long division.

tomorrow, i am teaching long division. and as i sit here, wasting time, i realize how much life is like long division. its difficult, tricky, and you never know where to put the dang numbers. weak analogy, i know (and i call myself a teacher...), but really though. aren't all of our lives a little bit like a division problem? we are trying to divy up our time into equal parts, prioritizing and constantly moving things around, just trying to make it work. thats pretty much how my life is right now. im just trying to make things work. i think my class is too comfortable around me (they were chatty cathys today), im tired as heck, and i really want to be a better teacher. as we speak ive spent two solid hours working and have nothing tangible to show for it. and i think to myself, this must be what my students feel like when they can't figure out some difficult math problem. they are fed up and frustrated, never having figured out how things should work. me and my kids have a lot more in common than i ever even realize.
the high point of my day came when i was in a training session. it was a powerpoint presentation (TFA's preferred mode of transmitting information) and up on one slide popped a picture of three of my students standing in line. the students were tommie, trayvious, and al'nika. they were smiling, and it almost looked like their chests were puffed out with pride. people commented on how great they were walking in the hallways, and how well behaved they were, especially compared to their older counterparts. it made me SO happy that my kids would look so proud to be standing so well for OUR classroom. cute little kiddos.
so, all i want to do is crawl into my bed and watch the bachelorette. what i will do, however, is prep MAJOR for my lesson tomorrow. looks like yours truly is getting filmed and observed by no less than 4 people tomorrow. this is going to be the longest 45 minutes of my life.