Better pictures of the new hairstyle.

Yesterday for school he wanted to wear it down. Today he wanted it up. I've told him this is a "pretend" Mohawk (because the sides aren't really shaved all the way). When I leave the front down, it really doesn't look that interesting. He told me this morning that he wants a "REAL" Mohawk when he gets to Heaven. I asked him why, he replies: "When I get to Heaven, first I'm gonna choose a house (?) and then I'm going to get my hair cut". It is sooo interesting to hear the things a nearly 4-year-old mind comes up with.

My Mom hates the hair-cut because "she'd old fashioned" (a saying that Declan is fascinated with) and my Dad is amused by it. I'm sure Nicole is a little freaked out by it, aren't you Nicole? :)

Fear not. We'll have fun for a few days and then I'll cut it into something more acceptable by society. He is going to visit his other Mom this weekend, should I cut it before or after the visit? He was very excited on the phone last night when he told her he had a Mohawk, she sounded stunned/appalled then he said "it's a PRETEND Mohawk", and she said something like "Ohhhh" and I'm sure her pulse stopped racing at that point.

Student teaching is going well, I'm almost headed into my mathematics teaching phase. My new MT said "we'll just be coving things like equations and percentages..you know simple things." Okay, my reality is that I don't ever have to use equations or percentages. I will have to read the textbook and refresh my memory before covering these topics. I worry that he'll think I'm an idiot who should NOT be teaching math..

It seems that the reality for most teachers is that you have to learn with the kids for the first year or two and then you really know the information because you're using it all the time. Unless you're a math or science major fresh out of school, you're not using that information on a regular basis. Also, I feel like I'm a fairly strong writer, but I don't think about adjectives and adverbs on a daily basis and I couldn't just break down the parts of speech or the parts of a sentence without a little review (O.K. maybe A LOT of review). I feel like I didn't retain a lot of that academic knowledge, but then again I did score in the top 15% of all test takers for the PRAXIS, so I must be in the normal range...I keep reminding myself of that :) ---"I am normal, I am normal, I am normal, I am normal" (no comments from those who know me IRL)

Declan needed a hair-cut and I decided I'd try giving him a Mohawk. Okay ==I guess it's not a serious Mohawk because I didn't completely shave the sides, but it was still pretty fun. In these photos I told him to give me his best "tough guy" face. Notice in the first photo that his left eye turns WAY in, he's been able to do that since he was a baby.

His latest thing is "Making Puzzles" with his eyes. He turns them in and sees double. I keep telling him NOT to do that...it can't be good for his eyes can it? I can't get him to stop.

Sunday Six...by Declan who is almost 4!
If you want to know what a sunday six is go check out Kelly's website.

1. What is a sleep over?
"When somebody is sleeping over at your house. That's a sleepover."

2. What do you take with you to a sleep over?
"Pillows and a mattress."

3. What is vacation?
"A vacation is when you go there, and it is far away."

4. What do you do on vacation?
"You go swimming."


5. What do you do after a sleep over?
"You play."

6. Do you like vacation?
"Yeah!"

Hello everyone,

Well, I had a much better day on Thursday...well, I had a 'normal' day, which was FANTASTIC compared to Wednesday. Overall I am realizing that I am on overload (which is probably why I had my "episode") . SOOOOO much to do. And today, I'm stuck in a silly, silly, silly seminar ALL day finishing up things regarding my masters. This is such a waste of my time...Gurrr

As for yesterday, I saw a teacher at my school wearing very LOW cut jeans with a tight T-shirt showing about 2" of her tummy. What the heck?! I didn't think the kids were allowed to dress like that. Infact I thought, she looks like a student. I don't get it, it's hard enough to get respect from these kids.

Had a few hours of this icky depression tonight. It was this emotional feeling of - I just want to cry, mixed with feeling nervous and then VERY, VERY tired. Which of course led to anxiety and fear: "is all this stress going to put me into a "real" depression?" "What is wrong with me?" "Why does this have to happen to me?" "Is this some weird reaction to something I ate?" "Am I getting sick?" " I should have NEVER watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose 2 days ago (thanks Steve) "Did I just accidently take a double dose of my Zoloft?" "Do I have some weird illness that manifests itself in this way at times?" "Why can't I cry, if I could just cry things would be better!" "Does everyone have feelings like this occasionally, or am I just the lucky one?!"

I need a day off from my life!

