I know I know...

I know I know I haven't been very good at keeping my blogs up, but hey I'm doing better than most people. In a book I read for class it said that most blogs are only updated maybe every two months. I have kept you informed every month. Remember next semester should be different I have everything figured out. Well I hope so anyway. Julian has me dancing again in a Diavolo project and while I'm very excited about it. I'm just worried that dates are going to clash. I will attach a video of Diavolo for you let me tell you it is awesome, I wish I was in the real company. So I think I am done with everything for tomorrow. I can't believe it my third semester of grad school is over in less than 24 hours! All I have to do now is put the standards into my unit plan, which I have to do tomorrow morning, because stupidly I left it at school and submit then its all done! I still have a paper to write tomorrow. But that is for my prop/ portfolio. Well I better get to bed here is the diavolo video as well.

class assignment project 3

8 days and counting

I realize I haven't written in awhile. I've been working my tail off to get caught up on my school work. I wish I could say that I am, but that's not the case. I have been working hard and I am proud to say that I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last week was a lost week for me though. I could not focus at all. My uncle passed away Monday morning and I have to say that I am still not doing well.

Good news! It was my birthday on Saturday I am now 25! Parker took me to go see the Nutcracker and Dispicable Me. We went to dinner at Blue planet where I met a new friend with Celiac Disease, she gave me her blog and I hope after I friend her she will begin to read mine! Lastly we went to look at Christmas lights. There were some neat ones but I have to admit it was quite disappointing from what I remember doing growing up. Parker I really did enjoy it. I just wish there were more good houses. On Sunday my family went to Christmas in Germany. We then went back to the house to eat cupcakes and open gifts. Everyone hung around for a while. John, my oldest brother and LeDawna, my sister-in-law were playing Wii. LeDawna eventually got bored and so my 2 year old nephew Will took the wiimote and started playing. Yes! He actually started playing he figured how to move jump, and put Luigi in a bubble. They were playing Mario Brothers. He was so engrossed by it.

Today was a day to find out how flexible of a teacher I am. When I went to pick up students from breakfast we found out that there was no Music today. There went my plan time! Then when we were headed up to the classroom the secretary stopped me with bad news.... I have no para today. Before we even made it out of the hall I had to redirect a student 5 times with the same direction in less than 1 min. My students have been crazy since I missed Thursday for the sub. I don't know what went on besides the fact she didn't follow my lessons. They have forgotten all the rules.  We have 8 day left until Christmas Break yes I call it Christmas Break. I'm excited though because I am finally getting things really organized in my class room and its becoming very very nice! I can quickly put stuff away and now when it comes to switching books I know what books students have read. Life is starting to seem in control. Yeah right I know! Well wish me luck that I make it through this next week. I will start to schedule to talk to guys more often, sadly though if it doesn't get penciled in then it doesn't get done.

OOPS!

So its been a month since I last posted. Life has been very hard. I am so far behind in class. I have decided that teachers work is to be done only at school and school work is to be done only at home. We'll see how long that last. Yesterday I was home sick from my Celiac Disease. I got some work done but not a lot I still have a long way to go. I'm finding it hard to focus in my technology class, and remember what to do since there is so much I'm not allowed to use. Yesterday my kids were pretty good but today not so much. Tonight I am going to vote. I'm not even quite sure what to vote on. I know what I don't like but I don't know everything that I want to happen. Right now the big jealousy monster is coming out of me. I'm hearing about people skypeing emailing facebooking with their kids. My kids only get to use paper and pencil. I have a little thief in my class. She has stolen a popcorn ball, plug protector, sticky tack and yesterday a timer all four times she has been caught red handed. I promise I will type more later tonight. I think I have finally figured out a system that will work for me!

OCTOBER!

Well... It's October and I think I finally have myself organized to the point I can function. No seriously... I sat down last night and made a list of everything that I have to do this semester between class, school and personal. Some will never be checked off but they are always there to remind me! So far this list is 3 1/2 pages long! It's crazy I don't know how I will do it all. I do feel some success tonight but hopefully it doesn't ware off. The hard part is when the list doesn't seem shorter after awhile. I didn't get everything done tonight but I did get a fair start! After I'm don't writing this I will sit down and figure out tomorrow night's schedule so I can hopefully focus while I'm in class.

