stressed!

The new school year has been on us now for almost eight weeks, and I just can't believe how fast it is going by.  I started to stress probably the night before school started on August 20, and I don't think the stress has left at all.  In fact, I know that it hasn't.  I've struggled with health issues since the start of the year, and the only explanation the doctor can give me is that it must be due to stress.  Wonderful!  How does a full-time teacher and mother of four get rid of stress?  I don't know, but if I ever find the answer, I will let you know.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my students, and I love the fun conversations we have in class.  This year I have the opportunity of teaching English Language Development, and it is the class I stress the most about, but it is the one I look forward to as well.  There are twelve students in the class, and ten are from Mexico.  I love to tell them I don't understand Spanish when they are speaking Spanish, and they laugh because I say it in Spanish to them.  My other two students are from Brazil, and fortunately, they understand enough to laugh at our jokes as well.  The best lesson I think we had in there so far was the day I took them to 7-Eleven to identify nouns.  They were so great!  They actually did the assignment I gave them because they wanted to` leave the school and do something different.  The funniest day we had was when our newest student arrived from Mexico.  I had the other students take turns telling him their names and where they were born.  Daniel (my joker) told him, "I'm Daniel, and I was born in the hospital."  I laughed so hard I cried!  Daniel is still struggling with forming complete sentences in English, but he knows how to have a good time, and he knows how to make us laugh.

With a class of twelve students, you think it would be my easiest, but it isn't.  I stress daily about what I am going to teach them and how well they will do with the assignments.  I am fortunate in that the district has purchased textbooks on various levels for each of the students, but that means I am preparing four different levels every other day for these students.  I've tried to have them work in groups, and I've tried to do it together as a whole class, and I've tried to have them work individually.  They still aren't getting it.  So, after today, when they asked if we could just have a free day, and I gave in because it was the last day before Fall break, I decided that I just can't prepare for four different levels any more.  I'm not sure what I am going to do, but somehow, I will be having all of them doing the same thing at the same time.  It will help them feel united, and it will keep my stress level down (I hope).

Now Fall break is here, and as I left the school today, I left thinking about my ELD students.  What can I do to get them all on the same level, but help them to develop as individuals and not hold them back as well?  Will they enjoy what I do with them or will they hate it?  I'm stressing about it, and I am supposed to have a four day vacation.  So, I've decided that I will spend some time thinking about them this weekend, and possibly plan a couple of novel units for them, but I will also try to relax and not stress.  In the end, I know the stress is all worth it, and I will continue to love my students and my job.