MLK Jr.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power of love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

~Martin Luther King Jr.

I'm Going to Punch You in the Crotch with My Foot

Sometimes I say things like this out loud. 

Most of the time it makes people laugh. 

Very rarely do I actually come through on my threats...just don't annoy me and you'll be fine.

Sometimes I Text Myself

so I can remember things.

Here is a text I reread from myself:

"How pregnant is she?"
"She's due in March."
"Oh, yeah.  She can get punched."

Not so sure how this conversation started or why we are talking about punching pregnant ladies (which I do not condone.) but it's funny to read.

What I Love...Day 11, 2011

I love...

this quote.  I don't feel like I'm hurting right now but I just love this. 

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What I Love...Day 3, 2011

I love...

Martin Luther King, Jr. and this wonderful holiday we have to remember him.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

We All Need A Reason to Believe

I feel like I need to post something...but can't think of anything but wedding and I'm assuming my slightly crazy bride posts are annoying and no fun to read...soooo, instead you get this today.

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No Rainbow Without the Rain

  It has been a rough week.  But it's going to get better...it has to get better.

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No Matter What

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Life Is Too Short. . .

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Courage

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My Symphony

I love this.  I found it here.  Check her out.

Good Advice

“All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan.” 

~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Your Happily Ever After,” Ensign, May 2010, 127

Up in the Air Future = Rambling Blog Post

I'm trying to go to sleep but I can't because I'm trying to mull over all the crap of the week. It's been a rough one at school. Yep, my students are being naughty but that's not what has made it so tough. What's made it tough is knowing that there are inevitably going to be many cuts at the end of this school year. If I'm lucky enough to still have a job next year, I know that I will loose many good friends and students will loose many great teachers.

No one feels safe. Our future as educators is up in the air. Maybe we (by we, I mean teachers with little seniority like me) will have jobs next year, maybe we won't. And let's say we are laid off by our district, it's not like other school districts have loads of jobs available. We're all scared, we're all angry and none of us know what to do.

You hear it in the hushed conversations in classrooms after school, you hear it in the lack of enthusiasm, you hear it in the lack of patience with students. What is it? Apathy. We are discouraged.

We love our jobs, we love our students, and all we want is what is best for the students. With class sizes creeping into the high 30s, how are we going to give each student the care and individualized instruction that he or she needs? We want our opinions to be heard. We want to be treated as the professional people we are. We want our expertise to be used to make decisions, not some politician who's last experience in a classroom was 30 years ago when he attended high school.

Teachers teach because they love it. But when year after year we are told that we aren't doing a good job, that we need to do more with less, that we need to make all the ills of society go away, and then we aren't given the professional respect we deserve by the public; we become angry. We become the teacher you complain about. The teacher who comes at 8am and leaves at 4pm...on the dot. The teacher who complains about any extra thing he or she has to do outside of contract hours. The teacher who pulls a lesson out of the file each week and teaches it in exactly the same way he or she has for the past 10 years, no matter how outdated it is or how much the students have changed or how much the curriculum has changed. The teacher who doesn't get to know your child on a personal level. The teacher who can't wait to retire. The teacher who does the bare minimum. And who would blame them with how teachers are treated?

How can one expect teachers to feel good about teaching your children if they are crapped on day after day by various groups of people?

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job."
~Donald D. Quinn

Like Mother's Milk

"You're dealing with children. They need to be terrified. It's like mother's milk to them. Without it their bones won't grow."

~Sue Sylvester, Glee

Hope, Education and Trying Your Best = Something You Don't Want Your Kids to Hear?

Being a teacher I was given the opportunity to show today's presidential speech to my class. However, there were some hoops I had to jump through. First, I had to write a lesson plan (complete with pre and post activities) and submit it to my principal to be pre-approved. Second, I had to have a relevant tie to 6th grade core curriculum. Third, I had to prepare work for those students who don't have permission that would be equivalent to what we did with the video. And fourth, I had to send home letters to parents to get approval from them.

With what went on in my classroom last week and the fact that I was supposed to be off track today, I didn't have the energy to worry about it. Now that I've watched it online, I can't believe it was so controversial. I also fully plan on showing it when my class goes back on track. I'm writing my lesson plan now. Sure it's going to be a month later and some kids may have seen it already but I'm going to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to see it and talk about it.

Since when do we not want the leader of our country to encourage students to work hard in school?

I would love for someone to explain to me why this is a horrible thing. Seriously, I'll listen. I just want to know what the big deal was.

Here's some quotes from the speech that I enjoyed:

"I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide."

"Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. . .Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals."

"And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country."

"Now, your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. . . you've got to do your part, too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't let yourself down. Make us all proud."

Quotes

Hello Everyone! Blog followers and stalkers alike! I am thinking about what I want my classroom to look like and I really think I want to do something with quotes. I'm not sure exactly what I want yet but I need to begin gathering quotes.

I need a plethora of quotes that are appropriate for 6th graders in a public elementary school. If you have a favorite quote leave it in a comment for me. I'd like the quotes to come from everywhere--books, movies, music, speeches, anything!

Thanks so much!

Fragmented Thoughts

I don't know why I feel like I have to write on here everyday (seriously, my life is pretty lame right now) but I do. It's an obsession. Maybe because I never write in my journal and I'm trying to make it up somehow...I don't know. I also know that I will severely disappoint my loyal followers if I don't post everyday. :)

I subbed today at Parkside (one of the schools that interviewed me on Wednesday) in a special ed. class. It was so boring! You'd think that I'd get to do something but I just sat around most of the day. It really was not fun. Also, I didn't feel like I was appreciated at the school. I know I already said I didn't do much but I was there and willing to work. I asked for jobs to do and I got breakfast duty, bathroom duty, filling in bubble sheets, and lunch duty. What a great day to spend a day...at least I got paid. After being there, I don't know that I really want to work there at all.

I love quotes. This is a quote I heard in my Creative Arts Methods class during the Fall of 2008 and I loved it. This quote is also one of the handful of helpful things I got from that class.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant,gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciouslygive other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others.

~A Return to Love, Marianne Williamson