Last week was tough and I knew the tough week was going to have a really tough ending. Wednesday I taught perhaps the worst Math lesson of my career about placing fractions with unlike denominators on a number line. I took everything back from the kids and told them I would redo the lesson on Monday.Knowing how hard a week it would be, I had arranged for a sub and took a personal day on Thursday. I was in charge of Lit. night Thursday evening and had to present about close reading to the staff on Friday morning.
While I was home, I got some disappointing news. Not bad news, but something I had hoped for hadn’t worked out. I was far more upset about it than I expected to be and was glad I’d been home to receive it.
Lit night went well,despite the fact that the person in charge of getting the snacks forgot and had to run out between his after school club and the start of the event. I had assigned myself a plum job: sitting at the greeters’ table, making sure families signed in and offering the kids their choice of a non-fiction book to take home and add to their home libraries. It was the perfect job for that night because I didn’t really feel like mingling for fear I might burst into tears at my disappointment.
The next morning, I was the third of four presenters and, fortunately, I ha the funny part, sharing the book Shark Attack
and talking about close reading strategies using intentional read alouds and shared reading with non-fiction. I didn’t feel at the top of my game, but, once things got rolling, it went OK.
By 11:30 on Friday, when our presentation ended, I was exhausted.
A quiet weekend helped me get some perspective and ready to face this week, which had a really great start. I redid the fractions lesson and it went well. What a difference a day makes!
booksandbassets 
Your resilience is a celebration! Putting fractions with unlike denominators on a number line sounds like enough to make me cry! I love how you took the messy stuff, the sad stuff, and regrouped to begin a good week. You made the difference. Lovely reflection on bad to good:)
Unfortunately, bad things do happen. Sometimes it is hard to put on a happy front when that is the last thing we feel like doing. I congratulate you on turning around and turning bad into good. Hope you have a happy week.
I empathize with that need for perspective–and with being far more upset by disappointing news that you would normally be. These tough weeks are so draining. So smart to recognize that you needed a day to gather yourself. I hope this week is much better!