Bullet-in

I'm too tired for this, but I realize that there are people out there desperate to hear about what I've been up to and how I'm doing (...ahem....). So, let me sum up in bullet form:

• I've been getting progressively sicker and sicker this week. When half of the class is coughing, it's only a matter of time... I never had to take a sick day last year, so maybe I'll use them this year?!
• I had a very tense special education zone meeting yesterday (all sp.ed teachers from the district were there). One lady I didn't know went off for TWENTY MINUTES about how she hates the computer system on which we do our IEP paperwork. She was saying things like "we don't get paid enough to do this", "It's ruining my life" (verbatim), etc. I sat there in disbelief. Suck it up. Do your job...even the parts you don't like. Seriously, we could have been out of the meeting 20 minutes earlier if it hadn't been for her fruitless complaints.
• We had picture day today. I survived.
• I had cheez-its for dinner because I didn't feel like cooking...
• I stayed at school until 7:00 tonight to do said paperwork on said computer program. It must be done! Better to stay late on a weekday then to come in on a Saturday, right?
  
• I'm so tired right now, I literally feel like I'm sleeping with my eyes open....
• TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!!!!
  

Pride

I did something for the very first time last Thursday. I was inspired to write a grant for a software program called Earobics for my classroom. It wasn't a very large grant ($687), but it was definitely a last-minute grant (the deadline was Friday). I got some advice from some people who have written them and recieved them before and I'm pretty sure I wrote a STRONG grant. At least, I got positive feedback from colleagues, so that's good. Now all I have to do is sit around and wait till March to find out if I got the grant or not. I really hope I do.

My students are also very proud of themselves these days. My aide bought a device to help teach children how to tie their shoes (it's kind of like a large rectangle covered with material with large holes and laces). It turns out that half of my second and third graders can't tie their own shoes. Two of them have mild cerebral palsy issues, and two of them just never learned. My aide showed them how to do it, and they've been practicing like crazy ever since! They are so excited! They are even helping the younger ones across the hall now.

What a great thing it is to feel a sense of accomplishment!

Professor B.

I was in a meeting yesterday. But for once, I was the one running the meeting!! Granted, only the third grade team was there (about seven teachers), but it still counts. I was explaining a fantastic research-based math program that guarantees automatic memorization of basic math facts in only seven minutes a day. (I happened to go to a conference--I'm not actually a math fact expert...). Everyone was very excited to try it in their classrooms after my forty-five minute presentation on it. I thought I would be nervous giving the presentation but I absolutely wasn't. It felt totally natural, and I actually enjoyed myself. Ten minutes after the meeting was over, one of my colleagues said I did a great job and asked me if I had had any training in "educational leadership" (didn't know there was such a thing!). I was definitely flattered! I got worried, however, when upon learning that I hadn't met any of the "big-wigs" in the district, she vowed she would "show me off". I could get in trouble... In my previous post, I explained how I was "sticking it to the man" (Hannah's words). It wouldn't be the same if I met "the man", and if "the man" decided to look over my shoulder as I taught. Sometimes it's better to be just one among the masses :)

Old News, Mold News

I realize this may be old news, but last Thursday was Back-to-School night and I think it's worth mentioning. I never expect to see many parents at these functions since all of our parents in the DHH program are out of district and have to drive many moons to get to school. That said, you can imagine my surprise when five out of nine families showed up!! YEA for me! A great time was had by all, and I almost managed to forget that I was at school from 6:45 to 8:00 PM.

My weekend was equally good and bad. Friday night was a relaxing evening in a quiet apartment as Max was in class. Saturday, I went out to lunch with a friend from high school who just moved to Orange County over the summer. We had a good time, and I got sick on a Mint Chip Dazzler from Haagen Daaz. I picked Max up at 3:00, and since he was feeling sick from being sick, and I was feeling sick from my gluttony, we opted to sit in front of our enormous TV for the rest of the afternoon and get caught up on Monk. Sunday was entirely wasted on moving all of our stuff out of our oldy-moldy apartment and dumping it in the dumpster. We saved some things, but 80% of it was too risky to keep. You wouldn't think dumping stuff would take all day, but it did. Max worked for 10 hours and I worked for 8. Some of the things I had to throw away made me sad. I guess it was a good reminder that you can't take "stuff" with you to heaven!

