April Goals Recap and May Goals

I have to say that my goal completion was pretty much just so-so this month. I did pilates, lifted weights, and used my Rosetta Stone software, but I didn't always make my goal of 3 times per week. I get really upset with myself when I set a goal and then am not 100% successful, but I try to remind myself that just setting the goal usually means I focus on that exercise or activity more than I normally would, so even if I don't complete it 3 times a week, I am still doing it more than I did before. I am not trying to justify, but I constantly have a gazillion goals and I realize it's not the end of the world if a few flop.

I was 79% on completing daily To Do lists and am happy with that.

I love chocolate too much to give it up completely...

I read three books for pleasure this month: The Help (AWESOME BOOK!), Perfect Match, and Nineteen Minutes. I ordered Jodi Picoult's newest book, but I haven't received it yet. I am looking forward to reading that during the month of May! I also read two teaching related books (which technically are for pleasure too!) since they are not for a class or anything.

I haven't really thought about new goals for May until now.... but here goes...

School Goals:

• "attend" weekly politics & policy class via skype (3:00-6:00 am). FIVE more to go!
• get an A in policy class. This is a much more challenging class for me and I love it, but I think I will have to work harder to get an A.

 Health & Wellness Goals:

• Continue Pilates 3 times per week
• Add ab video 3 times per week
• Workout at least 5 days a week
• Monitor sugar intake/limit sweets to once per week (more reasonable than none at all!)

Personal Goals:

• 80% or more on to do lists?
• Rosetta Stone 3 times per week
• Read up on working with poor spellers

 What are your goals this month?

Doesn't "union" mean coming together?

This morning, I receive an email in my inbox outlining some of the bargaining terms that my school district in OR are discussing with the teacher union.

One of the district proposals was to increase the elementary school day by 30 minutes.

Now, you will often hear teachers lament, "we need more time!," which is something I agree with. I know that more time is more instructional time, more planning time, more time to cooperate with other teachers, more professional development time, more grading time, more time to pick pencil and crayons up off the floor at the end of the day, and often more personal time to recover from all stress of being pulled in a million different directions throughout the day (without the freedom to break for food/drink/bathroom when needed!). There are lots of areas in which we could benefit from more time, yet at my school, I always felt most short on time during the school day. I would frequently think, "If I only had 30 more minutes, I could (insert any number of activities here). So I was intrigued when I read that the district wants to add 30 more minutes to the school day. Seems like the teachers and the powers at be in the district are on the same page??!. Yet, in stepped the union, whose contradictions to this proposal were presented in the next paragraph of the document.

The union stated that adding instructional time will interfere with teacher prep time (which is true, yet we are promised 30 minutes daily which we get during the school day and we additionally have 1.5 hours after school). Yes, I am aware that often we are required to attend meetings and attend to other business during the school day that prevents us from actually sitting down (whether alone or with team members) to actually plan quality activities and instruction) and that often our 30 minute "prep" period during the day goes by faster than a New York Minute because 30 minutes is barely enough time to dash to the bathroom, breathe a sigh of relief, and blink a few times. I do agree, however that adding 30 more minutes to the instructional day would provide a bit more flexibility in scheduling and would result in more time for learning (that is a good thing, we like time for learning!). The union also cited that adding more time to the school day would add more stress to the amount that teachers are already feeling. Again, a valid point, yet ultimately, I think I would go for 30 more minutes.

If we keep in mind the reasons why we decided to become teachers, and we think about the goals we have for students, and the fact that the district probably got this idea to add time from us when we constantly proclaim that time is exactly what we need more of, I think adding 30 minutes to the school day does not sound that unreasonable. Apparently, when compared to other local districts, our elementary day is the shortest. We begin at 8:10 and end at 2:30. What are we in Germany? (Just kidding, but it irks me that kids in Germany are done with school around 12:30 or 1 and I cannot fathom how they possible fit everything into that minuscule timetable!). When we had a unreal amount of snow days in OR a few years back, the district ended up adding time to each day to make up for lost time and we seamlessly transitioned to having a longer day. It worked. We survived. Ending at 3:00 would still provide us with an entire hour after children left for other "teacher business."

I know that our unions exist to protect us and often they are protecting me from issues and consequences that I don't even realize might occur based on years of experience and precedent from previous changes. I know that there is deep thought behind each point the union stands for. I know that they are only looking out for us and in many situations, with regards to many issues that could lead to very negative consequences for our teaching force, they most certainly have our back. Our bargaining team spent countless hours a few years back negotiating our contracts and helped to secure wage increases, helped maintain money PD and tuition reimbursement and many other "clutch" things. They were an incredible team of unstoppable, determined leaders within the district. I was thankful that they were willing to take on a role that I didn't even have the first clue how to do myself.

Yet, I can't help but feel the union and the district are at odds with almost every single thing the district tries to do! With the exception of trying to get back full day Kindergarten (which I am all for), every change suggested by the district was criticized by the union and I can't help but feel like the union is somewhat at fault (ok that is not the right word, but gets my point across) for the negative reputation teachers have gotten. If our unions argue against any proposals that make us have to work more or put in more effort or course we look bad. Again, I know there are often ramifications for changes that I am not experienced enough to understand, yet aren't there plenty of teachers out there who simply don't want to battle it out with the district and just want to do what is best for kids?

Of course, I don't ever want to be taken advantage of as a teacher, and I want to be compensated for my work. I appreciate the help of the union when it protects me against the harm that comes from changes that are not in the best interests of teachers.

I also think kids come first. If it is good for kids, but not as convenient for me, I am okay with that.

Truly great educators understand the rigors of the job and can be willing to take the workload in stride because the ultimate payoff (the success of students!) is well worth the blood, sweat, and tears, the lugging home of the teacher bag to do grading and planning on the weekends, the early mornings and late afternoons spent in the classrooms instead of with husbands, wives, and kids, and the subsequent nightly teeth grinding (anyone else have that problem) that comes along with being a part of one of the most important institutions out there.

So, my hope is the our teacher union begins to reflect a greater level of unity with the district with the realization that if we are going to fix education, we truly need to put the students first.

***Disclaimer...I am only basing this post on information I have based on my own experiences in one particular district. Your situation could quite possibly be very different.***

Do you think teacher unions are positive or negative for teacher images?

Do you understand this district/union dance more than I do? If so, please share your wisdom!

Follow the Tao

Last night I pulled The Tao of Teaching off my shelf of teaching resources. I have actually had this book since I was in college, but I never read it. I needed something to read while on the exercise bike at the gym and I figured why not? The book consists of 81 short chapters that relate teaching practices to the Tao Te Ching and Taoist philosophies. The author, Greta Nagel, discusses the idea of yin and yang and reflects on how our institution of education might benefit from a greater balance of these concepts. I earmarked the page where she cites the following statement by Art Costa (1984):

"We need to transform our conception of teaching to encompass this dynamic interplay between mystical intuition and scientific analysis. So far this has not been achieved in our profession. At present, our attitude toward teaching is too yang--too absolute, rational, and aggressive. What is needed is more yin--intuition, sensuousness, and subtlety--to bring back a delicate balance. Children might then learn those other basics: the wholeness and unity of existence, the art of living in harmonious balance with nature and with each other."

 Despite the fact that this statement was made almost as long ago as my birth--I still think it has a lot of validity! We are so overly focused on testing, standards, and meeting benchmarks, that we often fail (because of time constraints, pressure, and mandates) to balance these aspects of education with creative, innovative, and critical thinking inspired activities.

 I am ready to get the yin on! Do you find validity in this statement?