Taken on my trip to BEAUTIFUL Eastern Washington. The sky is sooo amazing; it is always so brite and sunny, but also filled with these fluffy white clouds. The state of Washington is really unique. One side of the state is lush and forested, even including a rain forest, with mild temperatures. You take a short 3 hour drive and its sunny and HOT and you will find yourself in a beautiful dessert.

Being raised on the heavily forested rainy side, I really love and appreciate the seasons, terrain, and sunny, sunny days year-round on the ES (east side).

Another BIG difference? You can't touch a house on the west side for less than 150K. On the East side? You still have a nice selection of cute starter homes for 70K.

I had a good visit. Two of my closest friends live on the ES and it was very good to see them. Before the "Big Split" we all lived on the WS (west side) and had tons of play-dates and family get togethers several times a week. Within one year we all scattered, even as far as Pittsburgh. It's so interesting that within the next few months we may all be living very close-by again on the ES.

While on the ES I had a chance to meet with principals at two of the middle schools. I really liked one school initially more than the other, but ultimately I can't be choosy when I get that first job offer. Also, you can't really judge where you'll fit in best until you're in the thick of it. During my visit, I had mixed emotions of excitement and anxiety. In many ways I am SOOO ready to move on, but I'm nervous about the transition and putting down roots in a new community. I'm also feeling pretty sad about moving into this new phase of life, and what it will mean to me to be a working single Mom. I've been so blessed to be home with Declan most of these first 4 years...I keep thinking should I stay where I'm at and only work part-time during his last year before Kindergarten. I talked to a friend this morning and realized that I think I'm just sad about leaving this part of Declan's childhood behind; it probably is time to move forward.

I talked with Declan this morning and he really seems ready to move. Infact he is very excited. The only hesitation he has is not living right next to his Grandparents. He is really baffled by the concept that we can't just always live so close (O.K. maybe we could...but how healthy would that be? Believe me there is a part of me that never wants to leave- what do you think of that Mom;) .

So, I'm working like crazy to put together my application packets for the different school districts. I'm also trying to get my placement file in order. It just seems like there are always extra hoops to jump through in relation to teaching, the application process is no different.

I'm adding a few photos. The two girls are daughters of my wonderful friends. Poor Declan is going to have sooo many crushes once he hits puberty, and realizes that these girls he has played with all these years are just SO CUTE. The beautiful girl with the big smile is Ella, she is very precocious, smart, and fearless. The sweet sleeping girl is Maddie- you've seen her before. Should we start a fund so that her parents can buy her an appropriate place to sleep? The handsome fellow is Paxton, Declan's buddy since 3 weeks old. He is a Gentle Giant (5 inches taller than Dec), different than Declan in every way. If we live close-by I'm sure they be best buds as they compliment each other sooo well (if Paxton can put up with Declans crazy wall-climbing, jumping, screaming energy...of course, later he'll have to deal with Declan having a crush on his little sis - Ella)






Okay, that is a quick rambling synopsis of the last 5 days. Student teaching is going well, the Principal came in to to observe me yesterday and I think it went pretty well. GWA's are still a bit of a problem and I won't even bother to go into that. I called one boy's Mom yesterday just to tell her how much I have enjoyed having her son in my class. I've decided I want to call a parent a day and tell them how much I enjoy their kids. There are several kids that have just been a delight to have.

M

Well, I'm long over due for a blog entry.

Went to visit some schools in Eastern Washington. It is so beautiful and sunny there. It was very exciting and scary..facing all the changes that are coming our way. I do want to say I have the most amazing friends who just welcome me into their lives (shout out to Coley 'n Steve 'n Christy and her whole family). I can't imagine life without friends!!

Since I'm too lazy to really go into my life right now, I'm going to let my son take over on the blogging for tonight:

"I am good. I have some friends (like mother, like son). Okay, I'm playing with play-doh stuff. Umm I'm playing with Play-doh stuff. I been coloring. I'm thirsty. I want to say...I'm doing things. It's night-time. Why are there special friends on the computer? Maybe after I play with the play-doh I can do a puzzle. Umm some of these play-dohs are mixed up. (I even asked him if he wanted me to blog that. he said "Yes")."

Good Night!

Shopping with a Pre-schooler....

is how you end up with TWO right shoes of DIFFERENT sizes.

