celebrate good times, cmon!

i am on top of the world. pssa scores came in early. a little birdy [aka s] told me where i just might be able to locate my own. and those comparable from the rest of the middle schools in the district. at first, i thought it was to teach me a lesson. here, d, this is what your scores look like now as a new teacher, but look what you can achieve. look at the other 7th grade teachers. look at your 8th grade mentor. but then i realized why he showed me. obviously my mentor c kicked pssa ass. i hope in ten years to come close to her scores. i say "scores" but i really mean the skills and teaching abilities she has that brings her kids to that point. but the best part was 7th grade. not only did i break the goal barrier for the district, but i beat the rest of the district for 7th, by at least 8%. whaaaat? now i know i shouldnt be this giddy about the fact that i "beat" my colleagues in what is clearly not a "contest" or "game" of any kind. but as a new teacher, its extremely rewarding. im finally starting to believe what everyone has been telling me all year. im doing something right. my kids took this test so seriously. they showed up to school (on time even!) having eaten breakfast and gone to bed early. they asked questions and used the unraavel strategy. they wrote rough drafts and edited. they used reading skills and vocabulary strategies. and god, they took their time! they gave it a bazillion and one percent. and, if you remember my crazy rant, i near lost my mind. it was the most difficult week i can remember. the feeling of helplessness would not go away. i knew there was nothing i could do at that point. i had brought them to the water, but could not make them drink. i had shown them how and practiced with them. but they had to do it on their own. and THEY DID IT! its like having the most exciting news in the world and not being able to share it with anyone! i want to hug them all tomorrow and say, you did it! you rock! youre amazing! but i cant. i really shouldnt say much more, on the off chance that my superintendent (who thinks my name is dana and i used to work for the 100book challenge corporation) might stumble across my wee little blog and realize im leaking confidential state testing information. yikes! regardless, ill be sleeping on cloud nine tonight. WAHOO!