I procrastinate!
This
plus this
plus this
plus this
Equals this
Happy Tuesday
Trying Hard to Get There
3 months ago
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Dreaming....
I have these dreams, not like scary dreams but dreams about family vacations I long to take...by family I don't mean with kids... no like with our couple friends or vacations Cullen and I will take when we retire.
I dream of taking a three week vacation out west...the first week we could drive out west...I don't know where to yet just west, then we would spend a week out west...still don't know where we would be...and then we would spend our third week coming home...a different way of course. And in the process of all that traveling we would get to see great places, eat in little hole in the wall diners and rest areas and just enjoy the scenery. Doesn't it sound wonderful...there is a hitch in my dream...Cullen, love of my life, the one person I want to experience this with...doesn't really find my dream appealing to him. I think it is because he spent too much time playing soccer as a child and didn't get to go on enough vacations to different places...he would say it is because the thought of three weeks traveling to him sounds like misery-maybe I should have married a truck driver...ha, just kidding...or a travel agent.
Anyway so we are working on possibilities for us to be able to explore the west and coming soon we might just get to...it won't be in an RV or a pull along camper like in my dream, or by plane Cullen's dream, but it is coming...and you'll have to wait for more details on our destinations.
I dream of taking a three week vacation out west...the first week we could drive out west...I don't know where to yet just west, then we would spend a week out west...still don't know where we would be...and then we would spend our third week coming home...a different way of course. And in the process of all that traveling we would get to see great places, eat in little hole in the wall diners and rest areas and just enjoy the scenery. Doesn't it sound wonderful...there is a hitch in my dream...Cullen, love of my life, the one person I want to experience this with...doesn't really find my dream appealing to him. I think it is because he spent too much time playing soccer as a child and didn't get to go on enough vacations to different places...he would say it is because the thought of three weeks traveling to him sounds like misery-maybe I should have married a truck driver...ha, just kidding...or a travel agent.
Anyway so we are working on possibilities for us to be able to explore the west and coming soon we might just get to...it won't be in an RV or a pull along camper like in my dream, or by plane Cullen's dream, but it is coming...and you'll have to wait for more details on our destinations.
Rewind
When looking through my camera earlier I realized that I had a few notable moments that did not make it to the blog. Can't have that...so here are some happenings
Super Bowl Sunday we celebrated with our Sunday School class at the Thompson's home. This year was different in that the couples with children brought them and wouldn't you know it...the kids love Cullen. While we both love to take on other people's children we are so glad when we get to go home alone...and someone else deals without sleep.
My grandmother celebrated another birthday and while I wish I knew how old she was...I don't I'm not sure I looked at the cake to see if it was written on it or not, but regardless of number we were gathered to celebrate...I'm thinking she is 86...that sounds right, but I can't be sure.
Meagan was in the school pageant again this year and while she didn't place this time...she did get most photogenic. Yay for her!
Leslie and I went to Oxford to celebrate our highschool friend Brooke's birthday at Yocna in exile, since Yocna burned last year they set up shop in an old gas stationy place that is just as old and cute as the other place...only it is in Abbeville...so note the reason for the added- in exile...Yes you'll notice I'm posting just a picture of Leslie and me...that is because as we age not everyone is as receptive to 'photoshoots' as they once were...well not everyone except Leslie and me...I think when we are 70 we will still look for someone to snap a photo...hopefully with a different camera than the one that got me through college...aka the fun-saver.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
What a Great Day
I took off Wednesday from school so that I could work on my National Boards. Some of you might want to check the last three posts if you missed it. It was a super productive day. I had about five things on my to do list- Yes, I make to do lists on my days off, too.