So I know all you mothers out there know how this happened :)
I'm meeting several Principals tomorrow and I decided I'd like to go shopping for a new shirt to wear. I was going to leave my son (who is almost 4) with my mother, but I decided I'd really like to spend the time with him because I won't see him for four days. I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad since I was only looking for one shirt.

My son had been very high energy ALL day and VERY loud, so we'd had a pretty intense day. I knew I needed to make this trip short. On the way to the mall he has one banana and one roll of fruit leather. We get to the mall and all I hear is "I'm hungry", "I'm Hungry" I tell him we'll eat after we shop (how hungry can he be with a banana and fruit roll in his stomach?) We walk in the store and I notice all these clearance signs. I need shoes, so I go straight to the shoe department...Mervyns has all these shoes for 11 - 12 dollars!!! Declan is following chanting "I'm hungry, I'm hungry" I'm trying to be quick and I try on the right shoe of several styles and sizes. Now he is shouting "I need to eat NOW!" -- very cute for all the other shoppers. I quickly round up my shoes and leave them with a clerk to purchase in a few minutes. We rush to Auntie Ann's to find a snack for my boy.

So we go back, I try on a few shirts - nothing. I'm exhausted by this point and I get my shoes, purchase them and go home. Well, the guy checking me out is new, he said it was his 4th day, and didn't check to make sure I had two of the same size both LEFT and RIGHT. (which I always thought was a little weird, now I get it!) Ahhhh, I remember the days of trying on BOTH shoes and walking around the store for a few minutes to be sure you had a nice comfy pair of shoes.

I guess I'll just laugh and try to relax and enjoy the craziness that is now my life, all too soon I'll have plenty of time for shoe shopping. I look at my baby now and think "he's almost FOUR? FOUR? How did that happen!"

Quick update, then I'm off to play with my son.

My MT was great today about the whole parent issue. She called and talked to Ms. X. She was very supportive and encouraging, she told Ms. X that she would have handled the situation just like I did. I guess Ms. X told my MT that she KNOWS what it is to be a teacher because she IS a teacher. My eyebrows went up in surprise. Apparently she worked with "home-schooled" kids (maybe even her own). Well, that's just a little different than a class of 30 - 35 kids! Anyhow, her daughter was GREAT in class today, so I don't know what happened, but I only have GWA for 3 more weeks and then I'm off to another class.

Apparently, the other team of 8th graders are having problems with some boys and tomorrow they will be sending two of them our way. I guess they have been dragging other kids into the corners at lunch time and they hit, push, and terrorize them. Can't wait to meet these kids.

I really think that if I move to a smaller community...I mean considerably smaller, that I won't see as many kids that are just out of control. Maybe I'm just kidding myself?? Either way, teaching 8th grade is NOT high on my list. It's probably still ahead of Kindergarten or 1st grade, but that's about it. 6th and 7th graders are looking very appealing.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Sunday Six
This game comes to you courtesy of Kelly.
These answers are by Declan at 3 years old!

1. What is a shamrock?-
"I don't know. I don't know"

2. Why do we wear green on St. Patrick's Day?-
"I don't know"

3. Are you Irish?-
"Ah... Yes"

4. What happens if you don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day?-
"You get in trouble"

5. What does "Erin Go Bragh" mean?-
"It mean something's wrong"

6. What is a Lucky Charm?-
"I think it is when you do something that is right, and you do it."

Well another day in the life of a student teacher...gurr. My biggest issue is my pack of girls w/attitude (GWA). I had another "incident" first thing Friday with 2 of the GWA pack. I was taking attendance and noticed two boys were not in their assigned seats. I politely said "johnny and james, i need you to switch seats" it was really no big deal to me. Then the 2 GWA started with "They shouldn't have to move, why are you..."

I reply, with great restraint, and NO attitude "this doesn't concern you guys."

They both continue "Well, you can't just move..."

Now I calmly say "I need you both to step into the hall and we'll talk about this in a minute." They give me lots of attitude and march out of class.

WHY do they even care, they are NOT friends with these boys, they don't sit near these boys. I guess they just want to run my class. Of course my MT has had to step over to cover another class. Interesting that both times they had these out-bursts they wait until my MT is out of the room.

So, I peek out and send them to my MT's room, where she promptly tells them their behavior is NOT o.k. I talk with them later that day and make my expectations very clear because obvious they are NOT clear on what I expect (you can read about that conversation in the letter below) . I also decide to call their parents, because I want to put an end to their overblown attitude and outburts in the classroom.

