On Monday, I gave all of my students forms that they needed to sign, get their parents to sign (like syllabus, lab safety contract, etc.) and then another “Student Information” sheet that they could fill out to get a homework pass if all of the questions were answered and the parent contact info was correct.  Needless to say, I got a lot of forms that were mostly blank and I know tomorrow I am going to hear an earful of whining about why they should get a homework pass.  Anyway… last night I finally sat down on the living room floor to organize them alphabetically and by class period for the student info notebook I’m keeping.   Here are some of the responses…

One of the questions on the student information sheet is just an extra for anything else important I might need to know or something they might want me to know (like their extracurricular activities, etc.)… and wow did I get some interesting responses.  ”I have a really bad mouf and a bad attitude you might notice but it will change later” — Yes, that is spelled m-o-u-f.  

I had another who spelled “used to” as “yousto.”  The spelling errors… it drove me a little insane.  But I’m not sure what was worse, the spelling or the grammar.  If you know where I teach, you might have an idea of the kind of grammar I’m hearing everyday.  

I can’t even count the number of times I saw IDK, LOL, 4 substituted for “for,” etc.  On one sheet, 5 answers in a row read “IDK.”  What?  Maybe I will just pretend I don’t know what that means.

At the top of the info sheet there is a place to write your nickname.  In other words (I thought this was obvious… correct me if I’m wrong), a place for them to tell me what they want to be called (ex: My name is Amanda but some people call me Mandi).  Here are two of my most interesting responses to this one: “2 Cute,” and “2 Sexy.”  Really??!!  

 

I’m pretty sure if I had written something like that on my worksheets in high school I would have gotten a verbal smackdown from my teacher.  Any thoughts?

exhausted

EDIT::

Did anyone else forget about Lisa Frank??  Remember those anime-ish stickers?  I used to have a whole kit of Lisa Frank stuff when I was younger and I thought it didn’t exist anymore.  Well… the $1 aisle at Target proved me wrong.  Lisa Frank is back!

———————–

First day of school — check!

I am EXHAUSTED, but I survived and it went as well as I could have expected.  A little boring for everyone involved, I think… syllabi are just not that stimulating.  No discipline problems to speak of.  You might be wondering why anyone would possibly have discipline problems on the first day but, I kid you not, there are already students with multiple days of ISS this week… what?!  (None of mine, thank goodness.)  I had a few “seriously” moments, but nothing too strange.  Just a “Soooo… are we allowed to sleep during this class??,” some excessive talking in last period (but do you blame them?) and a student trying to skip the last 30 minutes of class so he wouldn’t “get lost trying to find the bus lane.”  No language barriers (yet).  And actually a little enthusiasm from a few.  Great success!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more smooth and a lot more fun.  I have an activity that will hopefully be entertaining and useful.  Okay… enough of my boring banter… 

Paul started his new job today, too!  He gets off at 9 (hopefully) and works again tomorrow.  I only talked to him for a few minutes earlier, but I think he likes it?  

Another note from the married side of life… my mom bought us a bedroom furniture set as our wedding present and it is being delivered on Thursday!  I have never been so excited about furniture!  Right now, we share a full size bed and mattress, which is okay but just not roomy enough for me, Paul and his 6′2″ body and both of our tossing and turning.  So, the new bed is a queen size and our new mattress is the bomb dot com!  Unfortunately, the mattress won’t be here at the same time as the furniture, but just knowing that it’s coming soon is exciting enough.  And we’ve picked out a general color and scheme for the room, which is also exciting but mostly a huge relief.  I am so sick of looking at those walls in that color I can barely stand it (the people who lived here before me painted almost every room in the house the same exact beige-ish/canvas color).  We’re slowly but surely changing some things to make this OUR home  

Well… time to get back to my super exciting (boring) night… lesson planning.  Jealous?  I guess not.

breathe in, breathe out

I start teaching TOMORROW.  I have a lot of things planned for this week, so I know I won’t be short on lesson material.  But I also have a lot of hopes for how I want things to go, how I want to present myself, how I want my students to respond to me and the material… I have really high expectations and I’m just trying to remember that even if I come home really frustrated and disappointed on the first day, I can’t lower them or satisfice.  If you think about me tomorrow, send up a little prayer!

just a few more days…

…until I am officially a teacher.  As in I will actually be teaching students who will actually be sitting in my classroom.  Weird!  