1) Sign up for the assessment - got this completed in about thirty minutes
2) Choose my 15 minutes of video for the Social Studies section-this took a little longer
3) Transcribe the 15 minute video- this took a while, writing down what each kid said for 15 minutes
4) Finish entry two- Working from early morning through lunch, I finished this by 8:30
5) Plan my science lesson to video- I woke up yesterday morning and did this from about 4:30-6:30
While Wednesday was a good day Thursday proved to be a great day. I got to school early with a fresh lesson in hand. But having a few road blocks the past two weeks with the passing of my assistant's mother and the training of a sub assistant after almost six weeks alone is a little daunting on a person and especially while implementing curriculum that is out of the norm...meaning we normally don't teach science explicitly we teach reading, language, and math. So to do a true Science, something else would have to be given up...I chose yesterday to give up reading groups and do a little experimentation.
When I got to school all the teachers were nay sayers---imagine that the day before the day you get out for spring break. Everyone was concerned I had chosen such a day to video...and even worse I would choose to wait until the afternoon to video...everyone knows kids get wilder each hour closer to getting out for spring break. But you see in my mind I had exactly how the plan was going to work...and when I have a plan I can NOT deviate from the plan...ask Cullen...his family doesn't plan ahead like me and sometimes it makes me crazy...but we are learning to cope.. Back to the story
So I switched my bible time with another teacher so that my planning time would back up to bible and give me a good 20 extra minutes to plan it out/gather supplies from my coworkers...
My sweet and precious friend Logan Ramsey came in to video- his family is like the bomb.com and are very techno- and I had seen a video he did for my friend Ms. Jenna for her boards and just like I HAVE to HAVE a Louis Vuitton or David Yurman, I just had to have him to do my video. (I may have exaggerated a bit there but I thought it added to the story-what'd ya think? ha ha)
We made Oobleck...like from the Dr. Seuss story...it is a mixture of corn starch and water that has the properties at time like a liquid and at times like a solid. Yes I had 28 hands in this sticky mess for about 40 minutes, and the kids loved it. The video was a success- I watched it with my mentor group last night and we all rejoiced together. Rejoiced because I don't have to shoot another video, rejoiced because the end is insight, rejoiced because we are so delirious right now we didn't know when to stop.
On a side note- I have a ridiculously good class this year. They do not always act perfect but 98% of the time "ain't" bad. They said the wow, comments that needed to be made and had the truly amazed looks that needed to be seen in this science as inquiry video.
While washing their hands at the end of the lesson I was telling them how great they were and one of my kids said, "Ms. Pollard, this was like the most fun thing ever!- and don't worry I said that on the video too" and then she gave me a wink. Without telling them they could sense my apprehension and worked to make it all better. Yesterday, was a great day!
1) Sign up for the assessment - got this completed in about thirty minutes
2) Choose my 15 minutes of video for the Social Studies section-this took a little longer
3) Transcribe the 15 minute video- this took a while, writing down what each kid said for 15 minutes
4) Finish entry two- Working from early morning through lunch, I finished this by 8:30
5) Plan my science lesson to video- I woke up yesterday morning and did this from about 4:30-6:30
While Wednesday was a good day Thursday proved to be a great day. I got to school early with a fresh lesson in hand. But having a few road blocks the past two weeks with the passing of my assistant's mother and the training of a sub assistant after almost six weeks alone is a little daunting on a person and especially while implementing curriculum that is out of the norm...meaning we normally don't teach science explicitly we teach reading, language, and math. So to do a true Science, something else would have to be given up...I chose yesterday to give up reading groups and do a little experimentation.
When I got to school all the teachers were nay sayers---imagine that the day before the day you get out for spring break. Everyone was concerned I had chosen such a day to video...and even worse I would choose to wait until the afternoon to video...everyone knows kids get wilder each hour closer to getting out for spring break. But you see in my mind I had exactly how the plan was going to work...and when I have a plan I can NOT deviate from the plan...ask Cullen...his family doesn't plan ahead like me and sometimes it makes me crazy...but we are learning to cope.. Back to the story
So I switched my bible time with another teacher so that my planning time would back up to bible and give me a good 20 extra minutes to plan it out/gather supplies from my coworkers...