One of the Mom's was not happy when I called. She knew nothing of the incident, humm if I'm such a bad ass and out of line, wouldn't dear little janey come running home and tell mommy right away? I guess she thinks it's managing my class with an "iron fist" if I don't want her dear sweetheart to argue with me in front of the class about the SEATING ASSIGNMENTS OF OTHER STUDENTS (the boys said nothing about it by the way). GWA's Mom told me that obviously the students don't "respect me" if I'm having all these problems. To which I reply I'm only having these kind of issues with FOUR girls. I have had no respect issues like this with the other 136 students! Sure they may talk a lot and harass each other and make little jokes, but none of them feel the need to be disrespectful in class.


So I sent a email off to my MT, because now we have to have a team meeting with this mother. Who complained the last time that we spoke that her precious little girl has fallen in with a bad crowd and her grades are slipping and they're "worried" about her. So, I guess they don't think that part of this transformation might include a crappy attitude toward teachers?


Teaching Team,

I just spoke with Janie's Mom. She wants Ms. X to contact her Monday a.m. to schedule a meeting with the team. She doesn't understand why I am the only person having any issues with Janie. She thinks that I am managing my class with "an iron fist" and the kids don't like it and don't respond well to me . She also says that from our conversation today that she "wouldn't respond well to my tone either" I think this was in relations to my re-telling my conversation with Janie, which went something like this:

"Janie, I just want to be clear with my expectations of your behavior in my class. You are welcome to ask me anything, or comment on anything relating to science. What I do need is for you to raise your hand before talking in the class. I am also open to discussing concerns you might have regarding YOU and your situation. I'd be happy to schedule a time to talk with you. But I am not willing to talk with you about decisions I make regarding OTHER students. Also I need you to raise your hand and not just speak out in class"

I don't think she liked the "tone" I used when recounting this story. The last time when I talked with this parent, she immediately said something to the effect of wanting to meet with me and "the Principal", but after I talked with her and told her my version of events, she seemed supportive. She also admitted that Janie has started hanging out with a new crowd and her grades have gone down and they are concerned about her (I hope I'm getting the parent right here).

Today when I called, she didn't seem happy and I was nervous so it wasn't a great start. She also didn't know anything of the incident. I had told Janie on Friday I would be calling her Mom this weekend. Janie was obviously nervous about that because she approached me a couple of minutes later and asked what I would tell her Mom when I called. Yet, Janie didn't tell her mother about it. I would think that would be a red flag to Ms. Y (Janies Mom) , if her daughter didn't even mention it...

O.K. over all this is very stressful and I'm sorry I'm having to drag the team into it. I didn't comment on the feelings of the team, but it seems like I'm not the only teacher to have any issues with Janie?? She wanted to meet with Mr. Principal, and I recommended that she first meet with the teaching team as you have obviously had a lot of experience with Janie...If you guys need any more information, please let me know

Your Student Teacher :)

Quick post tonight.

My son loves to talk. I've come up with a way of getting him to STOP talking and go to sleep at night; he is allowed to ask ONE last question. Last night he said "This is going to be a big one Mom"

"O.K. " I reply.

He thinks for a moment and then asks "Why does the world spin around and around?"

I'm immediately confused. I've just been teaching a Sun, Earth and Moon unit for the last two weeks, and I'm talking daily about the earths "rotation on it's axis". I wonder, have I talked with him about this? Weird, I don't remember that. So I ask "Well, Declan, how do you know that the Earth spins?"

"They said it does on Big Big World."

I realize that while we've discussed the earths rotation at great length, we haven't discussed WHY it rotates. Humm. I fess up "Oh.... Well.... I don't know. I'll figure that out and tell you tomorrow."

He seems completely O.K. with the fact he'll have to wait for an answer but says "Maybe it's because of energy." (We talk a lot about how food and sleep give his body energy)

"Maybe" I reply. Where does this kid come up with this stuff?!

So I kiss him good night and cuddle up, waiting for him to fall asleep. A few minutes go by and he whispers "Why do people cut down trees?"

I remind him, "Honey, you've already asked your 'last question'."

Drifting off to sleep he mumurs, "That's a hard one too, huh?" That's my Declan, falling asleep thinking about the solar system and trees....

Student teaching is good. Things are just crazy. To much to do and to little time. Saturday is the last day of classes!!!!

Grading papers is a lot of work!