I also received  a question yesterday about what model my current school uses for ELL instruction. Students at my school come from all over the world and often enroll at this school with levels of English language skills that vary greatly. We use a push in/pull out (mostly pull out) model for ELL (called ESL here) instruction that allows beginners to receive a lot of support while intermediate or higher level students can be more independent. Students also have German class which is leveled because some students are native German speakers. Students also begin learning Spanish in 6th grade. So technically, if a student is a native speaker of French (or another language besides English or German), he or she will have to learn 3 languages in addition to his/her native language at this school. I think that is too much! I, of course, value learning multiple languages, but that just seems like a lot for students in middle school! Because the nature of our curriculum (at least at the elementary level) is very student centered and exploratory, there is not a lot of particular focus on explicit language instruction as part of content areas with the general classrooms (besides what is offered by ESL staff) yet the curriculum is great, so I know the kids learn a lot of vocabulary and do a lot of reading and writing for content areas which contribute to language acquisition. I have never attended an ESL pullout class, so I am actually not too sure what type of learning is taking place and how language instruction interacts with content instruction, but I do think that there is a lot of support given to students who are learning English. There is an entire section of the report card dedicated to ESL teachers, so the instruction seems thorough!

If you have any more questions about life at an international school, please let me know and I am happy to create some posts with answers!!

Rethinking

After receiving some comments about my post yesterday (and Ms. Eagertoteach's comment in particular), I did some more thinking with regards to my assignment and what I truly think would be the best way to make a change to the current plan for ELL students in my district. As I wrote in my previous post, I was feeling unsure of how I had responded to the assignment and I was worried what I was saying would be controversial in class. I think what I realized is the reason I was nervous to turn in what I wrote was that I was simply not comfortable with it. I would not want to have to argue my point because it wasn't really the point I wanted to make. I know I can be wishy washy (mostly because I am open minded to the ideas of others and sometimes feel a tennis match within my mind agreeing with valid points on both sides of an argument), but if I truly believe in what I am saying, then I won't be afraid to share my opinions about it.

When I read Ms. Eager's comment, I immediately responded to her saying that I really hope I did not come across as being anti-bilingual education because I most certainly am not. I completely agreed with the points she made about the importance of literacy in one's native language. She made me realize that I really wanted to refine my ideas. I took one of my books off the shelf today and read up on the history of policy pertaining to ELL students including different types of language immersion, bilingual, and English only programs. As I read the arguments for teaching in English only, I did not feel those ideals matched my own. I am not at all favoring English as the 'better' language and I am certainly not in favor of monolingual-ism. I don't think that children who speak another language should let that language fall to the wayside in order to become proficient in English, nor should they have to 'assimilate' into the dominant culture. I think both languages should be nurtured. Bilingual and multilingual individuals, in my opinion, certainly have an advantage over people who only speak one language because they have the capacity to communicate with more people and that is a great thing! I was trying to come up with a solution that would ultimately bring ELL students closer to the district goals, yet I don't believe my initial attempt was the right way to go.

After doing some thinking, I decided that rather than suggesting to completely remove the Spanish Language Arts program that is still operating in three of our schools, I would prefer to 'refine' it. If the goal is to have students learn in their native language in order to foster a smoother transition to English, I do think that the program should incorporate both English and Spanish instruction instead of Spanish only. I thought about proposing that the aspects of reading instruction that would transfer to English instruction later on such as comprehension strategies, vocabulary, learning about the parts of books and different kinds of texts, how to choose appropriate books, retelling etc could be taught in Spanish. The children would have an easier time understanding these ideas/concepts if they were discussed in Spanish. Other aspects of reading instruction such as phonics, phonemic awareness, letter names and sounds, and fluency could be practiced in both languages. In a more side by side approach incorporating bilingual books or both English and Spanish versions of stories, the children could benefit from having access to both languages as tools to learn and increase their skills. Yes, it would be hard to fit everything in and this would require the use of a different instructional program or perhaps combination of the English and Spanish versions, but I think it could work with the right staffing.

After reflecting, I realized I don't think that opportunities to learn in Spanish should be removed, but I do think that there needs to be more of an effort to include reading instruction in English from the beginning so that students do not transition into English only reading classes in third grade with the expectation that they will be able to take state assessments in English within a few months. That is a lot to ask. Even if the Spanish program emphasized learning to read in Spanish, I think it should follow more of a bilingual model than strictly native language.It is nice to have follow bloggers as a means to process ideas and I am happy that I have revised this assignment (at least in my mind) so that I can submit something I am completely happy with.

Thanks for the comments that came in! I am always so glad to have access to people who make me think deeper and more thoroughly!

Tricky Assignment

I have this assignment for my politics and policy class (my early morning education fest with my fellow cohort members in PDX) that I am really struggling with. It seems pretty simple, yet I am having the hardest time just getting it done.

We are supposed to choose an educational policy (which could be federal, state, or local) and propose a way that we would change it. We have to provide some background information on the policy that is written, describe what we want to change, and indicate what steps would need to be taken and what person would be the necessary contact person who could make the changes happen.

I decided that rather than a federal policy, I would prefer to use a local policy that exists within my school district because it's easier for me to think in terms of what is closer to home. I was really surprised to find a wealth of information on the district site regarding specific policies citing which federal or state laws they relate to. This class is absolutely opening my world to so many aspects of education that I never even thought about before.

Ultimately I decided to address my district's plan for ELL students since that is a particular area of interest for me. Of the 37 page document, there was one part that I honed in on that I think should change. Out of ten elementary schools in the district, three of them offer a Spanish Language Arts program for students whose dominant language is Spanish. Now, I am very familiar with the research behind why it is important to foster literacy in one's native language and the beliefs that children will actually acquire English better if they are able to learn content and increase their skills/literacy in their native language. I only have the best interests of the ELL students at heart, but I decided that the change I would make would be to remove this program and have all the students receive Language Arts instruction in English.

The children who participate are supposed to receive reading instruction in Spanish through 2nd grade and then transition to English instruction in the 3rd grade unless they score 90 correct words per minute or more on the IDELS assessment prior to that in which case they are exited early. The idea is that their literacy skills are built in their native language until they have acquired enough English to transition to English reading instruction. I understand the ideals, yet I don't think that all aspects of the program are working. I am pretty sure the school where I used to work decided to make some changes this year (probably the source of where my ideas for change really came from), but I am not sure since I have not been working there. One problem was that the program would only run if there were enough kids. Sometimes there would be enough children enrolled in Kinder and 1st grade, but then numbers would decrease meaning the program would not run for that group in 2nd grade and they would transition earlier than anticipated. Also, since only 3 of the schools ran the program, sometimes students would go from a school where the program was operating to a school where it wasn't meaning that they would be all of  sudden be plopped into English instruction after having Spanish instruction since Kindergarten. The achievement gap in the district between ELL students and their native English speaking peers is indicative that many of the ELL students in the district are not at the level the district wants them to be at.

If these groups of Spanish speaking students received Language Arts instruction in English, that would be 90 more minutes per day of English exposure. I think that this could definitely contribute to better mastery of the English language and stronger literacy skills which they need to use in 3rd grade when taking state assessments. As part of my paper I suggested that an extended day program utilizing community and parent volunteers could provide Spanish speaking students with content learning and literacy activities in Spanish which would allow them to continue improving their Spanish language skills and content area knowledge. I just feel like the school day is too short to take away 90 whole minutes of exposure to English. Also, most teachers in the district have been trained in GLAD and SIOP strategies which means that they should be fostering connections between students' background knowledge and languages in all content areas.

