Update

I posted the score, but I was so disappointed that AF lost, that I never discussed the game. The highlight of the game was seeing my good friends from NE who had driven out for the game. Their son, daughter-in-law, and grandbaby live nearby so I was very glad to get to spend about 30 minutes visiting with them at the game. It certainly was the best part of the game, lol! I owe her pictures, though, and I haven't forgotten. Just haven't gotten around to it.

School is going better, especially this weekend with the Thanksgiving break. Only three weeks until Christmas break. Then we have a long haul through CSAP prep and the actual test until Spring Break. I had a rough couple of weeks and felt thoroughly depressed about my choice of vocation, but I think the rejuvenation of this weekend will help with that.

My birthday was great! I just can't believe that I am 36. I know that is not that much older than 35, but 36 rounds to forty. And I know this because I just got done with a whole unit on estimating at school. But, like I told my students, I don't mind getting older because if I didn't, I would be dead, and that I'm definitely not ready for. Thanks to the many of you who sent greetings.

AFA 24, BYU 38

I guess that says it all.

Be True to Your School !?!

I have to admit, this is a hard one for me.

I grew up watching, rooting for, and breathing Air Force Academy sports. My father followed them the best he could before the age of internet and satellite television and it rubbed off. So when I decided to go to BYU for college, well, I guess you could say it was a conflict of interest. I rooted for BYU whole heartedly while I was there. I even made a friendly four year wager (never mind that it took me five to graduate) with my father about who would win the most football games in that time period...BYU or AFA? I'm glad to say that BYU won more over that time span (thank you Ty Detmer), but I don't remember what the prize of the wager was...possibly a steak dinner.

Since we've lived in the heart of the AFA for five years now, and we go to as many sporting events as we can, I root for AFA. Except, of course, when they are playing BYU. But as the years have gone by, this is has become increasingly difficult. I mean really, if AFA beats BYU this next weekend, and there are some other key losses in the conference, AFA has a shot at winning or tying for the conference title. And going to a bowl game. Now, I have to admit that I have no idea if BYU has similar chances or not, but it is likely they do as they have spent the season ranked. In fact they may be able to lose this weekend and still go on to post season play. I'm not sure, but being ranked definitely helps them in that endeavour.

So, with that background knowledge, I have to say that I am a sucker for the underdog. BYU has been ranked all season, AFA wasn't even supposed to show up this season. And now they have a chance; they are getting votes in the coaches poll. And to go any further they have to beat BYU. What's a girl to do????

I guess there's only one thing left to say: Go Falcons, Beat the Cougars!!!!

Faith in Humanity--again

On Thursday October 23 we went to the AFA's night football game. And left our door open through the whole game. And nothing was stolen out of our car. Including my purse and my parent's stadium seat back. Not to mention the car was still there. So I guess I need to quit being so cynical and start believing that people are basically honest.

Faith in Humanity

Last night I took the kiddos to the movie with my friend Missy and her daughter. When we left, Kristin, for whatever reason, set her purse on the ground next to Missy's car while we were saying good-bye. Which was fine, except we didn't realize she had left it there until we had driven the 30 minutes home.

So back to the theater we went. I was grumbling the whole time. I couldn't believe she had done that and in such a questionable neighborhood. Not seedy, mind you, just questionable. (We were at the dollar bargain theater.) I was SURE we would not find her purse. Or if we did find the purse, the iPod would no longer be in it.

Once we got back to the parking lot and determined it was no longer there we went into the theater and asked the question: "Hi, my daughter left her purse in the parking lot about an hour ago. Did anyone by chance turn it in?" Rather than the "no" I was expecting we got "Is it blue?". "Yes," Kristin said relieved. So they gave it back to her and said "You might want to check the contents because some guy brought it in." It wasn't so much the words as the look on the girl's face that led me to believe that he, like the neighborhood, was also questionable. But, lucky for Kristin, this was an honest, upstanding questionable guy and all of the contents of her purse were intact.

