Wednesday, September 30, 2009

One More Step

At the end of the 2008/2009 school year I was nominated and applied for a teaching chair position for the school district I work for. I heard nothing over the summer so I assumed that I was not selected for an interview. I was not bothered by this because it was the first time I was nominated and I thought teachers with more experience were selected. I thought in a few years I will be able to apply again and then today I opened a surprising email.

I have been selected to interview for the postion. This interview is in a few days so I have to prepare for this interview. The first part of the interview is with a panel of "judges" that will ask me about my classroom practices and educational ideals. Then I have to "teach" a 15 minute lesson to the "students" which are the judges.

I am so excited and so nervous, I have to capture what I have 50 minutes to do and condense it to 15 minutes. I'll keep you posted. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

The last 25

Okay here is my last 25 I think.

76. Having lots of students in my room for after school tutoring
77. Socratic Seminars that run themselves
78. 80 degree days in the fall
79. Sunshine
80. Making my students laugh when they are stressed
81. Dogs sleeping at my feet
82. Reading old love letters/sweet cards
83. Helping new teachers get better at their craft
84. Sticky notes
85. Cold manderin oranges
86. Comfortable shoes
87. The smell of baby powder, even though it can kick up my asthma
88. Paper Dolls
89. Carosel horses
90. Antique hand-help fans
91. Postcards
92. Dressing up for Halloween
93. Group hugs, we started doing that 22 years ago when son #1 was a baby.
94. Scapbooking
95. Hearing "I love you"
96. Reading Twas The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve after we get home for the Christmas Eve service
97. Dimples
98. Vintage clothing
99. Well written essays
100. That I actually was able to come up with 100 things that make me happy

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Things That Make Me Happy Part 3

I'm not sure I will make it all the way to 100 today but if not I'll just have to keep thinking. So here it goes.

52. Homemade ice cream or frozen yogurt
53. A bonus check
54. Sitting next to the reflective pool at the water gardens
55. Going to the Stockyards and just wandering around and checking out the "goldfish" as I wander
56. Watching a waiters face when I order a half a glass of unsweetened iced tea and lemonaide, it is called an Arnold Palmer
57. Opening presents Christmas morning
58. My birthday
59. Coming up with creative ways to get my students to learn new vocabulary
60. Trying a new resturant
61. Listening to the music I grew up with, especially when no one is home so I don't have to hear complaints
62. When I have the house to myself
63. Homemade veggie soup on a cold day
64. Being told I'm the hardest teacher in the building
65. Having friends over for the holidays
66. The belief in miracles
67. Discovering a new store or resturant
68. Shopping at a Farmer's Market
69. Going to a County Fair
70. The Main Street Art Festival
71. Days when my hands don't hurt
72. The challenge of taking grad classes
73. Running into people when I am out and about that I haven't seen in a long time
74. Discovering a new author
75. A new haircut

Okay so I still have 25 more to go; this sure is harder than it looks. I noticed a lot of mine are connected to food and work.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Things That Make Me Happy

Okay here is the next installment of however many I come up with.

31. Watching Red Wings hockey;especially when they win!
32. Writing letters of recommendation for my students.
33. Getting hugs and hand shakes from my former students as they graduate.
34. A really good salad;especially if I didn't have to make it.
35. The smell of baking chocolate.
36. Cheesecake
37. Getting into grad school.
38. Getting thank you notes in the mail.
39. Being invited to a wedding.
40. Scapbooking
41. My roses
42. The smell of a clean house
43. Baby toes (Moms understand this one)
44. Hugs and Kisses
45. Emails from my Aunts
46. Slow dancing with my Love
47. A joke or story that makes me laugh outloud
48. Black and white movies
49. Being the first person to put a knife into a brand new jar of peanut butter. As an aside son number 1 and I race each other to do this and it only counts if the old jar is completely empty. I know we are strange that way.
50. Watching re-runs of Friends.
51. Dress pants that don't need to be altered in any way.

I don't think I repeated any of the first 30 but if I did it just means that it makes me really really happy.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The Most Awesome News

For those of you that have taken AP classes this will not be news to you but man it is exciting for me because of the ramifications.

When a student takes AP classes and passes the exam with a 3, 4 or 5 they are recognized by College Board. Once they pass at least 3 AP classes with a 3, 4 or 5 they are considered a National AP Scholar. It is much harder to do than people realize and the school I teach at has not had a National AP Scholar student in 10 years. That is a long drought. This year we have 2 that's right 2 and both of them had me and my AP World History class is the first AP class they took, sat for, and passed the exam.

What does this mean for my students? It means recognition by College Board, it is placed on the top of their transcript and it means money. The students that reach this level get scholarship money and for both of these students that is a very big deal. One wants to be an engineer and the other a history professor. Yes I had a little something to do with that.

So when I heard the news today I did my little happy dance, pumped my fist and said YES. If two can do it than it can be two more and two more until we are in double digits, where we belong and where I know we can get.

YES!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Things That Make Me Happy

Okay my sister started a list of things that make her happy. She plans to list 100 items and she ends her post by encouraging others to do the same so I decided to finally take her up on it.

1. Waking up next to Paul each morning, especially after we have had a fight
2. Listening to Andrew and Colin play their insturments
3. Reading a good book
4. A weekly massage
5. Hearing Colin sing
6. Holding new babies
7. Watching the light bulb go on for my students when they finally get the hang of a complex subject
8. Watching EHHS marching band in competition
9. Meeting my friend Mary for coffee so we can catch up
10. Meeting my friend Kerri for lunch
11. Long distance phone calls to talk to family and friends
12. Getting comments on my blog
13. Watching sappy movies
14. Writing
15. Curling up under a blanket when it is raining outside
16. Going to work everyday
17. Hanging out with my girlfriends
18. Antique hunting
19. Going to the Fort Worth Zoo
20. Looking at old photos
21. Baking
22. Listening to a good sermon
23. Sharing a banana split
24. Going to Broadway productions
25. Walking around the neighborhood with Paul
26. The First Day of School
27. Watching my parents together after almost 50 years
28. Finding the perfect gift
29. Visiting with out of town friends and family
30. Having a conversation with my sons about whatever comes to mind

This is my first 30 and they were hard to come up with. I typed as they came to me I'm sure if I had to put them in order of importance I would move some of them around. Pass it on make your own list.