Teaching is a very interesting time. My kids are not consistent at all and I have a parent who is driving me crazy. the moment I see her I am in an immediate bad mood. I should probably just kill her with kindness, but she is so overbearing her daughters are never going to get anywhere in life. The daughter that I have in my class is always giving me the pouty look. She expects to get her way all the time. Today I passed out a worksheet hadn't given instructions yet and she shouts out at me I don't know what to do. One day we were lined up for dismissal bell hasn't rang yet she looked out the classroom window saw her mom's truck she tells me I have to go meet my mom. I said yes I know that's what we are waiting to do. She continues on and on with my mom is right there I have to go meet her, as we start walking out the door she says I have to go meet my mom. I finally answered that is where we are going what other way are you going to get there. finally she stopped.

I had a kid who threw a temper tantrum for no reason today during an observation. He did the work just fine. When we went out to recess he was at the way back he finally made it over by me about 15 min into our 20 min conversation. When my observer noticed that he got louder anytime that I came close to him and she just started laughing. There are some days I really just want to throw in the towel and other days that I love it. I am tired already of fighting these parents that work the system. I just wish that someone had the magic words for me to make everything smooth

This is hard

I haven't blogged for a week or two and I am so sorry. I am so behind and drowning. It is not fun at all. I'm actually sitting in class listening to a presentation. I should have grades put into grade book. I don't homework I have lots and lots and lots to do. I have so much to do that there is no more space to write in my planner. My room is clean my basement is not so it looks like I'm going to my room. Ok so now I'm home. I have the TV on and the house is all to myself. I am blogging to keep from having to do homework. I know the second I open that planner panic attack will set in. I'm having a slight one just thinking about it. I don't know if I had told you this but one of my students left and went to a different school. Mom thought I had to high of expectations for him. Well today I found out that mom is threatening to pull him out of his new school and he has already been suspended. Last week was his first week. boy do I feel like a good teacher. Ok I guess it is time for me to face my issues and get to work. I hope I get somewhere....

It's only Monday... :(

Today I was ready to quit! In fact I texted Parker and told him that I do. He wouldn't let me though and I had to stick out the rest of the day. After one student was gone it was a bit more smooth sailing. She was suspended for hitting me. I have officially decided that I am going to SAT her for behavior. This is a constant thing that happens every week and now they are becoming more aggressive. It's a major mood swing. The class wont even be in trouble and all of the sudden she is getting mad and huffing and puffing about who knows what. My students don't get it I say sit down they roam the room, I say stop talking they talk louder. I need 18 different corners to put these guys in. It is impossible to teach anything! It took us 50 min to get through a writing lesson that should have only taken 30. I decided half way through the lesson that I wasn't going to pay attention to those who were causing me to stop every few seconds and called the students up to the floor that are always listening and wanting to learn. The rest sat in their desk as we whispered in the front. Although one girl who was the biggest issue during Writing decided to throw a temper tantrum and slam her desk I never looked at her and it quickly stopped! I have the worse head-ache right now and i don't think it will go away. They say that the first year of teaching is the hardest for classroom management. I don't think that is my issue. I have many special teachers saying this class was horrible last year. I was so angry today I didn't even eat my lunch. I came home though and after dinner Parker took me out. We went and looked at rings it was a fun time and I figured out that I want a yellow diamond in my ring! I now need to get working on my homework for class tomorrow. Oh man... only Monday and only September.... I don't know what to say....

5 steps forward 20 steps back!

Today was awful! 12 of my 18 students were sent home with the school pledge and class rules to write. Some had to write it 10 times each! Reading stations were horrible, We didn't even do Math stations because I just knew they wouldn't be able to handle it. We then went to lunch and when we came back they had their head down so that I could write all my morning notes home to parents. I then only taught social studies to 8 kids because the rest were writing the school pledge and class rules and every time I heard them talking they had another one added. By the end of the day I had 12 students in tears and to tell you the truth I did not feel sorry for any of them they decided today that they could disrespect me and not listen. They proved to me yesterday that they knew the rules and could follow them. My ears hurt tonight, we have got to be getting a storm. I really tried to ask myself if I was approaching today with a negative attitude since we didn't have a special. But they were even really noisy in the hall when we were going to the bathroom. I didn't write any names down which was my first mistake. I had a girl have two accidents today and she had to go to the bathroom three times this afternoon. We are supposed to get through four subjects this afternoon and we barely got through one. Lets hope tomorrow we don't back track more we go forward again. If we back track some more I think I will have to take listening to reading stations away. People will probably condemn me as a teacher and say that I am hurting my students, if I had good classroom management than I could actually do this. If you have something you don't think I have tried yet then throw it at me! My own mentor is baffled with ideas to try with the kids. Also all the special teachers and the Kindergarten para said that this group cannot be let up on one second. When you ask the students the expectations for the class they know what they are and can tell you, but seconds later they are not following them.