Shhh! Secret Success

I'm sitting at the computer, dead tired. But this tired is a much different tired than last year... Last year, I was defeated-tired, fed-up-tired, exasperated-tired, and even depressed-tired. This year, I'm tired from having done my job, and having done it well.

I'm amazed at how different this year is turning out to be! I have ten 2nd/3rd graders (nine in the classroom; one is mainstreamed full time) who are very ... low... in every way. Two of them are non-readers, and one of the non-readers only knows 20 out of 26 letters of the alphabet. Then why do I feel so good about things at the end of the day? As I thought about it, I realized that these are two different classes.

Last year's class was competitive, rough, petty, hyper, sensitive, and even catty.
This year's class is sweet, friendly, CALM, and cooperative.

As my aide pointed out, this year's class is a joy to teach. And if you're thinking this is a honeymoon period, you're wrong; I checked with last year's teacher and this is how they are all the time. LUCKY ME!!

But the real kicker in my attitude/energy level/motivation/emotional well-being, is that I made the executive decision (shh, don't tell!) to teach my kids what they need to learn, whether or not that corresponds with the reading or math curriculum the state of California and our district has adopted. Revolutionary, huh? No longer do I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall every day trying to teach reading skills my students aren't ready for. Instead, I feel GREAT about what I'm doing, because it's working, and for the first time in my career, I'm seeing some growth!! YEA FOR ME!

My non-reader finally read the first five sight words from the Dolch list today. (the, and, to, he, a). We've been working with these words for three days, and I finally pulled him aside for some good old-fashioned "drill and kill". We spent five minutes seeing who could say each word on a flashcard first. If he could read it, he kept the card, and if he missed it or I had to remind him what the word was, I kept it. We went through all five words like, eight times before he finally got them all but when he did ... we cheered!! He was SO excited and SO proud! He got all five right three times in a row, and I am not kidding you when I say I literally had tears in my eyes. Seeing his beaming, freckled face under his white-blonde hair was all I needed to remember why I am a Teacher.

Teacher AND Housewife

With Max in school full time, I find myself in another role--that of a housewife. Last year, I was spoiled by anyone's standards: he took care of all the cooking and cleaning and laundry. This year is a different story...this weekend, I cooked TWO meals! I haven't cooked a meal, since, gosh, I can't even remember. My first turned out great: a fritatta recipe I found on the internet. The second meal went fine but I had to have some help seasoning the turkey burger. I had lots of time to be a housewife over the weekend. Not so much during the week, though... Today I'm dead tired; Max is tired and a little stressed and a little under the weather. We both got home around six tonight (one car, remember?) and we both looked at each other wondering who would cook dinner? :) We are learning the whole "give-and-take" thing again....

On the school front, week two is going well so far. We started our apple unit today by making "apple smiles" with round apple slices, peanut butter, and raisins. The kids loved it; it was really yummy; and I got them to say enough sentences about the activity so that it became a decent story :). I was actually surprised that no one turned up their noses at the raisins--I would have at their age!

I love you, Tomorrow!

Real quick post because it's 6:40 and I'm still at school (I know, I know...) and I need to get back in time to cook the pizza, eat the pizza, then pick up Max from class.