For some reason, even though I have though about this a lot and feel it is a legitimate argument (that the district has grappled with for years as this program has gotten smaller and smaller), I have a lot of guilt over suggesting this program be removed. Now, my "suggestion" is only for the purpose of my assignment and it's not as though I am actually taking action on getting this program removed, but I just have an issue with taking a controversial stance on anything. I know this class is really good for me because it will force me to really solidify my opinions and educational values, but I am still at the point where I just want everyone to be happy and pleased with what I say (I know I need to get over that).

Bilingual education and proper instructional tools/strategies/methods for ELL students are always a topic of controversy in educational programs and I would usually consider myself someone who would be all for valuing and embracing students' native languages. I do, however, think that perhaps this particular program is not producing students with the necessary skills to meet the district goals. As I struggle to learn German I realize more and more that the reason I am having such a hard time learning the language is because I am not exposed enough to situations in which I hear it or have to practice it.

I feel conflicted over this and I guess I am still really trying to wrap my mind around it. I think it's good to weigh certain issues and think about both the positive and negative aspects and consequences for certain policies. I just hope that there isn't anyone in class who really tries to argue with me because confrontation make me tense!

What types of ELL or bilingual programs does your school have? Are they effective?

Do you think kids acquire English better/faster when they receive some instruction in their native language or when they receive all instruction in English?

Are you strong and opinionated when it comes to taking sides on an issue or more hesitant?

Are you a teacher leader?

Thanks for your informative comments about relationships you have had with cooperating and mentor teachers during student teaching! I was happy to hear about some really positive experiences. I think, as with everything, sometimes the student teaching experience and relationship with other teachers works and is really successful, and other times there is a breakdown in the true purpose of having a student teaching experience which is very unfortunate for those pre-service teachers! I really got along well with my cooperating teacher. I actually worked with a male third grade teacher and at the time I thought everything about the experience was fantastic. When I didn't even get past that district's screening interview and when I interviewed in OR and had no idea how to assess kids in reading because I had literally not seen any literacy assessment taking place--I started to realize that I didn't know as much as I thought!

Perhaps this is what drives me to continue learning about educating and being an effective teacher. Literally every single day (and this is possible because I work part time!) I read something about education. My nose in constantly in a book reading about policy (for class), teaching ELL students, teaching students with special needs, differentiation, implementing effective writing workshops, how to create effective whole language reading environments, multicultural education, how to teach multiculturally within constraints of standards, and how to be a more effective teacher overall. I have been continuously enrolled in education programs  (master's and now doctoral) since I began teaching with the exception of last year when I didn't have any formal courses and I feel like my journey of learning about education will never be over due to the continuously changing nature of the profession. Especially this year, all of the time I would have spent prepping if I had gotten a position teaching a general education classroom, I spent trying to become a better teacher instead. 


One of the books I have been reading this week is called Teaching As Leadership [The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap] written by Steven Farr of Teach for America.There are TONS of education books out there and I know that there does not exist any solitary "guide" that can provide all the necessary information to magically create exceptional teachers. I do try to find books that really pertain to areas I want to improve, but I don't discriminate all that much. I am not looking for a quick fix or "how to" guide, I am just craving information. Sometimes it's important to read something that doesn't capture the topic correctly because that is a great exercise in truly developing my own convictions and understandings of what kind of teacher I want to be. Of course I love to read those classic "Dangerous Minds" type stories where low achieving students are absolutely transformed based on the devotion and commitment of a single bright eyed and motivated teacher, yet I still read those with my own personal realities in mind.

Teaching As Leadership offers 6 general principles that that "distinguish the actions of highly effective teachers from those who are merely solid or struggling." According to this book, effective teachers:

1. Set big goals that are ambitious, measurable, and meaningful for students
2. Invest students and their families through a variety of strategies to work hard to reach those ambitious goals
3. Plan purposefully by focusing on where students are headed, how success will be defined, and what path to students' growth is most efficient
4. Execute effectively by monitoring progress and adjusting course to ensure that every action contributes to student learning
5. Continuously increase effectiveness by reflecting crtically on their progress, identifying root causes of problems, and implementing solutions
6. Work relentlessly in light of their conviction that they have the power to work past obstacles for student learning

So far I have read the chapters addressing 1-4 and I am finding the book to be easy to digest and interesting. Not every book is life changing, but being able to get one important idea to take away is enough for me!

Do you consider yourself a leader among other teachers at your school?

Do you agree with these 6 principles of effective teaching?

Roles and Responsibilities of Cooperating Teachers

I am feeling a bit crabby today because of my early morning skyping. I got to take a nice nap this afternoon, but having odd sleeping hours just sticks with you!

Lately I have been thinking about some concerns I have regarding the relationship between student teachers and their cooperating teachers or mentor teachers. {This article} about The Boston Teacher Residency Program explains the use of a medical model for teacher training where teachers go through a residency period. It got me thinking even more that perhaps some changes are in order with regards to how teachers are trained and what expectations are in place for the nature of their "on site training."

What is the role of a cooperating teacher?

Isn't it to teach...to coach...to inform...to mentor....to inspire...to breathe the passion of educating into a novice teacher so they transform from someone who understands the pedagogy and theory into someone who can truly put that knowledge into action in an effective way that helps kids?

I don't understand why sometimes the presence of a student teacher in the classroom translates into having an "assistant' of sorts therefore reducing the workload for the classroom teacher. I know that I have never been a cooperating teacher, so I don't know the ins and outs of what is required of them, but I would sure think that actively listening to and being engaged with all lessons taught by the student teacher is an integral part of being able to help that pre-service teacher understand how to improve his or her teaching. The presence of the word cooperating in the title of Cooperating Teacher indicates a collaboration and not a dissolvement of responsibility during the student teacher's assignment. Yes, the responsibilities shift from teaching to coaching, but there is still a job to be done and an important role to play. The feedback a master teacher can provide is extremely valuable to someone about to enter the profession, especially in this job market where getting a teaching position is extremely competitive if there are any available openings at all.  Students who are studying to be teachers don't get to make decision about their placement, yet the particular circumstances in which they are placed can make or break their success which is based almost entirely on the relationship developed with the cooperating teacher.

I think that a teacher should have an active interest in being a mentor because the involvement and attitude of the mentor directly affects the pre-service teacher. Yes, it is essential to let the student teacher take the reins and make decisions, teach, plan, grade, and truly experience what it is like to be the classroom teacher, yet I think the cooperating teacher needs to be by his or her side the entire time (not joined at the hip, but soaking in everything the student teacher does in order to be able to offer specific reflections). They need to be active participants, so they can provide meaningful feedback and constructive criticism and teach about teaching!

I really look forward to a time when I can work with a student teacher as one of my long term goals is to teach pre-service teachers at the college level. I think it would be a great opportunity to be able to act as a mentor for something entering the profession and to help them realize their full potential as an educator. When I was a student teacher and when I was a first year teacher, I craved feedback from other professionals and my mentors because I always wanted to know how I could be better. I wanted to be observed and I always welcomed visitors (especially unannounced visitors) because I wanted to know what they could tell me about my teaching through their perspectives, expertise, and years of experience. I look forward to when I can be a source of influence on other teachers just starting out.

Education is really in crisis right now and I think that teacher training is an extremely important facet of education that needs to be fixed. I can only really go on the experience that I had in student teaching, but I feel it was WAY too short (only 10 weeks) and I only worked with one grade level. Back then I thought it was great and I emerged feeling like I was a fantastic candidate for any job, yet looking back-I knew nothing! Barely anything about the actual job skilled required to make it work in a classroom and stay afloat when all the responsibility truly falls to you.  It is important for pre-service teachers to work with kids at various ages (yet I think it is ridiculous for someone training to be a middle school teacher to do a student teaching assignment in Kindergarten (happening at my school right now)) because this is a waste of valuable time he or she could be using to learn how to do the job they actually want to do. Working with different age groups is good, but within the range or level the teacher is interested in!