Now I feel I owe the man an apology. And, of course, a thank you!

Disheartening

I just finished entering a bunch of grades. (I'm still behind...I only brought one stack home...but I digress). The majority, and by that I mean mathematical majority, of my students are getting Ds and Fs. And maybe that is a reflection on me as a teacher, but I really don't think so. And I'll tell you why.....I mostly give them points on their homework if they just DO IT. They don't even have to do it correctly. And they still get zero after zero after zero. They just don't care. Which is sad to me that they are in 6th grade and have completely given up on life already. And I have absolutely no idea what to do to change it. I guess I will go to sleep and plug away again tomorrow........

September 11th

On September 10th, Scott asked me, "You know what tomorrow is right?".

"September 11th?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yeah", he says.

And I said, "So?".

I was searching my brain for some reason he would be asking me about September 11th. I knew it wasn't our wedding anniversary, or when we met, or when he ask me to marry him. Maybe it was the day of our first kiss? No, that couldn't be it. When it finally dawned on me, I felt so stupid. I, who professes to be the most patriotic person I know, didn't even remember the significance of the day. How dumb do I feel?

I hope that on Patriot's Day, everyone took a moment to remember why we have a Patriot's Day...why we even have a country in the first place...why we should never forget those that have gone on before us in forming this country. A country still being formed, tried, and tested. And I hope that we can stand up to the test and continue to enjoy the freedom that our country grants us, even as we take it for granted.

Numbers, numbers, and more numbers

Looks like everyone was right when they said that half of the students on our rosters show up. I didn't quite believe them, but after these last few days, I have to. We had 180 in May. By August the number was down to 154. Now??? At last count we had approximately 85 6th graders. Kinda crazy. But good in a way, because now at least I don't have to worry about huge class sizes. A little scary too, because what if they do away with my position because we don't have the numbers to support it? I will make myself crazy with worry over that one, so I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it!

The first week went rather well. I'm feeling energetic and encouraged. I hope that it continues. I'm not having any real discipline problems yet, although I have scoped out a couple of classes that could become problematic. Gotta nip that in the bud.

The hardest part was getting a sub yesterday. Yes, I know it's the first week of school. However, we closed on our house yesterday. At 11. So I couldn't even really take a half day. It was emotional on our both our part and the seller's. Hopefully we'll all be happy once it it over. Wait, it is over. And I'm happy. Hopefully she is too! LOL! Now we have a bunch of work to do...washing walls, painting, etc., before we can move in. But it will all be worth it to have a house we own. This will hopefully be the house the kids think about when they think about growing up in CO.

Heigh-ho Heigh-ho

IT'S OFF TO WORK I GO!!!

Have a great day everyone!

The Last Two Days...

...before I go back to work!!! It is like any other major event in my life. I count down and count down and count down and then just like that, it's over! I waited all year for summer and now it's over. Well, technically I have those last two days, but those are going to be filled with last minute preparations for school to start. That should be fun, but really I can't believe I'll be starting my second year of teaching on Monday. It'll be the truest test I believe. Last year, I had Angela, my angel, to help me along and prod me, and give me FANTASTIC ideas. This year, I'm it on the 6th grade team. AND I'm department chair. So it is do-or-die, make-or-break, (hmmmm, can't think of a third thing to make the literary device complete) time.

The good news is our state test results were printed in the newspaper last week. Our 6th graders scored 5% higher than last year's 6th graders. Wahoo! They were probably all Angela's students, but still.....!

The bad news is I found out I have to present about the PLC Conference I went to this summer. I can talk to a room full of 11 and 12 year olds, but a room full of adults? Yikes.

This weekend starts the beginning of a family reunion of sorts. By next weekend, we will have all six siblings in town, all my parent's grandchildren will be here, AND all the in-laws (spouses) will be around. It should be fun, but I'm worried about how much I'll really get to see everyone with getting ready for school and all. I guess I'll just do what I can do and worry about the rest later.

