Good News!

I finally found out that I will definitely be teaching the same grade next year. I doubt that fourth grade is the absolute best fit for me, but I have learned so much last year I feel it is best that I continue on the learning curve with the same grade. Moving around in just my second year would probably do more harm than good in terms of my professional development. Ultimately, I would like to teach older students and be a one-subject teacher rather than a general education teacher. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that I can stay at the same grade level to improve and then start over with a different grade level when my planning, instructional, and management skills are fully developed. More to come on developments at my school soon.

"Teacher's Have it Easy" by Dave Eggers, Daniel Moulthrop, and Ninive Clements Calegari

I read this book over Spring break and have been reminded of many of its arguments lately with the DCPS two-tiered pay scale proposal. If you would like a non-teacher written description of why teacher's not only need to be paid more, but deserve to be paid more, this book is an excellent read. Highly entertaining is the chapter in which a school teacher's day is compared minute by minute to the day of a pharmaceutical sales representative.

As DCPS teachers gather with Union leaders and hopefully Michelle Rhee tonight, I can't help but root for my DCPS colleges. I really hope enough D.C. teachers will say yes to the two-tiered system. Professionals who work as hard as some D.C. teachers do, need the option to say, "Fire me at will!" And then get paid well for saying it. I would be politically more critical of the plan asking questions about where the District is going to be getting all of this extra money and if it would be worth it (I would guess a lot of it is from restructuring), but frankly DCPS needs action, needs change, and this could be it. I can't wait to read updates.

Exercise Regime

In an effort to break up my exercise regime cheaply (as opposed to taking a class at an expensive gym), I decided to check out the exercise videos available on demand. I chose a random video that was supposed to be a mix of cardio activities. It was a flashback to when I was little. Exercise videos have not changed since the 1980's! It was a group of ladies in tight work out clothes rolling their necks and squatting and waving their arms. The one piece leotards, leg warmers, and headbands were absent but the music was bad and the counting was the same. BORING. In case you didn't raid your mom's collection of workout videos when you were little to know what i am talking about, here is a visual. Jane Fonda was the greatest.

I was about to give up and go the gym when I found a Carmen Electra Cardio Strip Tease video. I've heard of it, but never seen it. How could this be boring? The video started with all the wave your arms, roll your neck stuff and there was the counting business. I was about to give up again and then we started stretching our hips and rolling stomachs. It started getting more interesting. Then we started combining some hip action moves and some stomach moves. I've never felt more uncoordinated. I guess sexy moves don't come very easily to me. I had to start watching Carmen very closely to be able follow along with all of the moves. The closer I watched, the more I felt Carmen was not at all teaching me how to get a sexy/fun cardio workout. She was simply flaunting and rolling her perfect, flat stomach, curved hips, and huge breasts. Eventually I wasn't even really trying anymore because all I could see were her breasts. That is not motivation for me to workout. Its more motivation to get plastic surgery, which was not the kind of fun I was looking for. I went to the gym and swore off all workout videos unless it is Tae Bo, because that is actually fun sometimes. I like to pretend I'm learning Karate, even though I look like a fool. Fake Karate moves come much more naturally to me than strip tease moves.

Look at her. This is a tame photo. In the video, she flaunts it.

Annapolis

Thanks to Ms. Mindless, I have now been to the capital of Maryland. Shopping in all of the little shops was a real test for my saving skills. I told myself I would not buy anymore summer clothes and save all of my money for work clothes and professional staples. I really started looking like junk at the end of the last school year. I know it may sound silly to spend money on a nice teacher wardrobe, but when I look like junk, I feel like junk. Also, as a teacher, I plan incentive systems to get the outcomes I desire. I want to feel excited about the new school year and what better incentive to ensure that than lots of back to school shopping?

Above is the view I wish I could have seen. Mindless was trying to describe how the circle around the State House is really an oval designed to make the State House look even more impressive. I love the design.

One of my favorite things about Annapolis is that the street signs in the main historic part of the city post the year in which the street was built. I didn't take any pictures, but I found one online.

One of the weirdest things about Annapolis was the Pat Sajak Birthing Center. He is a creeper and while I love the fact that he has given back in Annapolis, seeing his name on things turns me off.

I need a new computer

So my computer is officially dead and that's why I have not been writing. I only get computer time when my boyfriend isn't using his. It has caused a few arguments since he is not inclined to waste time online, unlike me. Good news, it took three days, but my apartment is clean! Photographs to come and more when my computer allowance kicks in tomorrow. Yay!

Freedom Writers

I just watched Freedom Writers and now I feel bad about myself. Great. Maybe I could just start wearing pearls to class and making my fourth graders write freely in a journal and all of my problems will be solved. Really though, some parts of the movie were unbearably corny or laughable and then other parts of the movie were pretty realistic. The most realistic parts: 1) teaching can ruin/destroy your personal relationships, 2) teaching will change the core of who you are, 3) your students will notice when you buy them something new, 4) there are bound to be some crazy teachers and administrators in your way, 5) "difficult" students will take the most interest in subjects that randomly come up in class and you have to run with it.

If you know anything about my classroom, you know that writing is a huge part of my instruction and is actually the thing my students are most invested in doing. No matter how cheesy the movie may have been, the foundation and the mission is real and I have no doubt that lives were changed in that classroom and students were put on a different life path, which is the part of the "cheesy" movie that I can find touching.