Bottom line--I think teachers who are willing to take on student teachers need to really clarify within themselves the reason why. Are they passionate about educating other teachers? Do they feel forced by administration? Is there a bonus/perk like tuition credits that goes along with it?

Would you be excited about the idea of being a mentor to a pre-service teacher?

What did you like the least/most about a cooperating teacher you worked with? 

Should schools let anyone be a CT or should there be special requirements to justify a willingness/interest?

Nothing Much...

Ah, it's Wednesday again. Wednesdays have a new meaning since I began skyping my class in Portland in the wee hours of the morning. Believe it or not, I actually am looking forward to it. There is something about getting up while it is still dark out. Something about creeping around quietly so my husband doesn't hear me. Something about making a nice hot cup of chai tea that I can sip contentedly as I participate in class while wearing my pj's. It's kind of fun! We are having three back to back guest speakers tonight (well tomorrow morning) and I am excited to see what they have to say.

The more I learn about teaching and how to be successful, the more I realize that the word positive is a word that I want to be at the core of my presence. I want to have a positive influence on the kids, a positive attitude, and positive results. I want to see education as a whole shift in a more positive direction, but the only control I have is over myself and my personal influence on others. I hope that my enthusiasm and positivity can be contagious and I want to show continued dedication to being a source of good in education.

Behavior Plans & Glasses

Today I had a meeting with several other teachers to discuss creating a behavior plan for one of the students I work with. I had previously observed this student during a few of his classes and talked with a few of his teachers about problems they are experiencing during their lessons. I sent an email to all of the teachers who he has and scheduled a meeting so we could all discuss the issues/concerns and create a plan to provide him with consistent behavioral support. I gave each teacher a self control inventory and asked them to complete it based on the behaviors they see in their particular classrooms.

I was a little nervous to "conduct" a meeting like this because normally I am not really the point person in charge of anything because I always defer to the head of my department. I was pleased last week at our meeting when she passed it to me and said I could handle it.

I believe collaboration among teachers is extremely important for many reasons, but mostly because as they say in High School Musical..we're all in this together--meaning we are a team. We can support one another and learn from one another and additionally if we work well together, we make our environment better for kids.  I was really happy with the way the meeting went and how most of the teachers came prepared with information about how the student is doing in their class. We all discussed the issues and came up with a plan that works for everyone involved. It feels good to know that we are going to help this student learn how to manage his behaviors in a way that emphasizes the positive. It can be quite challenging to first and foremost get all the pertinent people in the same room at the same time, yet equally as challenging to find solutions to problems that make everyone happy. I think we did a great job of that today and it was a moment in time that made me once again feel like a professional. :0)

I also had a student who came to school wearing his brand new glasses. He has been struggling academically, so I am hoping that perhaps some of his struggles were due to poor vision, because it would be great to see some improvements. The problem is--he was not happy at all that he now has glasses. He was very self conscious and perceived that other kids would think he was a dork. I proceeded to tell him that when I was younger I got "fake" glasses with clear plastic lenses because I actually wanted to have glasses (there is something studious about glasses that is really appealing to me and I think current styles are really cute! Still wish I needed them!). Despite my attempts to convince this kiddo that wearing glasses is not a big deal, he was not having it. I had to tell him several times that the glassed don't do any good if they are folded and sitting on the desk. I was trying to think of someone really cool who wears glasses to convince him that they are not synonymous with being dorky. I was thinking...well Spiderman wears glasses! Actually no, Peter Parker did and he was kind of dorky. Superman wears glasses. Again, no, Clark Kent wore them and he was kind of dorky. Nonetheless, I think he has come cool frames and I hope he gets used to the idea of wearing them and realizes there is nothing bad about wearing glasses.

Do you know anybody super cool that wears glasses?

 

Sight Words

I have been trying to come up with some creative ways to help my little Kinder "sprouts" (I love that term which I got from Mr. Halpern's Look At My Happy Rainbow blog) learn sight words next year. Last year, I worked hard to get my first graders to learn their sight words as a way to increase their reading fluency and I used some games as well as a rainbow word trail around the classroom to motivate them to learn these very important, commonly used words. They loved the word trail because it allowed them to get in some movement as they hopped from one word to the next reading them as they went (which they did at the beginning of reading group when they came to the carpet because the trail led to the carpet area). In order to make the trail, I used different colored craft foam, which I cut into same sized rectangular "bricks." I wrote one sight word on each brick and then adhered sticky velcro to the back of each one. The stiff side of the velcro stuck right to the carpet, so I only used that side because the carpet functioned as the soft complimentary side. I did run into a few problems with the rainbow trail because it was super exciting and intriguing (i.e. students had difficulty not touching it) which led to a lot of torn craft foam. Also, the velcro made it just sticky enough that the pieces could be lifted with relative ease, so I often found some reorganization of the words which took place during carpet time. I loved the idea and found it effective, yet I would need to do some tweaking in order to use it again.

(You can see a little bit of the rainbow word trail in this pic)

Thinking about sight words got me thinking about Beanie Babies. Do you remember the complete mayhem about Beanie Babies and how they would get completely sold out of stores? Good thing they are no longer as popular or I might have some trouble getting this idea to actually work. I figure my friends will be little and Beanie Babies are little, so they will be a perfect match. Little kids like to be "in charge" of things and also like to take care of things, so I am hoping to capitalize on both of those realities. My hope is that I can collect a whole slew of Beanie Babies (hopefully by either finding them cheap at garage sales or Goodwill (or maybe by donations from my lovely bloggy readers who have some beanie friends they no longer need!)) so that I can use them to help my friends learn sight words.

I will make address-label-sized, laminated sight word cards and  somehow stick them to the front of the beanies. Maybe with safety pins (is that a bad idea for Kinders??). Each beanie will be named after the word on the front (Mr. (insert sight word) or Ms. (insert sight word)). On certain days/at certain times, each student will get to babysit a particular beanie and while the beanie is under his/her supervision, the student should be making sure to learn the beanie's name (the sight word!). At certain points during the day, I would check in with the student and have them tell me the beanie's name.

I am also pondering making the beanies part of the line walking routine. This would, of course, take some training and might be reserved for the second part of the school year when the kids have been exposed to more words. I am imagining a small round laundry basket which would be home to the beanie's until it was time to line up. As kids are called to join the line, they can take a beanie from the basket (you get what you get and you don't throw a fit) and carry that beanie to the next destination, putting it back in its home upon arrival as they shuffle into the music room or gym and tell me their word. This has the potential to be a total disaster, yet it also has the potential to be genius. If a child has to hold the beanie with two hands, those hands cannot be used for touching another child. If the child is not obeying the walking in the hall rules, it is simply not safe for the beanie and the beanie goes back to its home. My hope is that my kiddos will take this caretaker role seriously enough to behave with the bears. But if not, the consequence is that the beanie gets taken away.

There could also be potential for some fun games using the beanies and hopefully the kids would learn the words. I could even start the year with just letters on the cards instead of words and transition to words once we get our sight word vocabulary going throughout the year. Even if these beanies were incorporated just a few times a day, that is good practice for remembering letters, sounds, and ultimately words.

Stay tuned this summer for my pleads for beanie donations! hehe.

Do you have a favorite Beanie Baby?

What is the craziest story you know about someone trying to obtain a particular (or any) Beanie Baby?

