Sleepy Kitties

I hope you had a great Christmas...

Now that Christmas is over... New Years is coming quickly and the kitties and I are sleepy. :)

This Christmas was very normal like usual except for Jonathan being added to the mix which was awesome. On Christmas night I went to his mom's house to meet his grandparents which was exciting. I am enjoying every moment we have together. Wednesday will be eight months!! How wonderful! We are actually heading out to Memphis, TN for the Liberty Bowl game!! Jonathan is so so so excited. I really believe his blood is purple. I have never seen someone so into ECU tailgating and football!

As far as teaching goes I am a bit nervous about my kiddies taking the EOC. I am scared that they are not as concerned about it as I am, which I know they are not. I have no idea how they will be when they get back from that Christmas break. I am hoping that they will be well rested and ready, but I will probably report back that they were tired and un-ready. I am beginning to get very excited about next semester though because I am going to attempt the well talked about... "Mastery Learning" I have no idea how this is going to go but it will not hurt to try it. Mastery Learning is based upon the idea that you don't move on to a different topic until the students "master" the previous topic. Mastery is defined as 85% or better on the quiz for that topic. It makes sense in my head, but I am sure when I start it is going to flop horribly.... oh well.

Lately I feel I am in a creative slump... I have not been creative in a while and it is driving me crazy! I feel as if I need to find a tiny little room to rent to have all my craft stuff everywhere and just make things.... thats my goal when I retire in 25+ years. I will craft and craft and craft and then sell stuff at little stores and on etsy.com... which is one of the problems with my bank account balance... that and iTunes... ugh haha :)

Well until next time,

Topsy Turvy...

Life right now is constantly lived on a day to day basis. The only way I can think about the future is if I pull out my pink calendar and plan something in advance. It's amazing how your life leads you through many different walks of life.. it is so interesting. First you start out as a tiny itty bitty baby in your parents arms... eventually you learn to walk, talk, play.. then you start school and it sorta rushes by from there (here comes my montage of pictures from the past... and present)

I have been the same since birth...

it's very evident in this picture... haha

Here I am in with my granddaddy.... What a cute picture!

I don't have any pictures from high school on the computer. Below is me with some of my sorority sisters. How I love these girls! They definitely got me through every hard time in college. They helped me keep my walk with God on the right path and I am so thankful for each of them.

God definitely blessed me with 30+ sisters that I never had growing up.

This picture is about a year ago when life was slowly changing and great things were happening. These are some of my closest friends..... My best friend Stephanie on the left has been the hardest to be away from. She recently moved to Atlantic Beach and it has been a struggle not having her around as much :(

Ahh.. this picture brings back memories of my internship during college. Wow little did I know what I was getting myself into :)

And... this is by far one of my favorites. Jonathan has definitely blessed my life in so many ways. I am so thankful that God brought us together. I believe to this day that God put each of us through different paths so that he could put us together at the perfect time. God definitely knows his timing much better than me. If it was up to me I would have asked to meet Jonathan much earlier... but God is all-knowing and his timing is priceless...

....its so unique how each of us survive every moment that we thought we would never get through. I feel like I am always telling my students that high school will only be a tiny breeze in a few years, but most of them still don't believe me and worry about everyone and anything they can. (But what teacher wouldn't admit that they were exactly like many of the students.....) I always hear my coworkers say... "I was just like that in school... I should go apologize to my teachers..." haha...

I do know that I do find myself questioning why I didn't do better in high school. I could have easily made a 100 in every math class if I had only listened better.... oh well.. can't go back now!

I am so thankful of the life God has given me. I find myself always praising him because of how wonderful he is. He has blessed me so much more than I ever deserve. Through the years I have learned to be so thankful for everything he has given me.... I hope you feel the same way too...

Be thankful... Jess

And the days keep going...

I am such a bad blogger. I struggle with keeping up on my blogs; it has been more than a month!!! This month has actually been okay. There have been ups and downs each and everyday. This past week was very stressful because I had a very upset student and a very upset mentor. My mentor issue was absolutely the worst.