Memories

Since I have nothing original to write, let's play a game:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Professional Development Conference

I went to my first professional development conference in Denver this last weekend. It made me feel like a grown-up! I had a good time with the other teachers from my school that went and the best part was the conference was actually full of valuable information! Imagine that! I am really excited to try to affect change at my school and be a positive force for good. The conference was all about how to build a collaborative working relationship with other teachers. May seem obvious, but teachers tend to get stuck in the rut of "my classroom, my rules, my curriculum". I think working collaboratively with other teachers will definitely make me a better teacher, and I hope that I can give something back to them as well. Plus, I hope to make my work place a more positive place to be!

Happy 4th of July!

Here is Claire, our youngest niece peeking out through the swing.


Here's Jared with the purple mountain's majesty in the background.
Here's Carson....too cute for words.
Travis eating his ice cream.
Daniel..the future convict!!!

Okay, and the following text was supposed to appear BEFORE the pictures, but I can't figure out how to fix that.

I know that it has only been a few days since I posted, but Scott took some really cool pictures at the park yesterday. Kristin is noticeably absent as she went out of town with a friend's family. I will post current pictures of her later.

We spent the beginning of the afternoon at the park with my brother's family, and then went to our house to play rock band. Then we went to my parent's house for BBQ. After that we opted to skip the fireworks and just go home. I watched the Boston Pops concert/fireworks on TV. It wasn't the same, but better than nothing!

Hope you all had a Happy Fourth of July!

Another Month Gone

Well, another month has gone by so I guess it is time for me to post again. The last month was nice. Summer school turned out to be a very cushy job. After students got booted for attendance reasons, we ended up with 5 sixth graders, most of whom were well behaved. I only covered about 1/4 of the curriculum, but I guess that was better than nothing as every student improved on the post-test. So I feel good about that.

I've been putting off posting about this until things got settled. It took us about a week, but we finally ended negotiations for a new house. If all goes well with inspection, appraisal, and getting the loan, we will close August 15. Which is after school starts, so we'll be starting the school year with a move again. I actually start August 4, but don't get students until the 11th. The biggest problem is that the kids will be moving school districts, and school starts in both districts before the 15th. So do we start them in the new district or the old district? I'm leaning towards the new district; I'm just afraid that we'll start them and something will go wrong with the house!

The house is a rancher with a basement and has 5 bedrooms, 3 on the main level and 2 in the basement. It has 3286 square feet! We're so excited to have so much room. I'll post pictures after it closes...no need to jinx the deal!

D'enouement

Well, I did it. I got through my first year of teaching. It was pretty anti-climatic after all the counting down, etc. The last day of school was good. We read the "Phantom Tollbooth" to our students, so we showed that movie and did a little comparing/contrasting to the book and that was that.

The most exciting thing that happened was that all of the math supplies were moved out of the room they were in to mine. Except I didn't really have any place to put them. So they just got dumped all over my floor. So I spent the last contract day sorting and putting them away. I had help from lots of my friends at school so it really went pretty quickly. We found newspapers from the mid-nineties and an art curriculum book from 1959. Pretty much don't need those anymore. But I got it done and it actually motivated me to go through some of our stuff here at home. Not that I've done that yet, but I will this weekend and next week. Maybe.

Summer school starts on Monday. I'm actually pretty excited. I think that it will be good for me to be on my own for a few weeks before I'm on my own for a year. I say "on my own" because my co-teacher and true mentor will not be there for me to lean on next year. It makes me a little nervous. She was sooo fantastic and always had great ideas. I've written them all down, so hopefully I'll still remember them in the fall.