Simple Saturday

I started out the day with a 50 minute run with my friend Jill. She knows all the local trails and is a good guide/running buddy since I have no sense of direction at all. After our run, we both went home to shower up, then met up again to have coffee at a local coffee place with another teacher friend. We enjoyed a relaxing few hours basking in the gloriousness of the sunny day we had. It wasn't super warm, but the sunshine was in full effect and it was really nice to be outside in the fresh air. We had a late lunch and then headed home so I could get in some errands with Mr. Sneaker. Since the stores are not open on Sundays, we usually end up grocery shopping on Saturdays just to make sure we have enough food for Sunday/Monday.

I had another class to sykpe with at 6 and just finished up at 9:15. Not the best way to spend a Saturday night, but I am really happy that I have been able to participate more frequently and for longer periods of time because I feel like I am getting to know my cohort a bit better (and 6-9 pm is a little better than 3-6 am, don't ya think?!). Sometimes I feel uber awkward because it's not always easy to jump into the conversation and it seems like when I speak I get a lot of blank stares. Because my colleagues are basically seeing me on the professor's laptop, I can really only "face" a few people at once. I would really appreciate some nods or smiles or something (even once in awhile) because when they just look at me, I feel really dumb. Maybe I am too self conscious. I always try to nod and smile a lot at teachers and guest speakers so they know I like what they are saying or at least that I am awake and interested.

We talked a lot about No Child Left Behind tonight since the theme of the class is politics and policy. We didn't delve too much into the proposed changes, but I am looking forward to that. One thing I brought up that part of the law indicates we should be teaching with research based curriculum, yet those prescribed curricula don't reflect the diversity that exists in our classrooms. Many of the students who make up the lower end of the achievement gap are students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Research on multicultural education indicates that students do better when they can relate to what they are learning and when new information fits into the context of their schema and what they already know, yet the prescribed curricula that we often have to teach with do not do that. There is no way that the curriculum writers can create a prescribed curriculum that will meet the needs and connect to the background knowledge of every student. It simply cannot be a match for everyone. If we are required to be dubbed as "highly qualified" teachers, then shouldn't we be trusted to know what to teach our students that will motivate them and reflect their cultural understandings and learning styles? The people who wrote the reading program I used to use didn't know my students, but I did. Couldn't I have done a better job selecting stories to read that would reflect people who looked like them, talked like them, or had similar experiences to them and their families? I always felt like my creativity and knowledge about teaching was stifled by using a scripted reading program and I wish I could have taught my students based more on my experience of knowing them as learners and knowing what they liked and needed.

I would not want to be in charge of making education policy, yet I do think that the voices of teachers need to be heard so that policy can better support what is actually going on in classrooms...

Well enough serious chit chat for the day! Mr. Sneaker is out enjoying the local brewery with his friend, so I am debating if I should hit the gym or just relax. As you can tell from my description of class, we did not end up going to the social gather involving parents and students from school. We were not in agreement over the issue, but ultimately he conceded (I won!) and we decided not to go. I am all in favor of attending sporting events and dance recitals and getting to know students outside of school/showing interest in their lives. This gathering (poker night) is just not the same to me!

What would you change about NCLB?

What would you like to see the Obama Administration do for education?

Is it weird to go to the gym at 10:00 on a Saturday night?

Rise and Shine!

Skyping this morning was fantastic! I went to bed around 9 and actually fell asleep, so I got a decent amount of sleep before the alarm went off around 2:30. Once I got out of bed I was totally awake. I fixed my hair and put makeup on, then connected with my professor at 2:45. There were two guest speakers in the class, which were both really interesting. I actually participated for the entire 3 hour class! Whew. Afterward, I watched a show, read some blogs, and ate breakfast, then it was pretty much time to head to work.

I was tired, but I knew it would be better to just stay up. I was really dragging mid-morning, but by the time my last period rolled around, I was feeling good. I did take a 3 hour nap when I got home, but other than that, this 3 am skype session seems like it will definitely work out well.

I got my book about Teacher Leadership yesterday and started reading it. So far the first chapter has been about the importance of high expectations and setting measurable goals for students that are significant. For example, certain teachers were cited that set the goal of improving all of their students' reading levels by two grade levels throughout the course of one school year. The book talks about the importance of making goals clear to students and ensuring that they understand the goal and that they are invested. I was thinking about my reading group last year who all started first grade reading between 0 and 3 correct words per minute on their Fluency assessment. I wonder what would have happened if as a group we set the goal of reading 50 words by the end of the year (surpassing the end of year benchmark for first graders). All of those kiddos improved, but not all of them made benchmark by the end of the year. Reading this first chapter just got my wheels spinning and got me thinking what if? What if next year, I set a goal for my Kinder kiddos that they will all be able to read 40 correct words per minute by the end of Kindergarten. Would it happen? I wonder...I feel like it's important to respect what is developmentally appropriate for kids, yet I know there were many first graders last year who scored beyond the end of the year benchmark at the beginning of the year, so it's not that far out to think there is potential.

I know the importance of high expectations and I definitely had them last year. My group consisted of the "low" learners and many of those students are students who live in poverty or were English Language Learners. They started the year behind their peers, yet I never felt like that meant they couldn't improve. I can't imagine ever thinking that! I remember telling the students what their goal was, yet I don't think I truly went through the process of getting them truly invested in it. The next chapter is about just that--Getting students and parents to invest in your goals, so hopefully I will gain some insight on how to do that.

I realized I have 3 chapters to read for my politics and policy class that I didn't get to this week, so it looks like I will be spending a lot of time this weekend with my nose in a book! Hopefully we will get some sunny weather!

On another note, my husband sent me an evite he received from a colleague at work. When I viewed it, I realized that this gathering is at the house of one of the students I know from school and other parents/students from school will be there. I told Mr. Sneaker that I don't want to go because I don't typically socialize with students and their parents, yet he said he thought I need to get used to that since the international school environment is different and it's typical here. I don't directly work with this student but, the student is in a classroom that I push into several times a week.

 

Would you go to a social gathering at the house of a student?

 

Early Bird

Today was a relatively uneventful day. I did some grocery shopping, went for a run with my friend Jill, did some pilates, and I am heading to bed super early to try and get in at least 5 hours before my 2:35 am wakeup call!

Yup, it's that time again...skyping in the wee hours of the morning! I am connecting with my professor at 2:45 am to touch base, then the class begins at 3 am. This week, I am attempting to get to bed early so that I can stay awake after the class and go to work without going back to sleep because last week I went back to bed and felt like death around 8:00 when Mr. Sneaker was leaving for work. I figure if I can make it until noon, I am golden and then I can come home and take a really long nap.

Once class is over, I plan to tune into America's Next Top Model, maybe make some bagels to bring to the staff room, or maybe go for a walk depending on how tired I feel. I figure I have about 1 or 2 hours to kill before I would need to get up anyway, so going back to sleep will just make it worse. I am pretty much a morning person, so I am experimenting to see how I do.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

What do you do to feel awake in the mornings?

Self Control and Sneakers

A few weeks ago I asked the head of my department to order a book for me and I got it today! It's called Teaching Self Control and I am really excited to read it. In just the first few pages, it immediately places blame on home life situations indicating that kids are not able to control themselves when they come from environments repeatedly expose them to bad situations including abuse, violence, and neglect. Pretty strong accusations for page one! Geesh! I would hardly assume that every kid who has a hard time exhibiting self control (especially the little kiddos) comes from a home marked by awful circumstances. Sometimes there are medical or physiological factors and many things play a role (including the classroom environment and the structure or lack thereof introduced by the teacher). I am so tired of the blame game that is currently going on in education, but I am nonetheless very intrigued to read this book because is supposedly offers a "curriculum for responsible behavior" and I am more interested in the research behind teaching self control and the strategies that are presented than blaming parents for children who need to strengthen their self control and emotional intelligence than establishing who is to blame if a child is meeting behavioral expectations in the classroom.