So here is the story... One of my classes is a little crazy at times. They are not rude or disrespectful, just hyper. Which does not bother me because I am hyper too! :) Well my mentor came in for a SURPRISE visit.. oh lucky me. Well needless to say she didn't really enjoy my class and only had negative things to say about it. It was absolutely awful. I have never had anyone be so negative and not say a single positive thing that I did. She basically made me feel like a worthless teacher, but through the support of amazing students and coworkers I got through the day and continued on the next day. The class that she came and visited knew that I had been upset so they wanted to know why. Well I told them exactly what happened. They became very upset that someone had upset me so much because of something they did. They promised they would be perfect boring angels next time... haha I thought the boring part was funny. So that was definitely the lowest of low that I have felt since teaching. I have learned from it and now I am moving on and I have come to know that even if someone is called your "mentor" that doesn't necessarily mean that they embody everything that means.

On a positive note my AFM class made some pretty awesome pinwheels the other week!

Until Next Time... Jess

Welcome to my classroom!!

Welcome to my classroom!!  I love the entry way!  It looks so exciting!

This is my tree and my ECU corner!  I have to support those Pirates!!

This is my desk area with my beautiful tree!! :)

"Get Hooked on Math" bulletin board!  This is where I recognize good grades!!!

The back of the room!  Yes I love that yellow wall!! haha

This is the "Function Family!"  Not my favorite bulletin board, but it will do...

This is some of my student work that I have displayed!

Oh I love the flowers in the window!!! :)

Oh Albert!!  He keeps me thinking and thinking!!

This is what my kids look at everyday hahaha

The front table area!

Hope you like it!

Jess

One Week Down...

So today finished my first week of really teaching.  Wow... what an interesting experience....

By the way... I don't feel in the best mood today because of some things that happened at school today so this may not be the happiest blog entry.. but it will suffice...

First off in general (this is not about school) I really struggle holding my own.  If I get criticized for any tiny thing that is wrong with my appearance or something I did by mistake it hurts me so bad.  I can't help it.  I have tired to fix this forever and it doesn't work I promise, its just who I am.  Today I guess I just felt like I couldn't do anything right.  I couldn't put my hair up right I couldn't say the right things... I just couldn't do what ever it was I was suppose to... I guess basically I am just having a down in the dumbs day and its a horrible way to start my blog entry about the first week of my every quickly approaching life.

On a good note I love the way my classroom looks, though I am always picked on constantly about how elementary it looks, once again I am criticized.  I have tried to make my room look as inviting as possible, but I think it only works on a small number of people.  This week has been tough.  I have been pushed and pulled in so many directions.  I have constantly read e-mails that ask me to fill this out, do this, it will only take a second.... sometimes I don't think some people realize how important that second is to me.

I have grown to love one of my classes though.  I know most of the kids from last year and they are just hilarious.  They make me smile! :)  Recently we have been doing hands on projects and they are doing so great with them.  Yes I have to do the occasionally "don't get to loud" speech, but overall they are great.  The project that I was so impressed with was called "Graph a Story," the students had to read a paragraph about a bucket of water where the water level was constantly changing and draw a graph to go with it.  I was so amazed at how well they did.  One group even drew a bucket and then put the graph on it, how clever!  I think it is things like this that keep me going each day.  I have already wanted to retire once or twice... I e-mailed my mom the first day to tell her that.. haha.  Teaching is definitely the hardest thing I have done in my life.  Going to college classes is so tiny compared to the challenges and tasks that are thrown at me everyday in my classroom.

I don't know what you are feeling or what you are thinking about this blog entry, but I think I have things under control it will just take time and God's guidance.  I constantly think of my favorite verses to get me through...

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139: 9-10

Until next time... Jess

Ahh.. The smell of new school supplies...

