Semester Long Classes..TYJOW (Thank you Jesus! Or Whomever!)

Dear whomever decided it was a good idea to have semester long classes,

Thank you. I am very excited to get 3 new classes at semester.  I have a few students that I am kinda done with. I hope that my new kids will give me a few weeks of good behavior before I have to break out the big guns.

I wish you could do something about the subject matter that I teach. The title of the class is Interactive Media/Game Design, and the kids think they should just be able to play games all day.  In fact, when I told them they were going to write a research paper they almost revolted.  Sadly, that was only the second week of my class.

I am very glad to have a new group of kids, as this semester was a learning period for me, too. Not only was the subject matter new, I had to manage behaviors that I had never seen before. Now, I know what is, and is not allowed when it comes to the kinds of things middle schoolers will try to pull--especially, when they have access to a computer. 

I also like that our finals start on Wednesday--that means I only have 7 more instruction days with this group of Interactive Media kids...(when they start complaining I remind them, only X many more days.)

Please, only put good kids in my next semester of classes.

Thanks,

Me.

30 Things I am Thankful for...

30 Things I am thankful for….

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, several of my friends are posting the 30 things they are thankful for on Facebook...one for each day of the month of November (assuming there are 30 days in this month.) I am going to try to post them all at once because I just don’t know if I can commit to 30 days of anything.

*These are in no particular order.

30. November--If you have read my Blog before you would know I am thankful for the month of November. It signals the end of middle school and high school football season and has birthdays of many of my most favorite people in my life.

29. My job--I love this year more than any other, I think, I have found what I wanted to do and where I want to teach…finally for the first time in my 30 years.

28. My husband--I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I was 21 and saying I do. After 8+ years of marriage I am pretty proud of where we are and how far we have come.

27. My family. I have the best mom, dad and sister in the world. There is not one day that goes by that I don’t speak to one of them!

26. Chauncey—the best Labrador Retriever in the world. He is my walking buddy and my confidant especially when my hubby is away.

25. Michigan State University—I am proud to be a Spartan and everything it means to be one.

24. Holiday Breaks—It is the time I get to see my family and occasionally get to sleep in.

23. Pizza—My mom said when she was pregnant with me she ate a lot of pizza. I guess it’s an inherited trait.

22. Texas sunshine—95 percent of the time I love the weather here.

21. Michigan—I will always be a girl from “the mitten.”

20. My interviewing skills—I have had a lot of jobs in my day and pretty much every interview I have gone on has helped me to get to the next step.

19. Project Lead the Way—I feel lucky to be one of the 5,000 or so teachers that have been trained in their curriculum. The two weeks I spent away from home were the hardest I have ever experienced but totally worth it, especially now.

18. The power of prayer--need I say more?

17. My cousins—Growing up with cousins nearby, there was never a dull moment over the holidays. They were some of the first people I could be silly with, and some of the first I got in trouble with.

16. Traveling—I have been able to go to some awesome places with my husband and my family.

15. Cars that work—I hate having car trouble!

14. My I-phone—it has changed my life.

13. Bath and Body Works—I would die without their lip gloss and their wall flowers make my house smell divine.

12. Coworkers that make your day a little brighter. I think work is a lot more fun when you have comrades to commiserate/celebrate with.

11. Our house. Even though it is a pain at times, I love having a place to call home.

10. Books—I read a lot and I am thankful the city library is so close!

9. Nerds (I actually stole this from one of my students)—without nerds (or as I like to think of people that are way smarter than me) we would not have the improvements to technology that we currently have.

8. Dessert—Chocolatey, fruity, sweet—I don’t discriminate.

7. Coffee—I am not a huge coffee drinker but I love my Keurig and an occasional Starbucks.

6. Maurices—The material side of me is thankful for Maurices because they have the cutest clothes!

5. Christmas Decorations and Christmas music—Makes my heart happy, even if it is just for a month or so.

4. The outlet mall—we live less than five miles away from the outlet mall--sometimes I think that is too close.

3. My mom’s home cooking.

2. Parents who raised me right—they truly were my first teachers.

1. Choices in life—I try to stress this to my students, “You have the power to make choices (good or bad) in your life.”

And that is my list.

Thanks for reading.

The end.

Bunions are not sexy...neither are orthopedic tennis shoes

After weeks of Webmding my symptoms, I finally decided to go to the doctor. I had been suffering from pain in my heels for over a year, but I figured that was an easy diagnosis. It was a no brainer--plantar fasciitis.  I bought inserts and did stretches but they really never got better. I was going to go to the doctor in August before school started back again…but decided against it.

But, lately I have had a “bony protuberance” at the base of my right big toe. DAAAAANG, it hurts and it is U-G-L-Y.  I have never had pretty feet, but  is was fairly repulsive.  I finally called and made my appointment. Yes, in November.  Better one year later than never, right?

I pulled into the podiatrist’s office and filled out all my paperwork. There was an elderly couple in the waiting room-- which made me think only old people go to the podiatrist. I also noticed they both had those all-black orthopedic tennis shoes on--while I am no fashionista, even I have standards.

 

A sample shoe for your viewing pleasure

Yep, I was hoping that the podiatrist would not prescribe me ugly all black tennis shoes.

He shook my hand, put his gloves on and looked at my feet. I took the fact that he didn’t look totally repulsed by my protuberance as a good sign. Then, he took some X-rays.

He came back in the room with some inserts and starting talking about the plantar fasciitis. I was right! But, I also have heel spurs.  Darn! That never registered on my Webmd radar.

 Lastly, the bony protuberance…it is not gout, (thanks for freaking me out Mom!) or arthritis, but it is a bunion.

Like black tennis shoes, bunions are not sexy.  And, according to my research and my podiatrist—my bunions (UGH, I am claiming ownership of them) require surgery for removal.

