organizers, calendars, and schedules...oh my!

As my time left in Germany quickly dwindles down, I am feeling the pressure to be über organized in preparation to hit the ground running as soon as I get back to OR. Not only will I have to set up my entire classroom in the new (to me) school that I will be working at, but I also have to do crazy things like get a car, set up my new living space (which just may include quite a few shopping trips to stores like Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Target to buy things that I already have but can't bring with me like hangers, my glorious body pillow, new sheets and all that good stuff), unpack the ridiculous amount of clothes that I am bringing, and see all my wonderful friends that I have missed seeing over this past year. Whew! I am tired already!!

I printed out some very cute calendar pages from The Busy Teacher's Cafe site (which by the way has changed a lot since the last time I visited and looks super cute and organized (not that it wasn't before, but even more so now)). We have a ginormous write on/wipe off wall calendar in our apartment, but I needed to have my own (more portable) pages where I could document all the things I need to do leading up to my departure and all the things I need to do once I arrive.

Once everything was written in (including some lunch dates with friends, a math training I will be attending, in-service days etc.) I realized I have just about 10 free days during which I have to do everything to get ready for the year.

:: heart palpitations::

I haven't seen my classroom yet, but I am sure it looks pretty empty and lonely. I am basically starting from scratch as I did when I first started teaching. Thankfully I have accumulated quite a bit of teacher goodies since then which I will have to retrieve from our storage unit (note to self: add getting stuff from storage to the calendar). Once I get going, I don't think it will take that long to decide how I want to arrange the room itself, but all those cute little projects and things that turn it from a plain old classroom into an enticing and exciting place of learning are what will take up the most time. Is 10 days enough?? I have a lot of teaching materials from first grade, but the decorating part is something I always seem to do from scratch each year.

Once in-service starts I know that there will be other PD activities planned so I don't want to leave anything for the last minute. We also have a Back to School Night event on September 1st, which is the week before school starts, so pretty much everything needs to be in order by then. I love the idea that the Kindergarten kiddos get to come in early because they can drop off their supplies (which means I can get them organized prior to the start of school instead of accumulating a huge pile of tissues, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, crayons etc. as the kids arrive on the first day) and I can meet them ahead of time (hopefully not all at once), which will be great. That night, the kids get to see the classroom, find their cubby/table spots, and then take a ride on the bus while we speak to their parents about what it will be like in Kindergarten. We can also take care of finding out how they will be getting to and from school. I love the fact that I will get to meet the families and kids before school starts because not all parents can bring their kids to school which means sometimes I don't even meet them in person until fall conferences. I am so thankful that this night has been set up because I never would have thought of doing a separate one, yet I think the idea is genius!

I feel like there has to be more that I can do from here since I have a lot of free time, yet I feel like I can't commit to anything yet since I don't know what my room is like and I haven't yet grasped how I will organize things with two different groups of students. I guess I could work on a welcome letter where I introduce myself or type up the songs that I want to use for when I put them on the overhead or document camera. I could also work on my classroom blog or continue getting my ideas organized so that I am 100% ready when I return. There are lots of things to be done...it's a bit overwhelming!

Do you think about school all summer or do you let your mind take a vacation too??

How do you stay organized? Personal planner? Calendar? Computer calendar?

Glorious!

Today was a completely glorious day! I slept in--LATE--which seems to be my habit ever since returning from the U.S. Then I went to the gym which was followed by a lot of reading. When Mr. Sneaker got home from playing tennis we had a nice lunch then headed out on a walk to Starbucks. We enjoyed some soy lattes (without sugar!) while reading for about 45 minutes (he on our new iPad and me with an actual book) and took the long way home and strolled through town for about an hour. We had a nice dinner at the biergarten down the street from our house and read some more until I was shivering and told him it was time to go home. I am so hooked on The Girl Who Played with Fire that I have been reading constantly! I am hoping that I will be able to finish it tomorrow! It is the kind of story that keeps you somewhat confused the entire time with different subplots involving lots of different characters but in the end everything comes together and makes sense (I think!). There is a lot of interweaving of story lines and I just can't put it down!

I don't have any teacher talk today but on the sneaker side of things I have been drinking a ton of water lately and I have not had any sweets since my first day back after my trip (about 15 days now!). The water, massive amounts of zzzz's and lack of sugar are making me feel great! I also did Bob Harper's Lunge Challenge today and it burned! He posts challenges on his facebook page that are part of his new workout series and so far I liked what I saw/did/felt. If you "like" him on facebook his video posts will be in your news feed. He also has an ab challenge...maybe tomorrow!

What do you do during the summer to rejuvinate and feel great?

Lame?