Tomorrow I will try the jar of warm fuzzies when the fill the jar with warm fuzzies than we can do a big classroom hug. I truly believe though that the only thing that got me through today was remembering yesterday...

Actions, looks, words and steps form the alphabet by which you may spell character.
Johann Kasper Lavater

Pinch Me I Must Be Dreaming!

Today was an amazing day I couldn't believe it. We started rotations in Reading and I thought it was going to be disasterous. They actually did really well. It wasn't until the end of the third rotation which was our last rotation that they started talking and not working the way they were supposed to. But hey today I will take it. We also started the rotations in Math, those didn't go quite as smooth as I thought they would but it's Ok. I don't have enough materials for all my stations I think once I finally have it all figured out things will be awesome. There will be enough different things for my small class so they will have a lot stay nice and fresh for them. We went outside and played all but 4 kids got to play. We are making major improvements. We went back in used hand sanitizer and guess what! We were early to lunch I cannot believe it! I picked them up from lunch and we went to the bathroom and we were early for P.E. class. My kids were amazing today. I had the hardest time picking star student. One of my students who always has a rough day had an awesome day. He was sitting at his desk facing forward and hands folded. I pointed it out to all the other students how I like how he was sitting and then all the other students started looking at him and made sure they were doing it too. After we took a restroom break we got to have a huge group hug. It had to be silent because we were in the hall. It was great I almost fell over they squeezed me so hard. My students are starting to adapt to the rules and follow the procedures and I'm so excited because now, we can do fun stuff.

The day was over but not for me... I had to go to class and let me tell you panic attack is setting in I have a five page paper due it two weeks lots of reading for this class. New Assessment I have to try every week. I don't feel like I truly know what is going on in either grad class I'm in. It is kind of a rough semester I think. Its so hard to keep everything organize and have enough time to fit everything in. I do not know how I'm going to be able to do that and still have some time for free time. I will just have to keep plugging away and hopefully I will figure it all out. Wish me luck!

The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything if you want to succeed in business--or almost anywhere else for that matter.
Lee Iacocca

Woohoo! Three day weekend

Ok so we had Saturday, Sunday and Monday off from school because of Labor day. Awesome Three day weekend right??? I will get all caught up on my homework get things organized for the classroom and finally write some real lesson plans. Friday night is my night of freedom, Parker loves football he used to coach a high school team but this year he is just scouting. I will go watch some games but not all. This Friday though Samantha his foster sister who has multiple disabilities is on a cheerleading squad for her high school called sparkle cheerleading. We went and watched her cheer for the 20 minutes they were out there. Parker who left work early Thursday didn't go Friday still wasn't feeling good. We only made it across the street when he had to rush to the bathroom. He finally had told me just before that what had been hurting him. I called my sister-in law who is a doctor and asked her if he can wait and go Tuesday or if he needs to go now. She said now so when he got back to the car (by the way he drove) I told him to go to the emergicare he went well they couldn't do anything for him and we ended up in the emergency room at 8:30 pm.  We were in the emergency room until 3:00 when they finally got him a room in the hospital. I however spent from 11-3 sleeping on two metal chairs that I had pushed together to make a bed. We got to his room fell back asleep. I woke up at 8:30 waited a little bit than headed to my brother and sister-in-law to help take care of Will, 2 1/2 and Alex, 1 week. I was still in the same clothes from Saturday night no toothbrush no nothing. I left there finally at 4:00. I went home took a shower finally brushed my teeth ate some dinner and went back to the hospital where I sat was going to attempt some work but there were a lot of visitors to see Parker so that didn't happen. I left there again finally at midnight. At 7:00 AM Sunday I got a call from Parker saying he was going to surgery at 7:30 I figured I wouldn't make it there in time to catch him before he was asleep so I slept a little longer myself. I got up to the hospital by 8:30. He wasn't back yet but his mom was there. I ended up spending a lot of time talking to her. She left at about 11:30 to go get Parker's pain killers and I decided to let Parker rest and prepare to go home. So I went and ate some lunch and got one long assignment done in an hour. We finally left the hospital at 2:30. I got him home and situated with his parents. I finally got home again but we were having a family night so that meant still no work was done! As John Christine Will and Alex were about to leave, my dad and john saw two sheriff cars and heard a house alarm. I live in a very peaceful neighborhood since we have lived here in 1992 I think we have had about maybe 10 break-ins and that's being generous. We never found out what that was. We did hear another siren in our neighborhood like 20 minutes later but never saw the sheriff's car.  Finally we are to Monday I have my list all made out of what I was going to do today. Well Jim and LeDawna  were going to go swimming and asked me to come along I thought that would be a good idea I needed some real fun and I never went swimming this summer. We drove all the way out to Mahoney State Park and didn't get to go swimming because there was a storm which had passed but the people didn't know how to read a radar and claimed they saw lighting when it was white clouds and sun. I took some homework with me but I can't read in the car I get car sick while we were waiting I got a little bit read.We came home I went to Parker's after dinner I felt so defeated by 7:00 I got nothing done. It was horrible.

