Teacher Talk Tuesday: Unwind

As I said just a few posts ago, I would really like to incorporate more teaching/education in my bloggie. I've decided that I'd like to maybe start a reoccurring post on Tuesday's called "Teacher Talk Tuesday." These posts will include updates on what I'm doing in class with my students, ideas, theories, my career goals, plans... basically anything having to do with education. Obviously, during the summer, posts may have to be every couple of weeks, but we'll see how that goes when we get there!

This week for TTT, my topic is going to be a novel called Unwind. I just finished teaching Unwind to my co-taught LA2 class, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it in my self-contained LA10 class. The following is the summary we provided to the parents of our students:

"Unwind, a post-apocalyptic novel published in 2007, takes place after the Second American Civil War and focuses on children between the ages of 13 and 18 being sent by their parents to be 'unwound.'"

This book focuses on a Utopian society that offers the solution of terminating your child once they reach 13, rather than allowing abortion. While it may seem like a hot topic, it really sparked the interests of a number of our students. It left questions open, discussions were opinionated and passionate, and the kids really liked the story and thus were excited to read on in the series (there are a total of four books).

This book also gave us a great opportunity to do some fun activities using textual evidence. Two standout activities included: Body Biographies using textual evidence, and Harvest Camp Ads.

   

For the body biographies, they were asked to choose one of the main characters from the text. They were then given a worksheet to fill out about the characters that included character traits, hobbies, relationships, etc. They were asked to find quotes in the text supporting each trait they thought the character had and record it on the worksheet, along with the page number. As you can tell, some students colored their pictures, while some just wrote the traits - that was their choice. We then posted these outside of the classroom. 

The Harvest Came Advertisements were a fun assignment because it asked students to advertise something that you come to be against as you read the novel. This required them to think outside of the box to make something seem desirable, even though it actually isn't. They were able to use magazines, markers, etc. to create their ad during a 90-minute class period. Students did a really great job on these! When parents came for academic advisement night/conferences, there were many complements.

Other activities that we implemented with this novel were opinion journals, the four-corners game (a statement was read and they had to pick whether they agreed, somewhat agreed, etc. and then defend it), videos, scripting and creating a movie trailer, comprehension quizzes, writing prompts, a basketball review game, and more. The kids really liked this book, and almost every single one of them got an A or a B on the test! I'd call that a win-win situation!

What about you guys? What books are you teaching in class? What activities do you use?

 

Girls' Day Out

   

I start out this post with a couple of pictures of me with my Chiefs girlies. In the mass of boys that are like our brothers, there exists a ray of light in the form of Stacey and Audra. Girls to have fun with, enjoy the game with, and just be silly with. During the off season though, seeing each other must be more calculated, as Sundays aren't guaranteed.

Last weekend, I woke up to a text on Saturday from Stacey asking if I wanted to go to the zoo with Audra, Izzy, and her. How could I pass that up?? The weather was GORGEOUS, and it was something totally new and out of the ordinary Saturday plans! Plus, the KC Zoo has done a ton of upgrades in the past few years that I haven't seen since I haven't been in so long.

 

 

 

We walked a large portion of Africa, saw a lot of animals (check out the Gorilla sleeping with his legs propped up in the picture above), and got to chit-chat about what's been going on in life lately. I've been truly blessed with these friendships in my life, and I can't wait for football season to start again so I can see all of these beautiful faces on the regular. Let's plan another date soon!!

Bonefish Grill Review

I hate to be THAT blogger that consistently reviews restaurants she's been to... but for the sake of blogging, humor me, and maybe even try the places I've been when you have free time! :)

Ben has a couple of students that he teaches cello lessons privately, in their homes. One of these students is a high school freshman whose family we've come to adore. They're beautiful people with big hearts, so why wouldn't you want them in your life, am I right?? Anyway, for Christmas, they gave Ben a $50 gift card that worked at a couple different places - Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, etc. Talk about a great gift (not to mention, there was more)! Well, neither of us are HUGE Outback fans, so we've been sitting on the gift card for three months. Last Saturday, we decided we wanted to go somewhere and have some sort of date night, so we rummaged through our gift cards, coupons, and groupons (we like to do nice things for even nicer prices), and happened upon this card. We decided to google Bonefish Grill to see if there was one near us because neither of us had ever been. There was one not far from us (15 minutes or so), so off we went!

Unfortunately, I wasn't on my "food picture" game, but we enjoyed an appetizer of calamari, as well as a couple of beers with our meal. Here's what had to eat (sorry for the picture quality - dark restaurant):

My meal is on the left! I had the Sirloin + Crab Cake Dinner. It was served with fresh vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, and a bacon mushroom sauce. It was delicious and also reheated REALLY well for lunch the next day!

