Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What I love!

It's been a while since I linked up with Jamie for What I love Wednesday...and since I'm loving a lot today I thought I'd share!


Today I'm loving...

...that boyfriend comes home from his business trip in about 5 hours! I've missed him the last 4 days.
...that all of my parent/teacher conferences are finished.
...that tomorrow is a half day and we have no school Friday (i'm doing a happy dance as we speak)!!!
....this gorgeous weather we're having

and I absolutely love the fact that my new baby cousin, Riley Quinn, was born on Monday after her mommy was in labor for 16 hours!

Welcome to the family, Riley! :)

What are YOU loving today?

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Struggles...

Help!

I'm having a teacher struggle here. I love to let my kids be creative and have fun....however, in our school system (not a public one), it is frowned upon to have the students draw and color. It is said that drawing and coloring is not higher order, and they should be using higher order thinking skills.

Today, they were working on their book reports and creating a new book cover for their books. In my mind, this is a way for them to show me that they comprehend the book that they are reading, as well as having them do something besides just sitting in their seats and writing. I had someone in upper management observe me, and the activity was not liked because they were drawing and coloring.

In college, we were taught that letting students show their comprehension in other ways (i.e, learning styles) was a great way to make a lesson different and interesting. I suppose I need suggestions on how to make my lessons more creative without letting them draw and color.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

It's Okay

Today is Thursday...which means I'm linking up with Neely for It's Okay Thursday!

It's okay...
...to be irrationally excited about girls' night tomorrow night
...to drool over THIS hunk that you have floor seats for tomorrow night
(that's Luke Bryan, by the way)

...to wear the same shirt tomorrow night that you're wearing today because you'll be around different people
...to want to wear the new boots you bought last weekend because they're really cute, even though they hurt like WOAH
...to plan NOT to go into work this weekend because you have better things to do
...to just want to spend time with boyfriend all evening and not grade papers
...to not make your lesson plans for tutoring until about 5 minutes before your group arrives
...to be annoyed with the cheerleading practice that is going on RIGHT outside of your door
...and to leave earlier than you probably should because of said cheer practice

:)
life. is. good

Thursday, October 6, 2011

It's Okay Thursday

Finally, a minute to breathe...so of course, you know I'm linking up with Neely for It's Okay Thursday!


It's okay...
...to order pizza for dinner because you have nothing else to eat in the house
...to be WAY too excited about the new Target that just opened yesterday because it's 5 minutes away from your house.
...to go to said Target just because it was the first day it was open....not because you needed anything.
...to spend WAY too much money at said Target.
...to be ridiculously excited about a long weekend.
...and to look forward to a day trip to the beach.
...and to be selfish about not wanting to go for the whole weekend because you want time to yourself [sorry, dad].
...to want to go to bed at 8pm.
...to be rebellious and NOT copy things for tomorrow because conferences ran late today and you are ready to go home.
...to NOT want to give your sister's sweatshirt back to her.
...to already be sad about boyfriend going out of town for 3 nights, even though it's 2.5 weeks away.
...to skip grading tonight because you got home late, even though progress reports go home tomorrow.

yep. It's all okay. Life is good.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Neglect

poor little bloggy. I'm so sorry that I've neglected you lately. I've been incredibly busy!

Work has practically taken over my entire life...teaching is a job that can be done 24 hours a day and STILL not be done. Every day I'm at school by 7:15, and don't leave until at least 4:30. Sometimes it's been as late at 6. I come home and continue to work more...whether it be grading, analyzing data, or planning lessons. Sometimes we decide to cook dinner, sometimes we don't. By the time 9 or 9:30 rolls around and bedtime comes, I'm exhausted. I'm usually at school either one or both days during the weekend, which takes time away from boyfriend and my family. But it's all worth it. 

One day last week, a student came to my desk right before she walked out the door and said (unprompted)
"Thank you for helping me with my math today".
 It put everything into perspective and made me realize why I do what I do.

When I'm not at school, we've been filling our weekends with friends and family. My cousin is about to have a little girl in a few weeks, and we attended a baby shower for her in September. We've also been to a few birthday parties, and found time to hang out with friends and watch football. 
Fall has finally arrived here in the south, bringing cooler temperatures this week. I'm enjoying every minute of it! This weekend it hasn't gotten out of the 60's. We've had the windows open during the day, and the heat on during the night. I've been curled up in my sweatpants and sweatshirt all weekend, and we've drank more coffee than usual. I'm welcoming fall with open arms! I'm hoping that we will be able to get up to the mountains for a day soon to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway and admire the leaves, like we did last year.



This morning, I decided that it was time to give the house a deep cleaning. I started by cleaning the kitchen, moved to the the bedroom and the bathrooms, and ended by vacuuming. I even convinced boyfriend to get rid of a few piles of papers so that I could move some of my things that are [still] in boxes to the gym and out of the living room. I feel accomplished! This evening, we're probably going to head to my mom's for dinner and to hang out...but for now, I think i'll go take a shower and enjoy this beautiful fall day (and football). 

Toodles!