Saturday, May 24, 2008
It. is. over.
Maria Sue Chapman
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Pray for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family...
Saturday, May 17, 2008
It's the End of an Era...
In 1984 I went with my mom and dad to the local Lincoln dealership in town. I was only 9 years old and didn't realize I would witness a virtual phenomenon take place right before my eyes...I saw a man pay CASH for a brand new car! That man was my dad, Mr. Cash Only, man! I knew we were not rich, however he always carried a money clip with a lot of cash on it. He died in 1992 and I've never seen money since!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He paid a little over $20,000 for this car and I've kept the receipt to show my kids some day. $16,000 CASH and $4,000+ in a cashiers check. I would love to know what the conversation was among the salesmen when we left. My dad was short, almost completely bald, and a little chubby...he must have looked like a member of the mafia that day!
Anyway, today we had a moment of silence and let the tow truck take it away forever. Mom decided to donate it to Habitat for Humanity. They send out a tow truck and make any repairs necessary before they sell it. All profits go to HforH. So it's a good cause and hopefully it will be a good car for somebody.
Good Ole Betsy was a mere 24 years old with less than 150,000 miles on it. Unfortunately she hasn't run for a few months. She needs a battery and maybe some power steering fluid. Besides that the doors are so heavy you can hardly open them and the seals are worn around the windows. Take her through a car wash and you won't need a bath for the day! The A/C doesn't work and my favorite part is that she is about a mile long...a true bat mobile!
If my dad were alive today, he'd be amazed at people getting car loans for 5, 6, or 7 years! He NEVER had a credit card and died at a young 45 years old not owing anybody a penny! I wish I could do that!!!!
Beach Countdown!
Friday with Maddie
As I was trying to take her picture and get her to smile for the camera, she said "Please....Amy", in other words stop taking my picture and drive!!!
I gave her the cutest little ladybug "purse" to keep her money in while we shopped...you have to teach them early!
She loves rides of any kind!
She's a pro!
She picked out a green stroller, but of course wanted to get out frequently. But I didn't let her...I stayed firm! Remember the library incident?? I could just see her running all over the mall.
We were in Williams Sonoma, my favorite store! I was showing her all the 'cooking stuff'. She loves to cook with me and to watch Food Network in the afternoons. Her favorite is "Barefoot Contessa", mine too. When it comes on she always says 'black shirt' because Ina usually wears a black or dark blue button up shirt to cook in. Maddie always notices the colors of clothing.
Her favorite thing was this waterfall and flower bed outside of the mall. She would not turn around for pictures. They would have been so cute if you could see her face!
Friday night I had girls night with Madison! We went to the mall to ride the carousel (major fun!), I needed to go shopping for a few things, and we had supper at Chick fil A! She loves any individualized attention she can get, so as soon as I get home from school it's all about "Amy". She will even leave her 'snack' to the rest of the kids at daycare in order to come inside the house with me. She KNOWS she has me wrapped around her little finger! This summer will be so much fun, but I have to spend more time with Little Eddie too.
We came home around 8:00 p.m. and she was all ready for bed. Mom and I thought we'd try her in the guest room this time because neither of us wanted her to sleep with us (because you can't sleep with her tossing and turning). She went right to sleep and didn't wake up til morning! Baby Eddie didn't either. Ambre and Eddie had a date night and a full nights rest as well!
Friday, May 16, 2008
The countdown continues...
First of all I write my blog in order to chronicle my life as a whole. It started as a way to pass the time during the paper pregnancy stage of the adoption, but later I realized it will include my journey through adoption, my family, my career, my spiritual life, and so much more. After I started blogging I realized it was a healthy way for me to record my feelings about life and where God has lead me, what God is teaching me, and how I'm measuring up...so to speak. I'm not perfect, never claim to be, never will be. I make mistakes and I've made a lot of mistakes this year in my classroom. I'm human.
However, I still believe passionately in my calling to be a teacher in public school. I believe I do make a difference. My students have made tremendous academic, social, and personal gains this school year and will leave my classroom a better person than they were.
I love my kids and I love my students...THAT is why I care so deeply about all of the situations that I wrote about. I know I wrote with a sarcastic tone...sarcasm and humor is how I write and how I speak sometimes. So please don't get offended at how I may describe my students. After this school year ESPECIALLY I don't need to be criticized because I can promise you I've put up with a lot more than what most people could have dealt with.
In her comment she wrote "have you ever considered you are in the wrong profession"...absolutely not! Just because I've had a bad day, a bad week, or a bad year doesn't mean I need to find a new career. Interestingly enough, that is exactly what most teachers do though. They get burned out, feel unappreciated and quit, they move on. Many of them are excellent teachers or have the potential to be excellent, but our school systems and society beat them down so hard they can't get back up.
I am a Middle Childhood Specialist with the highest credentials a teacher can achieve (National Board Certified Teacher). I'm proud of my career, my achievements, and I will continue to teach and hold the bar very high for my students. They need a challenge and they need high expectations. We should not accept anything less that their best.
There is always room for improvement and that is why I'm so glad I get to start each August new and fresh with a different class...a different set of challenges. (Hopefully this year it won't be quite so many challenges!) I spend my summer "vacation" reading and researching the web for new teaching strategies, new behavior management techniques, new and fresh ideas. I never recreate the same class experience from one year to the next.
