I am already loving this year’s group of kids. They’re
extremely intelligent and willing to handle anything I throw at them. What I
love less and less are their overbearing, way too protective, excuse for
everything parents.
Seriously, I do not know how to convey to them that they are
actually hurting their child’s ability to survive in the real world, and that
is what I am so ever-lovin angry about. I was walking through the hall in my
conference period and walked into the office to make copies when the PTA
volunteer sitting at the desk says, “You’re just the person I need to talk to!”
I immediately think oh great… :)
Then smile and ask, “Yes?” The parent introduces themselves and I begin
intently listening to what she is saying. Her child has never struggled in math
before but now that he’s in my class he is and she would really like a book to
help him at home. So, I explained I do not teach from the book or even follow
the order the book goes in. Well, she would still really like one. So I told
her she was more than welcome to get a book. (Has she ever heard of this vast
empire called google?? Where she could learn more about any math subject than
one single textbook could ever teach!! Guess not..)
I go on to tell her that in my class they are really
responsible for their own learning more than they are probably used to and that
it takes some adjustment period for some students. This is when she said the
most baffling, ignorant statement I’ve ever heard. “Well ya know, sometimes [my
child] just has to be spoon fed.” Ummmm. Excuse me?? I think I actually
chuckled at first. You have got to be kidding me. And then she went on to
explain to me that sometimes she’ll give him directions for in the kitchen and
he can’t follow them so she has to just go do it herself and blah blahhh. Here’s
some things I wanted to say: So you think you’re helping him when you do it
yourself? When he’s playing high school football (because he’s the star A team
player right now), you think the coach is going to spoon feed him everything?
When he’s some financial analyst for a Fortune 500 company (because he had an
amazing 7th grade math teacher), his boss is going to just spoon feed
him all his work? And, of course, are you out of your mind??
The problem with this is there are still plenty of “teachers”
who will spoon feed their students and then when they get to a teacher who actually makes them
learn, or heaven forbid, “discover” their own learning – it’s too much! And it
has to be something I am doing wrong, because their child has never struggled
before. Well lady, maybe your child has never been challenged before or held
accountable before or even “learned” before. The real kind of authentic
learning. Not. The. Spoon. Fed. Kind.
Then on a national level, we wonder why our students are so
far behind in the world? I would dare to say we as a nation are spoon feeding
our students. Then when our scores are so low it comes back on the teachers and
we, education as a whole, are in dire need of assistance. And so the obvious answer if for us to have to do the same things but on a budget that is cut in half..... ok ok, that's a completely different rant blog.
So, the conclusion is either transfer your son out of my
class or let him actually struggle for something. Let him take responsibility
and come in for my tutorial time. I guarantee you the light bulb will click. It
may not be as immediate as the you/parents want it to be, but it will happen. They
will eventually discover the “why” behind our math and they will understand.
What they will not understand is when they finally grow up
and they are a completely dependent individual on everyone else around them,
why in the world you spoon fed them their entire life.
So I have my favorite volleyball that I love. I don't have a reason and I don't know why: it's just my favorite. When I demonstrate drills - I use it, when we scrimmage - I use it, and when I'm not using it - I'm normally holding it. A few weeks ago my fellow coach thought it would be funny to "hide" the ball from me one day. So she had one of our girls put the ball in her truck. I searched everywhere for it and at the end of practice they brought it back out to me! After that, all of the girls would try and be the first over to the ball carts to see if they could get my ball first. And then last week, my 11-11 ball was gone. I accused basically everybody I could think of for stealing!!! Everyone swore to me they didn't have it and I wasn't convinced. After about 3 days of my ball being gone everyone started accusing me of taking it and hiding it so they couldn't take it from me! I thought this was preposterous and told them I would do no such thing. Then I made a remark that if it didn't show up soon I was going to need "Wanted" signs. All day Thursday the ball didn't show up and on Friday when I got to school I was greeted by my 8th graders with this:
Not only did they have this sign, they had about 50 smaller signs they had printed off the computer onto brightly colored paper! They hung these signs all over the school and it was hilarious to have everyone come up and ask me about this 11-11 volleyball.
