It's gonna be a BIG year

This is the year that will change my life forever.

In March, we'll welcome a baby girl into our family and life will never be the same...I am nervous, excited, overwhelmed, and really happy. I will be happier when she is out and healthy and send positive thoughts to my growing belly every day in hopes that wish is realized.

I always start the year with a reflection on some of the goals I made the previous year and set some new goals. I am not so much into resolutions because I feel like I pretty much live life the way I intend to, so I don't feel a huge need to change that. But, I do feel the need to set goals to keep myself on the track that I am on.

Let's take a peek at my goals from last year...

• Complete the half marathon in April! Check! I finished the race in 2 hours and 3 minutes and was super proud of myself and all my running buddies. They are still at it and have continued on to run other half marathons since, but being pregnant has put a stop to my running. I am thinking of signing up for another half in the fall as motivation to get back to running after the baby comes, but I think I need a taste of motherhood before I commit to that. 

• Complete Core Paper and Specialty Paper for my doctoral program-Done and Done. I completed my core presentation and defense on June 16th--a mere two days before I returned to Germany for the summer to reunite with Mr. Sneaker and make a baby. :0) Midway through the specialty paper, a committee at PSU decided that it would no longer be required, but what I wrote basically became the first 2 chapters of my dissertation proposal, so I am totally on track. I am now starting to work on my methodology section with the hopes that I can complete chapter 3 (final chapter of the proposal) before Little Miss Sneaker makes her debut in March.

• Start my dissertation research- Fail. This goal was a bit premature as we realized that it truly takes 4 years to complete all the program requirements rather than 3. We were led to believe it could happen in 3, but no-one in the cohort is quite ready to actually start research yet. We are all still working on our study design and need to get through the hoop of getting our proposals approved before we can start collecting data. I am looking at data collection next fall with the hope of completing the entire dissertation and finishing by Spring 2013.

• Read at least 1 book for pleasure each month (I loved this goal last year!)-Pretty sure I did this, yet I totally forgot about keeping track and writing down the titles of the books that I read. I am not trying to make excuses, but pregnancy brain has taken over and I am not nearly as organized as I used to be...hopefully I get my mojo back after the baby is born...ha! I'd really like to get back to making my way through that list of the top 100 books every young reader should read that I was working on in Germany.

• Post on this blog more frequently! Since becoming pregnant I can say for sure this goal has been a fail. I feel like I have not been posting at all and I hate that, yet I can say for sure now that being pregnant has this magical way of shifting one's priorities. I am LOVING my job this year, I love my kiddos and small class sizes, and I feel like I have a great groove going in the classroom. But, I don't always feel the need to post about it when I get home...I still read the blogs in my sidebar all the time and want to be part of bloggy land, yet I find myself just wanting to take a load off when I get home and I'm somewhat uninspired to write about teaching. Everyone has a rut every once in awhile, so maybe this means that Sneaker Teacher will make some changes in the upcoming year. 

 This year, I don't really feel like I have too many goals besides delivering a healthy baby. That is my main focus and purpose and all other things take a backseat to that. I have no idea what is in store for me as I enter the world of motherhood, but I hope that I'll be good at it and make the most of being home with my baby for 5 months before going back to work in the fall. I am so excited to meet my little baby girl in a few months. 

Professionally/School-wise my goal is to complete my dissertation proposal before Baby Sneaker comes out and to present and defend the proposal by the end of the school year. I think the summer will bring a bit of a break and then I hope to collect my data in the fall and then use winter and spring terms to analyze and complete the dissertation writing. It will be interesting to see how I can juggle being a new mommy, working on my dissertation, and teaching...

Happy New Year to everyone. Health and Happiness are my big wishes for everyone this year!
 

