Being a teacher is sometimes like a recurring nightmare where you are being chased by a monster. The monster is failure.....failure to reach your students and give them what they need, failure to come up with engaging lessons, failure to integrate technology into your classroom, failure to get your grades in on time....you get the picture. Many days you leave school looking over your shoulder for that monster because you just didn't get enough done!

So how do you deal with spooky monsters like that? It's complicated, but I think that a basic strategy includes this:

1. Accept that you're human. You're one person and you have to sleep and eat and have some fun and spend time with your own family/friends. There's nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself. Actually you're a much healthier person if you do.

2. Recognize things you can change and things you can't. Are you going to be able to fix the entire public school system this year? Nope. It's OK to acknowledge the problems we have, but don't let them make you feel helpless! Be realistic about the change you can make happen! You can design a lesson where kids get up and move around and have fun. You can't give yourself a raise.

3. Own your successes no matter how small they are. Did you make your students laugh and smile at you? That's awesome. That may be the only time that student feels good about themselves all day. Did one kid ask you a really deep question that let you know they were really thinking about your class? Wow...Give yourself props. It's hard to get a middle school kid to care enough to think about something!

Jack-O-Lanterns Photo by Beth Teutschmann

Pumpkin Guts Photo By Shaun Holloway

• Student Information Spreadsheet - Please check the Student Information Folder in the HMS Team Drive to find important information about students!

• Enotes - Everyone should have their Enotes List(s) set up by now so that you can be sending out regular reminders via text messages to parents. Check the Student Information Sheet (In HMS Team Drive) to see if a student declined Enotes or if they have not turned in their permissions sheet.

• Lesson Plans Reminder - I've had a few teachers having problems with writing and/or printing lesson plans on their Google Calendars. Please review the Entering & Printing Lesson Plans article in Hive Help if you are confused about this or need a refresher.

Remember - Four are required for the year AND one must be a REQUESTED Nepris Session!

Nepris - REQUEST A SESSION!!!!

Discovery Education Calendar of Virtual Field Trips

Connect 2 Texas Opportunities

• YAY!!! They have a new website!
• Remember some of these COST MONEY!!! Be careful when choosing!
• Use the tech info here to register!

Mystery Location Calls

G+eduhangout

Connected Classrooms

Google Hangouts in Education

Mystery Hangout

• These are groups of educators on Google+ looking to connect classrooms via Google Hangout and/or SKYPE to determine the class' mystery location in the world as well as other activities!

You can check out a webcam with a mic from the media center!

Reserve the multipurpose room with the big, nice conference camera here!

Don't forget to record your virtual learning activities on the sheet in the HMS Team Drive here!