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.....