Almost a new year

I never understood bloggers who just kind of fell off the face of the earth before, but I am starting to get it a little more because I have become one of them! With holiday traveling and enjoying family time, I just haven't been on the computer that much (although my mom would disagree because my phone and ipad are typically extensions of my hands). So here's the latest:

We were in CT with my family for about a week and it was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house and then Christmas day at my brother and SIL's house and followed all the holiday festivities with a baby shower for baby Sneaker on the 26th. Because we had to travel back to OR with baby gifts in tow, I got a lot of gift cards to Babies R Us that I can use to purchase what we need. I also got lots of cute baby girl jammies, outfits, and blankets. It was so nice to see my mom's friends, relatives, and friends of mine who I haven't seen in years! My mom decorated a small Christmas tree with little pink baby girl ornaments and it was super cute. Now I have to get on those thank you cards before going back to work! Mr. Sneaker and I also went into NYC to see The Book of Mormon which was fantastic. We know one of the actors in the show, so we got to go backstage and check things out after the show. Then we met up with some of Mr. Sneaker's best friends from college in the city for drinks and dinner. I have taken to asking for juice and sparkling water when we go out and call that my pregnancy cocktail. It's just a bit more fun than plain water.

We had an ultrasound appointment yesterday and baby Sneaker did some good growing over the past two weeks. She is still measuring a bit small (about a week behind), but we are hopeful that she will catch up. I have another ultrasound appointment scheduled for the 17th because the doctor wants to continue to monitor her more frequently just to make sure her growth is adequate. Being pregnant is very scary and I am filled with worries, but everything else is looking good other than her overall size. She was breech, but flipped around, so she is now wreaking havoc on my bladder. Fingers crossed that next time we go she is bigger and more on track with her growth! I am trying not to worry too much and trying to take advantage of not working right now by relaxing and getting lots of rest.

I am starting to miss my kiddos, but I will fully enjoy these last few days of break. Once I go back I have 12 more weeks of school to make it through. My goal is to teach until spring break (Friday 3/23) and then I will be off the rest of the school year on maternity leave. I am interested to see how my teaching changes as my belly gets bigger and it becomes harder to move around. I've already told the kiddos that I won't be tying shoes much longer because I just won't be able to bend down. Fortunately, I have about 20 eager little helpers in each class that are willing to pass things out, pick things up, clean up, etc. I am usually up and down when I teach, but I have a feeling I will be doing more sitting in the coming weeks.

Usually at this time of year I am gearing up for a nice post about my resolutions and goals, but I don't know if I have it in me! We'll see....My next post will be my 700th, so I may have to put in the extra effort!

Alive and Kicking

Well...to be clear...Baby Sneaker is the one kicking :0)

I am happy to say I survived round two of classroom parties this year and they went off without a hitch. I have a bit of party paranoia because when I taught first grade and did all my own party planning, a child asked, literally in the middle of the party, "when are we going to have our party?" From that, I concluded that my parties must be pretty lame. Last year, I had wonderful parents who took over all of the planning and that was awesome, but this year I am back to doing it myself.

Despite my lame parties, I kind of like planning them myself a bit better. Or, at least planning myself then enlisting parents to help orchestrate what I want...

True parties are fun with sugary snacks, games, prizes, and music.

Yet, with that fun often comes overly-excited children who forget all about listening and following directions.

That's when the parties become not so fun for me and more of a source of stress that makes me really happy when I get to put the kiddos onto the buses at the end of the day.

This time around, both parties were pretty calm. The kids had fun, but I didn't feel as stressed out.

Here's a few things I did that worked:

1. I emailed parents two weeks ago with a list of things I needed (hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, cookies, and parents to help during the party). Parents emailed me back and I got multiple volunteers for all things needed.

2. I planned the activity myself so I would know exactly what to expect (more about what we did later)  rather than trying to recruit a parent to take on that responsibility.

3. I found a snowman themed book to read so that we could call it a "winter" party instead of a "Christmas" party so that my students who don't celebrate Christmas could still participate and be comfortable.

4. I directed parents to do what I needed while I read so that snack would be out on the table when the story was over (parents tend to sit around and watch unless specifically asked to help...go figure).

Those things worked for me this time.

Sure, a story during a party might not seem too cool, but the kids enjoyed it and they still kept their ability to listen in tact. Score!

They also really liked the game I made up even though it was a game that involved practicing their letter sounds. We have been playing a "mixer" game for several weeks now where each child gets a letter card. They find a partner, tell their partner what sound their letter makes, listen to what their partner says, then trade cards and find a new partner. They love this game. '

For the party, I printed out snowflake clip art and wrote letters in the center (each snowflake was on a half sheet of paper). We played the game in the same way as we do with our phonics letter cards, except every minute or so, I would say "freeze," prompting the kiddos to crumple up their papers into snowballs and I would count to three then we'd all toss our snowballs in the air and make it snow. We had a talk prior to starting about now throwing "snow" at each other and there were no issues. They LOVED it. We followed that up with some hot cocoa and cookies and we were good to go.