Crazy day. I had planned to assess all my kids in reading and language with informal placement tests. I had my assessment binder out and a plan all set for when and where this would happen. Then suddenly this morning my principal decides that the one student I have mainstreaming full time with Mrs. X is going to be moved to Mrs. Y's classroom because of a "numbers issue". Wouldn't be a big deal but said student has already spent three days in Mrs. X's class and is nicely adjusting and making friends. So I had to spend all my assessment time meeting with Mrs. X and Mrs. Y and talking to mom on the phone (in my most reassuring voice), then breaking the news to the said student (who thankfully seemed to take this all quite well...). Bottom line, I still have no idea how to group my kids for reading and language lessons thanks to a "numbers issue".

But I will not despair for There Is Always Tomorrow :)

Wasted Wednesday

Day Two went well. I'm discovering more and more about my new set of kids and my two new students. My second new student started in my class today (transportation issues yesterday). He's darling but from what I can tell, he has very little oral language--he's been signing all of his answers to me. I just lean in and say "I didn't hear you" and then he tries to say it out loud, but he is very shy about it :). He must think I'm pretty stupid for not understanding his signs!

Wednesday is our meeting day, so after the early dismissal I got a little bit of work done then headed over to the lounge. Our principal won us all over by provided free ice cream bars and popsicles for us, but quickly lost our admiration when he made us sit through a forty minute video we had all seen before (some had seen it twice before) at other staff meetings with him. So there we were, alternating between licking our ice cream, glaring at him, and checking our watches, and all the while he's standing there, smiling and laughing, clearly loving every minute of his favorite motivational video! Ah, meetings...the weekly waste of time :).

One down....

.... one hundred and seventy-nine to go!

Today was the first day of my second year of teaching. Last year on this day, my colleagues swarmed into my room and gave me congratulatory hugs and a gift signed by all of them to commemorate my first day of my career. Nothing like that happened when the last bell rang today, but I still felt a sense of triumph over a successful first day :).

It started way too early--my alarm rang at six, but I was so anxious about today that I tossed and turned from about 4:30 on. The kids came at around 8:30... so cute in their "first day" outfits and hair all neatly done. No one was really shy on account that they were all in the same class last year, but I do have a new student whose mom confided in me that he was very nervous. Fortunately, he fit right in with the rest of the class. All the activities that I had planned went quite well. My favorite part of the day was during calendar time when I taught them a short song about the days of the week. They were all so adorable as they sang out unabashedly (with no regard as to whether they sounded "cool" or not--something last year's class would have been self-conscious about!). I've got to find a way to sing more songs in my curriculum :).

By the end of the day, I was quite exhausted from all the excitement--I'm sure I'll sleep much better tonight! I also forgot how hard it is to get motivated to go on a walk after a full day of work... Back to the routine!

Rest

As you may have read from Max's blog, I was indeed at school for thirteen hours yesterday. But I do have an excuse! I was trying my very hardest to get all the loose ends wrapped up before Tuesday without coming in over the weekend. I would have been home sooner if the administration hadn't wasted four hours of my morning yesterday in a meeting. Oh well. It was a little spooky being at school after dark--I was even scared away from going to make copies in the work room. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), when I walked out to my car at 8:20, there were six other teacher cars in the parking lot, so apparently I wasn't the only one burning the midnight oil...
I apologize if my readers are sick of hearing about school, but 'tis my life now. I've been a little cranky about being back at work after such an exceptional summer. During the last ten days, every time I thought about Tuesday (in three days when I have kids) I've felt .... dread. Not that I don't like my job, but it's very hard going from having no responsibilities to having heavy responsibilities--from a slow paced summer to a fast paced job with all the busy-ness and stress that goes along with that. Having said that, something weird happened yesterday around three. I was still feeling that dread until the very moment I taped down the first desk-tag (like a name tag you use to label each desk). Then suddenly it was like something clicked... I found myself smiling down tenderly at the little desks, smiling in anticipation for when the little munchkins will get here. And now I'm strangely looking forward to getting started! Bizarre.

Check out Max's blog and find out why all I could say was "WHAT HAPPENED??" when I walked in the door last night :).

Ready, Set, ....

