Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Ups and Downs of Being a Teacher

Haven't written much lately about the wonderful topic of teaching, so for those of you who love to peek into the classrooms and see what really goes on, here's a tidbit of what my past week has been like. I'll cut out the minutiae and really delve into the juicy bits:

Ups:

*Having my students hug me and tell me how much they love me...and I know they mean it. They have so little positive adult interaction in their lives, it makes me feel like what I'm doing here is so worthwhile.

*Seeing my kids raise their reading, writing and math scores. EVERY single one of my kiddos this year has made huge gains already: even the special-ed ones. Not every single one is on grade level of course (take that, No-Child-Left-a-Dime!), but they are all learning and I can prove it. They'll leave my classroom much smarter and more prepared than when they entered it and that's all any teacher can really hope for.

Having an old student write me a letter telling me how much I influenced her to get her life moving in the right direction, that I'm her favorite teacher and she promises to always do her best and not get pregnant in high school and she'll go to college. (not kidding: that was her goal and it's a good one considering her mom had 3 kids by the time she was 18).

*Another teacher brought me flowers today as a "Thank You" for the extra help I gave her. I work in a great building: we all collaborate together and I did it because that's what I do, but getting the extra thanks was really nice.

*Feeling like I'm really doing something with my life that may not matter now, or in 5 years, but I'm providing a stable, positive example for every kid that passes through my door. I'm the "port in the storm", so to speak and I love it.

After all that "feel goodness", hope you're ready for this...

Downs:

*One student was called out of class this week and had to go to the office. They never tell you why. She came back about 30 minutes later looking very upset. As I have 26 kids, I didn't have the time right that second to go find out what was wrong, and I forgot about it till after lunch. Her mom called and asked to speak with her: right in the middle of math. I said sure, but I was thinking that was really strange. I had to get back to the other 25 kids and started teaching math again while she was talking to her mom and about 10 minutes later I looked up and she was still talking and crying! I ran over to the phone and snatched it away from her (I don't give a f%%k WHO you are: no one calls up one of my little ones and makes them cry in the middle of the school day!) and told Mom that now was NOT the time to have whatever conversation they were having and hung up on her. My little one was still crying so I got the other kids working and took her to my desk and the poor little thing just broke down all over my shoulder. Crying her little eyes out as I held her. She finally told me that Mom was in jail: she was living with Grandma with her 5 sisters and Mom had driven drunk and gotten caught and left the youngest one all alone. Social services came to talk to her (that was why she had left class that morning) and Mom was calling from jail very upset because she wanted to know what my little one had told the cops.

Can you believe that???? Calling up a 7 year old in the middle of a school day to grill her about what they told the cops (and she must have been terrified to rat out her mom...) from jail???? Unbelievable. I wanted to take her home with me, but I watched her trudge slowly away when the bell rang.

*Almost got beat up by a 12 year old. She (yes, a girl...how cool does that make me???) is the older sister of one of my kiddos and she didn't like that I kept her brother in for 5 minutes after the bell rang to talk to him. Oh, she would have totally beat me up: I don't know how to fight! Luckily, another teacher came by and she dropped it and left.

*Another middle-school boy (brother of the same kid) got in my face this morning before school. He was playing on the 1st grade playground and I told him to leave and go to class. He squared his shoulders at me (for a split second I wished I remembered some of my kick-boxing moves) and glared and left. Fun.

*Spent 1 hour dealing with a punk 5th grader who ruined one of the brand-new soccer balls that the soldiers gave my class for Xmas. I knew it was him but he kept yelling at me that it wasn't him and it was huge drama. I finally got him to break down and cry and now he owes every recess in detention writing my class 26 apology letters.

So there you go. For those of you who wonder what it's REALLY like to teach in Commerce City, that's a quick glimpse of the last 4 days. That doesn't count the report cards that are due, the testing we need to give and collect, the data we need to enter, the phone calls that need to be made, the CSAP test that we're in the midst of giving and oh yes! the teaching.

How many weeks till summer vacation?

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Disneyland 2009!

So you all know from my previous posts that we were planning a trip with my mom for her 60th bday to Disneyland.

