Good Song

I have recently been exploring new artists to expand my musical horizons. Sometimes I get follow a particular singer and all their stuff, but mostly I am just a big fan of really great song. The song that I've gotten hooked on just recently is courtesy of the Double Mint commercial featuring Chris Brown. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it just has a really great hook and the ad is visually very cool. You can watch the commercial on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJbXlb4zqo or the song it's actually sampled from here at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2IExa2A198. Let me know what you think...=)

Out of Order

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, there has been a lot of devastation for the folks in southern Texas and along the gulf coast. Some people have lost everything and that is a horrible thing to experience. My best friend lives outside of Houston and experienced only minimal damage and has lost some of the conveniences that we all take for granted. They were unable to find simple things such as milk in the days following the storm. They lost power for days and are still without cable and internet. While these are only minor things, they are still source of frustration I'm sure. It got me thinking about the things we have grown not only accustomed to, but also dependent upon and how our worlds can be turned upside when we lose ceratin things.

What if you lost your remote control? Imagine the horror of actually having to get out of your chair to turn on the TV. This act would drive some to reckless acts of violence. What if you cell phone stopped working? Imagine the struggle of finding a random payphone and digging for the 50 cents to make a simple call or actually having to wait until you got home to use your land line. What if your microwave went belly up? Imagine the sheer terror of figuring out how to use the oven, let alone the self-cleaning mechanism. What if your books-on-tape got scrambled somehow? Imagine the nightmare of having to physically turn the pages of a novel and exhaustive process of reading with your eyes. What if the Playstation or Xbox went haywire? The very thought of sending our children into the real world to be one with nature and *gulp* use their imaginations is almost too frightening to even consider!!! This list of what ifs is endless!

These scenarios might send shivers down the spines of some. However, I think if we somehow survived to live for decades without the advances of technology...we might just land on our feet in spite of these hardships. I've had to adapt to teaching in an enironment that is throwing every possible obstacle in my path. With no classroom or and very limited resources, it has been an adventure in every way. While this has been frustrating and highly inconvenient, I somehohw found a way through and am better for it many ways. Losing access to the everyday blessings can make us crazy and give us perspective. I like to think that in some way we are better off without certain things from time to time. Now if I ever lost the internet and cable, I might have to call Larry the Cable Guy to get back on the job or maybe I'd finally get some other home projects done at long last.

Book Smart

This post will likely bore you unless you have followed me throughout my teaching saga. Anyhoo, I struck gold this weekend as I discovered a handful of primary literature units based on some popular picture books. I've been trying to find ways to spruce up my primary classes for my 1st and 2nd graders and by george I think I've got it! I am in the process of putting together some activities that I am feeling good about. So far I am working on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Stone Soup, A Little Prairie House, The Tortoise and the Hare, Rainbow Fish, Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See?...and more if I find the time. We'll be doing some art projects and mini-books to accompany each of these read alouds.

My 1st graders will mostly benefit from these units as I hope to move my 2nd graders along faster and get them started on books like Ramona, Because of Winn-Dixie, and Charlotte's Web. If you know me IRL, you know how passionate I am about reading and books in general. I can't get enough of reading and am always making lists of books I want to read. I am thankful that my son has inherited this love as he nose is constantly in a book of some sort. It's too soon to tell with K, but she does love to leaf through picture books quite often. As for work, I put up with the logistics of teaching reading such as phonics and such just so I can get to the fun parts of teaching novels and picture books. =)

Stand Up to Cancer

I was cruising through Youtube and came across a really inspiring video of several phenomenal women (little ode to Maya Angelou). A number of very popular songstresses joined forces to "Stand Up to Cancer" at the Fashion Rocks show. Everyone from Beyonce and Carrie to Mariah and Miley were present. They do a fabulous job and sound amazing! I love showcases like this where egos are checked at the door and they just come together to sing for a good cause ala We Are the World. I lost both of my grandfathers to cancer in the space of three months, so I definitely support a cause like this. Cancer has been around for what seems like forever, so we often get complacent about just how rampant it really is. Here's a link if you wanna take a listen for yourself...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr5mvNPyV1I.

From carefree to crazy...

