Jack of all trades

I've been covering for many teachers and staff at school. I love it. One teacher called me a Jack-of-all-Trades. I've covered in some instances only for a few minutes here or there but it helps and it's fun. I've covered in music, gym, at recess(for the whole time), in the kitchen, in the lunchroom, in the classroom, at storytime, and loading the children on the busses. This week, some of the children have been unreasonably rowdy and even volitile. Several tantrums in my classroom as well as other teachers dealing with the same bahavior in theirs. We've had to close our classroom door to get some quite from other students tantrums or whatnot. I'm guessing it has something to do with all the children spending this last weekend indoors because of the cold and rain all weekend. Today was warm and they were outdoors for recess. We had a new girl helping at recess today. She couldn't believe how overwhelming it was. She hardly knew which way to look. Of course today we had extra kids at noon recess because we only had a half day of school and the pre-K and Kindergarten and to wait to leave on the busses with the older kids. At recess we had the pre-K through 3rd grade outside at once with only two teachers. It WAS overwhelming, even for me and knowing many of the children's names already.
Speaking of knowing the names. I'm surprised at how quickly I'm learning their names. I usually have a hard time with peoples names let alone children. I'm trying really hard to learn the names with the faces and it's coming a lot faster that I ever expected. It's exciting to see what I can do when I try. All in all I'm so excited about being with children again. I knew I belonged here. Too bad my last teaching experience scared me away so badly. That's 8 years of teaching lost.

Went to Physical Therapy today. I sprained my right ankle in February when I fell on some ice and landed on it. Then 4 weeks later I did the same exact move and heard/felt the crunch. It bruised a second time and since the first, let alone second time, it has felt quite wobbly, weak, and tender. I've been wearing a brace since late March and trying to ween off of it. At the PT today he told me that I had torn the ligiments such that they will not ever be as stable or reattach. Also, the joint did not go back completely to where it should be. He's going to try to help it realign properly and then all that I can do is to strengthen surrounding muscles to help compensate for the loss. It's been frustrating and painful. Well I came home with a resistance band and 6 exercises to do and I'm supposed to go back twice a week for a while. This is not an easy injury to deal with when I'm on my feet all day at school and sometimes even chasing little 4 and 5 yr olds. I hope it gets strong this summer so that next school year will be easier. Also, I am NOT wearing this hot, stiff, brace all summer long. I just HAVE to do those exercises as much as I can. Tonight though, my ankle is swollen, tender, and throbbing from the working it got today.
Busy, sore, and lovin it.