We're back and we've lived to tell about it!!

We had a great time: however, Maelin was very sick the entire time we were there. After we got home, we went straight from the airport to the doctor and she had a double ear infection, pink eye and a cold. Of course. It seems like the child is always healthy and never sick except when we've got something fun planned. (remember Halloween? She had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Christmas??? She had the stomach flu)

Anyway, she's just now starting to feel better and act like her old self. She was such a trooper though. I was so proud of her! Disneyland is always fun and magical and especially when you've got a little one with you. She LOVED the Small World ride ("dolls?") and Dumbo ("fly?") and the Carousel ("horsies?") and she now is in love with Mickey and Minnie. She LOVES them. It's the cutest thing in the whole world.

All in all, I'm really glad we went because I know my mom had a great time and that was the main reason we were going in the first place. I forgot how hard it is to take a little one to Disneyland and allow for naps (especially when she's sick and wakes up screaming every night from 2am-5am) but I wouldn't change it. We had so much fun with Uncle Jeff, Auntie Kat, Aunt Heather and Nana and those are memories that will last long after Maelin's sicknesses have faded away.

Here are some of the pictures from our trip. As you'll see, it rained pretty hard the first day we were there (hence the lovely outfits!) and then the weather was great. You won't see much of Miss Maelin's trademark grin because she was feeling so yucky, but every once in a while it popped out.

I think the memory I'll always have of our first trip to The Happiest Place on Earth was how the magic is real and even affects tiny kids who are hurting and sick. Mickey and Minnie took good care of us and I can't wait to go back!















Thursday, February 19, 2009

Colorado Proud!

You know you’re from Colorado when…~~

You’ve got a perpetual crack in your windshield

It reaches 75 degrees outside and you just can't wait for it to be September when the snow starts because it’s just too hot out!

When it's 40 degrees outside, you can tell which people are from out of state on campus because they have their jackets on. Coloradoans are dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and maybe some close toed shoes.

The homeless guys outside of Cherry Creek Mall begging for money are listening to iPods.

You were really upset when Six Flags bought Elitches and renamed it "Six Flags over Elitch Gardens", because it will always be Elitches.

The BEST concert venue in the entire world is Red Rocks and you don't break a sweat hiking up to the main entrance.

You never notice the sunset anywhere else. Without the mountains, it’s really just not that nice.

You understand what "Exit Kipling, exit Ward..." means and can finish the sentence.

You know Crocs originated here, and are a little embarrassed

You laugh at parts of South Park no one else gets!

When people call Denver the 'Mile High' City, you remind them that it's actually more than a mile high.

You've always had white Halloweens but only two white Christmases.

When you talk to people from other states who say they have mountains in their state too, and you just laugh.

Everyone thinks you live in the mountains, regardless of where you actually do live.

When you know even though it's summer, it's not a good idea to go out without a jacket… just in case.

It snows 6 inches and you know school won't be cancelled. (HATE this one!!)

You have no true accent.

You wear flip flops year-round.

We ♥ Colorado!!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Happiest Place on Earth

I know you all know where this place is. I know you've either been there and experienced the magic for yourselves or you've heard the stories. You've heard how college-educated people will HAPPILY pay $8 for a coke. You've heard how normally very hip people will buy a huge Minnie Mouse sweatshirt and insist they WILL wear it once they get home. You've also heard how people spend their entire savings just to take their families there...just once. You've heard the tales...or maybe you've been there yourselves.

Well, my friends, the stories you've heard are true. All of it. I should know: my family and I are officially Disneyland Junkies. I could guide you around that place in my sleep. Honestly, that IS something to be proud of! :-)

When we were growing up, my family wasn't very well-off. There were 4 kids and my dad never had much of a job to speak of. My mom worked really hard at multi-level-marketing type jobs and eventually she had worked hard enough to take us to Disneyland.

Oh, how excited we were! I remember I was in 6th grade and I saved and saved and saved my baby-sitting money. I remember I had finally saved up about $40. I made my mom take me to the bank to change it into travelers checks so I could buy the wonderful things at Disneyland and feel like a grown-up (or rich...can't remember now).

