Need some ideas for this…

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As thrilling as my life is to read, I’m not bringing in the traffic I would like to.  So here are the options, which I am sure I will not have anyone vote on! Yikes!  Sad, but true.  I think I had 15 hits this month? So… Vote by commenting.

1. Incredible blog about life as a 2nd grade teacher…
2. Incredible blog about life with 2 stupid dogs, a squealing pig thing, and 3 cannibalistic fish…
3. Your idea is so much better that you want me to know all about it and write about it! Go!
4. Or maybe Just random items from my life as usual?  But that isn’t bringing in traffic.  Blah!

Dear God, Please Help

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I would love for the world to be okay in 2012.  I would love for people to accept people for who they are and to allow others to live their lives without interference.  I have never understood revenge or hate.  I will admit, I feel those strong feelings where I hate everyone around me, but the way I respond is not to lash out at the world and destroy everything and everyone in my path.  I have done that in my youth, and where did that get me?  I lost things/people that I love.  But lately when I try to help others or defend…

God, you told me to never stand down when fighting for you.  You told me non-believers would hurt me until I was nothing.  You told me this would happen.

And guess what, God.  I listened.

For those I love, I will sacrifice.

if (all else fails)

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My life is changing faster than it ever has before.  I have met the man I was meant to be with and love forever.  I have never felt this way before about a person until now.  We both accept our flaws that we have come with into this relationship almost immediately.  Everyone has something difficult they are dealing with.  Mine are external forces that have decided they know what is best for me.  But they have not known me for 7 years, really known me.  Nobody really does, but Levi does.  He doesn’t control me or make me change the way I am to fit him.  He brings everything of me out that I was too afraid to let out.  He lets me be me in public.  He lets me say what I want to without calling me names or saying I’m stupid for thinking in such a way.  My envronmental factors have tried to stray me away from a life of pure happiness, but I will not let it happen.  When you know, you know.  I have fallen deeply in love with the most brilliant and amazing man in the world.  I may have said some things in the past to try and convince myself that it was the truth, but this is deep from my heart.  I didn’t care anymore.  I wanted to be at the point of a family before, but I never felt truly interested.  I didn’t feel like I could do everything with those people in the past.  Now I’m making it public.  I’m done.  There is no after Levi. There is no when I am single again.  There is nothing with a me a without him.  Deal with it if you may, if not… I suggest you let God into your life to accept the things you cannot change.  I love my life and I love Levi.

Life In General

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Random update, but I’ve completely changed my websites layout.  The header was made by yours truly.  My new boyfriend, Levi, loves it. :)

Speaking of a new boyfriend.  I’m quite happy with my life right now.. I have never been happier.  I did get a divorce this year, which was a hard decision, but it was the right one for me and my sanity.  I haven’t spread much personal information on here, but I have written about my wedding.  I would have to say the few things I did get to write about my wedding on here, were the few things I felt really in control of.  Most of it was my mother’s decision or let up to, “Yup, sounds good… Let’s do it.”  Not saying it was bad!  But my actually wedding to the man that will be with me forever would be nothing like the wedding I actually had to you-know-who.

Other topics, I am incredibly happy with where I am in my life right now.  My career is amazing, but I might do a change.  My interest in web design has been sparked again. It has been supressed for the past few years from my own decisions and environmental influences, but it’s back.  And that is one of the reasons I am excited!  Web design is my passion.  My favorite class in college was Computer Graphics class.  Even though I had to teach the professor how to use Photoshop, that’s ok.  Whatever… I made some really cool graphics and learned quite a bit.  I am by no means a master as of yet, but I will be if I have the time to do it.  I just bought a PHP & MySQL book to learn how to write those codes.  I have been wanting to learn PHP since 2006, but life got in the way.  But not anymore.

I found someone who lets me be me completely.  Nothing hidden, nothing guarded.  I am me.  We may not be perfect as individuals, but together we could rule the world.  I am thrilled as to what God has given me in my life thus far.  The experiences and paths I have taken, have me to where I am now and to the person I am with.  Without everything I have gone to, I would not be here today with the person I am with.  It may be fast and early for me to feel this way about a person, but “click!”  That’s just the way it works.  Plus, I’ll admit to the world… It’s called Match.com, not “MightPossiblyWorkOut.com.”  My mom met her wonderful husband on there, and so did I.

I love you, Levi.

