"Me" Time

Since my last post:

I read and somewhat enjoyed Push. It's really a disturbing book. I didn't see the movie Precious, which is based off of this novel, but I was told the book is four times more graphic than the movie. Maybe that will mean something to you if you've seen the movie.
Awful, awful, awful. Very disturbing. It's not a book I would recommend, persay, but it contains content that sheltered people like myself should be aware of.

I also read Crank. The majority of my students read and adore these books by Ellen Hopkins. This was only my 2nd book of hers to actually read. They are very, very thick books, but each page is written in what appears to be poem form, but it's not actually very poetic. I like these books a lot, but this one, for example, is about a girl who gets addicted to Meth. I get tired of the "drug books" (as I've been calling them) and disturbing content, but her stories are fantastic and there's always a great lesson learned. They are relevant to my students, sadly.

Glass is the sequel to Crank, and oh my goodness. I loved this book. I loved it much more than I did Crank. It is c-r-a-z-y.






So I've read a little this past month. I also crafted a little:

It's certainly not perfect, but it will do! :) I also rocked my Praxis III and am proud of my scores. Ryan just finished his first year of pharmacy school. Big time around our household!

Papa-Paparazzi

I'm horrible about updating, but I like waiting until I actually have something to say.

This stretch of 6 days (from last Monday to this coming Monday) should be the most stressful time of the school year. Monday is my Praxis III, but I'm actually completely ready and it's more of an inconvenience than anything. I don't like that I'm having to miss class for the interviews. I've filled out the silly Class Profile and Instructional Profile probably about 20 times between my time at UCA and this year with the mentoring program. It gets old. How many times do I need to prove myself? It almost seems as though it will hurt me to have done it so many times just because I do it less thorough each time-- again, because it's old. I have to try to get in the right mindset by Monday and remember that it's this lady's first time to see me. She hasn't seen the 20 others that I've done!

Tuesday was neat. Let me start with a little background. Every first year teacher is required to have a mentor teacher. The mentor teacher gets paid to be the mentor. There is a time requirement that we have to meet, and there are several required observations, etc. All mentors have to be trained. They go to a training that is put on by the state, and they watch a video in order to learn what to do as a mentor. The video is of a mentor teacher and a first-year teacher doing their thing-- the pre-interview, the observation, and the post-interview. Just like the Praxis.

The state's problem: they only have videos of elementary teachers and mentors. No secondary.
Solution: they select my mentor and me to go through this process so they can make a video for high school teachers.

It was incredibly fun. I got nervous the morning of, but once I got there it was a breeze. It was hilarious, though. We had to wear three different outfits, one for each video segment, to make it seem like it was done on three different days. Apparently most mentor teachers and first-year teachers do the interviews and observations across three days, but we always squeezed it into one.

For the recorded observation, I chose my 4th period class because they are dramatic, outgoing adolescents who love to be seen and heard. They are amazing, but there were incredibly amazing that day. I was so impressed that I had tears in my eyes later. Many of them dressed to the nines for this occasion. They were so proud to do it, and I was so proud of them! And let's be clear: this was no rinky dink video camera. There were three massive ones, along with a sound board and lots of other equipment that I can't name, in my classroom for this lesson. It had the potential to be intimidating, but we all had fun.

The days leading up to it were quite stressful, knowing many people across Arkansas would be watching this video, but really, that's no reason to be nervous. I got over it quickly, especially since I had several weeks to think about it. It's sole purpose is to train mentors on how to go through the whole process and how to be a helpful mentor. Many of them have no idea how the interview process or observation should work, so that's why they need videos.

So now I have my Praxis on Monday, and I've just been chilling all weekend. I've wasted too much time, I'm sure, but this has been one of my most relaxing weekends in a very, very long time. Life is so ironic. I just don't get it... and that's why I love it!

Butts in Heaven

Notice the picture on the left. I have always thought it would be hilarious to see a lady with her dress unknowingly stuck in her tights. And it is, I'm sure.
Ryan and I went to the Cracker Barrel (which I have always referred to as "Heaven") on Sunday after church. "Heaven" on Sunday is always super packed. There is normally at least an hour wait, with little room to move in the Country Store because it's that busy. Ryan was waiting in line to pay for our meal, so I take advantage of the opportunity and skip on over to the bathroom. After I'm finished, I spend a few minutes washing my hands and playing with my hair in the mirror. I walk out of the bathroom, look at a few items in the store, and then weave my way through all the bystanders to try to get closer to my husband. I decide I'm not up for the adventure, so I just stand by and wait for him to come to me. Instead, an employee comes up to me. She says, "honey, your dress is stuck in your tights. I tried to get over here as fast as I could, but it took me a while to get through all the people!" I immediately reached back there to fix it, and sure enough, my dress was all up in my tights. There is no way it went unnoticed by the millions of people at "Heaven" that day. But the cool thing is that I didn't feel embarrassed. In fact, I went right up to Ryan after that and kept saying, "but why am I not embarrassed??? Don't normal people get embarrassed about things like revealing their butts in public?" I guess the difficult-to-embarrass quality is one that comes with teaching.
Oh, and even better... my tights were white.

I have been bad about updating. I have made a few posts without publishing them. It serves as a journal of sorts. I've written about life and love, dreams, homesickness. ;)

Last week, I embraced Spring Break with open arms. It was nice to have a break, but it wasn't the most fun break by any stretch of the imagination. I studied for my GRE, which I took on Thursday, graded a ton of research projects, and worked at school a little bit. I also got an iphone and a hair cut (trim).

Ryan has continued making neat things in his Solutions Lab:

They are all labeled with my name! The long tube on the top left is cuticle ointment. He was allowed the option of choosing one perfume, from many, to lightly scent this ointment. He recognized one of the perfumes as one that I have, so he thoughtfully chose that one.
The three smaller tubes are chapstick!! I haven't tried it yet because I am nervous about the sanitation in the Lab. I will probably give in.
The jar is Benzocaine gel. He tells me it's a "local anesthetic," even though I'm not sure what it's for. :)

46 more school days until the sweet, sweet, yet ephemeral summer.