Yes, all my fellow teachers know that the smell of new school supplies is just like the smell of new clothes or shoes.. amazing. This past week has flown by and it leaves me to suspect that this school year will fly by as well! My classroom is completely set up so I am so excited about that! I will definitely post pictures soon! I get picked on constantly at school about how colorful and "faux" elementary it looks, but it makes me happy to be at work everyday so I don't care!!! I think that it sparks excitement in my students!

I do have to admit something funny that I realized I did last year. I was going through some of the letters that I sent home last year when I started teaching in April. How about genius me sent home a form that stated "Please FEEL this out completely and return..." haha I am so glad no parents caught that one, but I guess my excuse can be that I teach math so yeah.. haha. I definitely shared it with my fellow teachers just to spark laughter and then they all began rubbing my piece of paper.. haha what great people I work with! :)

I have come to realize that I am going to have to stay ORGANIZED this year. Even if I have to stay after school an extra 30 minutes to do so then I am! As I was cleaning out my desk from last year I noticed how disarrayed it became haha.. it was in a very sad state.

One thing that I am struggling with in the beginning is that I have a homebound student and I am already going crazy about how to stay ahead of the game! I mean I do plan, but not that much in advanced, but I will make it work as my favorite person Tim Gunn states! That is definitely my motto this year! I really want to give that student the same education that the rest of my students have, thats only fair.

By the way, I am so excited about this new season of Project Runway.. haha.

I have already began to realize that I love teaching but the meetings are a little much, but I guess they are required and needed in the world. I can definitely practice my doodling abilities. :) Yes, I do doodle during any meetings and classes, but I am listening I promise! It helps me focus and not start day dreaming!

So to conclude I guess I have a few goals for this coming up year:
1. Stay ORGANIZED... ahh that "o" word
2. Make it work... oh Tim
3. Stay positive... shouldn't be hard

Well, until next time.... ;)

Jess

One great step..

Today finished out my New Teacher Orientation and my brain feels so overwhelmed.  We covered so much the past three days from how to get ready for your first day to the new evaluation process.  I know that I will get the hang of the real "teacher" things that are to come, but right now it seems impossible.  I have to say that I can't wait until that lovely title of "career status" comes.

Also, today I went to the..... teacher store !!!  I needed to remember some reasons why I loved teaching!  I found a great poster that had a kitty on it!!  I can't wait to hang it!  In our classrooms we have five... yes five, bulletin boards so I used some of the time today to come up with what I needed for those.  One of my bulletin boards will be "Get Hooked on Math" so today at the store I got a cute fish border for that board.  Another bulletin board is one of those huge ones that is like two boards in one so on that board last year I put "In Our Neck of the Woods..." and that is where I put the school news.  Well I was so excited today because I found a 6 foot tall tree that I can put on the bulletin board and then up on the wall!!!  Its amazing the little things that make us teachers happy.  Today during the New Teacher Orientation we had a discussion about how much we all love the smell of new books, Staples, and any new school supplies.... we are so funny and unique...

Next Tuesday will be the opening workday...

Until the next few workdays...  Jess :)

Embarking on a Beautiful Adventure

I am so excited about this blog.  I hope that I am able to keep it up and going.  The point behind this is that I am embarking on a new journey in my life and I wanted a great way to record each and every crazy moment.

Recently I graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in Secondary Mathematics Education... okay so that is the official name, but I am just your everyday high school math teacher.  This year will be my first year as an actual teacher and I wanted a way to remember every detail.  I hope that this will work because I have a feeling it could turn out to be amazing.

Currently I am beginning to be overwhelmed with the variety of required meetings that I have to already attend.  I have received three letters in the mail already informing me of these wonderful events!  I will begin my "New Teacher Orientation" next Wednesday and I have a feeling this will be informative, but yet quite boring.  I probably will use this time to prefect my bulletin board ideas.  In our classrooms we have five - - yes five bulletin boards.  It is so difficult to keep my creativity going from board to board, but I will try.  I already have some items, because last April I was early released from ECU to begin teaching early and I couldn't just leave the classroom blank ....  but being the person that I am I could not possibly leave the same things up (or in the exact same spot)... so its time to get creative....

Until next time...  Jess