We just finished a unit, so there has been a ton of grading. I graded a unit assessment, which took two full days of class time (luckily the time was available as my MT administered another test) Then I spent the weekend grading an exit exam. The kids must pass exit exams to move on to high school (unless Mommy and Daddy throw a fit...then they move on even if they are really not ready to) . The next two days will be spent doing the lab portion of their exit exam. It is interesting to see how you become better at grading as you go along. Sometimes I don't understand what the kids are saying. I then have an "ah ha" moment and have to go back and look for tests to re-grade. I found that I also assumed some things, if the test says to label a diagram, I ASSUME they should label it in the proper order. After grading 30 tests it occurs to me "Did the test question SAY to label it in the proper order?" So once again I try to go back and give points if applicable. I suppose some of those will be non issues as I create my own grading rubrics and I just get better at being more literal.

I've been sick again, so I only graded papers and worked on my resume over the weekend. I've seen a few job posting put up in the last few days and I realized that I don't have my resume or cover letter ready to go.

This last quarter of school is crazy: full-time student teaching, conducting my action research (and the lit review that goes along with it), putting together my Master's Project and my portfolio, JOB HUNTING, and last but most importantly being a Mom to my wonderful son (last night my Mom pointed out that I just haven't had much time for him lately -really? - and she's concerned in her motherly way). Oh yeah somewhere in there I need to eeek out a little "me" time or I'll go crazy!!!

I'm off to face my 1st period class with 4 delightful young ladies who, as they put it "love to try to piss me off". It's almost always down hill after 1st period. Oh yeah one day this week I get to take a field trip with 140 13-year-olds, you're all jealous aren't you :)

"Mama, my penis is hungry!"


Last night my son made this proclamation loudly from the bathroom as he was relieving himself. Before this incident, I would have said that my son is just a little ahead of his 3.75 years with regards his understanding of advanced concepts. After that statement I was thinking "Maybe not so much."

"Mama, you need to give me some food!"

"Honey your penis doesn't get hungry, only your stomach get's hungry"

"I still need some food"

The things kids say and do :)

Declan had his friend Solomon over on Saturday night for a sleep over, fun was had by all and the house was demolished! For some reason when they were playing "Power Rangers" (Declan has never watched Power Rangers, I think Solomon explained it to him) They took every toy Declan had and piled it on his bed...I think the toys were Bad Guys or something?? When these boys get together they are allll about defeating the Bad Guys!

A couple of new scrap pages. They were actually designed to be viewed side by side..I feel like it changes the feeling seeing them stacked. Oh well.

So, those of you who are reading my blog are no doubt wondering how the detention and essay turned out. Well, the girls were PISSED, so they ended up coming at me in a pack and as a result, I sent 3 down to do in-school suspention for the rest of the class period. Overall, there have been some good things to come out of it, and it has certainly been a learning experience for me. I definitely want to avoid power struggles with 14 year olds ...and that has been advised over and over (and this has taken up WAY too much of my time). I'm trying to memorize a few key prases and use them frequently "I need you to step out into the hall and I'll be right with you" "That really doesn't work for me" "I'd be happy to discuss that with you, just not during class time. See me at the end of class and we can make appointment to meet before school, after school or during lunch."

And lastly, a new skill I've aquired is to just ignore students when appropriate, which goes completely against my nature.

For your amusement below you'll find one of the essays turned into me yesterday:



Student X
2-28-06
Lunch Detention Essay

Working independently without talking will increase my learning because I won’t get distracted. It will also increase my learning because if I am not talking to someone when I am not supposed to be then I won’t get into trouble with the teacher. My peers will benefit when I work quietly because then they won’t get distracted by me and I won’t decrease their learning.

I don’t intend on decreasing the learning and listening of others. Students do need to be able to talk sometimes. Having student teachers, they don’t really help because they are learning on how to become a teacher so it shouldn’t be their job to discipline because they don’t have a good reason doing so. I don’t think it was right having to owe a teacher 15 minutes of OUR time to her because we have to be with teachers all day and we should have a break from those kinds of mean teachers. I don’t think it was right for her to do that also because, well she’s learning, but if you want to become a teacher you do have to start off getting the students to like you. Not starting to get the students to hate you.

I do very much want to be known as a good student, but having hard work and then not being able to work with other classmates on it won’t benefit us as much as teachers think it will. In the end, things probably will bet better after all the lunch detentions assigned. It could also get much worse. Who knows?