Today I finally got to school and realized that I had a lot due today and hadn't started what I needed to. Thankfully Courtney my mentor came and saved the day. She got a lot of little things done for me as I worked on the bigger things due today. My students weren't to bad today One of them had a really bad day but she is already a roller coaster ride so it was to be expected. The morning was much better than the afternoon but I don't think that computers helped the afternoon.We all made it through the day alive and I got most things done. I can't wait to do a happy dance the day I get everything done on my list. Wish me luck on that one as we continue this white water raft of a year.

Men's best successes come after their disappointments.
Henry Ward Beecher 

Well...

Ok... so I took some time off from blogging well you just have to deal with it ok. I'm a very busy person right now. In fact I'm so busy I don't know how to finish this sentence. With all thats been going on with school and now class, trying to wrap my brain around everything that I need to do is impossible. Each day I get another 50 things to do. I am constantly calling parents to talk about their child and trying to find new phone numbers. I'm exhausted. I was ready for bed by 9:00. I got some reading done for class but not enough. Tomorrow before I go watch Sammie cheer I have to have to get some homework done. Why did I pick a career that never ends? Now I am tired and cannot focus I must go to bed so I can teach tomorrow... I hope that all my kids are ready to listen. This has been a long week. I don't know if I could really handle 45 min. for just 2 min of silence.



They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.
-- Anonymous

Last Wednesday

Last Wednesday and a busy one at that! I have my Instructional Framework to finish along with reading for Lit Circles. Thankfully my choice projects are all done. I am so excited for this weekend fireworks Friday at Memorial Park and then Saturday at Rosenblatt! I will miss my first two classes a lot, these two classes I think have been very misleading to what I am going to be getting myself into these next 9 months... I love for this to be longer but I can't really concentrate now I am thinking about other things to much so I will write more later when I have a chance to with a clear head and reflecting brain!

Exit Ticket

Well.... Today lets see all I have to do is show my smartboard project to Skip and Ross. I can then leave and begin... I mean finish my Instructional Framework. But then I have lots of work to do on my paper... Boo.... I figured it would happen but its still a little disappointing. I really liked some of the websites we looked at today. I wonder though about tubechop can you use it at schools or are they blocked since youtube is. I don't really have much to say right now. My reflection brain doesn't seem to work during the day. I guess I need more time to let everything swish around in my head for a while before I can really talk about it.  This is my exit ticket though so I have to have some deep thoughts. I've found all the presentations in Kelly and Char's class to be interesting, and I'm anxious for my group to go. I hope that it goes well. I have gotten a lot out of the presentations and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm diving in too deep. I guess it's time to really start getting things together for my classroom again it's almost July so I better get on it.

Woohoo

All of my homework is done for technology class!!! Now I just have to start... I mean finish my Instructional Framework. It's so sad that these two classes are coming to an end. I'm not looking forward to Research I mean math class... So I don't really know what to write tonight. We have our presentation figured out for Wednesday, I'm not going to say anything though you have to wait until Wednesday to hear about it. I'm a little nervous still about getting my paper back tomorrow. Tomorrow morning will be an early one too. We have pictures tomorrow so I have to spend more than 10 min. getting ready. The baseball game is now over and UCLA loss they better win tomorrow so I can go down Wednesday after class and watch the game. I better get to bed now though, this has been a very random blog and I'm very sorry for that.

3rd Article Review

Here it is my final Article Review!

http://www.apple.com/education/stories/escondido/


I found this on apples website. It is talking about how you can get even newer technology like all the apps that are on the iPhone or iPod touch. Apps are a great tool that allows each student to work on their own.The apps also help keep students engaged. At a school in California students reading fluency was practiced daily and the great thing about it was that they could read and record it. The students can play it back and listen to how they sound.

I would love to have something like this in my classroom. The great thing about it is that they are even more durable than a laptop. This is a great way to engage students and the apps on the apple can easily controlled so you don't have to worry about students doing things they shouldn't be doing.

