Bullet Points

Yes, I'm resorting to bullet points. It's been TOO long. So, in short - here's what I've been up to.

• Hiked the Grand Canyon (oh yes I did!) Pictures follow. This trip is highly recommended.

Our campsite. Yeah...it was sorta beautiful.

On the way down...

Every turn was seriously breathtaking. I wish the pictures did it justice.

• Learned to sew - somewhat decently. Just finished baby gifts for a friend last night. I get way too excited when I've made something. It also is slightly scary because I picture cute babies in my future and my husband rolls his eyes.
• I've revamped my website at school and LOVE it. Then I wonder...does it matter that much?
• I'll be presenting at a conference in February about my absolute favorite web 2.0 (FREE!) tool for the classroom. Edmodo. I love you. Really, seriously. If you're a teacher and you haven't heard about it, ask me...or better yet, come see me at the eMINTS Winter Conference in February!
• Read lots of books, but that goes without saying, right?

Currently my cat has decided to take over my lap so I must end this amazingly wonderful update of my life.

Currently Reading: The Book Whisperer (I'm excited about this one), Good Without God (heard this bit about Humanism on NPR and got interested)

What are we teaching kids these days?

Every year the DECA chapter at the high school where I work puts on a Veteran's Day Assembly. It's really great. They make biscuits and gravy, kids interact with them, they invite a special speaker, the choir sings, the band plays. It's nice.

Not this year.

Okay, okay...the band was good. I'm sure the food was good. The choir sounded great. But the speaker? What were they thinking? They obviously didn't ask for a copy beforehand (which I wouldn't think they would...but maybe they will in the future).

The speaker was a veteran who teaches at a high school where our Superintendent used to work. I guess they're buds. I'm guessing that's how our speaker got the invitation.

His speech started out okay. I guess. It was all over the place though. He talked to the kids about jobs - mainly just advertising the two careers he's held: a teacher, and a member of the military. Okay...but what does that have to do with Veteran's Day? Then it got worse.

He told the kids about two students he had in the past. The first was Suzy. "Suzy is what we would've called a hippie in my day. She has red hair, piercings all over, and tattoos." (Holy crap! Lock her up!) Then he went on to say how Suzy would not stand during the Pledge of Allegiance. "Suzy works in fast food now. She has a boyfriend. She'll probably work in fast food in 10 years, and have a boyfriend; maybe the same one, maybe different." Apparently not saying the pledge leads to all sortsa horrible crap. Who knew?

The second student? He signed up to serve our wonderful country. Now he's had his education paid for and is an upstanding citizen. Be like Tyler, not like Suzy. "Suzy wanted to be her own person. Tyler is serving his country. Are you going to be like Suzy, or Tyler?"

What's wrong with being a unique individual?

Then an Army recruiter got up. His speech was short. Seriously, it was like 1 minute. He was nervous. But in this nervous speech? "If someone comes into my country and blows up buildings, I want to be able to return the favor." Uh...what? So now it's a good idea to promote revenge? Nice. Real nice.

Seriously. The entire ceremony completely missed the point of Veteran's day. I felt bad for the Veterans. They deserve better. So do my students.

I'm lazy,..

but at least I'm posting something! I think I deserve the 4-day weekend though, or at least that's what I tell myself! Thank you school.

We had parent teacher conferences Thursday after school. Those are always fun. Lemme tell you, some parents share WAY too much information. I don't need to know every detail of your personal life. It's uncomfortable. One situation that made me especially uncomfortable? The ex-wife of my spinning instructor (from the gym) came in and talked to me about her daughter who I have in Sports Literature. Their daughter's really smart, just a real good kid. Well, her Mom talked to me for at least 20 minutes and brought up how horrible the situation was with her "biological father" many times. It's just weird. I mean, I know him and he's a great guy, and he loves his kids, and they seem to have a great relationship. The worst part? She came in with one of their children and the kid had to listen to her Mom talk poorly about her Dad, which I'm sure happens often. It just sucks, for the kids, I mean...really.

In other more uplifting and fun news? A look at a couple projects we're doing? Of course!

This was dinner. How come my pictures of food never look as good as the professionals? Anyway, Bubble up pizza casserole. Easy and really yummy.

New shelves in the kitchen.

The shelves aren't done of course (well, the one with my cookbooks on it is, ain't it cute? E just built the shelf next to the dishwasher today while I was supervising the kiddos in Hermann, and although it's not painted and has no door (yet) I love it! And yes, yes, I know...we still haven't grouted the backsplash. Tomorrow?? We'll see. I love our kitchen.

All kindsa news.