I also ordered a couple more books from amazon (I know...I know...I have a problem) and I am excited to get those as well.

In the meantime, I have been continuing to read the Blueprint put forth by President Obama outlining revisions to No Child Left Behind. I am trying hard to compare/contrast the two and decide whether or not the new ideas are actually improvements or just more of the same disguised to seem new and more beneficial. I cannot even tell you how many times the word "effective" is used in this document. Effective...highly effective...highly qualified....same thing! Many of the provisions sound okay, yet they are very vague which means some necessary information and answers are still MIA.

Funny story from school today...the fifth graders are learning about fractions and solving word problems with fractions. This morning, the teacher asked what fraction of students in the class were wearing sneakers and indicated that anyone wearing sneakers should stand up. One student stood. Mind you, I live in an area that is home to both the Puma and adidas global headquarters, many students have parents that work for these companies, and as I glanced underneath the desks, I saw plenty of Vans, adidas, Puma, Converse, and Nike kicks. Yet, these kids did not recognize that they had sneakers on their feet! I was floored. I told my Canadian teacher friends about it and they thought it was totally normal. They said "sneakers" is not a common word for them and they would refer to "sneakers" as "running shoes." Being that I live in a household with a LOT of shoes and a husband who is pretty knowledgeable about footwear, I would have to say that I was a bit befuddled. I tried to explain to my friends that sneakers would be a pretty broad category including casual "street shoes" as well as athletic shoes and "running shoes", but not all sneakers are for running, so it simply does not make sense to call all shoes of that nature "running shoes." I never knew sneakers was an American concept/word. How odd! Guess I learned something today.

And along with my sneaker story, I would like to officially dub myself Mrs. Sneaker. I know in the past I have mentioned my real name, but I have on again off again paranoia about being too forthcoming in what I say on my blog, so from now on I will just refer to myself as Mrs. Sneaker and hubs gets to be Mr. Sneaker, which is pretty related to why I named this blog Sneaker Teacher in the first place. If you took a peek in our closets, you would see just how fitting it is.... :0)

A Million Bucks

Today I started off the day in third grade. I love being with this particular class because my good friend is the teacher. Even though we are both working, it's just nice to be in the company of a teacher that I know really well. She has great classroom management skills and I have learned a lot from her this year, so her classroom is one of my favorite stops on my schedule.

She actually has a student teacher from the US that is currently working with her and today was the first day that this new teacher took full control of the class. The students were given the question, what would you do with a million dollars? The teacher wrote the words spend, save, and give on the brand new Smart board (commence drooling now!) and gave the students an opportunity to think about what they would do if they suddenly won a million dollars.

The kids gave answers like buy a fancy house, buy a car, give money to the poor, invest the money in a business, take care of my family, buy some fancy clothes etc. My little friend raised his hand and said that he would buy a 100 km slip and slide. Gotta love the way he thinks! After brainstorming as a group, the kids returned to their seats to independently complete a graphic organizer detailing what they would buy, how much they would save and for what, and how much they would give away and to whom. My friend wanted to save for a golden bathroom, a Ferrari, and a 1 ton pizza to share with his friends. I have no idea where these funny ideas come from, but this kid is just destined to be a square peg, yet I know someday he will do great, amazing, astoundingly impressive things with his life. He does not conform to the typically expectations of the classrooms as much as the other children, yet he is so creative and imaginative. I wish I got to spend more time with him during the week!

It's pretty interesting to realize how kids at this age have no concept of how much money a million dollars is. Some indicated they would save $200 for a car or house, while others felt a real spending spree would be to buy all of the Wii games or some fancy scarves. The word "fancy" certainly was a reoccurring theme in today's activity. I guess money implies a little bit of bling. One little girl generously decided to give $100 to her brother. I think she thought that was really generous.

I loved how the kids were definitely interested in selecting items to purchase, yet they were just as eager to select who they would share their money with such as charities, family members, and people who are less fortunate.

All in all, it was a great first day back. I easily slid back into the groove and it was nice to see the kids I work with after being on break for so long. In between classes, I printed out the Blueprint for Reform from the US Department of Education and I am looking forward to reading up on what President Obama and Arne Duncan have in store for us. I am also planning on taking a good hard look at the Kindergarten standards that I will be using next year and I ordered a book from Amazon about Differentiating Instruction in Kinder. (Just gearing up for the warm days ahead that I can spend enjoying the sun on our new patio furntiture!)

Also, on the bloggy design front, I found a wonderfully fantastic tutorial that helped me understand how to add tabs to my blog! I practiced on the class blog I made for next year and added  "Contact Me," "About Me," "Class Schedule," and "Important Information" tabs which I think would be helpful for parents that read the blog next year.  I am debating if I want to add tabs to this blog. I suppose having an "About Me" page would be nice for new followers (by the way welcome to the new followers who have popped up recently!), but I am not sure what other tabs I would use for this particular blog. Any ideas?

Hope your Monday was great!

What would you do with a million dollars? 

Have you used a Smart Board? What is your favorite function?

...and it's over...

::sigh::

The last day of spring break.

The glorious break that allowed us time to travel around Ireland and gave me a whole additional week to just lounge around, get in some runs with my friend, do pilates, get some spring cleaning done, enjoy some coffee shop afternoons, and finish the last of my spring break books.

I feel like it has been an eternity since I was at work and I am not quite ready to get back to the daily grind. I am sure once I get there tomorrow morning (and enjoy a big 'ol cup of hot steamy coffee) I will be right back in the swing of things, but for now, it's hard to think about.

I really enjoy time off, but at the same time it makes me realize that I could never not work. Sure, waking up late and catching some shows is a great way to spend the day, but I am more productive when I am busy and my schedule is tighter. Sometimes I wish I could just stay at home and not work, but in reality I know it's far better to have a regular schedule and routine. In this exact moment, I feel a little rusty since I have been away from school for two entire weeks, but I will be happy once I am back.

We spent a good amount of time yesterday sorting through clothes and making piles of things to get rid of. In Portland I would always donate to the ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens) and I wish there was something like that here, but I don't think so. Apparently there is a bin somewhere downtown where I can drop things and I will assume that our stuff will go to people in need. Given that hubs works for an apparel company, we sure do get lots of clothes throughout the year, so typically when we weed out we have a LOT and the stuff is NICE. We are not getting rid of the old and tattered..no, no....we are getting rid of the lightly used and sporty! We just have too much and I am learning to go along with the less is more mentality.

Right now hubs is assembling our new patio furniture and I look forward to basking in the sun that should hopefully make an appearance this week with a new book. (I need a new book to read, any suggestions!) I just finished two Jodi Picoult books and now I really want to read her new book House Rules. I also want to read The Girl Who Played With Fire. I need to take a peek at amazon.de and see what I can do. I do have my lovely politics and policy book to read, but I need something fun as well.

***

On a totally random note....I need some advice from all you Tweeters out there. I recently started using Twitter. I don't have too many followers, but it's fun and I am finding some interesting celebs and fellow bloggers that I enjoy following. My question is, do you allow random people you don't know to follow you? Am I being paranoid by not wanting strangers reading my tweets? I decided today to "protect" my tweets so that from now on I will have to approve my followers and then I deleted a few people I don't know. Maybe that is lame, but I just feel more comfortable knowing that I can have some control over who is reading what I say (not that it's in any way fascinating at all).