I feel like nothing super interesting has been going on lately. I chill. I read. I write. Throw in a little cooking and cleaning. That's it!

Today I finished the book Bed of Roses, which was okay, but not great. I liked the story, but I found myself skimming a bit more than reading, so I can't say that it was a favorite. As soon as I read the last page, I immediately picked up The Girl Who Played with Fire. I had read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last year and liked it. When Mr. Sneaker went to London a few weeks ago, he brought me the last book from the series, but I hadn't yet read the second (Fire). Fortunately, when his mom came to visit last week she had just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire and was itching to read the last one. We traded because she is coming to visit again in a few weeks and by that time I will be done with #2 and ready for #3.

Not too much teacher stuff has been going on lately, but I did read some chapters in my book Literacy Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students which is very interesting to me. I keep my trusty highlighter and Post-it flags with me as I read because I keep coming across great quotes that I know will be useful as I write my papers this coming year for my program.

I also started collecting some images of cute classroom ideas I have come across on many of the teacher blogs I love. I am thinking of putting together a binder with sections for classroom managements ideas, reading, math, awesome books, writing etc so that I can go back and remind myself of all the great ideas I have come across from all you wonderful teachers out there! I have noticed that many teachers use a particular classroom theme that is incorporated in many different ways in their room. I like this idea, but I can't really think of a theme I would like to use. I feel like it should be appropriate for Kindergarten, but it should also reflect my personality. I briefly thought of having a theme related to baking, yet I don't want to promote sweets. In any event, I want to have a different color or maybe animal for each of my groups as one way to keep them straight (I will have two Kinder sessions). A sports theme of some sort could be cute and I know someone who might be able to help with that (hubs!). One of the ideas I had to use with a sports theme is the "goal post."  I used to have a huge cylindrical post in my first grade room that was a huge hindrance to room arrangement and I thought I could put it to use by having my students write their goals on soccer ball cutouts and we could post them on the "goal post." I have not yet seen my new classroom and hopefully it is post-less, but I will have to do some thinking about the whole theme idea.

Do you have a classroom theme? 

Do you have any theme suggestions for me?

I am thinking sports, garden, cooking, or places around the world, but those are just general ideas and I would have to come up with a lot more creative ways to carry the theme throughout a classroom management plan, classroom stations, etc. I think I will be able to make a lot of decisions once I see my classroom and the other two Kinder classrooms. I am not a very visual/spatial person so it helps me to see an idea in action before I can create my own. Does that make me a copycat?

I haven't posted any pictures lately, so here are a few from earlier this week (prior to all the lazing around!)

Grandmother Sneaker came to visit with my mother-in-law this week and she is 94 years old, yet still traveling around the world! They went on a Mediterranean cruise and then came to see us. Grandmother speaks fluent German because she lived here when she was a child, so she really enjoyed speaking to the locals and visiting Nürnberg with us.

We went to the market and got some fresh berries. 

MMM!

Lazy Days

Today is one of those lazy, cozy days that has rendered me entirely unproductive. It is pouring rain outside and I have been curled up on the couch reading, watching TV, and checking emails on my phone. It's 4:30 and I have not gotten dressed yet. I didn't go to the gym. I haven't left the apartment at all. These kinds of days make me feel so guilty that I have to talk myself into the fact that I deserve a completely useless day every once in awhile.

Once I go back to Portland (which is only 3 short weeks away!) I know I will be super busy which means I should take full advantage of any chill time I can get away with now. I can't help but feeling like I should be getting something done, so I am planning to cook a nice dinner for Mr. Sneaker. He is actually coming home early today, so that is a special treat. I am going to roast some chicken that I have been marinating all day along with some sweet potato circles that I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. I have a nice salad leftover from last night and the final touch is some cauliflower mashed potatoes (basically smashed cauliflower that appears just like mashed potatoes, yet it a bit healthier).

How is your day going? 

Productive or Lazybones like me?

***

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A little culture talk

Today I came across a paper that I wrote last fall. I was asked to write my own cultural autobiography and these are some of my concluding thoughts that I thought I would share with you all. My experience teaching at an international school has really sparked my interest in culturally competent teaching and I feel like I have come a long way since I first started teaching, yet I still have a lot to learn. I always enjoy going back to read something I have written and it is interesting to see if my ideas have stayed the same or changed since the piece was written.

Except from my paper-->

At this point, I feel like I am operating at a certain level of understanding with regards to multicultural education that has not yet fully translated into my practice. I have an awareness that contributes greatly to how I see my role as an educator, yet I am still working hard to become that educator. I feel like I am on a journey, but I have only just begun. I am just now starting to acutely examine my own cultural understanding and I believe that I still have a lot of work to do, both personally and professionally.  I have read countless books on multicultural education and I would feel safe to say I am developing a passion for the ideas, strategies, and results associated with transforming traditional pedagogy into something more inspired.