Last weekend Paul and I ventured to the strange state of Arkansas for Abby’s wedding festivities.  While I was glad to get away for a weekend, I was also really happy to come home.  For a few reasons, Abby’s wedding was not what it should have been for her.  No bride should be crying any kind of tears except for those of happiness!  More and more, I am realizing just how rude and self-centered people can be.  But the ceremony itself was beautiful and now our Baz is the new Mrs. Lloyd!  

Monday, I started pre-planning at the school.  My mentor is the bomb.com and has helped me SO much!  Each day I feel a LOT more at ease and as if I know a little what I’m doing now.  I have lesson plans for the first two days and tonight I’m hoping to knock out the rest of the first week and maaaybe get on the second week.  But laundry is a bigger necessity right now since tomorrow I will finally have almost an entire day to dedicate to my classroom and lesson plans.  So, tomorrow is the last day of pre-planning and then Monday is the first day of school… wish me luck!

Our wedding pictures are posted online now on our photographer’s website, but I don’t have the CD yet so when I get that I will post some of the real photos.  

a new name and a new job

A few new things since my last post… you know, no big deal.  Just a wedding and a brand new big girl job.

I have a new last name.  People call me “Mrs.,” which is weird because it makes me feel old.  And Paul calls me his wife which is weird, too, but I love it.

The wedding was so beautiful, I didn’t want to leave!  It was, without question, the best night of my life.  I don’t have our professional pictures back yet, so some tagged Facebook ones will have to do for now.  Here a few of the typical highlights:

Katie and I getting ready.

Our special moment alone

First dance

Father-Daughter dance

The coordinator at the Vines made sure we had time to eat

Had to do a little dancing before the night was over (the robot, I’m sure)

And before we knew it, it was time to leave!

Waving bye.

 

Other than getting ready for the biggest day of my life and celebrating lots of love together, we’ve both been in the process of starting new jobs.  Today was my first day at CGHS for new teacher orientation and Monday marks the first day of pre-planning week.  Paul just accepted a great job as an EMT and starts paramedic school in September.  So, I guess you could say a few things are changing…

My first day at work was good.  Kicked it off with a hearty breakfast, followed by some talk, technology orientation (school laptop checkout, how to do email/what NOT to do with email, attendance and gradebook software…), lunch and then a long discussion from the discipline department on classroom management and then discipline.  A lot of going over the rules for students and our role in enforcing them.  And, of course, the question on all of our minds… what to do if we suspect that a student is carrying a weapon like, ohhh I don’t know, a grenade or a chinese star??  Brass knuckles, anyone?  No worries, these are “just in case” rules, but I still find it a little freaky that there is even a need for those kind of just in case rules.  Kids these days.  I also got to see my classroom, which I guess is not a big deal for most people, but I took pictures so I can remember where the bulletin boards and strips are for decorative/information board purposes… is it lame that I am super excited about decorating a classroom??  If you guys have any ideas, send them my way, I’m trying to get creative. 

So, on that note, I’m going to go and get my organization on in my “study”… we both got new desks and I need to put together my new basket shelves so I can get my life together before we leave tomorrow morning for Arkansas (Abby’s wedding!) and then pre-planning starts on Monday.  And then I’m going to Office Depot to indulge in a little school shopping… I love office supplies more than almost anything.  And I am especially excited about using some Expo markers.  If only I weren’t such a nerd…

 

