Happy School Year!

I'll admit it, I'm a complete sucker for the Frosted Mini-Wheats television commercials.  They're clever and adorable, and their "Your Eight Layers Are Showing" catch phrase makes me giggle.  They also do a great job at helping to bring attention to Kellogg's desire to give kids a filling breakfast and start their school days off right.

These little guys are always talking about having eight layers.  Aren't we all a little like that?   Perhaps not in the literal sense, but aren't we all composed of layers?  I am.  I am teacher, co-worker, employee, citizen, daughter, friend, and mother all wrapped in an outer layer of the complete "me."

The Mini-Wheats guy's newest commercial is modeled after a New Year's Eve celebration, where the little Mini-Wheats guys are riding to the first day of a new school year on the shoulders of the students.  They are discussing their School Year's Resolutions, to "keep the kids full and focused," and it got me thinking: Why don't we all make School Year's Resolutions?  I think it would be a great idea for any of us who are involved with kids or school -- parents, teachers, teaching aides, other school personnel, even the kids themselves!

I've decided to do it, for myself.  I've been thinking about aspects of my life, inside and outside of work, that are affected by my job at the school.  I know that making too many resolutions will make it harder to keep any of them and, therefore, make those resolutions more likely to be forgotten.

After much thought, I have condensed my resolution down to one word that may very well become my mantra this year:

Patience.

• I'll have a new supervisor to report to at work this year, and it'll take some patience as we all learn to work together efficiently for the benefit of the students.
• Instead of working with the teacher I was with last year, I'll be working with 4 different teachers in the course of each school day, and I'll have to be patient while I learn what works best in each different classroom setting and for each of these teachers.
• Several of the classes I'll be working in are math classes, never my strongest subject, and I'll have to be patient as I relearn some math techniques that I haven't had to use in years...certainly not things I remember well enough to teach them to students.
• Since I work with students with a variety of learning disabilities, personality disorders, and other handicaps, I have to maintain a lot of patience during the day in my interactions with my students.
• Perhaps most importantly, I have to try to keep the stresses at work from coming home with me and causing me to lose patience with Kaleb unnecessarily.  He's 2 years old now, so that takes enough patience, even without the added stresses of a job in education.

So, here's hoping all my teacher, school staff, and student friends have a great school year this year.  Remember to practice patience.  Any of you setting your own School Year's Resolutions?  Leave a message below and tell me all about it!

Happy School Year!