Ben had a restaurant special, the Oscar Turbot. On the menu, the description was as follows... "From the Land of Fire & Ice, Greenland Turbot is the sister in texture and mild flavor to the indulgent Halibut. Sautéed Piccata-style, topped with jumbo lump crab meat, asparagus, and lemon caper butter sauce. Served with mushroom ravioli + spring vegetables." The picture does not do his meal justice!!

Both meals were great, all of the food was delicious, the wait was short, and the service was good! We also were able to find a coupon online for $10 off, so between that and the gift card we only spent about $15 out of our own pockets! It's definitely a pricier date night, but if you forewent the drinks and appetizers it would be pretty reasonable!

On a scale of 1-10, I would give Bonefish Grill an 8!

What about you guys? What are your thoughts? Any new restaurants you want to try?

Home Buyers!

Well guys, if you've been keeping up with the blog this week, you know that Ben and I have decided to post-pone our parenting process. This has been an extremely emotional decision, but with that comes a new level of respect and love in our relationship due to us being able to discuss things that are harder to talk about. With all of these things in mind, we've also been able to evaluate other aspects of our life - buying a house being one of them! We're buying a house!!! Obviously we are newbies to this process, but we feel very fortunate in the fact that we have friends who have recently gone through this process, supportive family, and we've chosen a great realtor to help us on this journey.

We are looking to buy in the Liberty, MO area so that my commute is a bit shorter, but we are still close to the city and our families! We are hoping to find a 3 bed, 1.5+ bath, 1+ car garage in our price range. While we probably won't be in this home forever, we would like a little room to grow eventually. With that said, we are going into this open minded, knowing that we will NOT be buying our dream home as our starter house. It's just not realistic. Sure, we'd love defined dining space! Sure, we'd love a basement with a family room and/or a bonus room for crafting and such! Will we get those? Who knows. Either way, we're excited! We are excited to have a space that is ours, with grass that is ours, and decorations that we've picked! This just seems like the natural next step for us! On Sunday, we went to an open house at a home we are interested in (thanks for going with us, Stacey!) and we are going out with our realtor TONIGHT to start looking at the other eight houses we have our our short list! Wish us luck!

I'm planning to keep track of our journey to being homeowners here on PDC. I hope you'll all follow along as we take this big step. Planting roots in KC for a while, y'all! See ya next time!!

Adult Decisions

Ben and I have been talking a lot about our future, and more than that, what we actually want out of it. Obviously, we decided nearly 15 months ago that it's going to be together - that has never been a question - but more than that, what do we want our quality of life to be like? I contemplated a lot before posting this post, because I generally like to keep my personal relationship details just that - personal. At the same time, I promised myself (and all of you) that I would be honest about what we're going through on our journey to becoming parents. So, here we are.

If you hadn't noticed, I did not entitle this post a part of the "Adoption Process" series. That is mostly because we have stopped to evaluate where we're going, and WHEN that will actually be a stop for us along the way. To put it bluntly, Ben and I have come to the decision that it's not time for us to have kids yet. I look around and I see people in my life having babies and being parents, and do I want that right now? Absolutely. Are we ready as individuals and/or as a couple? Not quite yet. We had a long, tough, tearful discussion about this topic not too long ago. It was hard. There was crying on both sides, anger, fear, and ultimately... the decision that it's just not time for us yet (I told you that marriage is hard/ugly sometimes). Am I disappointed that I am not going to be a mom in the next year? Sure, I am. We had talked about this and I had it in my head and my heart that I would have that soon. Then I think about my husband, and how much I love and respect him, and how I want for BOTH of us to be ready, in a good space, and able to promise 100% of ourselves to a tiny human. Neither of us are there yet, so it isn't fair to a child (whether biological or adopted) for us to bring them into our lives or home.

We still plan to do the things we want to do. We still plan to have children, but it won't be for a couple of years. Ultimately, I want to have children before 30 for medical reasons and so that my children can meet their great-grandmothers and great-grandfather. This gives us a little bit of time to really enjoy ourselves, establish our careers, love each other, and maybe take that trip I've been mentioning (I'm thinking Myrtle Beach or New Orleans - opinions?). One of the things I want most in the world is to be a mom, but for now, I'm going to focus on being a better wife.

We're just two of a kind, not quite yet working on a full house.