 

back from hiatus

I am basically posting to say I am still alive.  The past few weeks have been BUSY.  And that is a gross understatement.  Engagement, wedding planning, one of my uncles passed away, another family friend is in the hospital and lucky to even be alive (he fell off the back of a moving pickup truck… I’m not sure “lucky” even covers it), Paul has officially moved in, Katie came into town for a few days, registered for wedding gifts (which takes a LOT more time and planning than I thought and we’re still not finished), had Abby’s little bachelorette/girl’s night/l’ville posse bridal shower last night and now I am sick and have almost no voice.  And this doesn’t even include my teaching preparations and paperwork for all that biznazz.  I haven’t even had time to call all of my friends personally and talk about the engagement/wedding planning, but any moment to myself feels like a little bit of paradise so I use any of that time to recharge and NOT talk to anyone.  I talk and talk and talk all day long over the past week, so it’s the last thing I want to do when I’m by myself.  I’m kind of looking at this sick thing as a blessing because now I literally can’t speak.  I couldn’t call someone even if I wanted to.  So technology will have to suffice for now — texts, blogs, facebook.  

So, for those of you I haven’t gotten to talk to yet to dish the wedding plans, here’s the skinny:  July 26th (yes, of this year… we’ve been together for six years and the next time we could do it is this time a year from now.  obviously, we didn’t want to wait another year).  Ceremony and reception at Vines Botanical Gardens in Loganville.  My first choice venue and the couple who had it booked called a few days before me and cancelled their wedding… sucks for them but oh so lucky for me!  An evening wedding — 7:30pm.  Family and close friends.  We both have huge families so they take up about half of the guest list so far, if not more.  I can’t even begin to tell you how incredibly lucky I’ve been with all of the planning.  We started planning the wedding last Thursday and by Saturday we had almost everything booked and in order.  My first choice venue, my dream wedding gown (on the first day of looking!  and they had an extra never-been-worn sample on the floor to sell us and start alterations!  I’ve never ever heard of this happening before, I was so shocked), family, close friends, and hopefully lots of fun!  

Teaching stuff… that is not as planned and in order as I would like it to be.  GCPS STILL does not have my transcripts which is pretty incredible since I hand-carried them.  So, now I am relying on the USPS to get them there and in their hot little unorganized hands.  I’d heard the horror stories about how unorganized public school systems are but… really??!!  Needless to say, I’m stressed about that, but it should be fine soon.  If I have to go there in person and literally watch them enter my information into the system, I will.  But hopefully that won’t be necessary because the clock is ticking… my first day of new teacher orientation and all that jazz is the 31st, so… yea.  For now, while I’m waiting on people to get their crap together, I’m planning my classroom boards, first week activities, rules, procedures, etc.  Not super fun but it makes me feel a little more organized and in control.

 

Well, I’m going to get back to my “me” time while I still have it.  Which, today, consists of a much-needed shower, more cleaning and organizing the house, maybe adding some things to the registries and hopefully (key word, hopefully) reading a little for pleasure.  

book junkie

Nothing much to report on the home front.  Since the GACE, I’ve been maxin’ & relaxin’, usually with a book in hand.  Internet (Gmail, Facebook, Goodreads, blogs), reading, wandering Target and Athens bookstores… this is pretty much what most of my days have consisted of this week.  Mostly just reading or thinking about what I’m going to read next.  Finished my first paranormal romance this week and I really enjoyed it and am now reading the second in the series.  And during my time in the car, I’ve been listening to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  I have about 1 hour left and so far it’s pretty intriguing.  And I have concluded that audio books are the bomb.com!  Which is good since I will be listening to a lot of them in the coming months, I am certain.  

Today, I finally got a library card at the public library here and I checked out 7 books.  Almost all of them are for teaching reference, though.  I’m already missing having something to process or “study.”  And since my students will technically be under the special education heading, I’m reading up on special education law and the ins and outs of IEPs (can’t wait for IEP season in the Spring ha ha… :/ ).  I also got Ron Clark’s second book, The Excellent 11, one that I think I will enjoy, though not entirely agree with.  He proposes 11 qualities that teachers and parents use to educate and hopefully impart to students.  Here are his 11:
1. Enthusiasm
2. Adventure
3. Creativity
4. Reflection
5. Balance
6. Compassion
7. Confidence
8. Humor
9. Common Sense
10. Appreciation
11. Resilience

If you had to edit this list, what would you add or omit?  