I just dropped Max off for his first day of school -- or should I say "his first day of his first masters"? Because, let's face it, he's a career student :).
Speaking of students, mine are coming on Tuesday and I'm still not ready, despite working in my classroom every day for the last 9 days in a row. My goal is to get everything prepared by Friday evening so that I can have a real 3 day weekend to relax and not think about school. We'll see if that happens...
My room is looking more "together" even though there are piles of textbooks and folders strewn about. Most of the important bulletin boards are up, and our awesome janitor came in and lowered the heights of all my desks-- I have a predominantly short group coming in this year :). Other than getting my room ready, I've also been in meetings all week. Most were relevant.
On the hair front, it turns out that the "shaggy dog" look looks good on me!I've gotten several positive comments from friends/colleagues, so I feel better about things and less like crying :). On the home front, we're still waiting for a check to drop out of the sky so that we can finally sleep on a bed and crash on a couch. Pray, pray, pray!

Odds and Ends

Well, we're still waiting and working. Right now, I'm taking a break from reorganizing my files--what a mess: papers everywhere! I went to get my hair cut over lunch and it turned out rather disastrously... picture a shaggy dog, and you'll know what she did to my bangs. Oh well. I guess hair grows back, right?
I just got off the phone with my fantastic aide. She said she is ready to come back to school (that makes one of us!). We're going out to lunch tomorrow so that'll be nice. I'll be able to brief her on all the changes I want to make! Hopefully I'll be a much better teacher this year than last year. I've been busy putting up bulletin boards and dusting off posters and putting them on the wall. I've decided that it's much more fun to take things down and put things away than it is to take stuff out and put it up!! I am trying to be motivated, no really, I am!
Max said that maybe tomorrow we'll go out and see a movie for one Last Hurrah of the Summer (my first staff day is Wednesday and Max's first day of classes is Thursday). I'm writing it on the blog so that the "maybe" will be "definitely" :). We'll see...

Waiting and Working

I think the title of this post sums up my existence this week quite well. On the one hand, we've been waiting for the mold inspector, the building management people, and our insurance agency to communicate and get to the same page so someone can write us a check. We won't let all this hassle deter us from collecting fair compensation :). In the meantime, we've been sleeping on roll-up mattresses on the floor, which was fine for a couple of nights, but it's getting old now! Since we can't shop for new stuff yet, we've bleached and washed our dishes and our dining room table (which didn't seem to be affected) as well as our TV stand. Waiting is frustrating, but at least there is plenty of work in my classroom to keep me busy! I am slowly but surely making progress on my long to-do list. First staff day is next Wednesday, and first day with the kids is Sep. 5th, so I have some time left before D-day. My conference on reading in Long Beach (in response to the comment on the previous post, I think they named everything "-beach" to show off) went really well. My colleague and I are really excited to start using this new curriculum for decoding. We even got the district to foot the bill for the 3000 dollars it will cost to purchase the materials--wonder of wonders!!

I met the new teacher that moved in next door to me. The Deaf/Hard-of-hearing preschool room used to be next do0r, but they moved it to a different site. So now, our quad of portables includes a third grade general ed. room! I think it's nice that we're not so sequestered anymore. Anyways, Ms. B is really great--she used to teach at this school for a long time before she had some health problems, but now she's back and I can tell we're really going to get along. She's a Christian too! I hardly got anything done in my classroom today because I was so busy chatting with everyone I hadn't seen since June--I guess I'll try again tomorrow! :)

