I've been called a lot of things... Grace, clumsy, accident prone, etc. I've only ever had one name in the internet world, however (Zoot). Zann can attest to that for she's known me from the first day of my technological journey. Why do they call me Zoot? Meet my namesake.

Assessment has finally ended. I feel I can function at a normal level again now that some big-wig from the state department isn't breathing down my neck. I've not heard the final outcome of the visit yet, but I was informed of one, and only one, complaint the assessor had with my room.

Apparently, she wasn't thrilled that I had all of the children doing an art project together at the same time yesterday. I know full well that the system would rather me have a handful of kids doing the project while the rest are dispersed throughout the rest of the room, partaking in various other tasks. You know what I say to that? Bight me.

I've found the kids really enjoy doing projects all together. They enjoy being on the same page as everyone else. Quite frankly, it's easier for me to do things this way because I can do an entire project in an hours time, instead of doing the same project six times with six different groups of children. (If you're a frequent visitor to the site, you'll also remember that 95% of the time I'm in the room by myself, running the projects alone because my co-workers are off gallivanting down Myrtle Avenue.) I don't have to hear, "I want to do art toooooo...." or "When is it my turn???" three hundred times. I also don't have to divide my attention and pretend I have sixteen eyes that work independently to watch all the other activities going on in the classroom.

At any rate, I'm sure the assessor made the comment just to have something to complain about because she couldn't find anything else to write up. All that matters is that the kids are happy, my room is running smoothly, and I'm not pulling my hair out. Being a teacher means finding what works for each child... not following some "rule" some self-proclaimed higher being who spends most of his/her time in an office no where near children declared lord only knows how many years ago.

And that's all I have to say about that.