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

What part of your home is most in  need of some spring cleaning?

Who is your favorite celeb to follow on Twitter?

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

As you may have read earlier this week, I have sworn off sugar for the remainder of this month and hopefully longer. Not necessarily sugar in all forms, but mostly things that are outright sweet, sugary and indulgent like cookies, chocolate etc.

This afternoon I met up with my friend Jill at the local coffee shop to sit in the nice sun and chat. It is pretty warm out today, so I wanted something cold instead of a hot drink. I looked over the menu and decided on a frozen cappuccino, which I thought would be like a coffee drink blended with ice. Well, the guy at the counter started to whip it up and I am pretty sure a whole lot of ice cream went in the cup, followed by some chocolate syrup. Oops. So needless to say, I kind of broke my own rule today, but I was not about to attempt to take back my order because he was not one of the people that I have talked with before that I know speaks English. I didn't want to be a pain and I didn't want to create an awkward situation where I had to let on that I don't actually speak German. Many of the coffee items are in English on the menu board and when I add the word bitte (please) at the end of my request and a good 'ol danke upon receiving my change, I feel that my spoken exchange is sufficiently German to get by without admitting I don't actually speak German.

So, I enjoyed a wonderfully delicious frozen cappuccino and now I know that in Germany "frozen cappuccino" is another name for coffee flavored milkshake with chocolate syrup and yummy crunch coffee flavored thingies on top. At least I got in some good pilates and weight lifting before I went for coffee AND I did 2 Rosetta Stone lessons as well so really... I was golden on 3 out of 4 goals today and that is not bad.

I guess I have to go back to a big goose egg on my tally of days without sugar...but it was kind of worth it :0)

If you

Call Me Crazy!

I started my day with a bang this morning when the alarm went off at 2:45 am. I Skyped in to join my class in Portland which took place from 6:00-8:00 on West Coast time (3:00 until 5:00 am in Germany!)

I figured since I am still on spring break, it was a great week to try it out. The professor that has been working with me is teaching the course and it is one of the core courses that are we required to complete as a cohort. I missed two of those core classes this year because I am in Germany and the other teachers were not willing to let me skype in. This is the only class of the core series that my fantastic mentor/advisor teaches, and thankfully he is more than happy to use skype and help me connect with my group.

I chatted with him via skype at 9:00 and we discussed the idea of me joining the class. He was a little surprised that I would be willing to join in at such a random time, but he was all for it. The course is Politics and Policy in Education and he has lined up many guest speakers for the term. Given all that is going on the with education in the US right now, I am really interested in the content and it's an area that I really want learn more about. Also, given that I am still paying for my courses whether I skype only with my professor or join the group, I figure I benefit more from being part of the actual lecture and hearing the guest speakers.

I was a little groggy when I woke up, but I put on some concealer to reduce to I just rolled out of bed look and made myself a nice steaming cup of Chai tea to keep me alert. I was in my PJ's, but I had on a long sleeved T-shirt and I snuggled under a blanket (on my lap, so they couldn't see). I had no problem staying awake for the class and the speaker was really interesting. It was great to be part of the group and I even got to participate in a small group activity. That was a little more awkward, but I think that it is so amazing how much we can do with technology.

I had a hard time falling asleep both when I initially went to bed and then again after the class, so I ended up sleeping until 11:00 when I went back to sleep. I am not sure how this will work out when I actually have work the following day, but I am willing to give it a try. My professor alone has made my ability to continue participating in the program possible, so at this point I am willing to do crazy things to make it work. I am excited that next year I will able to be part of the group on a regular basis and just be in class with everyone instead of doing it from afar.

I am so thankful for my wonderful teacher. I want to do something nice for him to say thank you but I am not sure if it's okay to give him a gift per se.... I want to write him a nice card/letter describing how much I appreciate his efforts and his willingness to think outside the box.

Interesting way to start the day, but it was worth it! My friend Jill came back from her trip to the Canary Islands last night so we went for a run together today then after we cleaned up we walked into town and did some shopping at H&M. I got a new skirt, a top, and a scarf. It is so exciting to think about wearing a spring wardrobe again! Skirts, sandals, dresses, wahoo! Now I am watching Top Chef Masters and waiting for hubs to get home from work. He is taking full advantage of the longer days and is going to play tennis after work. He gets home really late when he does that, but I know how much he loves it so it's fine with me. He deserves it! I still need to do my pilates video and work on my arms a bit, but I need to chill a bit first.

Hope your day was a great one!

What is the best gift a student has ever given you? (it's always the handmade ones that are the best)

What is the most random/craziest thing you have ever done to reach a goal?

Divine Design

I had a lot of fun designing this blog and giving it a makeover. It was fun to learn how to do it and I was really proud of the final result. Yesterday I asked my friend Brooke if she would let me give her blog a makeover and she said yes! Brooke and I went through out master's program together, got engaged in the same month, got married three months apart, and worked at the same school for three years. Now she is about to have her first baby at the end of May (one thing we are not doing at the same time!). I am so excited to meet her little bundle of joy this summer when I go back to Oregon! She and her husband are not finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl until the birth. What a surprise, I could never wait!

Last night I worked a little bit on a new design for her blog. I just used my "play around blog" so the design in on my own blog, but as soon as she gives me the info to log into hers, I can transfer the design over. I made a family theme for now and when the baby is born, I told her I can change it up again to make it more boy or girl appropriate depending on what she has.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

I am not finished yet. I may play around with the text colors and try to get the photo to look more high quality. Blog design is so addicting! There are so many fun things to do, but I am pretty happy with the color scheme and family theme. Seems appropriate for a couple about to have their first baby!

The Mowery Family 

Also, I have talked about making a classroom blog once I get back in the classsrom so I tried out a design for that as well. I am still processing how to make it work because I would definitely want to incude photos and make it a place where parents could look to see what has been happening in the classroom, but in order to do that I feel that it would be important to make it a private blog, which is more difficult for parents. I found that when I made my blog about living in Germany private, I lost some followers (friends and family!) because they never bothered to go through the sign in process. I think a class blog could be so great, but I would not want to make any families who don't use computers feel left out. Perhaps a training session and a tour of where they can access in the info (classroom computers/library computers). Anyway, I was just playing around, but here is the link. Once I get back to OR, I would use my work email instead of the one that links to all my other blogs just so it stayed school related only. That way I can include a different "personal info" description more specific to that blog. 

Here it is

Will you/did you find out the gender of your baby or keep it a surprise?

What do you think is the best gift to give a first time mother?

If you don't have kids, have you already named them?
(We have two boy names and one girl name picked out!)

Best Books

I just went down in our storage area to put away our bags from our trip. While I was down there, I decided to go through the children's books that I brought with me to Germany. When we moved, I was hoping to get a classroom of my own, and since I didn't know what grade it might be, I brought along all of my favorite picture books. On the chance I got a classroom position, I didn't want to be without them since I have invested a lot of $$ on good books in my four years of teaching. I left behind a LOT of "teacher stuff" carefully organized, packed, and labeled from my classroom. I knew that it was not reasonable to take all of it, so I settled on the books.

Now that I am going back to OR to teach Kindergarten next year, I have a great book dilemma. This time, I do not have access to a huge container that can tote along all of my belongs across the ocean back to the US. I basically can only bring what I can carry on the plane, which makes it quite difficult to bring along 5 heavy boxes of beautiful, fun, colorful, and inspiring books.

