Triumphs and Fails

This is a structure I've borrowed from a parenting podcast that I often listen to, "Mom and Dad are Fighting." The original contributors began every episode with an anecdote that fell into either category. Dan Kois typically shared a triumph. Alison Benedikt, not Dan's wife by the way, had a more self-deprecating approach and shared a lot of fails in her time.

Triumphs of the Day

I...

• conferred with each reader in my ATSS group this morning.
• made it to a morning meeting and class on time, prepared for both.
• returned papers to every student today with comments and suggestions.
• challenged students to vary their word choice and gave them time to do so.
• distributed prizes to a school-wide writing contest and interviewed each winner about his/her inspiration.
• met with a librarian about tomorrow's lesson and organized book choices for the unit theme.
• selected six finalists to move on in this year's oratorical contest and posted the news online.
• emailed parents about an upcoming unit and a writing opportunity.
• ran three miles with my dog and gave her a quick play break at the dog park in between.
• made vegetarian dinner for my boys, read stories to the youngest.
• put laundry away (full disclosure: my husband finished and folded it all last night, godblesshim).
• made a Google survey for my team about an upcoming event before I opened Teacher Town.

Fails of the Day

I...

• pushed my snooze button about six times.
• worshiped my cup of coffee like I would God, which I understand is a sin.
• finished planning my remediation lesson about 45 seconds before the kids walked in the door.
• didn't make time to eat breakfast or lunch, so I shoved a granola bar in my mouth between my two classes to keep from passing out.
• realized I forgot to grade that one students' essay while I was passing out papers because I shoved it to the bottom of the stack because it needed so much work, but he was the kid who needed the revision tips the most and had to wait ten minutes while other students asked me one hundred questions before I could get his marked up paper back. Plus, I don't even think that's the first time that's happened over the years, just not with the same kid.
• didn't actually put all of the folded laundry away--just the layers that were almost falling out of the basket.
• threw stuff in the recycling bin without rinsing it.
• let my youngest watch two shows instead of one on Netflix while I made dinner.
• failed to select just one moment of my day, but relied on a list format to unpack the whole day even if it might as well be a brainstorm.

Oddly enough, this list of triumphs alongside the fails makes me feel better about my shortcomings because, damn, life is imperfect. And damn, life is busy. Just getting by should be triumph enough for anyone, people.