Happy Thanksgiving!

I must say I am truly thankful for all the blessings in my life. I have my beautiful children, my loving husband, and rewarding career. God intercedes on my behalf at every turn.

So here I am ushering in another holiday season... and I can't believe how fortunate I am in my life. I continue to pray and thank God for my blessings. I'm speechless!

My kiddos are doing good in school and are happy- they need to be better at cleaning their rooms but overall are good natured well mannered children.

My hubbie continues to seek a job that is more satisfying and that day will come.

Me: I work hard and enjoy my career- my students are reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth" both awesome stories worthy of study and entertaining enough to keep even my most difficult to entertain students engaged.

Soon- we will have a Shakespeare Monologue Competition!!

Being a Teacher

Well here I am in the second year of teaching and I love it. My first year was fairly frustrating and discouraging. I had some high points and managed to stay optimistic enough to look forward to my next year. Now here I am in year two and in some ways I feel like I am just learning how to teach. What am I doing right that I wasn't doing last year? I didn't feel confident enough to require many exams last year. This year I develop an exam at the end of every unit. I am still working on how to present information and then how to reinforce and practice concepts. So my biggest struggle is designing activities and assignments that reteach or practice concepts. I am much stronger at delivering my lessons; I place emphasis on a daily objective so students are aware of what the point of the day is. I am carrying out units that extend over a semester in between required units- that makes me more productive. The students complain because they don’t like to multitask. Heck- most of them have never worked as hard as I am asking them to do. A typical day involves writing around 3 pages of notes, brainstorming, projects, or assignments. When we read I ask students to paraphrase everything and keep a record. Finally, I give minimal directions so that students are forced to use their imaginations and tap personal opinions and thoughts. The last thing I want is to read 150 papers/projects that are all copies of each other. I offer my students alternatives to the required assignment at nearly every turn. What I still need to work on is giving detailed directions to my classes that are most talkative. If they have one second of down time they loose focus and act helpless. When they have directions and steps that are clearly outlined they are productive and better focused. I have several classes that can handle and are comfortable with my preferred method of teaching and two groups that need tight concise directions. I will be starting new units by the end of next week- wow! Each group has survived two units so far and is on the way to a third. I really enjoy what I am teaching- American and British literature. I hated teaching via genre study it just didn’t make sense to me and I had trouble making meaning of it. Teaching with history as a framework along side the literature is right up my alley.

I am looking forward to work nearly every day and am constantly challenging myself to be creative and effective as a teacher. I am measuring how well my students are learning and am still developing as a professional. I have noticed that my colleagues are taking notice of my dedication and have started asking for my help and acknowledging me as an equal. I was evaluated by one of the administrators last week and was given compliments and praise both in my planning and execution of my lesson. I varied what activities we would have and made sure that the lesson was not only teacher led but student driven as well. It isn’t easy to make literature that is so far removed from my students relevant to them. I’m talking colonial Puritan literature, which preaches fire and brimstone and everlasting damnation. So I’ll have students look to modern newspapers to find echoes of puritan values and philosophies still present today. I’m still developing the activity so we’ll see how it goes over. But here I am- I love my job and every day I finally feel like I have the ability to improve and carry out my own visions.

After a year plus of pushing forward and not having a ton of confidence I am so grateful and happy to be where I am now. I'm not trying to toot my own horn just express my great relief and gratitude.

Tooth Fairy

I wish the tooth fairy would stop visiting our home. Yikes the teeth that have been lost!! It seems like the kids loose a tooth every month. (In truth more like every other month.) The kids are getting 'coin rich' from all those gaps in their smiling faces.
Anthony lost a tooth today. His tooth was hurting as he tried to eat dinner. So he asked me to pull it. A slow pull up and a bit of blood and he is ready for bed. (Never mind that it is 3 hours early.)

Laurie's Movie Interest

	My Flixster

Summer Time

I know it has been a long time. But I have holed up in my house long enough. What am I up to? Not much... I go for a walk with our dog everyday at 7pm. I attend local inservices on technology I can use in the classroom. I really wish UofA had required a course on technology in education. but I'm learning a lot and am going to have much more time in the computer lab next year. I've been reading and watching films. I worked on some scrapbook pages and I've been researching Master degree programs. So please use the 'comment' feature and tell me what you are doing this summer.

Sascha Leon

Another pet... Yes, we love animals and have a lot of love to offer. We did our research and found a trainer who rescues German Sheperd dogs from animal shelters on d-day. She trains them, provides vet and basic health records, and then adopts them out after meeting with you. She even trains you and your family with what the dog has learned.

We love our new dog, Sascha Leon, and she is perfect for us. She is a calm dog and is responding to training very well. The kids adore her and she is keeping me plenty of company. We looked at another dog but it became apparent that he was to attention needy and I'd never be able to get any work done with him around. As I'm typing, Sascha is laying down on the floor quite content.

Of course she wasn't like that last night- she was so excited with the new house and anxious about her new family that she kept pacing and exploring. Josh stayed up with her until 2:30 when he finally put her in the garage. See- he had given her a bone and she was eagerly chewing it down into splinters, sounding like a grinder and keeping him awake. It took her most of the morning but she is calmed down and looks happy now and her ears are perky.

I'll post a picture as soon as possible.

Love to all!

Cameron

Cameron- yup that is the name of our newest family member- a snake.

Anthony wanted a pet for his birthday present. He suggested a hamster and when I told him hamsters poop everywhere he offered up guinea pig. Same problem of course and as I heard my boy's eager voice all I could think about was allergies and the mess these critters leave. So I racked my brain and thought of a creature that would not be messy or bother anybodys allergies. Yes, yes me, I suggested a snake. I can promise you up until this time I can recall touching only three snakes in my life. I am not a snake fan.

So yesterday- after Josh and me discussed it, we went all in. Cameron is a Ball Python, and while we are calling him a boy we really don't know what sex the snake is. He is in a terriarium in my son's room and is enjoying his home very well. For that mattter I even held the snake for a long time and have handled him several times so Anthony or Shanee can hold him.

I thought I wanted a little gardner snake or corn snake but I learned they move very quickly. Just what I need, my little boy can't hold onto a mover. But the Ball Python is a docile slower moving snake.

At the store we discovered Cameron and as the other snake was not a nice snake we decided it better to buy the right tempermant pet now rather then try to purchase a good snake at the last minute.

So now our home is full of critters- four fish, three baby turtles, and a snake. Oh and the Easter Bunny brought two coupons for ducklings. They will stay in a box or the bathtub until we can release them outside. I'll let you know about them when the store gets a new shipment of baby ducks.

Love you all!