Day 3: A Person Who Has Impacted Your Life in Some Way This Year & Day 4: Something You've Learned This Year

Day 3:  A Person Who Has Impacted Your Life in Some Way This Year

A person who has impacted my life this year is the principal at my school, Mrs. Donna Bambic.  She has been there for me since the very beginning of the school year and has always answered my questions, no matter how silly they sometimes seem.  She has assisted me with students, presentations, parent meetings, and many other things.  Not that I am trying to make excuses or anything, but going from teaching high school French for 10 ½ years and then going to a school counselor position at a K-4 elementary building is a BIG jump.  I also really enjoy Donna because she tells it like it is, with both staff and students.  Hmm, I think I know someone else who does that! J  Another thing that I like is that she is not afraid to push me out of my comfort zone.  For example, I received an e-mail at the beginning of the very first week of school that said, “Please have an anti-bullying presentation prepared by Friday so that you can present it to our students in grades 1-4!”  Talk about baptism by fire!  She had me hit the ground running and I don’t think that I’ve stopped since.  I feel that she has had a huge impact on my professional life and in my personal life as well, as she has told me several times that family always comes first.  I had to leave halfway through the day on the second day of school because my daughter had her 9 month well visit, and she didn’t hesitate at all when I told her I would have to leave work early because of it.  She just told me that she was sure I’d make up the time eventually (which I am more than certain by this point that I have).  She is a great leader, well-respected, and a person who truly cares about what is best for the students and the staff in her school.  

Day 4:  Something You’ve Learned This Year

My husband and I have always had a friendly debate over education.  Until this past school year, I had always worked at the secondary/high school level.  This is his ninth year teaching and he has always been in an elementary setting (grades K-3).  We would always talk about which grade levels had more work to do-elementary or high school.  I always insisted that high school teachers had more work to do, as most of the time we have 2, 3, or 4 preps (I almost always had 3 preps-usually French I, II and III-there were maybe 2 years out of the almost 11 that I taught French that I only had 2 preps), grading, photocopying, etc.  He would argue with me that elementary school teachers had more work to do, as they essentially have 4 different “preps” each day, with reading/spelling/phonics, math, science, and social studies.  At the high school level we usually had 1 planning period that was almost 50 minutes long and then another “duty period” which in essence was another almost 50 minute planning period.  My husband said that they only got planning when their students went to specials, like art, music, or PE and then if they either came in to school early or stayed late.  I usually pooh-pooed his idea of elementary education being more difficult, and went on believing that high school teachers worked so much harder.  

Now, after almost an entire semester spent working in an elementary building, I can say that he was the one who was correct in this argument.  Elementary school teachers bust their asses EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  The majority of them are at school way early and a lot stay way late to get their work done, get ahead in planning lessons, or get caught up from underneath the slew of paperwork that they have to grade.  They spend more of what I would consider “quality” time with their students where the students are truly engaged in the learning process.  When I worked at the high school, many (if not most) of the teachers were out the door at 2:30, when we were allowed to leave.  Yes, there were (and are) some that stayed late and also arrived early, but I see way more of that at the elementary level.  

This distinction and fact is definitely something that I have learned this year and that I have already shared with my husband.  He was happy to have been right about something for once.  J