We hired a permanent (or semi-permanent) aide. She has been very helpful. Her keen eye has caught many learning errors kids have. She works very closely with two of my kiddos, and the rest of the alphabet kids. The downside is she is a Type A personality that likes to be in charge. She is capable of running over my teaching partner, my teammate (during Science and Social Studies) and me. I know she means well, but sometimes it is hard to take.
On top of all of all the usual stuff, yesterday arrived with a two hour delay.
A half hour later, when my kids were back just getting settled, here comes the principal for drop in eval number 1.
I wanted to close my door at lunch and cry. My aide wouldn't leave and I had kids in reading at recess. I had three lovely ladies show up to do a Lunch Bunch on the book Liar, Liar by Gary Paulsen. They had made my day. I still had an IEP, reading buddies, a stack of papers to grade and copying to do during planning.
Dismissal couldn't come soon enough. I whined to my teammate about how hard the day had been, and went back to grab my stuff to go home. A quick check of my email caught me off guard. The principal had already sent notes on the visit! From what I could gather without his interpretation is "He gets it!" My attempt to salvage my crazy morning with my differentiation looked better than it felt to me. That, or my aide had told him she was worried I was packing up never to return. TGIF!
Hope your week was better than mine, and may your lemonade be only as tart as you like!