Halloween.

Helloween.

Hell.

wowoowowowowowowowowow. I now have a new-found appreciation for my elementary school teachers.

I am a firm believer that school should be fun for kids. When people have fun doing their job, they are generally more productive and morale is higher. The same thing applies to kids, but in an even greater sense. If they are totally bored and not enjoying what they are learning, then they won't retain nearly as much as when they are having some fun during the school day.

That said, Halloween is an f-ing crazy holiday to celebrate in school. Here's why:
1. There isn't much that is academic about Halloween. Sure, we can teach about the history of it and its origins, but this can only be taken so far. Plus, let's be real here, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with how Halloween is celebrated now, so it has no authentic context for the kids to relate to.
2. Classroom teachers have a LOT of responsibility. When you are the student, you don't realize all of the thousands of things running through a teacher's brain at all times. Between doing a head count every 5 minutes, running through the list of unique needs of each child, and keeping your eyes peeled to see which kids are off task, you're a very busy person. Oh, and did I mention you have to teach and be clear and answer all kinds of questions and be PATIENT at the same time? Yeah. So, throw into the mix 22 kids who are not at all focused on school for an entire morning, the promise of a party in the afternoon, and the need to supervise 7 classes of 24 students changing into costumes in 3 bathroom stalls ALL AT ONCE......yeah.
3. The parents. Oh lord have mercy. Everyone wants to be there to celebrate important moments with their child. But these are 5th graders. They've done this now for 11 years, and the parties dont' change much. I had upwards of 7 parents in my room for 2 hours in the afternoon. That sounds nice doesn't it? Except that in that neighborhood, you have to be careful what you say, how you address the kids, what you leave out on your desk - because they will find things and they will scrutinize and they will bash you on the soccer field.

Yeah, so Halloween is hell for teachers.

Other than that, I'm happy to report that it was a pretty good week. I have my second meeting with my principal next week, our first field trip (to the Lyric Opera!), a full day SMARTboard training, and a pretty serious meeting involving one of my kids, his parents, the principal, the social worker, and the kid's psychiatrist.

It's going to be an interesting week.