This is me procrastinating. Big Time.

There are nine weeks until summer vacation, and tomorrow I begin the 4th quarter - the final push! Spring break was sooo fantastic, very relaxing, but not remotely productive. It would have been nice to finish all of my grading, plan the rest of the year, and have all of my materials created for the last quarter. I really needed to work on some Big Goal things, create a public tracking system for my kids, and do some serious reflection on my teaching. But none of that happened. Instead, here is what I did:

New Orleans::

Houston::

More Houston::

I really do love Houston, and by Houston I mean all of my friends here. They keep me sane and laughing and thinking. I don't know what I would do without them.

When Your Family Breaks

Team and Family.

It's a KIPPism that I LOVE. And I love MY Team and Family. I know that I am lucky to work in a building filled with trust, honor, and humility. I come to work every day and know that my Team and Family is there for me and for the kids that we all teach.

Yes, I am lucky.

That is why it is so hard to understand why someone would tear this family apart. We work well together. Our family is cohesive and we've accomplished ALOT (Hello, 16th best high school in the NATION!) But that is exactly what happened when I returned to work on Monday. I expected our faculty meeting to focus on some sort of inspiring professional development. Maybe we'd talk about rigor, or scaffolding, or vocabulary in the classroom.  Instead, we were informed by our school leader (principal), that he would not be returning next year and it was not by his choosing. It turns out he had made some mistakes a few years ago with the budget, and that he was not going to return for the 2011-2012 school year.

This announcement brought an immediate outpouring of emotional thank-yous and stories of how Ken has changed our lives. There were few dry eyes during these couple of hours, and it was made VERY clear to the two people in the room who did not work at the high school that this outcome is not what we would have chosen. It's hard to imagine this team, which Ken has built, without him.

I'm a bit angry over all of this. It seems that the higher powers ignored the good (and there's LOTS of good) that has happened at KHHS over the past few years.  Sigh.

The ACE Effect

Once a month, all corps members are required to attend an All Corps Event, or ACE. They take place on a Saturday, and often last about five hours. To a first or second year teacher, the idea of giving up ANOTHER Saturday often seems unbearable and cruel, and we often plot ways to avoid the ACEs, but for the most part, we go. And you know what? I always leave feeling a mix of emotions.

I leave with a new sense of community. Sometimes I forget that I'm not in this alone, and that I am part of a BIG, national movement to do something momentous.

I leave with a sense of urgency. OK, so that is a BIG TFA-ism (one of the MANY). It's almost a cliche, but it's part of the push this year. What we are doing needs to feel urgent in our classroom, and they convey that feeling at the ACEs.

I leave feeling confident in knowing what I can do to improve. This is a big change over the ACEs last year. Every time I leave my sessions, I take away one concrete thing I can do in my classroom to help my students. Yesterday's concrete idea: scaffolded checks for understanding.

I leave feeling like a pretty crappy teacher. I know this isn't the point, but at the ACEs, I am always confronted with my own short-comings as a teacher.  The fact that I wasn't already doing scaffolded checks for understandings really shocks me. There is so much more I could be doing for my students.  I can't imagine being a second year teacher NOT in TFA, and not having the opportunities to to continually build my skills and reflect on my practices. I would stay a crappy teacher. KINDA SCARY.

I leave inspired. This didn't happen at yesterday's ACE, but normally there is some sort of uplifting story about how one current or previous corps member changed the life of a student, and those stories are so wonderful to hear. They give me hope and keep me going. The fact that this has been missing from the ACEs this year is really starting to wear on the corps members, and could explain the absence of MANY of them on Saturday.

And now I'm thinking that I need to get to planning and implementing all of the great changes I need to in my lesson plans. I do get to end on a VERY positive note, though.  I will be in Portland this weekend to watch Dominic test for his black belt. It's a very big, awesome occasion, and I couldn't be a prouder sister! I can't wait to see my family. :)

2:1 done.

