FINALLY!!!!

I learned that earned National Board for Professional Teaching Standards today!!! Yea!!!! Again 3 years worth of work paying off. It took me longer to earn this that it dig my Master's degree and WAY more writing/revising than my thesis. Finally over....I can exhale now.

Meanial updates....

New Moon was FABULOUS!!!!

The mid-morning information I was waiting on says it will not be available until after 5pm. This concerns me. If my scoring body cannot "tell time", how can I trust them to score properly???? hmm....

Giggles....

Hoping I can stay awake to see the midnight New Moon opening. Then my next challenge will be teaching a full day...a pep rally day...a day before Thanksgiving break...

Wish me luck!

Colleagialness

30 school colleagues sharing a meal in a teacher workroom before Thanksgiving break. Ahhh....very nice. <3

I am thankful for the people I work with. :D

I'm old....

Today were we encouraged to wear a college (and or sorority/fraternity) shirt in honor of National Education Week and talk to the students about our college experience. First of all A few years back I turned the majority of my college shirts into a quilt which is up north as they are not as needed here in the south. Second the one I have is a slum around shirt and there are 2 small holes in the front. Well, being that I was encouraged (not just allowed but told) to wear my old shirt, I did. Being an older gray t-shirt the only pants suitable was jeans. If you would have told me to wear this to teach several years ago I would have been elated beyond ecstatic. This morning I felt awkward. Like something was wrong with the picture of "the teacher" wearing jeans and an old t-shirt to teach. I was always the person who would fight to say 'clothes don't make the teacher' but I can conclude that they do help. I hate to admit it but I am growing up.

3 years in the Making

In about 40 hours I will know if 3 years of hard work paid off.....stay tuned for more details.....

Get over it!

Southerners think they are going to die if the temperature drops below 60 degrees. Seriously. Wusses. Get over it!

An Ode to Art

Please keep in mind that I am simple country girl who was really not introduced to 'real art' until I took the required art history course in college. From what I didn't sleep through (it was a dark auditorium with cushy stadium like seating once a week in the afternoons....and the prof spoke softly and rather monotone...you would have too...don't judge me....) I learned a lot. Here are my all time favorites no matter how cliche - they really do speak to me.

Starry night - Van Gogh

I hope to have this print hanging in a navy blue/white/pale yellow themed master bedroom some day.

Dali - The Persistence of Memory

Eerily fascinating to me.

Edvard Munch _ The Scream

This is how I feel most days. I can relate.

The works of Edward Weston

I loved all his work. So simple yet liberating - almost like you are looking at something naughty.

These are the ones I recall off the top of my head so they must have made and impact b/c I knew what names to Google for the images.

Hope you like them as much as I do!

Vicious Cycle

The schools up north I taught at would have parent teacher conferences where us teacher people would meet with parents for 10-15 minutes each to give them a glimpse as to what we see from their student. We would do this for several hours into the night. Most of the time we saw parents who needed that extra pat on the back for good parenting and rarely saw the parents whom we needed/wanted to see to resolve issues. Those were truly exhausting nights. Down here the schools do not do marathon conference nights but have parents schedule a conference for just after the school day finishes at their convenience. I think I am stuck in a conference rut as all my after school days have a conference booked by parents unless there is a meeting of some sort (faculty, department, committee, etc.). So here is that ugly cycle: student feels they are doing poorly for (insert whatever reason here), they complain to Mom/Dad. Mom/Dad schedules a conference - my after school time gets booked. During said conference it is usually mentioned about teachers having office hours or when they are available to help struggling students. My reply is that I am available in the mornings since my after noons are booked with conferences or meetings. Student never comes in during the wee morning hours and nothing changes. :(