These past couple of weeks have been somewhat trying at work. I spent last week filling out paperwork, making phone calls, and doing research for a meeting. This particular meeting was more difficult to organize than most. I had to find a way to cram meetings about 65 students into four class periods. First of all, there are about two weeks where all I do is send and receive e-mails to and from teachers about their students. Then, my next project is to compile those e-mails into an individual report for each student, listing teacher's concerns, interventions they have done, and interventions they would like our office to help with. I also had to talk to counselors, assistant principals, and sponsors and/or coaches, for all the students. Then came the fun part... my next project was to find attendance reports, current grades, and TAKS scores for every student. Needless to say, the work was tedious and it took a long time to get done. After all the research, feedback, and reports were done, it was time for me to set up the meetings. The meeting was set for this past Monday; for each meeting, we must have an assistant principal, an ESL teacher, a regular education teacher, and a parent representative in attendance. This, of course, meant making phone calls, working around four people's schedules and daily duties. I was able to find two parent representatives, schedule the assistant principals, and also find 35 teachers that had a conference period at the time the meeting was set. Then it was time to start filling out paperwork, proofread, spell check, and double check all my information.

When it was all said and done, I had invested about 80 hours of work, for a series of meetings that would last less than 10 minutes! I was so relieved when all was done... but it didn't last long... my supervisor found out on Friday, that she was to fill in for an assistant principal on maternity leave for the next 6 weeks, and that her time started on Monday... yes, the same Monday of the meeting that she absolutely had to be present in... And so, that is how I was put in charge of the meeting, with other ESL teachers filling in for my supervisor.

Usually, I stay in the background... I do all the "grunt" work, and when the time for the meeting comes, I just have to make sure everyone has a pen to sign papers, I check that there are enough snacks/candy for everyone in the meeting, and I do last-minute changes to the paperwork... this time around, I had to do all that, plus lead the meeting, propose interventions, take notes, and keep the meeting moving along in a timely manner. In other words... run like crazy from place to place and keep a clear head and a happy look on my face...

After four looong hours, the meeting was over, the paperwork signed, and my feet hurting... I was so exhausted and just wanted to go somewhere and lay down (I also had to finish two final projects, and take one final exam for my college classes during the weekend) to rest, when the phone rang...

One of the assistant principals that were at the meeting called to compliment me on the way the meeting went... He said that I had been very knowledgeable about every student, that I gave good suggestions, and that he was very impressed with my performance... Not only did he call, he also sent me an e-mail saying the same thing... the e-mail was CC'd to the school principal, two associate principals, and my supervisor...

I've written all that to say this... a simple compliment changed the tone of my workweek... 80 work hours of which 50 were spent in front of a computer, and 4 hours of running around dissolved into nothing with one simple, unexpected compliment...

After all was said and done... I was happy to do all the work, because I learned that I am capable of so much more than what I think I am capable of... I now know that no small or large project goes unnoticed, and that sooner or later, someone will take notice and say "thank you", or "great job"... a compliment means so much...

I am grateful that all that is over, and that my work was recognized and complimented... I only hope to get better at it...