"You're only as tall as your heart will let you be, and you're only as small as the world will make you seem. When the going gets rough and you feel like you will fall, just look on the bright side: you're roughly six feet tall." ~Never Shout Never, On the Brightside
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Things to blog about
1. Single-sex education and why I think it's the way to go for most students in the middle grades.
2. Making it work
3. The phenomenon of the Quarterlife Crisis
4. Dating and lack there of for many 20 somethings (and why it doesn't matter)
5. Reading
6. My role as a young professional in a school
7. Holidays
8. The passing of time
9. Another year
10. Is it 2010 ALREADY?
That should suffice for now?
What's on your mind lately?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
"I can't believe I'm at a class of '72 reunion with 250 people I've never seen before accompanied by a man I met on a singles cruise. Somewhere along the line my life took a turn..." ~Julia Sugarbaker
If Julia Sugarbaker can say that, here's my version. "I can't believe I'm at SuperTarget, pushing Chinet Cut Crystal cups and pretending to be happy about it on a cold and rainy November morning. I'm surrounded by shoppers that I have to be pleasant to, all for an extra bit of spending cash on a Saturday morning, answering to someone (or five people) half my age. Yes, somewhere along the line MY life took a turn." Sad thing is, somehow this is slightly better than controlling the masses in a first grade classroom. Where, oh where, did my life go? It's strangely comforting. I can do anything.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Self-reflection from a six-year-old
The following words were spoken by one of the six-year-olds in my after school activity today, at the end of the day, as we were cleaning up and getting ready to head to the busses for dismissal. Keep in mind, this comment came with no prompting what-so-ever from me. Only all day of reminding him the day before to keep his hands to himself and to control his body. I thought it was pretty amazing, for such a young kid to come up with something so, well, profound--for lack of a better word. Or maybe my standards have just been lowered beyond belief. Who knows?
What was the most amazing thing a kid has said to you today? This week?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I'm Intrigued by Simply Jane
Saturday, November 7, 2009
One of those where I don't really have any thing to say but I post anyway
On the license front, I'm still not license officially. Double Grr. Now Minnesota DOE is telling me that on top of the tests they had me take, I still have to take some classes to make the Birth-Preschool part of my Birth-Grade 3 license valid. But I don't even want to teach infants and toddlers, and I think my last post made that abundantly clear! I suppose it doesn't matter, as this is the only way to get the original license validated so that my reading license can go into effect as soon as possible. I'm talking to two universities (the only two that offer EARLY CHILDHOOD programs in the state of Minnesota--Bethel and Walden online) to see if they can really help me. I don't want to think about it any more.
What else is new? Not much. First graders continue to amaze me. Loving after school. Actually liking my job at times, minus lunch duty and uncooperative students. There are ways around that, I just haven't found it yet. I'm just going to keep swimming. On the upshot, I'm not a Minneapolis Kids employee anymore, so I guess that's worth celebrating.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Now that I'm far away from baby land, I can safely post this little numbe that a Em and I came up with one late night over G-chat
10. "...Will there be feces?"
9. "What would I do at floor time with the rug rats? Crap if I know... HAHAHAHAHA. ...Shoot myself? Wait....was that a trick question?"
8. "Well, if faced with a floor full of babies, I would...dance a jig and hope for the best? Talk about Sesame Street and how awesome it is to be able to talk?"
7. "Well, what do you want me to do with a floor full of babies? Quote Shakespeare?" Discuss Homer and the Odyssey? You can never teach them too early!"
6. "Your Baby Can Read. That's what we would be doing. Your Baby Can Read, Theory of Hegemonic Decline, classic lit--you know, the usual."
5. "What can possibly be so hard about a room full of babies? You pop in a tape and let the music do the rest...right? Um, thank God for Raffi--know what I mean?""
4. "You mean there's a wrong way to slap a diaper on that little fella? Who knew?"
3. "She's so TINY! Are you sure I won't break her? So, how hard could I squeeze her? I mean, theoretically..."
2. "You mean that little munchkin...er...dopey/sleepy/sneezy...I have do what? You are asking me to do what now? I DON'T THINK SO BIOTCH."
1. "What if I run out of formula? Is there a snack machine in this place?"
Strange and funny quotations
“Don’t take too long. This is the first day of the rest of my life.”
An older woman whom I had never met before said this to me, explaining that she was a writer, teacher, and can work anywhere.
She later explained that someone just bought her a house in Savannah, and that this was her dream location.
What would you do if you heard this randomly, during the day?