Teacher

Teacher.


After many, many interviews, late into August, I finally got hired.  It was not my expected job - a computer specialist at a .65 time contract.  But, a job is a job, and I took it gladly.  I often think that it's because of Dad that I got my job.  Alpine District is an Apple district, and, well, I had exclusive use of Macs growing up, thanks to Dad.

It was a great job, and there are many days when I still miss it. :)  I liked getting to see and know all the kids in the school.  I liked being the teacher that didn't know (as the kids thought) who was naughty or who was and wasn't the smartest in the class.  It was fun to be the 'fun' teacher in the school - most of the kids could not wait for their once-weekly computer dose.

After the first part-time year, my contract was extended to be full time for the second year.  After that year, my school was going to an extended-day schedule, and so the specialist jobs would be back to part time.  I really wanted to be full time, so I did interview at another school, but was able to stay at good old Deerfield, and took a position in the 3rd grade.

Third grade was a good place to be.  I did my student teaching in 3rd grade, and I loved it.  I enjoyed that age of kid when those classes came to computers.  I liked the 3rd grade team and got along with them pretty well.  My classes were so cute - 24 the first year, 27 the second year.  I like how the kids were just getting used to working on their own, and were anxious to do things themselves.  They are still pretty cute at that age, too, and are ready to let you know how much they love you.

After two years there, I moved to the 5th grade, mostly, I think, because I would be a good fit with their eMints technology grant.  I have loved the 5th grade team - we've had a few new members over the three years I've been there, but is always fun and uplifting.  (Some days the best part is lunch!)  My classes have always kept me hopping - 32 students my first year, 33 the next, and 37 this year (36 now).  I had several kids in 5th grade that I also taught in 3rd grade, and so that was fun to get to have them again.  I'm starting to get siblings of kids that I had either in 3rd or 5th, and that is a fun connection to have as well.

I enjoy teaching for many reasons:  I enjoy being with kids, and am at ease talking to them and teaching them (not so much with adults).  Kids are so funny!  They have great little personalities, and, while I have just a small part in how they are going to turn out, I like to think that I'm making a positive difference in their lives.  I like preparing lessons and activities for them to learn from.  I even like going to professional development workshops to learn more about being a better teacher.  I like that each day is different, but that I have control (mostly) over how the day goes.

Some things that I don't like about teaching:  Grading... it never ends.  Never.  I'm only ever caught up in May.  I also don't like having to deal with 5th grade drama - bullying, love triangles, discipline issues.  There are times when I've been frustrated with other adults in the building, but for the most part, I enjoy the camaraderie of the teachers in my building.  There are definitely ways that the profession can improve - funding, testing, legislative concerns, and other things that don't have to do with kids and teaching them - but overall, it is a good profession and I'm glad and grateful to be a part of it.

Seven years in, and I think that I finally know what I'm doing.  Most of the time.  Some days, anyway.  At least only a few kids go home crying, on any given day.  (The teacher's tears, however, are another story...!)

Sister

Sister.

The week that I was the VIP in my first grade class was life-changing.  How many 7 year olds can say that??  My mom made me a book to take to school to show me off to my class.  Of course, no siblings were featured (just the aforementioned dog and cat).  Well, by the end of that fateful week, I had acquired a sister.  In all the wishing and hoping that I'd have a sister someday, it didn't occur to me that she'd come so little.  I wanted someone to play with!

Who could possibly play with this little thing?

Now that I'm more used to her (after 22 years!), I'm glad to have had her around for so long.  We definitely have had some good times together.  For a glimpse into some of these adventures, check out this post.  Every girl needs a sister.  There are just some things that only sisters can do!

Only

Only.

I was the oldest born of the family, and enjoyed single-status for 7 blissful years.  It was great being both the baby of the family, as well as an adult-tag-along.  I enjoyed the full attention of both my parents, not to mention single-most adoration from a number of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Dogs and cats, by the way, make great siblings.

This 'only' status would change eventually...

A Dozen Words

Thanks to some blog stalking, I found this post from Travelin' Oma.

