Start
Night everyone!!!
Jen
I woke up - did my pilates AND did my couch to 5K walk/run. I was really feeling pleased with myself for not sleeping in and doing what I had promised myself I would do.
Here's where it gets messy - I checked my e-mail and discovered one from a parent. The e-mail basically said that they did not agree with the homework I sent home and they did not allow their child to do the homework AND that they wanted a meeting to talk about the homework. This is a child who really struggles with math computation as well as recalling information from previous units. The homework was a simple math review worksheet!!!! My whole class was given this math sheet. We had just started a new unit, they had no math homework to go with that so I thought it was a great opportunity for a review.
When I get to school, the parent calls me and talks for 25 minutes about what they think it is okay for me to give for homework as well as what they will allow their child to do in class. She tells me that I cannot have her child doing flash cards - EVER - in class. This is a 4th grade student who does not know their math facts. I spend 5 minutes, 3 days a week having student play flash card games to help improve their multiplication and division facts. Nope, they don't want him doing that.
There is so much more to the story, including a meeting after school that lasted 1 1/2 hours and solved nothing. Here are the important parts though. I was mad at first, I was hurt by the fact that I do a lot for this child and their parents are always complaining, I felt totally disrespected and I was very stressed to start my day this way. I knew it could potentially be a bad day. First thing I did when I got off the phone in the morning was to pack up all the snacks and treats in my classroom and bring them to another teacher's office so that I would not be tempted. I know that I am an emotional eater and this was enough to push me into opening the Twix candy packs! I also took 10 minutes of our class reading time for silent reading and played some instrumental music my students like. I took this time to really breathe deep and focus on not letting the stress impact my whole day.
Finally, when I got home, I knew it had been a horrible day so back on the treadmill I went. I walked for 75 minutes! I will be honest about it all...I walked, I read the book "Marathoning for Mortals" and I drank 1 light beer!!! My family laughed so hard at the sight of it all. It made me feel great though! By the time I got off the treadmill, I felt like the stress of the day was gone.
Alright, that was such a long story I will try to be brief with the rest.
Exercise: 95 minutes walking/10 minutes running on treadmill, pilates
Water: 10 glasses
Veggies and Fruit: Yep
Time for me: tons - it was great to read and relax on the treadmill tonight.
Food: Used all 24 of my WW points today but no flex points or exercise points. I eat almost the same breakfast and lunch everyday so it is boring to list that. For dinner we had homemade chili. I like rice in my chili and next time I think I am going to try brown rice.
My quote tonight is one that a WISH friend shared with me...
Dead Last Finish
is greater than
Did Not Finish
which greatly trumps
Did Not Start
Night everyone!!!
Jen