Life

Well It's been a while since I last wrote. I guess you could say I've been busy. A lot has changed over the last few months. This summer I decided to take a break from teaching and work at the college level. I took a job with NAU working in distance learning admissions. It has been an interesting job. I like my teammates and the work isn't too hard. We have fun a lot of days. We walk at every break, we have lots of meetings and we laugh a lot. Now we are in crunch time and we're super busy. Just wish I could get a few more students to enroll in online degrees. Although it is different, I like not having any take home work.
October was a challenging month. My friend Nich married Jon the first of the month in SF and we were down there for the wedding. Then my grandma died the same weekend and it was a lot to deal with. Now my parents are in the process of moving. I don't know how much more I can deal with.

Rainbow Club

Don't you just love when you say something and it gets taken out of proportion to the extreme? I was trying to explain to my debaters the importance of making ones own decisions and not always taking everything a teacher says as gods honest truth. I was telling them the experience I had with a psychology professor who invited all her students to the "Rainbow Club" meeting when I was a freshman in college. She told us it was a new diversity group on campus and I was thinking it would be interesting. My mom had told me to get involved and since this club was just starting up I thought what the heck I'll check it out. I saw flyers on campus and I talked to my friends about it. I guess I was very naive coming from a small town, but I didn't realize it at the time. The day of the meeting came and I was excited. I tried to talk my roommate (who was from Chicago) into coming. She said "Do you know what this club is about?" I said, "No, not a clue, but it's about diversity and I am open to that." Well I soon found out from her that it was the gay and lesbian group on campus and my professor was openly lesbian. For a small town girl this hit me really hard. I was furious at being tricked into coming to a meeting when I wasn't really told the truth about what the group was for. Needless to say I didn't go, I didn't believe most of the things she said from then on, and I have become far more open about finding out the details before I try anything new.
Anyway my debaters found this very funny and we have had endless conversations on whether I was starting a rainbow club at school. I am very open to new ideas and I take this like most everything else they say as interesting and with a little sarcasm. I will never forget my state debaters or "The Rainbow Club".

Teacheritis

Monday was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed the nice long drive up to school. I finally realized why I enjoy driving in the morning, it is so pretty. The sun was gorgeous. I also came to the conclusion that it was too nice to be inside. As I arrived at school and I thought about the day I came to understand why students don't want to be in school. It was hot, the sun was shining, and it was the most amazing day, at least weatherwise. Everyone has heard the term "senioritis", but what does that really mean? Freedom, laziness, spring, end of the year, cramming everything in, finally closing up loose ends? I believe teachers have the same only it's called teacheritis. We are awaiting the freedom of summer, trying to get all the curriculum in by the end of the year, closing up the loose ends we started at the beginning of the semester, enjoying the spring weather, and last but not least wanting to be lazy when it comes to grading. Most of the people I know would rather be out enjoying the nice weather than being in school, but the point of the matter is that we all have to be there, so we might as well accept it and quit complaining. Just think seniors only have 11 days and we only have 17 left! Plus we have Fri and Mon. off for spring break! If we had the same rainy weather for the next 3 weeks I don't think the -itis's of anyone - students, teachers, or SENIORS would be nearly as bad, but this is SD and these rainy days will soon end, thus the sun will come out and the -itis's will be back. So even though it is a common problem in every school, hopefully both the students and teachers will be able to handle just a few more weeks of the hot classrooms until we are free to enjoy the summer sun.

Naps

What can I say about naps? I used to hate taking naps when I was younger and now I can't live without them. Sometimes I plan to take naps and other times it just happens. For instance on Monday I really wanted to have a nap. I mean I was so looking forward to it. I was so tired. Then I couldn't sleep. Yesterday was a lost cause and today I came home planning to work on a wall hanging and no such luck. I didn't get anything done. I took a 3 1/2 hour nap. It was wonderfully refreshing and relaxing. Now I know why they are so essential. They put me in a much better mood and really improve my overall outlook on life. I can always be refreshed and rejuvenated when I take a nap. Taking a nap may sound like a little kids activity, but it's also for adults.

4-H

Today I really realized how much I miss 4-H. I judged the public presentations and it was so interesting and fun. I learned a lot of new information and I really enjoyed listening to the kids speak-especially my students. I am sure I made them nervous. The rush of judging and looking for the good things was wonderful. I love the feeling I have when you know a speech is really good or really bad and you want to improve it. I enjoy listening when a kid is starting and trying to do their best job possible. I want to get back into actively working with 4-H as I miss it sooooo much!

Writing workshop

It simply amazes me how much a person can learn in just a few short hours. Today I attended the Writing workshop follow-up meeting in Timber Lake. It was interesting, fun, and I learned a lot. With the teachers who were there we discussed the writing we have done in our classroom, information learned at the English Conference, as well as how to incorporate new vocabulary. I am hoping to put some of that into play in my classroom. I am exciting that we had another chance to work together. I like working with these teachers and I always learn so much from them. It was a long drive back, but definately well worth it. Now to sit down and grade essays. I hate grading long papers and essays. If teachers didn't have to do all this correcting it would be a lot more fun.

English Teachers

Have I ever told anyone how much English Teachers are alike? I mean for instance we all correct spelling and punctuation, we're always talking about books, and we love to discuss teaching. This weekend I went to the state English conference. Most people would say "I hate English teachers", but being one myself, I really enjoy them. I am on the state board, so I had a lot to do, but also got to enjoy myself. I facilitated a discussion on fun with groups in the classroom. I didn't really realize until I started talking to other teachers how much group work I do. My students learn the most when they do they type of group work I do, so I use it. Other teachers don't use it at all! For lunch we had this incredible speaker. I mean fabulous! He was the 2000 teacher of the year in sd and he was magnificent. We laughed from the moment we got there until we left. Laugh, Love, Live and Leave a Legacy. I definately want to be more like that. We had some great sessions and a wonderful banquet. The 2004 Author of the year David Allan Evans was the speaker. He read us some of his poetry and talked about writing poetry. He signed his book afterwards. It was great for me to see him again. He was my favorite English professor at college and I was inspired by him. Some of the things I do in class are because of him. After the banquet we had some very open discussion at the bar and a very relaxing social session. Sat. morning we had more speakers. My favorite was Jason who did bringing pop music into the classroom. Hopefully I can also incorporate that into my class this spring. I had some much fun and learned a ton. I can't believe that I enjoyed presentations so much. English teachers rock!