One of the most poignant realizations has have taken hold is that I do not need to have all of the answers. I am the owner of my own culture, but I cannot possibly have first hand understanding of every experience every student has had thus far. I need to learn to rely on others as a rich source of knowledge and that begins with asking questions. Earlier I reflected on how I never gained a sense of my own culture because my family rarely shared stories of our ancestors. Had I been more curious as a child, wondering, asking, and trying to take it all in, perhaps I would have grown up with a different awareness of my place in this world. I didn’t ask the questions that would have elicited the stories that were begging to be told. Fortunately, it’s not too late to start asking those questions now.

Certainly becoming this kind of teacher, an open-minded warrior for equity and social justice in education, is not an easy task. It necessitates vulnerability, bravery, critical thinking, awareness, and a lot of hard work. It often means going against the grain, turning around on the escalator and running up the stairs that continue to move downwards which just might feel like going nowhere. To be this type of teacher takes commitment to not only my values and beliefs, but commitment to listen to and learn from the values and beliefs of others without judging one or the other as superior. I often feel intimated by how small my own bundle of life experiences seems in comparison to others. My privileged life has not presented me with hard trials like many of the students I might come across throughout my teaching career. As much as I want to know what it’s like to be in their shoes, I never truly will. That doesn’t mean that I can’t foster a relationship with those students, and a community among all students, where they feel comfortable to share what makes them who they are so that I can get as close as possible to knowing what it’s like to be them.

We each have our own story. Some are filled with happiness and success, others are not. Regardless of the details of our story, we each have the right to be proud of who we are and the cultures from which we come. It is my hope that our educational system begins to view those diverse backgrounds and different languages not as deficits, but as the treasures that they are. Without the diversity that is derived from individuals with differences coming together for a common purpose, we are left with a cookie cutter world where difference and change are feared and education fails.

What are your teaching goals?

Outlaw Glitter

I have successfully shrunk the pile of the interesting tidbits I tore from Instructor Magazine that I wanted to share with you all. My goal was to post about them so I could get rid of all the torn out pages that have been hanging out on my table. I am going to start labeling these posts "Ideas" so I can search them when I am looking for these ideas in the future and that will be a tidier "for future reference" system.

This next one is called Outlaw Glitter and 21 more rules for teachers... just some silly stuff that you might relate to! (my additional comments are italicized--everything else was in the article and to be honest I had more fun writing those comments than reading the 22 rules....!!)

1. As many crayons as you think you need, double it. (agreed!)

2. Pack a lunch--school cafeterias are not created with adults' tastes or metabolisms in mind!

3. Buy plain band-aids.

4. Invest in a really good thermos--it may be possible to teach without coffee, but we don't even want to know!

5. Please do not lick the paintbrushes. (???)

6. Cherish kids' excuses.

7. Think twice before you get out the glitter. (I heart glitter and at least at school I am not responsible for vacuuming..tee hee hee)

8. Teach them to walk in a straight line--teachers judge other teachers by how their kids walk in a straight line (my Kinder kiddos will be slithering, tip toeing, penguin walking, and creeping down the hallway---we'll walk with style!)

9. Keep a change of clothes in your car. ( I will never forget the comment under the "reason for leaving" column of our sign out sheet one day--a teacher wrote, "Kid puked on me.")

10. Sit in the back of the bus on field trips.

11. The professional development you want is rarely the PD you get.

12. Don't bring in treasured photos or souvenirs (or just teach your students how to respect them so you can share with them what is important to you!)

13.You will break up a fight in the boys' bathroom. (Doubtful)

14. The teachers' lounge is better and worse than everyone says.

15. Not every child will like you. (and you won't like every child...yeah I said it....)
 
16. When your students beg and plead for a class pet, it's okay to say no. Especially if it bites.

17. Choose books you like. (read with enthusiasm, don't be afraid to cry during sad stories, and be prepared for more tears when they clap at the end of a great story!)

18. You will get lice. (yuck!)

19. Your students will be shocked if they see you at Target. (They won't see me because I will hide...j/k!)

20. Don't beat yourself up if you have to use a bribe.

21. History will repeat itself.

22. Laugh (often!)

Ok, so some of these are pretty silly/weird/stupid, but some are actually pretty good gems of wisdom. I like #22 a lot and #11 has a lot of merit. I sure hope I can avoid #18 and I would change #20 to "don't beat yourself up if you have a bad day."

Do you have a funny story of needing an extra pair of clothes while at school? 

What piece of advice would you give a new teacher?