What I would love to know is who 'anonymous' is and how you found my blog just out of curiosity. Thanks to the two other ladies who commented on that post! Your thoughts are very encouraging! In the future if you don't like what you're reading on a blog, just don't read it. And please don't pass superficial judgements on people because of what they write when you don't know them personally.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Earthquake in China
Keep this terrible catastrophe in your prayers. My heart is heavy as this is the homeland of my daughter who may not even be born yet. Also, as I think of the many families in China experiencing overwhelming heartache at the loss of loved ones. My thoughts also go to adoptive families who may be in the country in the process of adopting now or families still at home waiting for travel. Just knowing your child may be in an uncertain situation is more than a parent can handle. So I encourage you to pray for all of these people directly affected and if you feel so lead, make a donation to Half The Sky a wonderful organization who has quickly stepped up and created an emergency relief fund for children affected by the terrible and tragic earthquake in China. The selfish side of me worries that this may be another hold up in my own adoption timeline as China takes time to clean up and regroup itself.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Let the Countdown begin...
For all of the non-educators out there, I know you find this hard to believe. How could 8 and 9 year olds be so difficult. They shouldn't be, but this in a nutshell is what I've been battling:
* 5 boys that have made up their own gang, complete with graffiti, hand signs, and a name...this has been going on all year. They are B.A.D., rude, disrespectful, and just plain unlikeable. Sorry people, I'm being honest here. All year long I cannot get a complete sentence out of my mouth (maybe that is one reason they cannot write a complete sentence...they've never heard one) before they are looking around at each other sharing hand signs and laughing. I told them all if I see them them put their hands in any kind of funny 'sign' I would give them so many write offs their pencil would be permanently stuck to their hand as they go into 4th grade next year. Do you think that kind of discipline is going to win me any 'Teacher of the Year" award??
* 3 ADHD kids NOT on any medication. I'm not a proponent of drugging our children, just drugging them when I'm expected to teach them something. I promise if any of the parents in question had to actually be with these kids for 7+ hours a day and if they were held accountable for actually teaching them a skill they would do something about their children's lack of ability to sit for longer than 10 seconds. These kids will be whisked away to daycare and/or summer camp before you can say "School's out!" and next year the teacher will have the exact same problems I've had. The parents will promise to do something, but yet do nothing. Perpetuating the problem so the kids will have virtually no success in school and will begin hating it. This could lead me into a whole other topic of 'if parents could actually parent and discipline their children we wouldn't have to medicate them' but that is another story.
* One boy came to our room in December and quickly 'joined' the aforementioned gang. He is repeating 3rd grade after he should have gone to summer school. He decided not to get up and attend so therefore he has to repeat the whole grade. He comes to school when it's convenient for him, usually he chooses "bankers hours"...you know he'll roll in about 9am after we are finished with at least one subject for the day. He's smart, in fact so smart he knows how the system works so he knows he can't fail again no matter how lazy he is. He'll be a great citizen because of these wonderful lessons he's learned from watching his parents raise him so well. (notice my sarcastic voice here)...I'm thinking of nominating his parents for 'Parent of the Year'.
* One boy in my room is involved in a custody battle between mom and dad. I was subpoenaed into court one day to testify in this situation.
* One boy has severe emotional issues and has an undiagnosed mental illness that makes it impossible to function in a typical school day. It's 'undiagnosed' because mom has refused testing for so long that nobody wants to fight her about this. It's hard to tell her the truth because she has only an elementary education herself and thinks with every conversation that we're just wanting to 'put him in resource'. Really that is not the goal here, the goal would be that your son had the communication and social skills of a 10 year old (he's been held back before too) and not a 2 year old. The goal would be that your son could go to recess and play with other children instead of stand and cry and scream for no apparent reason. The goal would be that I could get through the day without some adult asking me what is wrong with this kid...to which I have to respond "don't know". This 5-star mom sent me a note with the last report card (in which I gave the kid a D+ in Reading) and it said how I was an awful teacher and I hadn't "learned him anything this year" everything he has learned she taught him....you think, because I couldn't tell???????????????
* Another boy has major problems at home with crazy parents and as such deep emotional problems he can't control or doesn't control his need to go to the bathroom. He has a BM on himself every day, several times a day in fact. He wears pull ups (now) and misses a lot of class because he spends his time in the bathroom or nurses office changing himself each day. It's so sad, again I could explain a lot here but it would be TMI!!
* One girl saw her dad die of a drug overdose last year and her mom gave her up to live with her grandmother. She's lived through a lot!
* One boy is a kleptomaniac, steels anything within reach. He gets mad frequently and pushes his books off his desk and throws his desk and chair around. MAJOR problem, but I actually kind of like this kid.
* One girl in my room lost her mother this year, she and her 2 siblings moved in to live with an aunt who is fabulous, but not her mom. She's buried her mom, moved to another state, changed schools, moved into another living situation, and has earned straight A's all year...she's a superstar! But, still I haven't had time to help her deal with her life because of the other idiots in my classroom.
Do you see why I need a drink on my vacation???????? These are just the problems I'm rambling off at the top of my head. I haven't even gotten to the actual teaching part. After I've dealt with these emotional and behavioral problems I love the fact that I have 10 minutes left in the day to teach the other 7 subjects! I really have some (very few) students who are super sweet and well behaved. I want to tell their parents I'm sorry their child has had to deal with such...but isn't that a good life lesson for them?
As I close, I want to tell all of the fabulous teachers out there "Happy Teacher Appreciation Week"...did you know you should have appreciated the teacher in your life this week? Probably not because it's warped in with Mother's Day, Graduation, Nurses Day, among other Hallmark created events. I'm so lucky that my school did 'appreciate' the teachers by creating a 'spa' in one of our vacant portables. We were able to go during planning for a massage and yummy food. Our wonderful administration gave us a school logo polo shirt and said 'Thank You". Sometimes that is the best gift of all..
If you are a teacher in need of a great laugh or just love teacher stories, check out this blog. It's so funny and I can usually relate to everything she has said.