Moldy Miracle

Well, I hardly know where to start...
As you may know from reading Max's blog, we were greeted by mold when we walked into our apartment last Thursday. The stink was awful. Upon inspection, we found mold growing pretty much everywere from our computer to our mattresses to our clothes and shoes. We decided it wouldn't be healthy to stay and went to Grandma's house until we could get things sorted out with our renter's insurance company and with the building complex. Things still aren't resolved yet, but we do have a brand new, renovated apartment upstairs and down the hall from our old one. The new apartment is awesome: light tan walls with crown moulding, brand new/bigger Whirlpool appliances, nice wood cabinetry, track lighting, and sweet-looking countertops. It's usually two hundred more a month for rent but the building complex decided to give it to us at our normal rent (if they didn't and the mold was toxic, we could sue for a lot--if we wanted that headache!). Right now we're sleeping on the floor on some mattress pads and eating out of Grandma's dishes. The only furniture we have in here is a new desk from Ikea, and a new office chair so that Max can do all of his studying as he prepares for his first day of class next week. We are waiting for the mold report from the expert. If he determines that it was caused by an event (which we believe is standing water from a few months ago when firefighters put out a fire in the dumpster), then our renter's insurance will reimburse us for up to 5000 dollars as we replace everything... so we're definitely praying for that to happen. It would be fun to go on a shopping spree and get a new bed, bedding, a couch, and new clothes and shoes! But I'm trying not to get my hopes up. We will definitely have a lot of work to do as Max studies, I get my classroom ready, and we both shop for items and/or clean salvageable items. I'm trying not to panic...

Today, I worked in my classroom for the first time since being back. The room got kinda trashed over the summer (summer school) and I have a lot to do to get the room reorganized, to get myself organized, and to plan for the first week of school. Tomorrow I go to Long Beach for a two day conference about teaching reading that the district is paying for. I'm going with a colleague so it should be fun!

California, here we come...

...right back where we started from.

Tomorrow, we leave for California. This is a sad statement because it means going back to work. I like my job, of course, but I like being on vacation even more! It also means saying goodbye to green, luscious, beautiful Michigan and saying hello to congested, busy, dry, empty, California. I might feel better about going back if I could take all of my family with me, but I can't.

As I think back to all of my other summer vacations (as a student), I realize that I took them for granted. They were natural stops in the school year, not necessarily deserved or earned. In the Real World where people work for a living, only teachers get such extended time off in the summers. It would be unheard of to give doctors and lawyers and secretaries and cooks two months off during the year (at least in America). So I didn't take this summer for granted.... never before have I felt such an urgent need to have a complete break from everything about my job, never before have I felt I deserved so much time off. I'm grateful for summers. Even though teachers have stressful jobs, they/we are probably more healthy individuals for the breaks we are given.

Since I've had nearly two months to recuperate from my hectic first year, I should be ready to march back into my classroom ready to get my hands and knees dirty in preparing for another school year. Why is it, then, that every time I think about it I feel so unmotivated?? I can only hope that once I get started, I'll remember how much I like my job and why I chose this profession!

On the Road Again

Well, after nearly four days on the road, we are finally in Alabama. I didn't break my record of "time spent sleeping in the car" from Croatia, but no one can say that I didn't try.


We had a lot of fun visiting the Biltmore Estates. Though built in a European style, it still contrasted with the French castles of the Loire. The Biltmore house was built in an old style but it looked quite new, comparatively, to Chambord for example. The tall doorways between bedrooms were also different from French castle doors (short to accommodate the shorter French). I really enjoyed being there, and I especially liked the guided audio tour we took. There are sooo many rooms that it took us nearly two hours to walk through it! It was nice that they opened nearly everything to the public--French castles generally don't do that.


We also had a lot of fun walking through its many gardens (despite the intense heat) and visiting the dairy farm. I even got to hold a baby chick! I thought about taking it home...


We've also been having fun with the grandparents in Alabama. Yesterday we went out to eat at a REALLY good seafood/chicken place (everything was fried.... everything). Then we attempted to watch Superman Returns at a local theater, but ten minutes into it we had to leave because the thunderstorm had shut off the power. But we got refund tickets and I expect to be giving it a second try before we leave :). Today is our four year wedding anniversary! Max and I are going to "celebrate" by being with family (plenty of time to be alone when we go back to California next week...). Right now we're getting ready to leave for Dauphin Island. It should be fun, if the storm holds off....

