Well, I DID make it through Monday, although by the end of the day I had a killer sinus headache and a next-to-nothing voice. Since Monday is a Battle of the Books day, instead of my usual dramatic reading of Frindle I had the kids choose parts and read a chapter like a play. They LOVED it!!! We switched the "narrator" every few pages because, like most novels, it is narration heavy. But it was the perfect way for me to rest my voice as well as a way to not only get the kids even more into the book, but to sneak in some fluency practice! Man I'm so tricky... ;) Anyways, after Battle, I pretty much went home and passed out for most of the evening. It was clear that I would not be making it into school Tuesday.
While my voice was pretty pathetic Monday, I was surprised to wake up Tuesday and find that I had NO voice at all! This has never happened to me, and I have to say it was a weird feeling. I could manage a whisper, but when I tried to speak in my normal voice, literally nothing would come out. When you're a talker like me, this is NOT a desirable situation. I decided it might be time to head to the Immediate Care at my doctor's, and I was lucky enough to get a doctor who is unopposed to "preventative" antibiotics. Yes, I know it's a bad idea to take antibiotics too often because you'll build up an immunity, but he must have sensed my pain and sent me home with a Z-pack prescription, a "stay home from work" note for Wednesday, and instructions to rest my voice and drink milkshakes. Yes sir!!
I decided to follow his advice to give my voice and body another day of rest today, and took sick day #3 of the year. Man oh man, we are certainly off to a rough start! What will I be like come winter and actual cold/flu season?? The whole 2-days off in a row thing did mean that I had to come in this morning and drop off manuals, set up the room. Lucky for me though the sub I requested was available, and my fingers are crossed that she was able to keep them in line better than the sub I had last week! That's nothing against that sub, mind you, my children are of the "baptism by fire" school of thought when it comes to any new adults in their lives.
I am HAPPY to report that after a 2nd day of rest, my voice is STARTING to reappear. Now, this doesn't mean it is normal by any means, and I will still be enlisting student volunteers for a majority of our reading tomorrow. But it's a start. Now, to look over my lesson plans and figure out how I can teach math in a small group/guided style to prevent unnecessary voice use...hmmm...
(Note: I WAS able to use my sick days to reread Mockingjay in preparation for my book club tomorrow evening. Thank goodness I am healthy (er...healthier...), because I would be HEARTBROKEN if we had to postpone again! And I just have to say that rereading the book completely reignited my Hunger Games OBSESSION. Man, do I love these books...Kinda makes me want to start over with book 1 again...For now, though, I will control myself...)
No comments:
Post a Comment