Being a Teacher in the Summer

Yuck! Why do I still feel like I have so much work to do? I still have requirements for the program I am in and it is my summer goal to plan so much that I can avoid the nightly crunch (and spare my boy the nightly bitchiness) by having all unit plans done before school starts and my first unit objectives written. The days are ticking away and I am waiting to be inspired to complete these tasks. Then, it starts happening. Thoughts of my 25 students and the hell I was going through just four weeks ago keep into my mind and I am physically repulsed by the idea of doing anything teacher-related. I guess this is the burn-out that teachers in my situation feel. Your first year in a DCPS school can take such a toll on you as a person that you avoid your job like the MRSA staph virus. It's a double-edged sword too because the reason my first year took such a toll on me is that actually deeply cared the whole time about what I was doing and how my students were doing. It is a sick thing that the teachers who care the most about and work the hardest at "closing the gap" in the District are the ones who end up near dead come summer. Near dead was a good physical description of the state of my health with simultaneous ear and sinus infections and a chronic cough that had gone on for about 10 weeks.
Now that I have been back in D.C. for almost two weeks, I must admit that the physical condition of my apartment is the real-estate equivalence to near death. The boy tries his hardest and does a great job keeping things "clean", but living in a studio with two people, a dog, and only one usable closet its the "mess" that gets us. I am the kind of person who needs something to motivate me to get things done so I am creating some self motivation by posting messy "before" pictures of my apartment. After I clean, I will take some after photos. If you start to notice too many days passing before my "after" photos are posted, please call me on it. Try inviting yourself over so I have to clean (Ms. Mindless).

Gotta love sexual tension

Each actor gives his or her best come hither look.

Geeks all over are getting excited for the new X-Files movie and I am right on board with them. Will there ever be an onscreen sexual tension as great as that created between David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson? As a kid I watched the x-files, not because I was into the alien plots (although I kind of was), but because I was just waiting for Mulder and Scully to get it on already. Please, oh please, let that happen in their new movie. I WANT TO BELIEVE they will finally get together. Here is the ridiculously extravagant website.

Redesign

I am having a problem with the look of my blog. I am not a flashy person at all and I am having a hard time picking a look for my blog. Is the redesign too much?

What I will hopefully be doing this weekend

http://www.cakelove.com/pdf/bmoreChefWine.pdf

I'm Back!

I am back from Minnesota and no longer consider myself a teacher (at least for the next 6 weeks)! My summer goal is to act a little more my age, which according to my boy means less bitchy and lazy. What can I say, working myself to the bone for disrespectful little nine-year-old monsters made me a little bitchy and lazy at home. I am trying to avoid turning a "hard-24" in October. People who know me and watch Law and Order understand this joke. Through out my visit I came to some important conclusions. The brief low-down:

1) Toe nail art can never be classy, only cheesy. I got talked into it and asked for one simple white flower on my dark pink toe nails. I thought the contrast would look very summery. The result looked like a tropical rain forest on my toe, with glitter.

2) Puppy sitting a rowdy puppy with a broken leg for two days only confirms my feelings about not having children any time soon. The puppy is possibly one of the cutest I have ever seen (pictures to come), but the only way he would sit still is if I walked him around, holding him. After doing this for hours at a time, I was getting flashes of what it would be like to have a colicky baby.

The Colicky Puppy in his cast with his momma.

The Colicky Puppy's cute, cute face.

3) At a wonderful dinner at the restaurant Oceanaire, I realized it is VERY difficult to get the Minnesota out of some one's wardrobe, mine still included as some can attest. I do however, try. I wore a simple dress from Banana Republic and simple pair of gold heels and looked ridiculously over-dressed compared to my family who swore they were dressing up too. Turns out our ideas of dressing up are--ahem--different. My outfit is below


4) Fresh Midwestern corn on the cob is unbeatable! I have never had corn on the cob here that is even half as good. I think I could make a fortune driving Midwestern corn to the east coast and then .driving Maryland crab to the Midwest on the return trip.

Upon my return to D.C. I was in desperate need for a vacation from my vacation (a concept that was mocked when I told the boy). Alas, it would have to wait because the boy's family was in town. He has two brothers that are just a few years younger than my parents so I view these brothers as his fathers. The brother who was visiting has three kids, a lovely little diva who is going into the eighth grade but to her disdain still looks like a sixth grader. Let's just say she hasn't really developed all of the way yet. Her father should just count his blessings because when she does develop, he will have to fight the boys off of her with a stick! A 10 year old boy who just finished fourth grade--I was having flashbacks to my classroom watching the way he reacts to things. And last but not least, the little cutie boy who just finished second grade. I am going to have to post pictures of all of these lovely little ones once I get my digital camera up and running. I was the perfect devoted girlfriend the whole time as I walked my ass off in D.C. in near 100 degree weather seeing the things I have already seen. There are many stories to be told about their visit and I will post two of them as separate posts so they don't get lost in this giant post.

After catching up on Ms. Mindless's blog, celebrity gossip, the Food Network, Law and Order, and napping with my dog, I am finally starting to feel a little bit better and more relaxed. However, I am still not bored enough to clean. I have promised the boy that I would (Ms. Mindless and I really are the same person sometimes) and I have yet to really truly make good on that promise. I manage to survive the studio apartment and avoid his wrath by making him dinners every night and packing him a lunch every day. I have taken before pictures of the apartment and will post them with the after pictures once the apartment gets there.
Please note: I have to decided to adopt a habit from my favorite blogger and call my law school wonder boyfriend, the boy. This makes writing about him way easier.