My sweet and precious friend Logan Ramsey came in to video- his family is like the bomb.com and are very techno- and I had seen a video he did for my friend Ms. Jenna for her boards and just like I HAVE to HAVE a Louis Vuitton or David Yurman, I just had to have him to do my video. (I may have exaggerated a bit there but I thought it added to the story-what'd ya think? ha ha)
We made Oobleck...like from the Dr. Seuss story...it is a mixture of corn starch and water that has the properties at time like a liquid and at times like a solid. Yes I had 28 hands in this sticky mess for about 40 minutes, and the kids loved it. The video was a success- I watched it with my mentor group last night and we all rejoiced together. Rejoiced because I don't have to shoot another video, rejoiced because the end is insight, rejoiced because we are so delirious right now we didn't know when to stop.
On a side note- I have a ridiculously good class this year. They do not always act perfect but 98% of the time "ain't" bad. They said the wow, comments that needed to be made and had the truly amazed looks that needed to be seen in this science as inquiry video.
While washing their hands at the end of the lesson I was telling them how great they were and one of my kids said, "Ms. Pollard, this was like the most fun thing ever!- and don't worry I said that on the video too" and then she gave me a wink. Without telling them they could sense my apprehension and worked to make it all better. Yesterday, was a great day!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Oh Happy Day
national board boxes and notebooks and papers and four laptops
running- the doorbell rings and I think ugh i had just gotten situated
and look what wa at the door! No not a Jehovahs Witness like I had
expected! It was a beautiful flower arrangement from Mr Jimmy and Ms
Debi! Just to say love! What a day picker upper! Thanks guys love
y'all, too!
I've Been Thinkin
I have been thinking about a lot of things lately. Most people do their thinking while they drive, when they are running...ha not me. I have always done most of my thinking in the wee hours of the morning while I'm getting ready. I think about my third grade teacher and does she remember me as smart or was I annoying- I got hurt a lot in third grade, and when I think about my students I wonder if in 20 years they will think of me like I do her? Also, about how young I thought she was...really she was about 30....I hope my students think I'm young and fun. At school I think about Summer Vacation. How it is coming and I CAN'T wait! I love my class this year. I think of them as a little family, they all have nicknames like Jake the Snake, Tan-Man, Papa Bear, Mo but with the added stress of the National Boards...I'm ready for Summer...heck I'll settle for April 1st the day after it is due...
Come April, who knows what I'll be thinking about, but for now I would rather plan the end of the year celebration and the art fair, and a gazillion other things that National Boards...at this point I'm no longer concerned with success...more like I'll settle for completion.
I did not expect this to be one of those posts but it has turned into that so I'll go with it.
I have noted that I am a procrastinator, well let me spell it out so you can really see how true this is...Most people begin prepping for their National Boards Year... yeah as in they spend a year doing this. Well, I've got about two weeks. People give up lots...like cooking, church activities, weekends, holidays, vacations...I'm gonna be giving up spring break...that's about it. So we will see how it goes. Pray to the Good Lord I'll have a few bankable entries to redo the others next year...and maybe in two or three years I'll be certified...I think I'm down trodden.
Come April, who knows what I'll be thinking about, but for now I would rather plan the end of the year celebration and the art fair, and a gazillion other things that National Boards...at this point I'm no longer concerned with success...more like I'll settle for completion.
I did not expect this to be one of those posts but it has turned into that so I'll go with it.
I have noted that I am a procrastinator, well let me spell it out so you can really see how true this is...Most people begin prepping for their National Boards Year... yeah as in they spend a year doing this. Well, I've got about two weeks. People give up lots...like cooking, church activities, weekends, holidays, vacations...I'm gonna be giving up spring break...that's about it. So we will see how it goes. Pray to the Good Lord I'll have a few bankable entries to redo the others next year...and maybe in two or three years I'll be certified...I think I'm down trodden.
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