As I went through the boxes, I did my best to use my Kindergarten teacher lens, to look at the books and think about whether or not they were "must haves" for my new five-year-old friends. As a first grade teacher, I collected a lot of great sight word books from Scholastic and I know those are coming. Thankfully, they are pretty small and won't take up too much room. When I came across a few classic Dr. Seuss books, I knew those had to come as well. What Kindergarten classroom can exist without The Cat in the Hat?!  I also grabbed some "instructional books" like my coin books (also very small and light) and my books about learning social skills, following rules, and sharing (those are definitely important for Kindergarten). Then I added my color books to the pile because Kinder Kiddos need to learn their colors.

As I looked through each box, I came across my Henry and Mudge collection, my Froggy books (Frooooooogy....Whaaaaaaat?), Junie B. Jones, Frog & Toad, Kevin Henkes collection with Chrysanthemum and Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, and lots of great rhyming books. Not to mention an entire box of books that chronologically represent every season, holiday, and special occasion throughout the school year. I wish there was a way I could take them all!

I know I can visit the local library or even the school library and borrow lots of great books, but there is something about having them...owning them...and knowing they belong to our classroom that makes a difference to me. I can't have a Kindergarten classroom that does not have a great classroom library. I can't do without my little colorful baskets of books sorted by author, or theme, or sometimes size (I learned in Ireland that all the books in the library at Trinity College are sorted by size which makes it pretty darn difficult to actually locate a book!). I want to instill a love of reading and learning in my little friends and having interesting books to look at and great stories to read is a big part of that.

I love living in Germany. I am glad we moved here. I loved living in Oregon and I am really excited to go back. But there is something about having a permanent place that is appealing. It is hard to go back and forth because it's hard to bring everything you need and you end up doing without things. Maybe they are important things, maybe they aren't but I am at the point where I think it is easier to just have less stuff! Yikes, did I just say that?

In retrospect, I probably should have just left all of my classroom stuff back in OR in the storage unit, but I didn't know that I would end up in a teaching position that does not require a classroom. I didn't realize those books would just sit downstairs in a lonely storage unit instead of being read by curious kiddos. I feel some sort of weird protectiveness over my books and I just couldn't imagine not having them close by. Now I have to leave them again. I suppose I could look into shipping them, but I am afraid to know how much that would cost.  I guess in the grand scheme of things, not being able to bring all my books is not the end of the world. Not even close. I can do without. I can select my favorites and add those to my suitcase along with my clothes and other important stuff. I can make frequent trips to the library and borrow from other teachers. It will be fine. But I can really see how teachers end up with so much stuff when they teach in the same classroom for years at a time. They don't have to do without and they get to enjoy a collection of stuff that just continues to grow and grow. I am jealous!

And I am having this dilemma over my chidlren's books which doesn't even take into consideration all of my teacher books that I want to bring like The Daily Five, Growing Readers, Reading with Meaning, Teaching Student Centered Mathematics, The Art of Teaching Writing, 6+1 Traits of Writing, and all those great book on multicultural education I have acquired while living here.

Seriously, when is someone going to invent teleportation??

What is your favorite children's story?

What is something you could not live without in your classroom? 

Should I bring the Froggy books? (I just love hearing the class respond "whaaaat?" when I read the "Froooooogy" part in those stories!)

March Goal Recap & April Goals

March Goals
Health/Wellness Goals

• Do pilates video 3 times per week: Partial Check. I kept up with this really well until our vacation by getting up 15 minutes earlier and doing the video before work..it is hard to keep up a workout routine while traveling. We did walk a lot but I only did this goal 3/4 weeks in March. Not bad though and I did notice results!
• Strength training 3 times per week: Partial Check. I met this goal the first two weeks in March, then I only lifted weights once in the third week and not at all during our Ireland trip.
• Continue with cleaner eating and also cut down on soda, coffee, sugar intake, and chocolate. FAIL! Try again?!My co-worker got me a case of real Diet Coke, I enjoyed LOTS of Irish coffee and sweets in Ireland. I am obviously having a really hard time with this one!

Personal Goals

• I am still loving the To Do lists, so I am going to continue with that. Let's see if I can do better than 68% success this time. I didn't write To Do lists on vacation, so I had 21 for the month of March and didn't leave more than one item left undone on 16 of them. That is 72% success, which is better than last month! I guess I have been quite productive. :0)
• Plan/Organize for our trip to Ireland. I would like to create a written itinerary (which I have already started) so that we are really organized when we travel.  I did the itinerary and felt organized, but I would definitely make a better one for our next trip. On most of the sites, the hotel/B&B addresses were not complete, which made entering them into the navigation in our car.
• Try two new healthy recipes. Check! I made Wagon Wheel Soup and Sweet Potato Smash. Both came out really good and I would make them both again. 
• Also, even though it was not a monthly goal, I did read two books for pleasure (reading at least one book a month for pleasure was a New Year's Resolution). I read Three Cups of Tea which I thought was okay and also a book about Differentiated Instruction. I was happy to finally get to the end of Three Cups of Tea because I had started it and put it down at least twice before. 

April Goals

Health/Wellness Goals

• Trying the weight lifting again. I am already almost a week in, but starting this week I'd like to make sure I am lifting weights at least three times per week. Last month I alternated weight and cardio days, but this month I am thinking of trying to do a little bit of lifting everyday and alternating upper body with abs and lower body. Maybe that will work better?
• Pilates. I did good with this goal but since it got interruped for our travel, I want to stick with it. 
• Cut out sugar. A few years ago, I went over 100 days without having any sweets. Surely I had sugar in some forms, but I made a conscious effort not to indulge in cookies, chocolate, cake and all those goodies. I am going to try that again. I have a grand love of baking cookies, which always bites me in the butt because it goes along with a sweet tooth and love of eating cookie dough. No cookies this month! I like to keep a tally of days that I don't have sweets so I can see the number increasing...that helps me stick with it and not give in to temptations.

Personal Goals 

•  To Do lists! I love them too much to stop. I like being able to look back and see how much I have gotten accomplished. 
• Use Rosetta Stone at least three times per week so I can finally start speaking German!
  

Husband Goals  

• Help JT stretch at least 3 times per week.
• On Sundays prepare healthy snacks for JT to take to work. 

I feel like I always have SO many goals, but that is just how I am. I need something to work on, something to focus on, and something that keeps me motivated. Often my workout goals stay the same, but I am ready to actually start seeing some results and experiencing real changes! After 8 days of eating and relaxing in Ireland, I am ready to get fit for summer!

Highlights

We're back! I loved our trip, but I did miss my computer :0)

I feel out of the blogging loop and I am looking forward to catching up on what everyone has been up to in the last week or so. I have over 200 photos from our trip, which is WAY too many to post, so I am going to post some highlights from the trip!

Trinity College-Dublin

St. Stephen's Green-Dublin

Driving on the wrong side-Dublin to Cork

Jameson Distillery-on the way to Cork

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Dingle

Porridge with Baileys

Delicious Irish Breakfast in Cork

Driving around the Dingle Penninsula

The Cliffs of Moher

Irish countryside

Beautiful!

Relaxed and happy!

I had such a great time on our trip, but I am glad to be home. I missed my bed and I am really glad to be done with public restrooms for awhile. I read The Help and Perfect Match in just a few days and I am looking forward to starting another Jodi Picoult book tonight! Tomorrow starts day 1 of stop eating like a pig week and there will be some major gymmage going on! Tomorrow I will post about my March goals and some new goals for the month of April!

How was your Easter?

What are your favorite Easter traditions? Foods?

We were traveling today, so we really didn't celebrate. Stores are closed here for Easter and they are closed tomorrow as well, so getting groceries and food to eat should be interesting!