Friday5s

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I don’t know what else to post, and I haven’t posted in a while, so I’m going to do a bunch of Friday5s…
  1. What’s something you enjoy eating that many others would be grossed-out by? Raw oysters on the half shell.  I could eat them all day…
  2. Which of your personal traits is most likely to make others want to avoid you? I am brutally honest.  And sometimes too honest it hurts people’s feelings.
  3. If you could wear a bracelet that had the power to keep certain kinds of people away from you, what kind of people would you repel? Abusers.  Physical and Emotional abusers. Child abusers.  Animal abusers.  Men who allow domestic violence in the home. People who talk down to me.  People who call me names or tell me my ideas are stupid.
  4. We are all capable of overcoming our biases, of course, but what’s a physical trait (in others) that pretty much turns you off? Crooked teeth, acne scars, people that wear sweats ALL THE TIME everywhere, and red eyes that tell me you’re high.
  5. When you feel a case of the blues coming on, what do you do to fend off the bad feelings? Turn on music that I can sing to, play with my guinea pig, or draw.
  1. What book did you struggle to get through but is something you’re glad you’ve read? A Child Called It by David Pelzer.  Not because it was a challenging read, but because it was hard to not cry throughout the book or keep food in my stomach.  Anyone who would treat a child that way is going to hell.  And yes, non-Catholics.  Hell is real and you will burn in pergatory.
  2. What’s a book whose popularity has baffled you? Anything by Nicholas Sparks.  It’s all just one step away from a Harlequinn Romance novel. No need to use your skill of predicting, kids!  They’re all the same!  Read one?  You’ve read them all.
  3. If you could make everyone you know read one book, what would it be? Molokai by Alan Brennert.  It’s about how people in Hawai’i isolated leprosy patients on the island Molokai and basically made them live in squalor.
  4. What book have you liked less and less as time has gone by? For children’s books: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  It’s pointless and the fact that they made a shitty movie out of it even worse.  Novels: If I don’t like it after one chapter, I don’t read it.  Every book I’ve read (outside of some books for work or school) has been an amazing read.
  5. What book have you loved more and more as time has gone by? Twilight series.  ’nough said.

Friday5.org

Pi Day is Tomorrow

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I’m getting excited about going back to school this summer.  So much, in fact, that I’m wearing my math shirt and getting pumped that tomorrow is Pi Day!  My mind gets excited about the oddest things.  I’m sure you’re thinking, “Pi? Like with an e at the end that you eat?”  When I say, no b****es!  Like 3.1415926535… and So on.  And what will be SUPER exciting… Is if I’m a math teacher by the time 3/14/15 comes around.  Then I’ll really go nuts!

So all of you mathematics fanatics, wear your pi shirt tomorrow.  Or at least eat a slice of pie.

Then buy me this clock when you’re done….

What I’ve learned so far…

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There are only about 2 and a half months of school left.  Can you believe it?  I am really almost finished with my first year of teaching, and who knew it was going to be in Kindergarten?

I’m at a point in my year where everything I have learned throughout my experience with these children has really put my teacher glasses on.  I finally understand the art of teaching and what is required of me through the day.  There are so many things about my teaching that I am going to change next year.  Here’s what I’ve learned thus far…

My room set up.  What was I thinking?  First of all, I need to get rid of that monster of a desk.  I told them I didn’t want a desk, and I was serious.  All it is to me is a place for me to drop everything.  I need something tiny that will fit my plan book and my computer.  That’s it.  I need a small group table and a bookshelf to put behind it with all my teaching materials ORGANIZED!  Can I tell you how much teaching time I have wasted just by looking for something?   I thought I was an organized person, until I became a teacher.  I literally lose something in my black hole of a room every day.  I blame that monstrous desk that they refused to take away.  I really think it was because nobody wanted it… Haha… I also blame my lack of technology use on my classroom set up.  I did not set up my room so that my screen could be easily viewed or reached.  It is a hassle to move my cart around the room and set up the technology in my room.  I need a new set up.  Now.  Can it be August already?

And bulletin boards.  Again.  What was I thinking?  I have no room to post student thinking or what we are currently working on.  My limited whiteboard space has been filled with things I had no where else to hang up.  I have bulletin boards with junk that not a single student even glances at.  My walls are not educational, nor do they serve a purpose that I need them to serve.  Next year, my room will be different.  And tape? Uh, Scotch I am writing a letter to you.  Your tape sucks.  Just so you know, everything in my room is falling down.  I get why teachers hot glue everything to the wall now… (Shh, I won’t name names!)  I’m spending the extra 5 to 15 dollars to get those 3m removable adhesives… Yes they’re expensive.  And yes, they’re they only things holding anything up in my room.