:)

So E and I are officially under contract.

**me doing a happy dance**

We got a good price. They're fixing the roof. We close by the end of the month. I'm so freaking excited about making this house ours. Living with E. Having a puppy. Funness.

Speaking of puppies. My brother found a puppy. Seriously. He found a puppy wandering through his neighborhood dangerously close to wandering onto a very busy road. He rescued said puppy. Said puppy is adorably cute!! I know, that was repetitive, but come on. She's cute. He's put up notices about finding a lost puppy, but I'm kinda hoping no one claims her, cause I'll take her. Come on, you can't say that's not meant to be, right?

Outside of all that fun news, I've been ridiculously busy lately (hence the lack of posts in oh...about a month). Ouch. Recently, I've:

• Written my first graduate level English term paper. Ew.
• Graded 50+ dual credit essays in 1 day
• Found a house
• Made up finals for all my classes
• Baked a buncha cookies for the Senior BBQ
• Ran everyday. Seriously. What's up with that? I don't know when this exercise everyday thing started, but I kinda like it.

That's enough. :) Only 2 more days of school (with kids), then 2 more days of meetings and such. Then I'm free. I love every moment of my work-free summers. And this summer will be busy. Hopefully I'll accomplish all of the following:

• Fix yard at new house so a puppy can call it home!
• Fix kitchen (read: add dishwasher, get new countertop, get rid of faux brick backsplash, tile floor)
• Go to 3 weddings
• Go to Minneapolis to visit little bro!
• Float trip?
• Go to Kentucky to camp/bike/hike - really looking forward to this. Here's where I'd like to go.
• Buy a car.
• Another Minneapolis (or northward) trip with the fam

And I can't wait.

Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (again!!) by J.K. Rowling

Breathing Room.

Sometimes I wonder how I'll ever have a family. Teaching takes so much time. Ha, then other times I feel like I must be a slow person...I take more time to do simple tasks it seems than other teachers. That has to be the reason I'm always there later than anyone else. Seriously. Maybe by the time I've been doing it for at least 5 years it'll get easier? Hopefully?

So some fun news. I'll be hosting a 28-year-old German named Annika when she comes to our small town to visit with her students. They get here Sunday night and she'll be staying on my futon (poor girl!) for two weeks. I think the best way to describe my feelings about this is anxious. I think it'll be fun, but I also love living by myself. Haha, selfish, I know. As long as I'm still able to make it to the gym, I'll be good. :) I'm just hoping I can find some stuff for us to do over our long Easter weekend. Suggestions? I was thinking of maybe taking her to Amish Country - at least that's what we call it - some weekend. It's pretty cool, and definitely unique.

I'm doing a 5k next weekend and I've got a goal I'm afraid to say out loud. My last 5k I ran in 25:45ish. That was on a dang hilly course. According to the results that was about a 8:19 mile pace. I've been running at least 3.5 miles at an 8:00 mile pace for the past couple weeks...so I'm crossing my fingers. Today I actually managed to run 8/mile, 7:30/mile, and then finished out my 30 minutes at an 8/minute pace. That should make it into the 24-minute range, right? That's my goal. I've said it now. Now I'll have to admit if I actually make it.

So E and I are looking for a house! I'm super excited (if you couldn't tell by the exclamation marks)!! That also means I'll get a puppy, which I'm also stoked for. The house hunt is exciting. I'm sure once we actively start viewing houses and discussing making offers it'll be stressful, too. Right now though, exciting. And I'm just fine with that :)

30 days left of this school year. Not that I'm counting or anything. It's crazy. I still have to finish Julius Caesar and cover Non-fiction with my Honors kids. Ouch.

Oh, and volleyball's over. YES! I love it, but it gets so busy. Hence the post title. I can breathe now.

Currently Reading: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Holy Moly.

I've been a bad, bad blogger lately. If you care to hear my excuses I'll brief them real quick: teaching, night class, volleyball, and procrastination! :) That's it!

Teaching:

• So the other day I had a fun experience. The bell rang, so as per usual I asked everyone to be quiet and do the bellwork on the board. One young man continued his conversation (rather loudly) in the back of the room. "---, you're still talking. I've asked everyone to stop talking." "YOU'RE RIGHT I'M STILL TALKING!" (Pause) "Fuck this school! I'm leaving!" All the students and I just looked at each other as we watched him storm out of the room. Seriously? What? Gotta love temper tantrums. And I teach mostly seniors!
• I've been asked by our German teacher to host the German English teacher who is coming with the German students for two weeks in April. Eeek! I've never had a visitor for that long, and she'll be sleeping on my futon, but it should be interesting. She's 27 and single, so we should have at least that in common :)

Night Class:

• Done with War & Peace. Yes, I finished it! Okay, well I skipped the two epilogues, but I figured after 1000 pages, I was good to go.
• Just started The Brothers Karamazov. So far? Yawn.