 

 

Sometimes We Succeed

Something that I really want to incorporate more into my blogging are strategies and activities that I use in my classroom. While this may technically be considered a "lifestyle" blog, I think that still works because teaching is a huge part of my lifestyle. Let me back up and tell you about my teaching/educational history.

I attended the University of Missouri for my undergrad. I changed my major to education at the beginning of my junior year, meaning that I graduated in five years instead of four. During my undergrad time, I was very sick, but I managed to make some great friends and learn a lot from a few really well-known players in the education world (Dr. Carol Gilles, anyone?). It was actually in my undergrad that I started my very first blog, if you don't count Xanga. I student taught at a Middle School in Blue Springs for my final semester. After I graduated from MU, I spent the summer trying to find a teaching job and failed. I was devastated. I was fresh out of college, I was motivated, and I was a terrible interview. No wonder they didn't hire me! I ended up taking a job as an Assistant Site Coordinator for a Before and After School Program in Lee's Summit for a year while I took graduate classes online through UCM. That year was also the year that I decided I was going to make something of myself. I applied for and was accepted into MU's teaching fellowship program, allowing me to teach full time as well as earn my Master's Degree. It was the best choice I ever made. I moved to and completed my fellowship in Chillicothe, MO. I taught (and Praxised into) secondary English, allowing me to meet a few great mentors and even more great students. When Fellows was over (and I had written/defended my thesis - HOLLA!), I interviewed at a number of places and wound up being offered two jobs within two days and having to choose. I chose Cameron High School in Cameron, MO, allowing me to live in the city with my husband and still work in a smaller, more intimate district. I took and passed the K-12 Mild/Moderate Cross-Categorical SPED test this year and have also signed my contract to return for the 2015-2016 school year.

Over the course of this school year, having transitioned to the Special Education setting, I've had to drastically push myself to change my way of thinking and my way of teaching. Something that I would have had students do last year in class may not be appropriate at all this year. I have found that changing my thought process on what expression actually means has been the ticket. Do students NEED to write something in order to express their ideas or point of view? Can they draw it? Can they create a video? Or a playlist? Can we have class discussion? Can they make timelines? Thinking outside of the box has been the name of the game, and sometimes we succeed.

Here are a few of the things we've done this year:
CHARACTER DRAWINGS: One of the activities students completed in class this semester was creating character drawings based on textual evidence. I ensured them that grades would be based on accuracy and effort, not artistic ability, but they all did a great job! They completed drawings over three main characters, as well as two additional characters who hold importance in the text.

LEISURE READING TIME: Lately, students have been asking to "get comfortable" while they have time to read in class. Laying on the ground is more comfortable that sitting in a chair, but hey, whatever works!

 

SCENIC DRAWING: Something else we have focused on while reading our novels has been illustrating various scenes from the text. This has allowed students to express how they visualize what is happening as we read.

 

MONTHLY RESPONSES: Monthly responses are one of my favorite things that we do in my labs. Each month they have to respond to a prompt on an appropriate (and provided) piece of paper. So far this year they have shared their favorite Halloween memory (October), something they're thankful for (November), their favorite Christmas gift they've ever received (December), goals for 2015 (January), things they love (February), and reasons they're lucky (March).

  

MOVIE TRAILERS: This has been a personal favorite of mine this semester because of my broadcasting background. The boys in my 5th hour put together a list/story board of photos and videos they wanted to take in order to create a movie trailer for the book we just read in class (Unwind). We spent the better part of a block day walking around the school and yard gathering these things. They spent the next day editing it together in class. They really liked this too, because it was something new and different.

  

Teacher friends, I ask you, what are some of the fun, relevant activities that you have your students complete in class?? I'm always looking for new, fun ideas to get kids connected to what we're doing!

Life As We Know It

It's been a while since I sat down and just typed about what's going on with me. I've updated you guys on restaurant visits and what's been going on with our adoption application, but in real life, it's not just brunch dates and a waiting game. True Life: I'm a teacher who struggles to keep her students interested in English, I'm a wife, and I'm tired. During the in-between, I am trying my hardest to keep up with people I love, read (who has time to do this for fun?), and keep my apartment in a state that isn't considered "hot mess." It's real, and sometimes it's ugly. Sometimes I sit and watch The Bachelor or Dancing With The Stars, sometimes I order pizza instead of cooking dinner, and sometimes I plan dream vacations that I probably won't ever go on because being an adult is hard.