A Teacher's Nightmare

Last night I had a nightmare. It was the first day of school and I rolled in a mere half an hour early... and I had nothing planned and I hadn't even set foot in my classroom since June! I didn't recognize my students, and one little girl had brought in a real live panda and a tiger cub for show and tell. I felt like I was sinking into panic....
Luckily, that was all just a dream. I'm sure I'll be nice and prepared for the real thing :). I realized that I have two weeks left here with family before we fly back to California. Where did the time go??? I know when I get there I'll want to hit the ground running, so I'm making a conscious effort to milk this vacation for all it's worth. I'm going to bed late and getting up late, I'm drinking my tea in front of the TV, I'm still reading novels, I'm making cards to my heart's content, and I even baked cookies last night. I'm also trying my very hardest to push all thoughts of what needs to be done when I get back out of my head. That takes more effort than one might think!
Well, Saturday we leave for Alabama to visit grandparents. Am I looking forward to seeing them? Yes. Am I looking forward to the car trip? No. My goodness, no. I'm thinking of knocking myself unconscious with Dramamine to avoid all the carsickness. But who knows what fun I'd miss out on if I did? :)

Traveling Mercies

Well, we're back in good ol' Michigan. I maybe should have ended that sentence in an exclamation mark as it was quite the Event getting here... It was only supposed to take a little over twenty hours to get from Guebwiller, France to Lapeer, USA. Instead it took us 48. We were stranded in the Philadelphia airport for 28 hours as our original flight got delayed, delayed, delayed, then canceled. After spending a less-than-comfortable night sleeping in the airport (see picture on Max's blog from when we woke up), volunteering to get bumped on our 12 o'clock flight (giving us two free tickets), then volunteering again on our 2 o'clock flight (two more free tickets), then waiting as our 5:30 flight got delayed, then delayed again, we FINALLY arrived in Detroit, where the in-laws were waiting to drive us the 90 minutes it took to get home. Whew! But we're here, and that's what matters.
Max has been thrilled to watch TV he can understand, and I've been scrambling to find some more books to read. And we've both been battling the mosquitos and the heat. Later I plan to get crackin on making some cards as all of my supplies are stored upstairs in a box. But for now we've been hanging out with family and eating picnics. We just saw Rebekah, my sister, off to Syracuse, New York. She had her car all packed, managed to get her air conditioning fixed just in time for this awful heat wave, and she was off!! She acted as if she was just going for a quick trip to the grocery store, instead of moving to a far-away state.... She certainly has changed since she was that timid girl who was going off to college for the first time, unsure about everything. The New Rebekah is brimming with confidence and a taste for adventure! I sure will miss her....

Local Color

Blue: For our new house (carefully photographed to avoid the neighbors' houses)


Green: For the unwelcome visitor we had in our bedroom the other night!


Red: For Spaghetti Ice--obviously!
Yellow: For the brie cheese I often ate for lunch.
Brown: For the walking paths that wind through the myriad of vineyards on the hills behind the house.
Local Color (and Local Mom and Dad), I shall miss you!!

Breaking Rules

It's a sad thing when you break a self-imposed rule. On June 23rd, the last day of school, I made a promise to myself not to do anything education-related until we got back to town in mid-August. At that point, I would go to my classroom, clean out and re-organize my cupboards and my overflowing files, put up bulletin boards, brainstorm ideas for more lessons, and all of that fun stuff.
But then.....
I was surfing the net and came across a discussion board for new teachers on scholastic's website. A new teacher was asking for organization tips and a different teacher wrote her back and gave her two websites full of useful information. Curious, I clicked on the links. Before I knew it, I was thinking about the new school year and brainstorming ways to implement all of these great ideas I was finding on these sites. For the past two days now, I've been looking through the vast amounts of pictures, ideas, and advice on these websites. It's so fun, and a little addicting. And I think it was okay to break my rule this once, just as long as I don't burnout before the first day of school :).