Sundays are no longer a day of rest. They are days of laundry, groceries, cleaning, planning, grading, printing, sorting and getting ready for the next week. And since this is the first Sunday of my second year of teaching, it's a busy one. All week long, I neglected anything that wasn't directly associated with planning for my classes. My room looks like a natural disaster, I am running out of clothes, and the only food I have is some cereal, a couple of Jell-O chocolate mousse cups, and some white American cheese slices. Oh, and some eggs. Not exactly the things one makes yummy meals out of.

The first week back went WAY better than the first week last year. My lessons were solid, my instruction has improved, and my classroom looks pretty nice. It's crowded, since I'm sharing a room with another teacher, and I have 10 tables stuffed into my room. But I think I have a solid start to the year. Now I just need to plan the next week out, and memorize the names of my students. I'm having trouble doing that and I need to find a way to get over it.

Alright, I need to get working. First thing on my list is grading/sorting. Here I go...

A New Type of Countdown

It seems like it was just a week ago that I was counting down the days until summer break would arrive. Now the countdown has begun for school. There is a part of me that's excited, and a part of me that wishes summer would go on, and on, and on. I've enjoyed my time off, my adventures, and being in the sun. I've loved sleeping in and grilling and laying around being lazy.

But now I need to start thinking about next year. There is so much I want to do to get ready. Maybe I'll put some effort towards my syllabus today. Or Long Term Plan? I've about 4 hours until our barbecue tonight, so maybe it's time to go to half-priced books. MMMMMM. Books!

Year 1

Is in the books. I don't really know what to say. I can't even begin to write actual paragraphs, or sentences that describe this past year, these past 10 months, the long days, and the eternal minutes. So I have words. Thank God for words.

frightening

tiring

exciting

big

loooooooooong

(that's what she said)

rude

sweet

delicious

horrible

memorable

work

fun

leisure

stress

massages

sleep

lack of sleep

tired feet

bad outfits

big purchases

move

stay

sit down

quit talking

thank you.

Someday I'll sit down and try to piece it all together, but I've never been good about that. So now I'll just look forward. I leave on the 13th for Europe. I'll be spending a few days in London Town, then a couple more in Rome. I'm excited to eat, drink, and be merry. I'll be with my most wonderful roommate and constant companion, Jessica for the entire trip, and will be joined by Jeff while in London. THEN, I'll fly from Rome to Portland, which is going to be the longest flight ever. I'll spend about a week in the city of roses, Rip City, and Stumptown, then it's off to Maui with ALLISON!  Oh geeze. After a week of laying in the sun, snorkeling, surfing (??) and sipping Mai Tais, I head back to the 503, and hang out there until I decide when I'm coming back to Houston. I should get on that plane ticket, right?? I'm excited and nervous and have no idea how to pack for such a summer. I'll be living out of my carry on. And I'm reading all of the travel blogs and Rick Steve books that I can find. So be watching out for maybe a reflective post, and DEFINITELY pictures from my travels.

Break in Concentration

I'm in my third-to-last week of my first year. There are officially TWO Mondays left. And I can't keep showing movies, right? I need to keep teaching, and it's hard and I don't know what to do and all I want to do is start their research projects but we can't do that just yet. So here I am, stuck trying to figure out how to make learning about Australia and Antarctica and Oceania neat. I don't want to rely on the book, because that is boring as heck. But I don't want to put in the time to create awesome power points and find neat resources. What kind of resources could there be? And I've already shown an awesome video about Australia that was narrated by Russel Crowe. 

Man, I need to step up to the plate and stop bitching. I'm ALMOST DONE...

So here are some things I've been thinking about INSTEAD of work...

London

Rome

Good Coffee

Yummy food...

Home...

Oh you know, just the normal stuff...

Like a good Portland rain...

And a good rain jacket

Because, really, what could be better than a good rain jacket, with a good cup of coffee, while walking in the rain in Portland? I urge you to find something more soothing than that!

Oh, and it's sunny and beautiful in Houston, in case anyone was wondering.

:)