Volleyball:

• So after losing our first 4 games, we won 2nd place in our weekend tournament - last weekend. Go 7th graders! They were pretty excited. And they impressed me after our win, because they refused to take pictures with their shiny new plaque until they congratulated the team who'd just beat them.
• Seriously. The middle school volleyball season is short - but crazy. Only 3 more games (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) and I'm DONE! Until next year, anyway.

Procrastination:

• When am I not doing this? Really.

Weight Watchers:

• Core foods definitely work. After my week on the "simply filling" plan, I lost 2.5 pounds. Yay! So I've decided to stay on the simply filling technique until I reach my WW (and personal) goal. Only 4 more lbs until my WW goal. Can you say heck yeah?
  

"What's all this about a bomb threat?!"

Yes, that's right. The middle school of my school district received a bomb threat Friday. Actually, they received the call Thursday night. That's right. The extremely intelligent prankster left a bomb threat VOICE-MAIL! Seriously. Really?

So, here's how school went on Friday.

1. It was a bea-utiful day. About 68 degrees. Beautiful. What's that mean? Crazy kids!
2. Courtwarming, which means we were running a different schedule, shortened classes with a lot of student anticipation/excitement for the pep rally.
3. Oh, did I mention a bomb threat? This meant the entire middle school students/staff had to come up to the high school.

The middle schoolers took the threat wonderfully. They were very well behaved, no one freaked out. It was nice.

The high schoolers? Drama! First of all, the administration didn't really tell any of the teachers what was going on - so we didn't know what to tell the kids when they yelled out stuff like, "What's with this bomb threat?!" in the middle of class. I mean, really. That was my biggest complaint. You have to let your teachers know what's going on so they can handle the madness and calm fears. Oh, and not appear like they're bumbling idiots or just lying to cover things up.

All in all, it was a crazy day. But...considering what went on, it turned out rather well.

Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J.K. Rowling (LOVE these books!)
A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lemontov

I feel like a politician.

Because in my head I'm telling myself to "hope" and that "change is possible."
Too cliche?

So what the heck am I talking about?
Well, I have these classes full of students who don't like to read (or learn really). This of course really bugs me because I love reading. I'm an English teacher, of course I love reading! So, while I'd love to have them energized and excited about reading, or at least listening while I read, it gets really frustrating.

Why is it frustrating?
The majority of the students who sign up to take "sports literature" love sports (yay, that's cool) but don't like to read (boo, that stinks). The mixture of students is also a problem. There are a lot of students in these classes (I have two sections) who do poorly in school, have very strong personalities, tend to get in trouble, and do not like school. See where I'm going with this?

The Time for Change is NOW
So, I've been frustrated with this class since, oh...about two weeks after I started teaching it. It's a lot to handle. Lately it's been...ok...and when I say okay, it's still about four times as bad as my other classes, but for Sports Literature, I feel they're okay.

Today my principal (I'm really learning to like him!) came to talk to me about the class after school. I've told the principal and assistant principal about the issue so they generally try to drop by each class period to check on things. Anyway, he sent me a PowerPoint with some really awesome tips for teaching in general, things that are common sense, but I am really glad I was able to be reminded of.

Here's what I'm hoping to implement:

• Be more positive! I let them get me down, and that never helps anyone, especially them. Come on Kate!
• Meet students at the door - I've been really lax on this cause I always feel busy during passing periods.
• Come up with a "Classroom Code of Conduct"? The sample one is awesome!
• Make students raise hands (duh) and be polite (I've been working tirelessly on this one!)
• Post the agenda every day
• Be more positive! It's one of my classroom rules, so it can use repeating.

Wish me luck, I really hope to turn this class around. Again. :) It's so hard some days and I'm tired of being the "bitchy" teacher. I know that it's not all on me, but I'm the teacher, and if I don't start the change, who will?

Once again, wish me luck. I will need it.

Currently Reading: The World Without End by Ken Follett

Get to Work!!

