A Few Observations about Teaching, From a Third Year Teacher

1.  I will always have a slight anxiety attack when the bell rings at the start of the day.   

2.  Any lesson can be made better by involving a really great picture book that applies to the concept being taught.  This is something I'm rediscovering after being a bit lazy with literature the past couple of years.

3.  Painting is always stressful.  Period.  It helps to threaten students that they will lose future painting privileges if they act like idiots during painting projects.

4.  With every group of kids, there will always be at least one naughty kid that you completely love AND at least one good kid that will completely irritate you.  The converse is also true.

5.  Fridays are consistently the worst day of the week when it comes to management and behavior issues.

6.  Parents are the hardest part of the job.  (Although, there are many wonderful parents that will do anything to make your job easier.)

7.  The best way to make sure all kids are working on what they are supposed to be working on is to put them into strategically created groups or partners.  Strategy is key here, otherwise you'll end up with kids trying to grab and hang off the American flag hanging in your room.

8.  Teachers are surprisingly funny and inappropriate.  But it takes a little bit of time in the faculty room to figure that out.

9.  Every so often, you'll meet a kid that will completely change the way you think about things.  I got my first job working with kids when I was 21 and am now 26.  So far, I've already met two such kids.

10.  Teaching gets much easier with experience.  But it's still really, really hard.

The Grand Unveiling

A few weeks ago, my creative and talented friend Lindsay gave me an idea for a new blogging project.  She knew I was struggling to find a focus for my blog and suggested I start a whole new blog looking something like this.  Feel free to take a gander at it.  Ideally, this is something that I'll update nearly every day.  I've been trying to keep the posts short so that it isn't too much of a time commitment, should you decide to stop by for a look.

Again, here is the link to my new page!

What I Really, Really Need Right Now

Current local temperature:  106 degrees
Saturday forecast:  112 degrees
Sunday forecast:  110 degrees

I could really go for a big thunderstorm, complete with a huge downpour, right about now.

"I Think I'm Already Getting Used to the Heat"

Well, after 11-ish hours in a hot car, most of it down a one-lane (or is it 2?  You know, when there is only one lane for each direction and your only hope for passing slow moving vehicles is the extremely fortunate combination of a dotted-line on your side of the road and no cars coming the opposite direction?) road, David and I arrived at our parents new home in Chandler.

Actually the drive through Utah was pretty beautiful.  I think this is somewhere around Panguitch or maybe Kanab. 

Arizona was less to look at. Although by the time we crossed into Arizona I was pretty grumpy from the heat, so I might have been a little overly critical of the scenery.

When we got to my parents' house I was very happy to see the pool.  Too bad there isn't any water in it yet.

I decided to let myself be optimistic and believe that I'll be swimming in it by next week.

My First Finished Project

It's a bit rough in some areas, but I'm really proud of it.  Can't wait to wear it when the weather cools down...

Arizona, Here I Come

Since I became a teacher, I have thought that it would be so fun to pick a place to go and visit for 2...3...maybe 4 weeks during summer vacation.  Last summer it didn't quite work out.  This summer, however, I am really, really excited to go down to Chandler, Arizona for a couple of weeks.  Sure, it might not be the best time of year to be somewhere that ridiculously hot.  But I have big plans and want to make the most of my time there.

A few things on my AZ agenda:

1.  Spend the beginning and ending of each day sitting by/in my parents' pool.
2.  Read something extremely trashy, campy, or mushy.
3.  Find the perfect summer/beach hat to shield myself from the sun.
4.  Road trip to the coast with the family for a couple of days.
5.  Explore some of the walking and hiking trails in the area.

That's all I've got so far, but I still have a few days to add a few more things to my to-do list.

Golden, CO

As hard as it can sometimes be to be away from home (the uncomfortable mattresses, meal-after-meal of junk food, etc.), I've really been enjoying vacationing this summer.  Being free from work for the summer is great, but I have a hard time functioning without a routine.  The exception to this is when I am off on a vacation somewhere.  I was raised to believe that when you are on vacation, it's okay to have no plans and to be free to do whatever you feel like doing.  Being out of town has made it much easier for me to live freely, which I appreciate.

This last weekend I found myself in Golden, Colorado.  My cousin got married on Saturday, so we all made the journey to the Denver-area to celebrate with her.  I have always loved Colorado, and Golden is a great little city.  In the hours before the ceremony, my parents and I explored downtown Golden, stopping at a farmer's market on the way.  We also found time during the weekend to go to downtown Denver.  We wandered up and down the 16th Street Mall and had dinner at a brewery across from Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies play ball. 

Hopefully it won't be too long before the next Colorado trip!