Catching up!

Who knew that Christmas Day would be the best time to catch up on my blog? But seeing as how I have a few hours to kill, here we go…

• I must apologize to you, blogosphere (all 4 of you who read this), for not posting since September. This year has been a crazy ride. Without going into major details, here is a summary of how things have been.
• I’m working more, my students are learning more.
• My average day in the school building starts at 6:30 and ends sometime between 6-7 pm.
• The majority of my time is spent on meetings, administrative tasks, yearbook, fieldtrip…not planning or teaching, which is frustrating.
• In addition to all of my roles listed in a previous post, I am not on the School Climate Committee (social stuff), the LEP Committee (for our students who don’t speak English as their first language), and the Bullying Prevention Committee.
• I’ve learned that nothing in education is permanent and nothing should be taken for granted. In this regard, when 2nd semester starts at the end of January, I’m losing 12 of my students and picking up 15 new students. I’m also no longer going to be teaching inclusion with my coteacher, Ms. Polk, which I’m VERY sad about.
• About a month ago, I would have told you that I 100% would be teaching a 3rd year at Northridge next year. Two weeks ago, I would’ve said I was 150% sure I would NOT be teaching a 3rd year. As of today, I’m very undecided and taking the break to do some soul-searching to try and figure something out. My current top three options for after TFA are now teaching a 3rd year, going to grad school (Vanderbilt is attracting me the most), or maybe going abroad for some reason/any reason.
• I have determined that my passion is working with the kids. I believe that education is the one thing keeping them from the opportunities that their more affluent peers (like my younger self) are afforded, and therefore want to stay on the side of education. But beyond that, the number one thing that gets me up in the morning and keeps me motivated is getting to mentor these kids and just show them a healthy relationship with an adult that cares about them.

In that regard,  would also like to provide a list of the things that keep me working hard for these kids, even when my school is in shambles. These are the reasons that I don’t let adults make me want to walk out the front doors on a daily basis:

• There is one student in particular, I’ll call him DF, who is my number one mentee this year. He has even referred to me as “another parent” to him. One night I got on my teacher Facebook page and saw that his status said “…had fun in math today thanks to Beza.”
• All the students fondly refer to me as C-beza, B-beza, just Beza, etc. I love having a nickname!
• One of my students bought me a really nice fleece pullover for Christmas. His mom is on our PTA and has told me that she has never known her son to enjoy a teachers class as much as he enjoys mine. And, for someone who was the lowest tested level (Level I) in 6th grade, he is doing so well and on track to passing with a Level III.
• Another one of my students actually got my number from his mom and called me last night to wish me a happy birthday! So thoughtful!
• This post on my Facebook for my birthday from one of my former students: “happy birthday 2 the best teacher nn the whole wide world ….. this your day enjoy it ….ILY mr. Cabeza lol”
• My most improved student is a girl I will call SH and she is the god-daughter of one of my coworkers. She was another one that got a low Level I last year, but she is actually on track to making a high Level III or even a Level IV, the highest level you can make on those tests.

I will leave you with pictures that document various happening over the last 3 months (both personal and school-related). One of my New Years resolutions is to blog more often so that when I do so it is less an over-arching summary and more of a anecdotal story here and there.

My 4th block Honors girls and I dressed up for Nerd Day as part of Homecoming Week.

After school at a football game! Go HAWKS!

Took two of my most hardworking students skating with Teach For America.

On Halloween as "Sir Gaga" with a prom-queen-version of Kelly Kapowski!

Caroline turned 1 over Thanksgiving Break! This is us at her birthday party!

Tacky Christmas party with great friends (yes, that girl on the left is wrapped in aluminum foil! haha)

Went to the ACC Championship thanks to a generous donor of Teach For America. Go Noles! (even though they lost)