“Expect excellence” would be on mine.  In the #1 spot.  I know a lot of people think enthusiasm is at the root of teaching and always the most important quality in a teacher and, while I’m not saying it’s not important, I think you get a lot farther when you make excellence a top priority in the classroom.  When you expect excellence, you get it.  If you expect mediocrity or average performance, that’s all you’re going to get.  Excellence doesn’t just happen, it’s an expectation.  I think that for the teacher, creativity is well-placed on Clark’s list.  Sometimes you have to really get creative with lessons.  You have to make something out of nothing and you have to have some spark of creativity to pull that off.  Like taking advantage of those “teachable” moments and finding authentic tasks to relate to a subject (this is a lot harder than it seems… one of the things I have a harder time with when I think about lesson plans).  

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my classroom and (yes, it’s silly) how I want to decorate it.  What do I want to use the board for, how will I make it a productive learning environment without over/under doing it.  I’ve got a LOT of ideas going and I’ve been on some teacher forums (which generally suck in my opinion, but they sure do like talking about classroom decor haha), but I definitely want suggestions if you’ve got ‘em.

manifesting reality

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”  

Or you could just say, “You are what you think.”

 

Most of you know I’m a total geekaroni.  Especially when it comes to my science and psychology interests like neuroscience, choice & decision, etc… I love it!  I get all hyped up and overly excited about things like neuroscience, heuristics, behavioral economics (one of my favs), the anatomy of the eyeball and the role emotion (and the brain) plays in selecting our next president.  (Confession: last night Brett was working on a paper for his Psyc of Sexuality course and I read the article he had to review and really loosely critiqued his paper… for fun.  Everyone’s version of fun is a little bit different I guess  ;] )  And most, if not all, of you don’t share these interests with me, but I promise this topic is pretty interesting.  It’s got all that warm and fluffy content that most of you like about dwelling on the positive and envisioning the futures (so new age), etc., but it all connects with behavioral neuroscience and totally satisfies my inner psyc/science nerd.

“Neuroplasticity.”  A topic I’ve found to be really interesting for several years now and one that I’m seeing a LOT more of on the shelves at Barnes N Noble.  Anywhere from the bestsellers (like all that new age stuff that I just really don’t care for), to the Psychology genre (obviously), to Christian inspiration and devotionals.  It’s referenced as many different things and discussed in a few different ways, but it’s all the same concept.  Actually manifesting your own reality.  Dr. Schwartz calls it “neuroplasticity” in his book I’m currently reading, The Mind and the Brain.  In science, this kind of thing is considered to be a kind of groundbreaking discovery but I think we’ve covered the surface of it for a long time.  Just in more spiritual, feel-good ways.  I’ll cut to the chase because I can tell my readers are going to be bored in the next 30 seconds if I don’t…

Schwartz studied and treated patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (which is hardly ever what convey it to be… sorry, guys).  He found that when patients actively focused their attention and thoughts from negative behaviors/thoughts toward positive behaviors, their brains were actually “reshaped,” in a sense.  These patients used their MIND to make changes in the neural pathways of the BRAIN.  So… the mind might not actually be the affect of the brain (for so long science has thought that the mind is just a result of the chemical activity in the brain), but more like a mutualism is happening between the two.  Make sense?  It’s like actually changing the science of your brain to reveal a “better,” more positive you.  This is not a brand new study, it’s from 2003, but I learned a lot about things like this in my PSYC classes at Auburn and have always been interested in learning more.  No new age agenda.  No Christian devotional necessary.  Just some good ole neuroscience.  Schwartz also refers to this process as mental force, a term I also like.  Ties in a lot with Buddhist meditation.  

On the back of the book, the reviewer suggests that Schwartz’s work “offers convincing scientific evidence of human free will, and thus man’s inherent capacity for moral choice.”  Interesting?  I think so.

