News at Home: The Power of Positive Thoughts
Positive thoughts really do work, because y’all I had a good week! Has work gotten better in terms of administration or hours I have to work or respect or anything? Ummmm… no. It’s as bad as ever. But I’ve chosen to ignore that fact as much as possible and it’s working. Every morning I do this program called Miracle Morning (I blogged about it a while ago) and part of it is affirmations. I decided it was time to write some new affirmations that focused on getting the negative running commentary out of my head and replacing all that with the positive — that I’m good at my job, I have a great group of kids, I will be successful this year, I am going to start a new amazing school, etc. And yeah, it worked. I’m going to keep that up this week.
I have one student in my class that is definitely trying my patience, but he’s improving every day by bounds and leaps. I mean two weeks ago he thought an appropriate way to deal with his anger was to run out of the school! And this past week he didn’t even try that once. A big part of improving student behavior is relationships, which is why the beginning of the year with these kids is hard because relationships don’t happen over night, you have to build them. But I’ve put a lot of work into him now and I get several hugs from him (and all my kiddos) every day. I already love them and they tell me they love me all the time. I’m telling you, this COULD be my best year ever if I just find a way to ignore the other shit going on.
As much as I love my kids, this has to be the lowest group academically I’ve had ever. So many started the year unable to even recognize their names, let alone write them or hold a pencil correctly or identify their letters or numbers. We’ve got a lot of work to do – out of 22 students I have only 6 that are on grade level or above right now. That’s a very very small percentage. I’m a bit nervous because I know I’m going to be expected to deliver the same results I have other years with kids who start at a higher point. But I’ve already started to see a lot of growth – 2 of my kids who couldn’t recognize their name can now write it, 1 can write all be the last letter and 1 consistently writes the first letter at least. So we’re making progress! I’m pushing hard to get to more independent stations faster than normal so that I can start working with my kids in small group on a daily basis, that’s how I’m going to get them where they’ve got to go. So fingers crossed!
I know I’ve only talked work really — but that is my life right now! We had Parent Orientation this week, so I was at work late every day but Monday… the night I work at my gym. So yeah not a lot of extra time. I did have book club this week and it was really nice to see everyone, even if I hadn’t read the books :/
Blog News
I am happy with how I’m doing at visiting – it’s far from perfect, but I made it to blogs Monday – Wednesday this week. Thursday I overslept and Friday I had to go to work early. Saturday is a day off for me from everything, but I plan to do lots of visiting and blogging today.
#FitReaders Update
I’m really excited because of a few things this week:
- I realized that I’m not obsessing over the scale anymore. I weigh every few days AND the scale is moving down still! Very excited to see my 10 pound weight loss goal for this month already getting close!
- I got back to the gym last week and had some cramps so I didn’t push much this week. But when I went I felt great and able to do so much more than I could BEFORE my surgery. I’m really excited about my progress.
- I bought some new clothes this weekend and everything I bought ranged from a Medium to a … wait for it… XXS. Yes y’all, I bought a couple things that are xxs and they fit perfectly! Of course sizing is variable, but never in my wildest dreams would I have even tried an XXS in the past.
Last Week on the Blog
- [10 Sep] Just a Few Amore Reads by Bella Jewel
- [10 Sep] Amore: Part 1 by Bella Jewel ★★★★
- [10 Sep] Amore Part 2 by Bella Jewel ★★★★★
- [11 Sep] Task It Tuesday! ~ #Taskittues #bloggiesta
- [12 Sep] Bubbly Berls is Babbling about: What Keeps you Blogging?
- [14 Sep] Bookish Recommendations – Five on Friday #RH! 🙂 Part 1
- [16 Sep] Sunday Post with Berls | The Power of Positive Thoughts
- [16 Sep] I smell change and it smells amazing ~ WIR & SP
Coming Next Week From Me
I’m not sure. I’m looking at a couple reviews and a discussion post, so we’ll see. My approach right now is to not pressure myself 🙂
Positive thinking is definitely the way to go – especially about things that you can’t really change! Glad it’s working for you! I have a good friend who is a kindergarten teacher and she has the same issue this year. She keeps saying “they’re just babies”. She said normally when she gets them kids can at least write their name or at least recognize it and have a basic grasp on colors and letters but this year that’s not been the case. Congrats on the clothes shopping! I love a good NSV victory! Hope you’re having a great week!
Yea!! So glad you had a better week and that your positive mental attitude is helping you. And *high fives* on the weight loss, new clothes and such. Woo hoo! I had a better week last week – making most of my fitness goals, and while I didn’t do great on my dietary goals, I was still better than the week before.
Thanks Jen! *high five* right back at ya! Improvement is good, even if it’s not perfection. Hope this week is off to a great start for you.
I hope the positive thinking goes well, I need to start doing a bit of that myself.
It really does a make a difference to just determine in your mind that things are good and believe it. I can feel the difference.
The beginning of the year is so hard! I am a rapport teacher as well-I rely on my rapport with my student to help with discipline and everything and it takes time to build that! We had meet the teacher night this week. Its exhausting for sure! Hang in there and good luck!
Agreed! Building that rapport makes such a difference and it takes time. Less with the little kids than the older but still! We had meet the teacher too – and yeah, so exhausting. Let’s hope this week is less exhausting at the least!!
I’m so happy what a positive and productive week you had. Keep it up! Anne – Books of My Heart
Thanks Anne! I hope you have a great week 😁
Good luck with the positive thinking! My mom was a teacher when I was growing up, so I know it can be a frustrating, thankless, low-paying job. Congratulations on the weight loss! Have a great week.
Thank you AJ. It can be all those things for sure! Hope you have a great week as well 🙂