The day after school ended, we went to Utah to meet our friends Lonnie and Michelle and their kiddos and go camping and riding. Michelle and I stayed behind and went to dinner and the movies. That's my kind of camping! All was well until the last five minutes of the last day of riding at which point Scott had a bad wreck and sprained his ankle severely. The ER doc thought it was broken, but the orthopedic doc said not so much. So until he has his CT scan next week, we don't really know what's wrong with it. All I know is it's the pits that he can't walk and drive a clutch! :) But I will take that over the alternative...we are feeling very blessed that despite the severity of the wreck he is alive and relatively well.

I Can't Believe It...

TWO DAYS LEFT. Amazing. I thought this year would never end. Really. And now here we are with just two days left until SUMMER VACATION. Of course, I'm teaching summer school. That's actually a pretty sweet deal because I'll only be instructing for about 140 minutes and get paid for 240. Nice. We'll see at the end if it is worth it. My summer continues to get shorter and shorter though. I'm going to a PLC Conference in July. I'll be going to Professional Development classes starting Aug 4. Then my contract starts Aug 6. Then we get kiddos on Aug 11. BUT ENOUGH...I'm not thinking about that right now. Right now, I've got two days to get through. Oh and to all the parents out there who have children telling them that they don't need to go to school on the last day...they are right.

I was speaking with Julie this weekend about the end of my first year and I must say that I've really accomplished a lot. I must say I'm rather proud of myself for holding down a full time job and not going crazy in the middle of the year. Although I was tempted to do so. I have had many many people make this year bear-able for me. Thanks to everyone who listened to me whine, gave me suggestions, and just all around supported me. I really appreciate it.

Congratulations to Adam!!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Adam's college graduation. While this a feat in and of itself, it is especially amazing for Adam, my brother, who is a four time brain cancer survivor. He is alive against all odds and despite all that he has been through he was able to finally finish his Associate's Degree of General Studies.

I admire him and his courage, but don't tell him nearly enough. He is a pretty amazing guy. So here's to ADAM!!

Nine Days, but Who's Counting????

I am, that's who! Just nine short days until I finish my first year teaching. It has been a trying year, because of outside influences...such as a short deployment right after the school year started...but I did it and I'm stronger for it. I'm really excited for next year because well, it will be my second year of teaching, and not my first. LOL! I actually have big plans for my classroom, and my classes. The best part is that the "math block experiment" didn't work out, and so now I will be teaching in 45 minute periods instead of a daily 98 minute block. The worst part about next year? I will be going from class sizes of 20-24 to class sizes of 34-40. Yikes. Hopefully some of the sixth graders expected to come will go elsewhere. Or something.


If I were a better writer or more witty, I could come up with the top ten things I learned teaching sixth grade math, or something. But I'm not, so I won't even try!

Happy Anniversary!

So, Scott and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary on the first. I've never in my life done anything for fifteen years straight. I thought maybe take piano lessons, but that was only thirteen years and it was with several different teachers, so not so much. It's pretty amazing to me! Especially because of our rocky times. I'm so glad that we came through those times and are still together. I wouldn't have it any other way at this point in time. I am mostly writing though because even though Scott has never gotten me anything for an anniversary before, this time he got me flowers, a balloon, and made me a CD of love songs. It was really really nice. I guess I won't expect anything again until our 30th!

In other news, we saw Kristin run in her track meet this morning. She didn't do as well as she has been doing, mostly because her shins are killing her. We asked to pull her out of the triple jump, but it still effected her running in her races.

Jared's birthday party is today. The boys are all having parties the next few weekends. We are celebrating Daniel's birthday in May this year, too. He traded with Scott. Weird, I know, but he (Daniel) hates having his birthday a week after school starts. So whatever. As long as he doesn't expect anything in August too. We got the boys "Rock Band" for their combined gift and then they'll each get a party.

