Giving this a whirl

Being new to blogging, I hesitate to say anything of much import. I am just trying my hand at getting this going. I tell my sixth grade beginning writers that when you have nothing to say, just put pen to paper and start writing, and see what comes out. Okay. Put my money where my mouth is...

Sometimes it is hard to keep going when the world focuses its attention on me and what I am trying to do. It is very true you can't please everyone. This week brought a storm of criticism around me, and it cuts to the quick. When my work brings me to put myself out there one hundred percent, and someone slices out a meaty chunk of my heart and self, it is very difficult to not just quit and go home. Fooey on them.

Parenthetically, it was one parent of twenty sets who expressed her dislike of my teaching style and personality. Not exactly a storm. Affirmation abounds from the rest of the group. Many times I hear thanks and hurrahs from different directions, but one good lambasting from one stressed-out, protecting-her-cub-mom brings me to tears in a heap on the floor. What a wimp. Maybe the lesson I must learn from this should carry over to my classroom and my interactions with 12-year-olds. No matter how many times a child (or mature :P adult) hears praise, one careless misspoken word can bring all of them crashing down.

Okay. Good for the first post.