Restart

Today was rough, particularly the morning. We all needed a restart on the day, even me.

It started with me not being able to wake my computer up. At first I thought the mouse batteries had died (I recently got a wireless mouse), which seemed odd since I've only been using it for a week. But sometimes batteries are faulty, so I figured I'd try new batteries. In the meantime, three students arrived around 7:50am.

After putting new batteries in, nothing changed. So I tried connecting the old mouse to the computer. I tried changing which USB port I plugged it into. Nothing worked. I could hear the computer recognizing the mouse being plugged in, but the screen wasn't showing any connection. By this time, the first bus had arrived and students were clamoring all the questions they had about our new student teacher, if there was anything for them to work on, etc. I got increasingly frustrated because I needed to print things for the week, prep an English lesson, and pull up their Daily 5 rounds chart so they could choose what they were going to do later in the morning. Sigh.

I called the IT guys next. Thankfully he answered. He had to talk me through the process of checking for a transmitter box under my computer, then pushing various buttons until something came up on my screen. In the meantime, my students were getting on each others nerves, talking, running around the room... I had to keep pausing to redirect them. Finally I pushed enough buttons my computer came back to life, right around 8:30 when we were supposed to start school. I had thought our student teacher was coming between 8-8:15am this morning, so the whole class was on edge (with excitement) waiting for her to come. But she didn't come until 10am, which made sense with what I'd seen of her schedule a long time ago (only Mr. E got sent her contact info/schedule for some reason, so I had to go on memory). 

Needless to say, I was frustrated and crabby starting the day. I tried not to snap at my kids, but my tone was not its usual chipper self. When we finally got our day started, it was a good teachable moment for me to tell them how I was feeling and that I needed to take a break to restart my mood. We all put our heads on our desks for 10 seconds, then had devotions. While the break helped me, it did not settle them. So halfway through religion we paused to run a lap around the gym. After only 20 minutes of school, I was winning the tally war with four tallies to zero. 

Things did turn around after lunch. By the end of the day we were tied. Still, they were crazy enough that Miss S commented on their behavior at lunchtime, "They sure have a lot of energy!" Yes, yes they do. Mondays are always rough, plus a cold front is moving in/through, so I'm sure the barometric pressure didn't help. Still, prayers for a better day tomorrow are appreciated!