I will say this right up front...I've got a code in my node and the brain is quite foggy. I'm gonna bellyache for a minute, so if you care to indulge me further then read on. Today gave new meaning to the word running on empty. My workplace doesn't have their sublist compiled yet, so I can't call in sick yet. Would be a disaster anyway as I'm not ready to try and explain my haphazard system to another person. As I've previously described, I am currently a nomadic teacher until the everlasting construction is complete. We were told this week that it will be at least October at the earliest before we can get our classrooms back. We were originally told it would be a 2 week setback that is slowly turning into a 2 month one. You can probably sense the sigh of frustration we had.

Our English dept. has tried to go be flexible (not much choice) and accommodating, but the situation is starting to take a toll on all of us. Our nerves are beginning to fray. There are four of us who teach out of a rolling suitcase and share a space for our stuff (that doubles as a classroom twice a day). When it comes to trying to organize our stuff, it is a nightmare process. The fact that the school has no first grade curriculum or books to use for the little ones only further complicates things. The school somehow misplaced or never ordered many necessary supplies, so we are muddling through so to speak the best we can. I wanted to get out of work early, but ended up staying late to get things ready for Monday. Two parents wanted impromptu conferences and the copy machine broke. Grrrr. I brought home a ton of things to work on over the weekend to try and get caught up (say a little prayer for me on that).

None of us can afford to just go out and buy everything we need. It's still a great place to work, but these two issues are making it really challenging. I found myself reminiscing about summertime on the commute home. I got to thinking about how carefree I felt. Maybe it's the sunshine or the freedom that summer provides, but I feel inclined to let my inner free spirit out. The kids had lots of activities going on, but we often just did things on a whim and truly enjoyed our time together. I sorely miss that, but have next summer to look forward to. During the school year, I become very stressed out and overwhelmed by the tremendous workload and loss of time with my family. I have faith that things will calm down and everything will eventually fall into place, it's just surviving the interim that is testing my limits.

After a very long day on my feet, my kids reminded me tonight that the family picnic at school was going on. Before I took a breath, I made some PB and J sandwiches and headed off to for some quality time with the kids. We stayed til dark and they enjoyed themselves. They got to feast on goodies, play with some friends, and each brought home balloon creatures (N had an alien antennae and K had fairy wings). I was able to reconnect with some old teacher friends and ate a little cotton candy (that stuff is so sugary!). When we finally got home at 8:00, I ate some dinner and gave K her bath. Then I finally collapsed in my chair and called it a day. I can feel this cold taking over and a kleenex is in order, so I'm gonna sign off for now.

For those in the know, please say a prayer for my best friend, Shelley, who lives in the path of Hurricane Ike. Here's hoping the rain and the winds die down soon.

Public Transportation

As I mentioned in my last blog, I have been using the public transit system in my area to get home each day. My commute consists of walking a couple of blocks from my work to catch a streetcar. Then I transfer to the train. Lastly, I catch a bus to a stop about 5 or 6 blocks from my home. The whole process takes about an hour and a half on average. I usually just read a book or some other busywork to pass the time. I like to think that I'm a pretty tolerant and patient person, but sometimes people still amaze me at their public antics.

You see all kinds of people when you take public transportation and it's truly a trip. I see everyone from the suit and tie guy with a laptop bag on one shoulder and Starbucks cup in hand to the teenage girl girl with the purple, spiky hair blasting her ipod next to your ear. Then there's everyone in between. It's interesting to observe people. Once many years ago, I rode the train with my mom and nephew (it was his first time on it). As we sat there, we were in awe of this man with a rather pungent odor picked lint off of his sweater and then ate it. You can imagine my nephew's wide-eyed curiousity at this lovely sight.

Today on the streetcar I witnessed absurdity at it's finest. This college-aged girl was jabbering away with her African-American male friend about how she was going to ace her Japanese class. He disagreed with her, so she set out to prove him wrong by attempting to pronounce a variety of Japanese words. She proceeded to butcher every word with a very American accent and brag about her amazing language skills...all the while sitting right next to a Japanese woman who looked on in amusement and amazement as this all unfolded. I had to stop myself from correcting her pronounciation. Eventually she got off the streetcar with her true blue short shorts that were sucked inside her crack (I kid you not!...though she did have the body for it) and her male friend with his own tighty-whity derriere nestled above his stylish jeans. Yes, the streetcar is always an interesting scene.

