I saw a friend of mine after the Winter Choir Concert who has beaten breast cancer. She is an amazingly sunny-outlook person. She allowed herself to be sad and angry and ask "why me?" only one day...then she went for the radiation and kicked cancer's butt. I said to her how much I admired her because always being positive is hard. We both had a good teary hug after that.

I got called into the VP office's Friday afternoon."There is a complaint that your classroom is too noisy." I was stunned. Not stunned at all that my classroom is too noisy...I am a sucker for the ADHD student needing to move around...I am a sucker for the enthusiastic shout out...I speak loudly...I have a high tolerance for active learning. What was stunning is that the student never spoke to me directly. The counselor who brought the complaint to the principal's attention never brought the complaint directly to me. That is what hurts.

I am in a new school, with new ways of doing things. I want to take responsibility that I have not provided for a student an environment that works for him or her too. I am always sitting on the fence between squashing a student's spirit and getting more help (ie referrals or phone calls home if the evil eye and one to one conversations in the hall do not work). I admit this fallibility of mine.

The VP asked me to come back on Monday with a plan. I ordered Teach Like a Champion. I read some websites, checked Edutopia. I know an engaging lesson takes care of its own discipline. And I need more information.

My 27th year of teaching, and I am still hanging in there, I am still loving it, and boy, do I still have a lot to learn.