Since we've last talked, a number of things have happened. Some were exciting, some... not so much. Let's recap, shall we? Ben started his job at his new banking branch. He is excelling there and everyone he works with is really nice. I was supposed to go to Tulsa at the end of February to see Shelby, but due to weather and some other circumstances, it didn't happen. I'm still trying to pencil in a weekend to take that trip. I did find out that I passed my Special Education certification test!! Then... once March hit... things got so busy it seemed like I was spinning, and they haven't seemed to slow down any.

 

The first week of March brought Academic Advisement (Enrollment) night at CHS. Talk about a long day. Immediately following that, Ben and I left for Indiana. Literally, we drove over night and didn't get to his mom's house until 6:00 in the morning. Talk about rough. Luckily, I had a four day weekend, so we were able to spend a little more time than usual. Coming back to school meant the end of the 3rd grading quarter, which means grades and paperwork are due.

This week has been an exciting one. Not only did we have dinner for my dad's birthday, but one of my very best friends had her first baby. Aniston Richardson was born on March 17th at 10:20am. I couldn't be more proud or have for more love for them.

 

Somehow, in the midst of things, I've managed to see my friends a few times for dinners or bonfire nights. Ben and were also planning to buy a couch this weekend, but the one we had really wanted had jumped in price, so we will continue to look for something that will work for us.

   

Overall, life has been consumed with talk of the future. Should we buy a house, or should we rent for another year? Figuring out how to put my loans into teacher forbearance so that I may get some of that back after my first five years of teaching have been completed. Truly sitting down and hashing out the "Are we really ready to have a baby??" matter. (The truth is, we're not, but we'll talk more about that later). Signing contracts for next year's teaching position. Planning crazy road trips with my parents. Saving money. Meal planning. FINALLY figuring everything out financially with my medications... Sheesh. We have been constantly moving, constantly going. I have been blessed with an understanding, loving husband, and THAT, my friends, is what makes it all work. He lets me buy copious amounts of Diet Pepsi, eats the pizza when I don't cook, hugs me when I'm ugly crying, and we might even get to take a vacation some day.

Breakfast in KC (Stop 3/13)

Over the weekend, Ben and I had our third brunch experience off of our list. Sunday morning we got up early and roamed the city market for a bit, and then we landed on having brunch at The Corner Restaurant in Westport. If you live in the KC area like we do, you know that weather has been uncharacteristically gorgeous for this time of year lately. It was 83 degrees two days ago. WHAT THE HECK? You won't hear my complaining about sunshine in March though. Anyway, Sunday's weather was no exception, so not only did we venture out to brunch, we sat outside to enjoy it. Talk about amazing! The sun was shining, people were bustling about, and we had a great breakfast. Plus, my husband was pretty good company. ;)

We started as we normally do and ordered coffee. We have to be fair and have it at every place, right? The coffee was decent, but kind of pricey at $3 per cup. Ouch. Additionally, on the beverage front, I did appreciate the bottle of water that they left on the table for us to refill our own glasses.

 

Again, we had really great service at this brunch spot. Sometimes when you sit outside at restaurants, servers have indoor tables as well and can get busy. Our server had an outdoor-only section and was really funny. He brought out a plate of condiments (pictured below) and was like "Okay, guys, here's your meal! Enjoy!" and then pretended to walk away. Maybe you had to be there, but we thought it was hilarious. He was just really personable, and like I've said before, servers really can make or break your experience at a restaurant. For your viewing pleasure, I have also included a picture of Ben AFTER he finished eating, haha!

 

In terms of the meal itself, I really stepped out of my comfort zone on this one. It definitely paid off. I ordered Craw-fish Cakes Eggs Benedict. It was large english muffins, poached eggs, tomato stewed greens, hollandaise, and your choice hashbrown patty or house potatoes. You had your choice of "protein" between ham & pepperjack, crawfish cakes, sage sausage, and veggie avocado. I wouldn't have normally gone the craw-fish cake route, but the server was highly complementary so I went for it. Everything I ate was fantastic, even though I only managed to eat about half of it - so much food!!

Ben couldn't decide what he wanted, so he ended up getting two different things. He got a half order of Swoonin' Biscuits as well as a Short Stack of Pancakes. With his half order of biscuits he got one biscuit, black peppercorn sausage gravy, two farm fresh eggs, and choice of hashbrown patty or house potatoes. The pancakes were buttermilk. Ben enjoyed his food, but again the portions were massive! He expressed that he was glad he only got the HALF order of biscuits, because that alone was too much food.

 

Overall, we really enjoyed our experience at Corner Restaurant. The food was great, the service was great, and the weather was fantastic. For me though, the portion sizes and the coffee would bring it down to a 9.5/10. Tune in next month for our next location!