So here I am at home when I really should be working. Today was the first day back at school with the kids and man, it was much easier than last year! It really helps when you know some of the kids and you don't have to plan every lesson from scratch. Nice :)

In WW news, I'm down over 20 pounds from May. Sweet! A lot of my clothes (work clothes) are really loose, but I don't want to buy new clothes until I'm down 2 sizes, I figure by then I'll look pretty ridiculous in most of my clothes. However, some of my current work clothes are pretty ridiculous at the moment. Good thing I have no money to buy new ones. Seriously though, I'm pretty excited about it. I might even be able to make goal by Christmas....maybe my birthday. Either one will be sweet :)

So my kitty's name is Simon. He's adorable. Enough said. Unfortunately he thinks the litter box is an awesome place to play, but...he's still cute.

Here's me forcing myself to work. However, I promise to update more frequently now that I'm back at home.

Currently reading: The Known World by Edward P. Jones

I love Spring!

Not really important to this post, but I'm currently listening to David Cook's "Little Sparrow" and I must say, he's good. I've never watched Idol, but when I heard he was on I had to cause, dude, I've met him. And how many times can you say you have met, kinda know someone on national television? Exactly.

So, it's really been a week? I thought it'd been maybe 4 or 5 days since I updated, but apparently I really am getting older, cause that time flew by! I now have exactly one week left with my senior students. Ahh! Crazy. Right now I should be grading their rough drafts (of their final essay of the year...which they do not mind reminding me about). However, I am obviously distracting myself. First of all let me say, I'm an idiot. This is their 10th essay for me (over 2 semesters) and I have already read this essay once, and I'll have to read it again. Why oh why do I have them turn in a sentence outline, rough draft, and final draft? I believe I enjoy the torture.

:)

So, I took out my bike today. It was my day off for running, no real reason, I guess I'm just lazy. So instead of having it be a complete bum day I decided to try the new gel seat cover I got for my bike and actually ride a real bike outside. I take spinning classes, but I haven't been on a "real bike" in, well, at least a year. It was nice. The seat was awesome. I wasn't even wearing biking shorts and my butt is fine! I need to get an odometer so I can keep track of my mileage, but outside of that I'm kind of excited about this whole duathlon deal. We have to sign up by next week I think - at least for the cheaper rate - so I guess I'm going to print off the forms and take them home so Dad and I can get signed up.

I'm starting Weight Watchers in May...which I realize now is only 2 days away. The meetings here are on Thursday nights at 6:00. Go figure, same time as spinning class. I don't know if I'll just skip spinning for a week to get the initial idea of how things work and then just do it online, or see if I can find another place close by that has meetings. Oh! Looks like they have meetings on Monday's at 6:00 just about 15 miles from here. Guess that's where I'll be. My goal is 40 pounds. That'd be the ultimate goal though. I know 30-35 would be good enough for me, I haven't been that since 2004. Stupid weight. I am looking forward to more fruits and veggies, though. Hopefully I'll figure out a way to have a good time with it.

I think I've procrastinated the papers long enough. Unfortunately I have to have them done by 8:20 tomorrow morning. Ha, the next paper is on the negatives of standardized testing. That one shouldn't be too bad. I promise, I'll try to make the next entry more interesting.

Currently Reading: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Challenge

So, last year in June I started going to the gym with my Mom. Sound weird? Well, my parents are both really into being healthy. Dad rock climbs, bikes, runs and just generally moves around a lot. Mom is always trying to make recipes healthier. She used to bike a lot but now she goes to the gym a lot and just does weights and such. I love that my parents are healthy, hopefully that wears off, right? So, I started going five times a week with Mom. Running, a few weights here and there. You know, just trying to get back into it. Last year when I lived on my own I did...nothing. And I do mean nothing. It was pathetic. So, now I take a spinning class once a week at the local gym and manage to run at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes and then bike for at least 25 minutes afterwards. Well, my spinning instructor's been trying to convince me to do a duathlon and I think I'm actually gonna do it! Ahh! I just have to commit to it, then I can't back out...right? Well, Dad's going to do it with me, which I think will be cool. I'll just have to start running after I bike after I've run. Haha. We'll see how that goes.

I give up and admit. It's that time of the year. I'm ready for the summer. That's the one perk of my job, Summers Off! Unfortunately right now I'm going to have to take at least four classes this summer. Good thing is that 3 of the classes meet only one night a week, go CMU! So, it won't seem totally overwhelming. It just means that I don't really have a summer off. Course, last summer was pretty easy, so I don't mind :)

The kids are definitely also at the point of exhaustion. I'm getting trouble from those kids who've never caused a problem before. They're (the seniors) just ready to get out. And I can't blame them. I was so ready I got out my junior year and I never regretted it a bit. College was great, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with my students. It'll be interesting :)

Oh, and I'm looking at purchasing a new camera and little-impulsive-me is really looking forward to buying it and posting some new fun pictures!