~Write an outline of your life using only a dozen words. Go back and turn each word into a paragraph.

Here are my dozen words.  Subsequent posts will be my paragraphs...

Only

Sister

Wanna-be

Newbie

College

Teacher

Student

Techy

Traveler

Work-a-holic

Half-orphaned

Single

Anybody here?

Dear You,

It has come to my attention that no one is visiting my blog.  (and I don't just mean people who never get on the internet - you know who you are!)  I don't advertise to everyone that I have a blog, but people do know about and I do have some regular readers (thanks, guys!).  My fine, fine readers with blog feed gadgets on their blog aren't getting the message that I've written lately.  For some reason, that blog feed isn't updating when I post.  According to those feeds, the last time I wrote was two months ago.  (It is true that I have let that kind of time go by before, but I really try to write more often than that normally...)

And while I guess that I don't really need an audience, it'd be nice to get a comment now and then, or see someone else's city besides my own in my traffic feed...  I do write for me, but I write for you, too!  (aw, now don't you feel special?)

So if you happen to be reading this (checking to see if it is true that I really haven't written in a few months), do you have any ideas (brilliant or just kind of shiny) that would update my posts on their/your blog feed reader???

Thanks,
Me

***PS - 2/22/11 ***
So... I don't know what particular setting it was, but it's apparently all fixed now.  So if you run into this same problem yourself... better ask someone else!

"Thanks to your Dad..."

In December, Lone Peak HS sponsored a food drive at the elementary schools.  The class with the most cans got a pizza party, in addition to school-wide incentives.  My class was doing okay with their can count, but it really picked up the last week when I told them that whatever cans they brought in, I would double it.  Well, actually - my Dad would double it.  He always supported the Food Bank, and we thought this would be a good use of some of his money.  (He usually supported them with money, as the food bank gets more for their/our buck with that, but thought this would be a worthy exception.)

By the time the end of the week rolled around, the kids had brought 238 cans in... so I dutifully went to the store with Mom and bought 240 cans... of everything!  All totaled up, it was only $119.37 - not too shabby!  The receipt is still hanging up in my room, over 3 feet long!

My kids were so impressed that I'd be willing (well, that Dad'd be willing) to help them out to meet our goal of getting that pizza party.  I'm glad that I could help out their morale a little bit, and maybe help demonstrate what a good cause a food drive is, and the people it helps.

The kids brought in more cans that last day, so we ended up with over 500 cans, and ended up winning that pizza party.  When I told the kids that we won (oh, and that we were going to be good sports about it!), one of my students who really doesn't see outside himself much said to me, "It's thanks to your Dad that we won, you know."  Awwwww...!

So thanks, Dad!

11 Birthdays

I loved this book!

I started reading it last Thursday, when my students were doing some Super Bowl of Reading reading.  I pulled out my book so that they could see me reading also (I don't usually read when they are - I have too many other things to do!).  I really, totally meant to be a good teacher that day - but alas, it didn't happen.  Once I got a few pages into this book, I was totally hooked.  The kids and I ended up reading for about an hour - all the way from recess until lunch.  Oh well.  I'll be a good teacher another day.  (The kids, by the way, didn't mind - they've been making good progress on their reading goals at home, without a lot of reading time at school, and think that I'm "awesome" because I "let" them read all that time.  Hmmm...)

Amanda and Leo are best friends who share the same birthday, and who have combined birthday parties, up until their 11th, because of an overhead conversation on their 10th birthday.  Because of an enchantment placed on their great grandparents, both Amanda and Leo end up having their 11th birthday over and over until they get it right and the enchantment's requirements have been met.  It reminded me a lot of one of my and my family's favorite movies - Groundhog Day - and that's a good thing.  It was cleverly written and a quick read - because you get sucked in.  I found myself wondering what I'd do differently (or not) if I got stuck on a day and couldn't progress to the next day, and which day I'd want to live over, hopefully to improve the outcomes and attitudes of the events taking place on that day.  I'm still undecided - I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Loved it!  You will too!