Homework oh Homework

Here is my second article!

The second article that I read was Connecting with Families through Technology. It was another article from Young Children. Dena Shelton a first grade teacher created an email program for a social studies unit she got email addresses from family members of the students. The members of the email community were able to tell the students about what its like to live in their state. The students made strides even in their writing. This activity kept them engaged more than just sitting an listening to the teacher talk all day.

I really liked this article. It's a good way to get real life involved in the classroom. She ended up not only bringing Social Studies into her classroom but she was able to get other subjects involved. I would like to use this in my classroom, I would also like to go beyond just emailing adults but maybe doing an e-pal with another class. The most important thing about this activity though is to remind people that timely feedback is very important to have a successful project. The one thing that we should remember as a teacher is that my students will often remember information if it comes from someone else, and so I should remember to be open to bring other people into my classroom.

Homework tonight

Tonight is a homework night. This is an article review for my technology class. While I was working on my Lit review I came across an article in Young Children Magazine. The article was called Connecting with Families Through Technology. I really liked this article because Shelton didn't just get the parents involved in the students' learning community she had grandparents, aunts and uncles. There was also alumni from the school that communicated with the students via email. She originally planned this for a Social Studies unit, but soon found it to tie in throughout the curriculum The students actively were involved in communicating with the community. The neat thing about the communication was that when the community would write back they would often tell about things that were happening in their state or city. One lady told the kids all about a volcano that was erupting near her. This article is great I liked how she didn't just get local community involved she got national and possibly international it did not say. This was a great activity to keep all the kids involved in all the classes because they never knew what kind of letter they would get back from their new friends or family members. I liked how she involved family members besides just parents its a good way to keep distant family members close to little kids as they grow up.

AAAHHH!!!

Let me start off by saying, I HATE PC!!!!!! My good lit review with all 10 sources 6 page rough draft is gone! I had sent it to Parker to look over before I finished, he sent it back to me  and I continued on his copy. Well when I went to save it told me that I was saving a read only file and I had to switch the name. Sooo... I did and now it's gone!!!! If I open up word its not there. So now when I get done meeting with my group members for Thursday I have to lock myself in a room get this paper done and do a bunch of reading for Lit Circle... This week has not been a good week and the worst part next week will probably be just as bad considering all the stuff I have due next week. I miss the college world series its such a relaxing place to be... Well I better get going to bed so I can get to school early tomorrow and see if the technology people can recover my paper. I HATE PC!!!!!! Thanks for reading my vent I don't feel too much better though...

oh boy!

Well.... Today lets see let me talk about yesterday since I didn't post last night. I don't even know where to start.... I woke up and was exhausted from Jim and LeDawna's wedding. I worked on my paper all day yesterday. It's not done but I did make a lot of progress! I can say that I am feeling pretty good about my paper. My mom who is a good writer said that it was really well written and Parker who used to be a journalist has been impressed with it. I'm just nervous that I will get it back and then not be able to fix anything that needs to be fix. That is a big downfall in my writing habits. Last night after working on my paper all day, I went and played slowpitch softball.  It was a lot of fun we won which is the most important thing right.... Well I also did really well, which was good for me since I was subbing I went 2 for 3 and the one time that I got out it was a beautiful hit the girl just happened to be standing in the right spot. I played catcher and that was different. I've never played slowpitch catcher and I wasn't to thrilled about the bat swinging close to my head without a helmet on.  The next few post will just be about articles I have to read for class.

The Weekend :(

So the weekend is over and I wish it was longer. Now I know everyone always says that but this time I mean it. I just need a day of rest. Friday was a late long night with the rehearsal and dinner, then we went and had drinks back at the hotel with my dad's family. Saturday was an early morning. We had hair apointments at 9:00 and then went straight to the hotel and got ready for pictures and the ceremony. Will the only one who was allowed to take a nap yesterday didn't.He decided to play in the bed with the pillows. We then had the reception which was capitalized by the fire alarm going off. It turned out to be balloons that I was holding to take outside for pictures blocked a sensor and set them off. My poor dad had to go and receive one of his trailers that he had leased, it was in an accident and rolled, so it was in bad shape I guess. This morning was also an early morning because we had breakfast to go to with my dad's family before they all went back out of town. My cousin and her husband were going to a CWS game I wonder if they are still there. I worked on my lit review today 9 hours and all I have is a page and a half very disappointing. Well I'm tired so I am going to head to bed now, I wonder if I will actually be able to sleep or if I will think about my Lit Review all night.