Even before I first learned about this kind of science, I remember discussing it at my freshman campus ministry, but we called it attitude.  ”It’s all about attitude.”  Which sounds simple, but really isn’t.  When things don’t go your way or you get a bad hand of cards… actively altering your attitude can actually change the way you react in the long-term.  And it’s so true.  If you’ve ever tried it (and I mean really tried it… like I said, it’s not easy), you’ve probably noticed the difference.  I used to do this all the time after that discussion and it was so hard, but the results were worth it.  I found myself focusing on the positive without even having to adjust my attitude to do it… that sounds confusing.  And it’s an undeniably important coping strategy in my book.  If I’m negative, it’s not because of all the crap happening to me or going on around me, it’s because I am choosing to be negative whether I mean to or not.  I haven’t really been doing this for a couple of years now and it’s starting to show in my reactions.  So, this weekend, after the GACE kicked my tail, I started thinking about it again and jumped back on the track.  It’s still as hard as I remember, but soon it will get easier.  Anyway… hope this all makes sense and someone else finds it as interesting and awesome as I do.  

 

In other news… I’m getting really into this paranormal romance series I’ve been reading.  It satisfies my fantasy/sci-fi/chic lit/mystery/humor genres all in one.  I’m almost done with the first.  And yesterday I went to Barnes n Noble and found some great deals in the bargain section… Midnight in the Garden of Evil on audio CD for $10 and A Million Little Pieces on audio for $7.98!  I don’t normally (actually, ever) listen to books on CD, but since I will be in the car a LOT pretty soon, I think it’s a good time to start.  

If you’re not on Goodreads yet, get on it and add me (the link to my profile is also in the my favorite clicks bar)!  I’m obsessed.  

my little swimmer

Yesterday, for Father’s Day, my parents and I (plus Stanie) went to the lake on my parents new boat.  It was so relaxing and it felt great outside!  Stanie got to swim for the first time and he really liked it.  My mom got him a lifejacket and made him wear it the whole time haha… here are the pictures I got on my phone (I can’t get them to rotate but they’re still cute):

Before jumping in:

And then post-swim:

Took the GACE Science on Saturday.  Don’t want to recap that one.

Saturday night, Summer came to A-Town and we got some Barberitos while we caught up on life and then spent a good amount of time in Borders looking and lusting after books before we went to Kate and Brennan’s going away partay at Janna’s.  Summer’s getting me hooked on paranormal romance and Good Reads (I linked my profile under my favorite clicks).   I’m definitely obsessed with Good Reads and really liking my first vampire romance, Real Vampires Have Curves.  It’s a series of three and I’m already looking forward to the second!  It’s like And really just having so much time to read in general.  I <3 reading.  And I heart friends who love reading as much as I do.  :]  I also saw 1209381 books I either wanted to read or wanted to get just because the cover was beautiful.  Anywho… we ventured to Janna’s party for Kate and Brennan and I got to see a bunch of people from Borders who I have missed.  Lots of great food and catch phrase, maybe one of my favorite games ever.  Good times.  

K.  >reading<updating.

MuffinTop Week 2 Recap

A little late posting the update, it’s been a long couple of days…

Sunday — Just did a couple of sets with 5 lb. hand weights.  I either need to do more reps and more sets or step up the weight.  No leg workout. 

Monday – Arms: sets with weights.  Power-walked 3 miles (goal mileage)

Tuesday — Nada.

Wednesday — Another non-productive day.

Thursday — Cardio/Mileage: Stairs.  Arms: Weights… I upped the reps and sets and added a few new moves.  Great success because I could hardly do another rep by the end.   Legs: Stairs, squats & lunges.  Stairs are a lot harder than I remember.  I remember the week of dry land practice before swim season started I could do stairs forever; stairs were my favorite!  I might need a few more days of stairs before I call them a favorite again.  

Friday — Mileage: 2 miles power walking.  Arms: more weights, I changed up the intensity and the amount of reps per set.  Legs: squats and stairs again, but not as much as yesterday. 

Saturday (Today) — GACE Testing = too mentally exhausting for a workout.  Ate really well most of the day but went to a going away party and had a little spinach dip and a cookie.  :]

Progress?:: Did pretty well food-wise this week (or at least better than I have been over the past few weeks of studying).  Arms definitely feel a little firmer and stronger.  Haven’t reached my mileage goal yet (3 miles 4x a week) but I think that’s coming this week with less work to do and more time to read and work on my bulging muscles haha.  ;]  Shooting for more progress this week…

 

Click here to see how all the other Ragamuffins are doing!