Surgery is scary. I think I am going to put this off as long as possible.  I mean, I have waited this long what’s a few more years?  Don’t worry if it gets this bad, I will reconsider.

 

Yep, I think she needs surgery. 

Games at school = Happy Kids (and teacher)

As a teacher, I rarely ever sit down “on the job.” When there are kids in my room, (which is a computer lab), I am constantly circling my classroom watching over my students to make sure they are on task and on topic—I prefer to watch my students every move, lest they start looking up insanely inappropriate topics.

Today, I told my students after their warm up, they would have their choice of a few activities--including Google Sketchup or Gamestar Mechanic. (If you don’t know what either of these programs are, you should check them out.)

 Of course, I did not have a behavior problem and everyone did what they were supposed to—seriously. I warned them and set my expectations beforehand, but I truly think they were excited to take a break from their normal rigor and have some fun.

I monitored and monitored and then I decided to take a seat. I observed the following:

1.       Two kids who had been in a shoving match only the week before were actually asking each other for help…and complimenting each other.

2.       Kids who tend to have a little trouble socially/academically excelled at designing games in Gamestar Mechanic and adding images to their Google Sketchup creations. (I loved it when one of my more awkward boys was the expert and helped his classmates.)

3.       Kids like to share their creations with each other and seek each other’s approval. I must have heard 100 times today, “So and so, come play my game.”

4.       Kids need/sometimes like teacher instruction but they also need to have fun every once in a while.

I know, I can’t believe I got paid to watch them play games. But, watching my middle schoolers really made my heart smile. 

Now, if I could just get them to be so nice to each other—every day.

Welcome November!

Dear November,

You are one of my favorite months. Many of my favorite people have birthdays in November.

November means the end of football season. My husband has three more games this week. One Monday (his 7th grade teams), one Tuesday (the 8th grade boys at his school) and then the last one is on Friday night with the varsity football team. I will be so glad to have him home again on Friday and Saturdays!

November starts the holiday season—I love to decorate my house for the holidays. I am one of those people who puts their Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving. I figure it is ok because we have a lot of company coming to town for Thanksgiving, and some of whom we will not see on Christmas, so we will celebrate early.

November also brings cooler temperatures and low humidity to Texas. I love wearing sweaters and bundling up. I also like to be able to straighten my hair and not have it frizz as soon as I step outside. I don’t miss the snow, but I am a Michigan girl at heart, and the cooler weather reminds me a teeny bit of life in the Mitten.

So, November you can stay awhile. I am happy to see you. (Even if I am a few days early, in my heart you are already here!)

Sincerely,

Me

Teacher Sick Day

What do normal people do on a day off?

People that aren’t teachers don’t have to work on sub plans when they are out.
They don’t have to worry about the 170 kids that are left with a sub.

When I worked in purchasing for a chemical company, I didn’t have to worry about making sure my orders were filled. Life went on without me. I didn’t have to leave plans on my desk with a schedule--that was organized to the minute.

I didn’t feel guilty about leaving my chemical orders.

Today, I felt guilty about leaving my students.

I felt so guilty when I went to the doctor my blood pressure was slightly elevated.
I was nervous because when I left I didn’t have a sub that was assigned to my room all day. My class would be filled with subs from teachers who were also out today.

There were 18 teachers out today—some were at a meeting, but still.

I am hardly ever sick, but last night was one of those coughing all night, nights, and I decided that I was going to go to the doctor today. I had been sick all week and enough was enough.

So, at 4:30 in the morning, I went to put in for a sub, but couldn’t access the sub system. Finally after sending a frantic email to my school secretary around 6am my job was put in.

I rushed around and got my plans ready for the day. Warm up on the board. Check. Seating Charts. Check. Rosters. Check.

The first bell rang for school and my students began to show up. They were excited for the day and raring to go, and I was cranky and sick and told them to wait in the hallway. I kept my fingers crossed that a sub would show up.

At 8:15 a nicely tattooed man showed up to my room with my sub folder in hand.

One of my students told me I was not allowed to leave them with “a person they didn’t know.”

I wanted to tell him that I was not his mother—and I really don’t have to answer to a 6th grader.

I sure am glad I got to go home. I really am starting to feel better.

P.S. 21 more days until Thanksgiving break.

The house that built me

If you have ever heard the Miranda Lambert song, “The house that built me,” you may know where I am coming from.

Last week my mom and dad sold the house they have lived in for 23 years.

It’s an awesome house. They had a builder custom design it. It is on 10 acres. It is in the country, but only 1.8 miles from the highway.

When I was in middle school they put an above ground pool in. We also had a hot tub, and I remember many summers my friends from high school would come over, and we would run back and forth from the pool to the hot tub.

You could sit outside at night and watch the stars. Noises from trains were nonexistent—in fact the first time I realized how loud trains were, was when I spent my first night at Michigan State University.

It is the house that served us through the good times and the bad;
It’s where my husband gave me one of my coolest Christmas presents ever—my wedding ring—almost 10 years ago.

It was the house where I recovered from not one, but two, shoulder surgeries.

It’s the place I remember my dad grilling even in the dead of winter—he’d shovel just enough space on the deck when it was really snowy.

And, yes, our old dog Coco is buried somewhere on those 10 acres.

I knew the house would sell, I just didn’t think it would go so quickly.

Luckily, this summer when I was there I took a few pictures.

As I am writing this, I can’t help but shed a few tears. It is the one place I still think of as home.

8464 Carole Lane, I will miss you.

But, I know that it is just a house and the people that live in the house are much more important than any memory. Those same people (My mom and dad) will be coming to live in Texas, hopefully by the start of the summer.

Selling that house is a blessing. I just wish I could have been there to help my parents clean out 23 years of memories…and junk.