German Blondie

Today not only did I drive by myself for the very first time since moving here three months ago, but I also got my first haircut and "blondening" since moving here as well. My friend gave me the name of her girl, so I made an appointment at her salon since I don't work on Fridays. I actually ended up subbing two periods today in the afternoon, but my appt. was at 9, so I was able to do both. Since we only have one car, I dropped my husband at work and then drove to the salon which is very close to his office. I was a nervous wreck to drive alone because the roads are very windy and narrow in some towns and there are many people out walking/biking. Fortunately, I made it home without getting lost.

Let's just take a moment to give thanks for the invention of GPS!

I had my previous hair stylist girl Cari write down the color formula she used so that I could bring it to my new stylist in Germany. Yvie, who I went to this morning, said their colors are very different, so I was a bit worried, but I am really happy with the results.

She was super sweet and she gave me her private number so I can call her at home and make an appointment for her to do my hair at her house next time which will be much cheaper than the salon. I had to pay 95 Euros which is a lot, but I am used to paying a ton in the US too, so I wasn't that flabbergasted when she told me the price. Apparently, it would only be 50 Euros if I went to her house. Next time I would like to do that for sure.

Got a little Photo Booth happy, but here are some pics.

Likey? No Likey?

Just Teaching

John Spencer is a fellow education blogger and he recently came up with the idea to create a blog composed around discussion relating to education for social justice. His intent was to create a blog where multiple teachers could contribute, offering different perspectives and different voices on this theme.

I asked him if I could be one of the blog authors. I am really excited to be part of it and I hope you will take a look.

Read my first post entitled "six year olds and social justice" here.

Are you a busy teacher?

I came across a great resource for teachers today. It's called the

Busy Teacher's Cafe

and it is jam packed with great tools to use for students in grades K-6. There are printables, theme activities, a blog, other teacher resources like author studies, literature activities, ideas for classroom management/organization, and much, much more!

The best part:

Everything is free!

Teachers love the word free :0)

Today I mostly went through the Reading, Writing, and Graphic Organizer sections and I found lots of great tools to use for enhancing reading and vocabulary comprehension.

I definitely recommend checking out this site for easy to access resources.

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Check out the kicks my husband custom designed for me at www.miadidas.com

It's hard to see from this small picture, but the letters bwe are on the side.

He said it stands for best wife ever.

Love it.

Bleeding Sheep

I worked with a fourth grader yesterday who is a native German speaker. Very sweet little girl who has very severe dyslexia. That is besides the point, but I work with her on reading and writing because she struggles a lot in those areas. She chose to read a story yesterday about Guppy the Goat who was unpopular on the farm because the other animals thought he was useless. In one part of the story, Guppy noticed some boys chasing the sheep on the farm and chased the boys away. He was discovering different ways in which he could be helpful on the farm and show the animals he was not useless.

The text mentioned that the sheep were bleating. I asked my little friend if she knew what bleating meant. She replied, yeah, you know, when the red stuff comes out.

bleating

bleeding

I totally get why she said that.

Learning a language is very difficult.

I think at times, we don't give second (and third) language learners the credit they deserve.

I am attempting to learn German and having such a hard time. I do not have an ear for the language and have not surpassed the very basics of introducing myself, telling where I am from, and learning numbers. If I go to a store and the cashier tells me the total, I am extremely psyched if I know the total just from hearing it and I don't have to look at the cash register to see it.

Small victories!

I speak Spanish fairly well, but German is not coming easily.

My inability to express myself in German does not correlate with a lack of intelligence, it is just a medium of expression I have not mastered yet.

I always try to keep this in mind with my students.

It is so easy to misunderstand or confuse the abundance of new words.

How great is it that my little friend gave it a shot. She wasn't exactly right, but she was definitely on to something in thinking bleating sounds a lot like bleeding. We discussed what bleating means and I demonstrated my best sheep noises so she would understand.

She smiled.

She learned the different between the two words.

I love teaching :0)

Global Literature Week 8

I love this week's theme for my Global Literature Class. We are reading different versions of Cinderella from around the world. So fun! There are tons of versions and I wish I could read them all. Unfortunately the school library had none of the options, so I had to order a few from amazon.com. I got Yeh Shen: A Cinderella Story from China and The Korean Cinderella. We are supposed to read three different versions, but the library did have one called Rough Faced Girl which is a Native American version that my teacher said I could use even though technically that is multicultural literature and not global literature. I was even thinking that children in the classes I am working with just might have some of these different versions since they are from many different countries. It would be fun to ask them to tell me the versions they know!

Back to Work

I actually went to work today! After last week's incident of being sent home due to being exposed to the flu via my sick husband and then a 4 day school closure, it feels like a long time since I have gotten down to business.

My Monday schedule is jam packed with 5 45-minute sessions in a row. I have two periods in my friend's 3rd grade classroom, which I love, and I also work with a group 5th graders twice in both their English and Math periods. Throw a little 8th grade Algebra in there and that is my morning. After a 45 minute lunch break, I work with a 4th grader on reading and writing.

Although I loved being a classroom teacher, I am also finding that I love being a "specialist" and only working with a few students or one student at a time. I can really get to know their strengths and weaknesses in order to help them be more successful in school. I get to dabble in many different grade levels which is very helpful for getting a perspective on what students are learning at various grade levels and how much progress certain students need to make. I never had that broad perspective before.

Without being "pushed" into a different teaching environment (by moving to Germany for hubby's job), I never would have voluntarily switched from teaching first grade. I always chuckled when I received the district transfer form which gave teachers the option to change positions if they wished to because I felt putting that paper in my mailbox was a complete waste. I would never opt to switch. I was so happy with my team and my little first grade space, that I never considered other opportunities.

I never thought I would work with middle school students.

I never thought I would work in special education.

I never thought I would leave my previous school.

I never thought I would like anything else besides what I was doing.

I was so wrong.

Change is very hard. I never want to make a change to something I am happy with.

I am a firm believer in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" strategy and I like to do something to the point that I get really good at it instead of trying something new and having to experience a new learning curve. I am always reserved and worried about all the stress that comes with being new at something.

I am starting to realize the merit in opting for something new and different. In my current position, I am learning a lot, I am broadening my teacher horizons, and I am gaining useful skills that diversify my teaching abilities and make me a better all around teacher.

I am happy to be teaching in this new environment.

I like middle schoolers.

I like teaching special education.

I like working at an international school.

I am not ready yet to say that I will actively seek out big changes in the future, but everything seems to be working out.