And finally, my ball was found!!! Someone found it in the other gym (which we definitely combed over) and returned it to me. I'm still not convinced someone didn't take it, but the posters worked and I have my ball back!! :)
This past week I got to be a part of something truly special. I'm sorry I couldn't let more of you in on the secret.. but we were SO focused on keeping it absolutely quiet. Here's a video to watch to get you started!
All along I was in the background! Right there!! My job for the whole morning was simple. Supervise the 45 girls we had there. Ha this included a TON of practicing of holding up the signs and cheering. Answering a ton of questions and when Leeta would come in to "test the mic" getting them to focus on me and not whispering about all sorts of things. I was so nervous the whole morning just praying they wouldn't spoil the secret!! ha but they were wonderful, and did a phenomenal job! Here are some pictures from my morning! Including a picture with the extremely handsome Cameron Mathison.
Look at all the beautiful signs up at the right time!!! :)
I might have had a tear or two in my eyes.
Talking with Robyn Roberts back in NY
With the soccer girls (aka most of my A team volleyball players!)
Yay Leeta and Logan!!!
Coaches with Cameron!!! Framer for the office, most definitely!!!
Then the next morning Leeta was asked to go on the local Channel 8 news. Apparently they had a camera man there too and he got some different footage. I had no idea until I received texts the next day saying people saw me on tv!! I'm all over the background in this clip and they even get me hugging Leeta for the first time! It was such a fun...early.. morning!! If you watch to the end of the segment you see me at the end mouthing "Get Off" to our girls who were hanging (literally) on Cameron Mathison!! ha Click on the link to see!
Since I've moved into my new apt, I have been wanting an old white window frame to put into my living room. I just felt like it would be the best addition!! So Kristen and I made a trip to Canton for First Monday of October. After searching and searching, I finally found something I wanted to work with. The only problem is they had made it not really as a window, but as a picture frame.
So I decided to take this and modify my original plan. I decided to fill some of the squares with scrapbook paper and completely remove the glass from others. I don't know why I have a strange love of scrapbook paper, but I think it's just awesome and beautiful. So with the help of my dad (we had to remove the staples in the wooden frame with pliers) we tackled this project after dinner one night. I kept all the glass/staples in case I ever decide to change it up, but for now I am so happyin love with how it turned out. I just kept saying "it's so pretty" (hence the title of this blog). Here's the finished product.
Due to the fact of where I put it, this picture is a little crooked, but I promise the actual thing is not. :) My ocd-ness would definitely not allow that. So after we finished I decided the window was way too pretty to go where I had originally planned. So we moved my picture collage to the other side of the window to make room for my pretty window. That left me with two small holes which you can see if you get too close.....aka just another project for me to complete one weekend. Now it is hopefully one of the first things you see as you walk into my apartment and its beautiful.
I am so blessed to have the privilege of still keeping up with so many of my professors from Baylor.
My favorite site-based coordinator was Mrs. Smart. We got to work together my junior year while I was at Cesar Chavez Middle School. I learned so much from her during my first year of actually getting in the classroom and teaching. I follow her blog (she is a much better blogger than me!) and love keeping up with her adorable family!! One of her recent blogs was a link to her friend's blog post. So yes, I am about to re-post what she re-posted. I figured if she re-posted it it had to be worth reading and it definitely is. So take a minute to read about this fantastic analogy.
So, you know me and pinterest... we're pretty close. So here is my latest project! :)
I started by painting a canvas my wonderful yellow/gold color from my bathroom! Then I printed out the quote I wanted in the font I wanted and put it under wax paper.
Then I used puffy fabric paint to trace over the letters.
As you can see, the wax paper allows for you to re-do any letters you wish!
Then I slid them off and used mod podge to adhere them to the canvas!
If you know anything about me; I love simple. So while I thought about all the other things I could do, I decided to leave it just like this! And I hung it in my bathroom! I also got to use mod podge, which I've been wanting to do forever!! Yay!!