That's about all that is going on around here. Maybe I'll get to posting pictures of the parties. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you! :)

Oh My It's Been A While

I'm sooo sorry I haven't posted in a month. I meant to post pictures of my trip to Atlanta and then I got them back and well, I look slighty chubby in all of them. Which prompted me to buy a scale. I stepped on it and almost had a heart attack from the shock of it all. I mean, I knew I had put on a few pounds because I went from working out daily to not working out EVER, but who knew that one could gain almost 20 pounds in a school year???? Yikes. So I've finally got the motivation I needed to start working out again. I work out four days a week after school. Forget getting up in the morning before work. That is just not my style. It means I get home pretty late, but while Scott is home and willing and able to get the kids and start dinner, I'm going. It's actually been nice to work out again, and I've found tons of patience I didn't know I was missing to share with my students. One even commented on my happier demeanor. Of course, it could just be that there are only 18 days left with students this school year!! Or that I made it through the rash of pink slips that appeared at my school two weeks ago. But whatever it is, things are good in my world.

I also decided to teach summer school. I'll let you know later if that was a good decision or not.

In kid news...Kristin is a budding track star. Her track coaches had her practice running hurdles in two practices and then put her in a race the next meet. She placed 4th!! She's so amazing.

Daniel went to his first band competition a couple of weeks ago. His band scored ALL ONEs. Which is pretty amazing. His band teacher cried!

And that's all for now!

I'm So Dumb Sometimes

My apologies to my brother and sister-in-law Ryan and Laura for completely and totally forgetting that I was a bridesmaid in their wedding. So Robyn's wedding thingy will be the SECOND wedding I've been in that wasn't my own. I feel like such a heel.....

In other news, I am back from Atlanta. And I even took pictures. But more on that later. I will post later about my trip and will post the pictures.

SPRING BREAK!!!!

Well, it's my first Spring Break as a teacher. And let me tell you it's just as sweet as the ones I had when I was a kid. Perhaps sweeter. I'm so excited, I'm almost giddy. So so so glad to have a break. I will be a much better teacher after the break, just like I was after Christmas break. Not any form of a miracle, but it's amazing what some time off and a little rest can do for you!

In other news, I will be spending part of my Spring Break in Atlanta. That's the part that's tomorrow through Tuesday. I will be visiting my brother, Nate, and we are going to have a cultural time of it...symphony, opera, and the Atlanta aquarium. Should be a great time for all. All meaning the two of us!

The rest of spring break will be spent getting ready for my little sister's wedding thingy. I say wedding thingy because she and her wonderful husband Brian, eloped over Christmas break. No one was really that surprised. So now we are having a little ring ceremony to celebrate with friends and family. I think it will be nice, except it is outside in March, so the weather could be perfect, or could be a problem. Who knows....all I know is I'm excited for her and to be in the wedding. It is the first wedding that I'll be in that wasn't my own.

Hopefully I will take/post pictures from my spring break. I'm horrible at taking pictures though, so don't hold your breath!!!

Boy Am I Glad THAT'S Over

Besides the one incident that I already wrote about, the rest of the standardized testing went without a problem. No one passed the stop sign after that first day, and I haven't heard of proctor error again. I went to the state department of education website and did a search on "proctor error" and nothing came up. I'm starting to think that my assistant principal was pulling my leg. So that's good.

The biggest problem with the testing is that as a proctor, I was not able to email, text, or read while I was proctoring. Nor could I do filing or grade papers. This wasn't a big deal the first test. But after that the sixty minutes of testing for each of the eight remaining tests became mind numbing-ly boring. I wanted to beat my head against a brick wall I was so bored. Which would have been easy to do as my classroom walls are brick.

Now all that is left is waiting for the results in August. Hopefully my students kept up with their scores last year and didn't fall behind.

I need to go plan what to do next week. The week before spring break, and the week after the testing. I'm sure my students are burned out and need the break as much as I do. I'm going to try to keep it light this week. By light I mean multiplying and dividing fractions...now doesn't that sound fun????