Procrastination will be the death of me.  What I really want to do, before school even starts next year, is plan the year.  People say my district is so scripted and it is laid out of you exactly what you need to do each day, but no.  They’re wrong.  That’s how it used to be.  Now they have the guide, and they want you to use that teacher brain of yours and make it more effective.  They give you the curriculum guide and the materials and say go.  They don’t tell you that a year long plan will help you out. They don’t tell you that taking the time to plan what you will cover each month will help you out a LOT more than hot gluing the alphabet to the wall seventeen times until you found the best place for it.  Planning.  Writing out the year.  Before school even starts.  Less procrastination.  Meaning?  Life is easy… easier…  slightly less difficult.  :)

Planning time.  Using your time wisely was just a phrase I thought teachers threw at you to make you hurry up and finish your work.  Now that I’m a teacher, using your time wisely jumps to a whole new level.  I actually plan out my bathroom trips to save time.  My thinking goes like this, “So if I go now, I’ll waste about 5 minutes total of walking back and forth 2 times instead of just going on my way to pick up the kids and walking back and forth only once.”  And so on…  Planning time is precious time.  I use all of it.  And I use it best when nobody bothers me.  I arrive at school early because nobody is there to talk to me.  I leave at the end of contract time instead of hours after contract time because I get my work done early.  I don’t fuss around.  I don’t stand and chat for an hour.  I get it done.  Also, 5 and 6 year olds are incredibly draining.  I feel like I’m falling asleep at the wheel half the time even when I leave right at 4:00.  No, I don’t have kids. Yes, after teaching Kindergarten I plan to wait about 50 years before having kids of my own.  Yes.  50.

So next year:

Classroom set up, plan the year before school starts, use planning time effectively and have meaningful bulletin boards.  And that’s just an excerpt of what I need to do to become a better teacher.  Until next time, folks…

School Plans

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I can’t decide if I want to keep this layout or upload the new one I made.  I will definitely switch it all out when school is over and I have more time.

Anyway… School.  I don’t know what is going to happen with school.  Budget cuts are being announced and I don’t know if I would be the first one to go.  I have no clue if my school would cut a teacher or not, or even if all the teachers are staying and if there will be a need to cut teachers.  I know a few teachers who are trying to get jobs else where, which I think is playing it safe.  Who knows?  I think I should start looking just in case.  I’d like to get a job in Colorado Springs so that “just in case” could really be put into effect.  If my husband and I both lose our jobs, then we’d have family to stay with.  When is the economy going to get better?

Well at any rate, my fall back plan is to go back to school to get highly qualified in math so I can teach high school.  I think I would LOVE high school.  Everyone tells me I’m crazy and that those kids all have bad attitudes, but I want to do it.  I don’t care what they say.  My best school experiences were in high school.  The people that made me want to be a teacher were my teachers in high school.  I have already tutored a few of my friends in math to help them get through their classes.  Whether it was just to get into a class or helping them through higher level mathematics courses in college, I always got the same answer: “So THAT’s what you’re supposed to do. Why didn’t they just say that when they taught it in class?”

When you get that answer so many times, you realize that’s what you were meant to do.  Math is not hard.  Hard math is a way of thinking.  Understanding math takes confusion and practice to reach the end goal: “I finally get it.”  When you repeatedly tell yourself math is hard, you’re forcing yourself to stay in that confusion stage which in turn makes you give up during that practice period.   Here I go on a little math rant…  So I’ll stop right there and save the passion for the classroom.  :)

Vote!

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Vote NO on 60, 61, and 101, my dear Coloradoans!

What would happen if you voted yes?  Well, let’s see…

#1 I’d lose my job.  I’m a teacher.

#2 Class sizes would rise dramatically.

#3 Technology in the classroom? Hah.  With what money?

#4 Teacher aid’s would be cut.  As if a teacher didn’t already work 12 hours a day Monday through Saturday… (yes, Saturday)

#5 Individual attention to students would be cut to ZERO INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION.

#6 Many new teachers will quit because class sizes are so high, which in turn creates impossible classroom management situations.  Can you say “crowd control”?

and…

#7 People will start to send their kids to private school.  Which basically means: the money you would have been saving from not paying those taxes will now go to private schools.

Oh.. You can’t afford private school?  Hm… Well I hear China and Japan are scoring higher than us on test scores.  You could always move there.

Oh… Don’t speak Cantonese, Mandarin, or Japanese?  Well tough nuggets.