We all piled into our '69 VW Van for the coooooooooold drive out to CA. Oh, it was fricken' freezing that trip! We went in December because my mom didn't want us to miss too much school and our heater broke. (of course it did). I remember huddling on the floor of the van somewhere in AZ thinking I had never been so cold.

But eventually...we made it. I will never forget my first glimpse of the Disneyland sign...announcing you had made it to the Happiest Place on Earth. We had a fantastic time then. I think we stayed for about a week: oh yes, when the Kimling's go to Disneyland, we don't waste any time. We get there about an hour before the park opens and we stay till they kick you out. Then fall into bed so sore and exhausted but still excited for the next day. Then we'd do it all over again...for 6 more days or so. Sound like overkill?? Not to us. There might be a shop we missed or a t-shirt that we hadn't seen yet or if we sat in the front of the car in Space Mountain you might get a better ride.

Things continued on like this for years. My mom would save and save and take us out to CA almost every year from the time I was in middle school. Most of the time, it was just her and us 4 kids. Once my brother decided he was too cool to go, so he stayed home. Another time my older sister was playing in the band that marched down Main Street so we all trooped down because there was NO way she was going by without us! Most of the time we drove out there: I think our record once was Denver to LA in 11 hours. (I drove that time :-)

We took our husbands and girlfriends out there with us. I even went when I was pregnant with MaeMae. My two cousins had never been (horror!) and we just had to take them and they had the best time. We have pictures of us with our various ex's and we went once to cheer up my sister after her divorce. Just recently, I was able to meet my mom out there for ONE day: oh yes, that's how die-hard we are. My mom decided she needed her "Disneyland Fix" and I wanted to go, but I had a 10 month old at home so mom flew me out on a Friday night. I got in to LA around 12 and got up at the crack of dawn and spent 15 hours at the park with her on Saturday and then went home Sunday morning. I remember that trip because it was the first time my mom and I were there just the two of us. I remember sitting at our favorite breakfast spot at the Lilly Belle Cafe (right next to New Orleans Square) and talking about all the trips to Disneyland and what they meant to all of us.

She said that looking back, those are the memories that make her the happiest. She felt so proud she was able to do that for us while we were growing up and she's so excited to start coming with us as adults and as our children get older, to be able to share that with us as well.

I'm excited she's going to get her chance. As some of you know, my mom hasn't had the best health history...in fact we almost lost her right before my wedding in 2004. Thankfully, she's doing much better now and we are leaving tomorrow to celebrate her 60th birthday. Where???

Where else would the Kimling's go to celebrate something? Where else would we be happy to spend $6 on a magnet? Or $12 on Maelin's first pair of Mickey Mouse ears? Or content just to sit at the castle gates with a Mickey ice cream cone watching the world go by?

Yup...we're taking Maelin for her first (but certainly not the last) visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. I hope her childhood memories of it will be as awesome as ours are. Even though she's a bit too young to remember much about this visit, I know the magic will get her too. Just how it's going to, we'll have to wait and see.

Maybe she'll want a $45 stuffed Pooh Bear. Think we'll get it for her???

Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Crazy Days of a 2nd Grade Teacher

Haven't written much lately about teaching: ever since I went back after xmas break, I've just been trying to keep my head above water. Lately though, it's been a bit more crazy than usual.

Here is a quick list of what last week looked like for me and what this week has in store: enjoy living the life of a teacher!

*Went to a conference last Friday on Behavior Needs for students. It was a great conference, but I had to take extensive notes because I'm presenting the information that I learned to the school staff on Tuesday morning. I need to present 8 hours worth of information in 15 minutes: in a valuable way. Fun.

*Had to make sub plans for when I was gone. Took about an hour of time I didn't have after school

*Another training all day Saturday on how to best teach English-language-learners how to write. Unlike other jobs, teachers often put in extra time during the weekends and during the summer learning new techniques, updating their licenses, etc.

