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.

New Year Resolutions

There's this new bar that I love, called Community. I went there with some friends on January 1, 2011, and they had a stack of post its, a couple of markers, and a large wall to post your new year resolutions on. So I did. A couple. So did my friend, Caroline, and some strangers. Below is a selection... 

I love this bar for three reasons.

1. The people - the bartender Mark is awesome and was drunk the last time he served me alcohol. The manager is Bob and he is an AMAZING cook who just has this personality that makes total sense for someone who runs this kind of establishment. He's a flirt. Ladies love him. I love him.

2. The food - OH MY GOD. So it was January 1st and the bar was pretty empty and I asked if Bob was running a full kitchen. He came over and said he had only prepared one thing since it was the day after new years eve and he was hungover and it was for his lady, but he would get me a plate if I wanted. It was amazing. And then the next time I went to Community, I had the best steak of my life.

3. The drinks - The Moscow Mule. First time I had this, Mark was drunk when he made it and I almost stopped him because he poured so much vodka into it. But then I tasted it... DELICIOUS! Vodka, ginger beer and fresh lime juice. Perfect.

We're getting to the end of January, and I'll be in DC soon for the Teach For America 20th Anniversary Summit. Can't wait.

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.

Looking Back

I learned a lot in 2010, but I think the most important thing I learned was that I have a good, knowing, gut feeling. And I learned to trust it. I learned to trust it when it felt good, and when it felt bad. I'm never going to ignore this feeling and I'm thankful to all of the things that happened this year that helped me learn this lesson.

So here's to 2011 - I can not wait to see what happens.

Cheers!

Christmas in the Northwest

Dominic wraps his first gift...

 And I have a large family...

 That continues to grow...

 My brother loves Angus

 I love Angus...

 Dominic is a star

 And the tree is BRIGHT

 And my cousins rock

 And these two are CUTE

 My grandma > your grandma

 Pops got a new hat, and the men all look great

 Dominic got the new scrabble game

 It's hard

 There's a time limit

 I love my brothers

 Even when they make their "CHICKY" face

 And I love my cousins... all of them

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

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. :)

4 minutes

I once heard that a child has, on average, only 4 minutes of genuine interaction with an adult on any given day.  It was shocking then, and it is still shocking now, but I see how it is true. Even at school, it's amazing how hard it is to find a few minutes to sit down with just one student and talk. This doesn't include calling on a student, but having a real conversation.

After a test today in 3rd period, we had about 15 minutes left of class, so I let the kids just hang out. One of the students, E.Y. is on a plan with me where he has to show me his agenda each day at the end of school, get it signed by his mom, and then show me in the morning. I saw that he didn't get it signed last night, so I asked him if he was staying with his dad this weekend. I know his parents are divorced, and heard from his middle school teachers that weekends with his dad are much less structured and his dad often doesn't keep up on his work. He said that yes, he was with his dad this weekend. I told him that my parents are divorced and that I know it's hard to switch homes on the weekend and keep up on your work, but that he needs to be sure he gets mom or dad to sign his agenda. I think that hearing that I had once been through a similar situation gave him a feeling of safety and allowed him to open up to me. He said that he misses how he and his dad used to get pizza on the weekends but now that his dad has a new girlfriend, they don't do that. And he said that he think he needs to probably grow up and understand that he can't have pizza each weekend but that he still doesn't really like this new girlfriend.

He was so sweet as he was opening up. Sometimes I forget that they are just children and they really need to just talk. Talk about friends, talk about family, and talk about life. It's something I need to make more time for - conversations.

On another note - TFA got a second shout-out in the Office this week. "Teach for America girls are way hotter. But they're nuts." Damn straight.