Then later on this same afternoon, I was reading my book on the train and was minding my own business...along with a handful of other literary enthusiasts. This woman got on and began to read aloud from some book to her friend. She continued this for quite awhile. One by one, all of us with our noses in our books looked up with irritation at this woman who was completely oblivious to everyone. She was deeply immersed in her stirring read aloud. Ever try to count something while someone else randomly calls out numbers so that you keep losing track? That's what it was like trying to read as this gal did her recitation. It got to the point that every book closed and we all exchanged incredulous looks. When she finally got off the train we all let out a collective sigh of relief. It was a little funny actually. People crack me up sometimes.

Just Right

Alright, time to finally blog about my new job. If' I've already mentioned it another one, forgive me for my mushy brain as it's been a long week and I'm too tired to check through the archives. You may notice that my blogs will occur with less frequency now that the school year has begun, however I aspire to stay on top of it! Anyhoo, I am two weeks into my new position as an English Specialist for a private international school that offers full immersion in Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese language tracks. I basically teach four classes a day (1st-4th grades). There are three full time teachers and one half time. The school actually offers PreK-5th grade, but English is only taught for 1st-5th graders.

So far I truly love this job...I honestly do. I was uncertain at first whether or not I should take this job as private schools lack many of the fringe benefits that come with public schools (better pay, better benefits, resources available). It really does lack in many of the little things I took for granted last year. I had no idea how many little issues would arise in the first weeks. Even simple things like paper clips, files, and no access to a laminating machine (a must-have for teachers!) are hard to come by. To make print or make copies, each teacher has to bring their paper to the machine to use (the school's way of limiting huge quantities paper waste per department). We have a certain supply and once it's gone, it's gone...so we have to be mindful of that.

There isn't much curriculum to use. I am online constantly looking for ideas and freebies as well as digging through my own stash of curriculum books. It's my goal to convince the English dept. to purchase a 1st grade reading curriculum. The school has experienced major growing pains in recent years, but it has all been for the better. The school is under construction that has taken twice as long as originally predicted due to fire marshal issues and other snags. Our dept. was temporarily displaced from our classrooms (small as they may be at least they were ours). We are traveling teachers, complete with roller suitcases for our stuff. As we walk around the school we look like flight attendants in the airport with their little roller luggage. We're quite a sight.

Parking is horrendous for staff and parents as it's mostly city parking that requires a zone permit. Staff have a rotation for a zone pass. I use the transit system to get home at night, but hubby and I carpool in the morning to save on gas. The funny thing is that even with all of these negatives, I am still thrilled to be at this school. Though I still long for more resources and can't wait to get into my own desk and cozy little classroom, I look forward to each day. My students are awesome and eager to learn. My 1st and 2nd graders are squirrelly, but adorable. My 3rd graders are a bit more challenging, but will get there. My 4th graders are a dream class thus far.

I am working my little tail feathers off to get organized and whatnot, but am loving the creativity and autonomy this school offers. It has made me so mindful of what I need teach and focus on. It's normal for public schools to teach a 90 minute literacy block or more. We get 1 hour a day 5 days a week to cover all areas of language arts. It's a tight fit, but I'm figuring out how to make it work. I am so grateful for my literacy coach from my last school, for she taught me so much about reading instruction. She mentored me on so many things that I am now implementing far better than before.

It's true that your first year is crazy and nerve-wracking. You spend most of it trying to figure everything out. Now I feel more prepared and am more capable than last fall by a mile. My teaching team are wonderful to work with and I couldn't ask for better environment in which to flourish as a teacher. As a specialist, I have many kids to get to know and grade levels to consider. It's strange not having the same kids all day, but also great for variety. I love all the different cultures and countries represented on our faculty. It is truly international in everyway. The staff potluck lunches are famous for the delicious diversity.

Needless to say, I am happy that I took this job. We've made some personal sacrifices to enable me to work at this school, but I feel it is worth it in the long run. You know how in some jobs you dread going into work and others you look forward to it? This is one of those that just give me a good feeling in my soul, ya know? My loved ones assured me it was this opportunity was so me and they were so right! For now, I am home.