My Worst Fears Realized

So we started the standardized state testing today and one of my students WENT PAST THE STOP SIGN......luckily, her test was not invalidated, so I feel a little better about that. But all my anxiety dreams and worries, etc., have come to life. So now that that has happened, I at least don't have anything more to worry about for the next eight sessions of testing....My assistant principal says it has to go down as proctor error, but I'm not sure if he was joking or not. And if he was serious, I'm not sure what, if anything, it means for me long term. More on that later....

My Daughter, the Genius

Kristin had her first MESA competition today. MESA is a school club (it stands for Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement) that targets women and other minority students to encourage them to study those areas in school. She had to apply to get in and has enjoyed her time at the club. The competition she competed in today was called "Say it, Do it". She and her teammate stood on opposite sides of a divider and she had to describe a structure made of Tinkertoys to her teammate. The teammate then needs to build the structure as accurately as possible based on Kristin's instructions. They have 8 minutes to complete their structure. WELL, Kristin and her friend did it in 3:04 AND did it with ONE HUNDRED PERCENT accuracy. This, my friends, is a record for the middle school level. Needless to say, they came in first place and won a $25 gift certificate to Wal-Mart each.

I guess she takes after her father.....

Test Anxiety!?

A few bits of background information....the standardized state testing for CO is coming up next week. It is very stressful for students and teachers as it has very stringent rules and regulations surrounding the proctoring and taking of the test. Plus, as a teacher, your job can depend on your student's ability to perform well. Also, my dad teaches for a district which scores famously high on this test while I teach for a district which scores notoriously low.

So all that said, I had this dream last night.....

I was just starting to proctor the first session of the test to about 20 of my students. In walks my father, all his administrators (in my dream there were about 10 of them), and 20 of his students. He proceeds to intersperse his students with mine and tell me that I have to test his students also. At which point his students become completely rowdy....talking, laughing, throwing paper, etc. (which, of course, would completely invalidate the tests) So I start freaking out and trying to shush them and ask them to stop so that my students, who are still trying diligently to work on the test, can concentrate. But the more I talk, the louder they become. Then one of my assistant principals walks into the room and has a hushed discussion with my father. She looks over at me with digust and says, "I don't know why you can't be more like your father." At which point, she and all the other adminstrators and my father leave and I'm left there with this classroom of rowdy kids thinking "but it's HIS students that are acting up!"


So that's it. I'm obviously having anxiety about this test. I never thought that could happen to the test GIVER!! My mother said it best...her response when I told her about my dream was "I think you've got issues". Which we all know is a spot on analysis.

Pictures

This is a family picture/portrait taken by my brother in July of 2007. The four headshots of the kids following are from the same photo shoot. My hair has since been cut (still long) and colored and looks much better than it does in these pictures. Not that anyone cares, but I'm insecure enough to have to say something, lol!
Travis
Jared
Daniel
Kristin

This is a pretty washed out picture of me and the kids. This is my last birthday (literally since I turned 35 and refuse to get older) in November 2007. Kristin wears contacts now.

And that's all for now, enjoy the pics!!!

Busy work

You know how as a student you always complained about getting busy work from your teachers? Believe me there is WAY more busy work as a teacher. I am up at almost midnight doing said busy work. I could have done it earlier, but I am by nature a procrastinator so I saved it for the last minute. Then I ran out of printer paper while printing my progress reports for my students. So I ran to Walmart. The only place in the world where printer paper costs $65 a ream. Or at least that's what printer paper, candy for my classroom, frozen lunches, new ink cartridges, and herpecin-L cost at my WalMart.

I will post some pictures of my beautiful children soon, especially for Bethany (see comments on my first post), but that will require me figuring out how to actually use this site, and how to put pictures in a post. Hopefully it's not difficult!!!

Well, I must be going now, so I can generate some busy work for my students tomorrow and therefore generate an exponential amount for myself. Good night all!

First Blog

Testing, testing, one, two, three.....