Maybe it's the costumes that come along with Halloween that make those parties more difficult, but this time around I thought both groups did really well and I even had fun during the parties. I didn't take any pictures (oops!), but I am fine with that because I will be on maternity leave at the end of the year and therefore won't be doing an end of the year slide show this year. I am not about to ask my sub to put that together for me, so it is what it is.

Mr. Sneaker and I are heading to CT for the holidays and we leave on Tuesday. I am so excited to see my family including my nieces (one of which I have not met yet) and my SIL who is also preggo.

Happy Holidays!

I am...

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, but I wanted to post today and nothing else really pressing to write about...

1. I am good at…baking, juggling work and school, being organized (usually).
2. I am happy when…I get to cuddle up on the couch with hubs and watch a movie.
3. I am working on…my dissertation proposal, but as of now I am on hiatus because I turned in my draft of the first two chapters last night and I don't want to work on it until after Christmas break!
4. I am interested in…teaching college (teaching teachers someday)
5. I am always…on time (actually that's changed since being pregnant and slower at doing everything!)
6. I am enjoying…feeling my baby girl kicking and moving around.
7. I am in…my apartment relaxing with Mr. Sneaker
8. I am reading…nothing right now. I just finished Cutting for Stone with my book club and haven't started a new novel yet.
9. I am concerned about…how bad I've gotten about cleaning and doing laundry lately.
10. I am looking forward to…Christmas in CT with my family!

paper writing and holiday spirit

I spent all morning working (in bed) on my paper that is due on Monday. It's coming along really well and I feel like I made some really good progress. I realized how much I had repeated some of my main points, so I did some editing, deleting, rearranging, and feel much better. I am still writing the section on home visits, which is one of the big sections in my literature review, and hopefully I can get all the writing done today and leave all the final edits for tomorrow.

In a little bit I have an appt. for a hair cut and some highlights, so that will give me a nice break for some walking and catching up on gossip magazines while I sit in the chair. Then I think I will curl up with some blankets, some hot cocoa and the documentary I borrowed from a friend called Precious Knowledge. Have you heard of it? It's about the issues surrounding the teaching of culture studies in Arizona. I heard it was fabulous so I am intrigued and excited to take advantage of my dominance over the TV while Mr. Sneaker is away for the weekend attending various sporting events in SF.

I have such an urge to decorate for Christmas, but sadly all but one box of holiday stuff is buried deep in our storage unit and the box I do have is a random mess of nothing. I want my advent house and my stocking and my countdown to Christmas, but I guess I just have to wait until I get to my mom's house because she does. it. up  Christmas style! Can't wait! 17 more days and we'll be there! In the meantime I can enjoy the big 'ol Christmas tree in the lobby of our building.

bring in da noise

How do you feel about noise in the classroom?

A sign of busy and engaged kids or a sign of poor management?

I feel conflicted...

When I witness my students chatting away during their morning work or getting excited during lessons and calling out, I feel like they are engaged and feel comfortable being themselves in my classroom.

I like that.

Yet, I also feel like sometimes there is this expectation for "quiet working" that makes me feel like any time my kiddos are being a bit chatty that my classroom might appear chaotic or not "calm" and "well behaved" enough.

I visited a classroom last year and the kids were SO quiet...I got kind of jealous thinking how come I don't have that level of control in my room.

On the other hand...don't I want my kids to use language in the room, make friends, and talk to their peers? I don't want them to be mute and afraid to communicate.

I feel like there are so many times during the day when I am asking students to turn their voices off that it seems like there are just not as many times when they can talk freely or express themselves on a whim. We have been trying very hard to work on inside voices and whisper voices because I want to encourage them to talk, yet at the same time, I don't like when the noise level gets too high. I don't want silence, but I do want quiet enough for kids to be able to think and do their best work.

What do you think? Are we asking kids to be too quiet too often setting an unreasonable expectation or do you have a super quiet classroom that's serene like a yoga room? 

As a school we have been focusing a lot on active engagement which means the kiddos should be talking, using language, practicing vocabulary, and not just being quiet. Yet, of course there are those times when you do truly want silence and that can be hard to come by.

Where's the balance?