*Spent Sunday playing with Maelin since I hadn't seen her all week and getting laundry and errands done

*Monday was crazy: as it always is after a sub. Had to clean up the room, put all the stuff away, have the kids write apology notes to the sub for misbehaving and get them back into learning mode

*Meeting on Tuesday with our principal about the conference and what I was going to present to the staff

*Made appointments for 2 parents to have a conference since they hadn't shown up for conferences 2 weeks ago

*Waited for parents to come for the conferences on Wed after school: again, they never showed up

*Got to school early on Wed morning (Maelin loved that) for a special ed staffing. These are required for our special ed kids once a year and we do them on our own time and do not get paid for them. Have another one next Wednesday morning

*Thursday night was Science Night: had to stay till 7pm and run science experiments with the kids and the families that show up. I was able to bring Maelin with me but because she would have destroyed our science stuff, she hung out in the Kindergarten room and had a great time

*Friday was awful. Kids were off the wall and lying to me and hitting each other and crying and throwing up (literally) all over the room. The school secretary blames it on how nice the weather has been lately. She says the kids are having early spring fever

*Tomorrow is going to be crazy. Have to get ready for my presentation on Tuesday and one of the parents who didn't show up last week said they're coming tomorrow to talk to me. We'll see

*Tuesday is presentation when it's over I'll be so glad!

*Wednesday is going to be nuts. I'm going out of town this weekend, so I have two days of sub plans to write, copies to make, etc. Have to make sure every single second of both days are accounted for. I also have another special ed staffing on Wednesday to get ready for: which means I need to spend Tuesday doing some testing and evaluating so I'm ready for it. And...we have a visitor coming all day Wed afternoon who wants to observe.

That's just work. I'm still a full-time Mommy who has to make sure Maelin's teeth aren't hurting her too bad and the bathrooms are clean and laundry is done and bills are paid and shopping is done and get everything packed for our trip this weekend. I'm having panic attacks that I'm going to forget diapers or something this weekend.

Oh...and I'm starting my own business on the side! Like I have nothing else to do! I'm super passionate about it and I'm not going to be a millionaire, but I 100% believe in what I'm going to be doing. I'll post about it later but right now: I need to get busy!

Next time you think to yourself how easy teachers have it because they get "All That Time Off", remember my last few weeks.

Pictures of MaeMae

Here you go...all you Maelin fans have been disappointed with me lately but I finally got Kevin off of the computer so I could download my pics of Maelin and throw a few up here. Hope it was worth the wait!


For some reason, our daughter LOVES to walk around in other people's shoes. She usually doesn't get very far before she tumbles down, but her attempts at it are pretty funny


This is probably my favorite picture of Mae that we've taken in a long time. She loves wearing her hat and this was a cold day where we just spent 30 minutes running up and down our hill in our front yard. So much fun! I love how blue her eyes look: still wondering where she gets those from!


Playing at the park during one of our 60 degree days in January. Love Colorado!


I love my food Mommy!


I think we're raising another Mary Lou Retton or something...she loves to do this trick: she's even been known to fall to the ground in Target and try it there! Gymnastics classes might have to wait a few years...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

I Know, I Know...

I've received a few comments that I haven't been posting as much as I used to and it's annoying. You all check back to see pictures of Maelin and to hear what's going on and I've been failing at keeping up.

I agree.

Here's the problem: I can only post pictures and/or write a post late at night after Maelin has gone to bed. However, after teaching 26 kids all day with no help whatsoever (I am the only 2nd grade teacher without a para to come help or a student teacher AND I have the most students of any of them...but that's another post) and then coming home and getting dinner ready and then playing for a few hours with my precious baby girl and then getting her ready for bed and helping her fall asleep, I'm EXHAUSTED by 9:30pm and all I can do is get clothes and food ready for the next day and fall into bed...just to wake up at 6am to do it all over again.

The weekends aren't much better either. I am usually busy trying to catch up on laundry and visiting with friends and let's not forget the precocious 21 month old that would like me to play with her, thank you very much! I just haven't been able to find the 30 minutes it takes to sit down and write a properly spelled, interesting post for you complete with pictures.

So, please keep checking back. I have some news that I'm getting ready to share with you and Maelin will be 22 months old tomorrow, so that deserves a special post (complete with pictures I promise!) all its own.

See you soon!!!