Slacker. Again.

As yet another semester draws to a close, I find myself panicking due to all the uncertainty in my life.

I have been with my kids, my group of 2nd graders, for two weeks now. We had several breakthroughs this week, where they actually paid attention to me, and I was their teacher.

While my Host Teacher is good, nice, and friendly, there is a lot more "classroom crazy" going on than I like. I am learning to adjust. I started actually teaching lessons last week. I did the spelling section Monday - Thursday. I graded their homework.
Then,

• I found myself wondering who actually studied at home.
• I noticed particular words that the entire class missed on the Spelling Pre-Test on Wednesday.
• I now can pick out my strong students, my middle line students, and my students whose parents are not involved or don't give a flip.

I love these kids- all of them, even my ADHD boy who now just stares me down as he runs from me, instead of scrunching his face up like a monster ready to attack. I am having alot of fun.

Yesterday, I had to go to my classroom at Tech. It was a somber scene all morning. I got there early, I listened to horror stories about Practicum from my peers. One guy told me that all his Host Teacher lets him do is file papers and move boxes. Another lady told me of how she is belittled. This was the first time this semester that our entire class was so quiet. There is a sense of panic about the upcoming four weeks - it is crunch time. Our Professors gave us a calendar of when to be where, what is due, what we should be working on. I am feeling more than a little overwhelmed. There is not enough hours in my day.

I am living three lives - I leave the house at 6:50 a.m., drive for 30 minutes, teach till 11 a.m. , drive for 30 minutes, go to work, pick the kids up, work till 4:30 or 5:00, go home or to soccer games or back to school. After this, I am trying to be a mom, and a wife. I have no time to be a friend. My tornado could be catastrophic, but I have Dave there, picking up my slack, backing me up with the children. I have my mother in law in the back, picking up my leftovers.

I woke up before 6 a.m. this morning, thinking about my kids at school, what I am going to do to get their attention about the lessons on Chinese culture that I am teaching next week. In my dreams I was devising word games for them to remember their vocabulary and spelling words.

I will be finished with this semester on April 30. The following week is FINALS.
So, today, I am going to work on today. Tomorrow is for tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary.

Today is our anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Dave.

I love you bunches.

My First Kids.

***Please read the edit at the bottom***

So, I am loving L.O.V.I.N.G. my sweet little class. I am growing attached to some of the kids - we are bonding, I am learning about them and their families, and their abilities. I am learning about their strengths and weaknesses, and what I want to do for them.

I have fell in love!

There are a couple of children, in particular, that I have taken to.

One boy said some things that touched me yesterday.

Here is the story:

It is St. Patrick's Day. Everyone is wearing green. Little Dude looks at me and says, "Well, you know my brother is mostly leprechaun." Then, holding up his pointer finger and thumb close together, he says, "He only has about thismuch human blood left in him."

Ha!

Little Dude also likes to read to me. Yesterday we were reading Clifford: The Big Red Dog, and he told me that he was going to take the book home to his sister. She is autistic and LOVES big red dogs. Then, he said, "Me and My sister were twins. But she came early." Thinking that this is interesting, I said, "Wow! How old is she?" He answered, "11." (He is 8 and in 2nd grade) Musta been a difficult pregnancy. Poor mom.

Another boy that I have is diagnosed with ADHD- well, I am not so sure how this is going to work out. He doesn't like me. While I am not a fan of medicating children, I have a hard time deciding if this child needs medicine or a spanking. One day, I was asked to escort him to the library to pick out a new book. He told me to quit following him. Then, once we got in the library, he asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was going to help him find a new book. He looks at me and says, " Hey. The books I like are way over there. Why don't you go and see if you can find me one way over there." Now, he is not even beating around the bush. He tells me, "Why don't you go home?" and "Why are you still here?"

Our trouble began because he wanted me to draw him a smiley face on his reward system for RESPECTFULNESS. I told him we would talk to Host Teacher and see - and then he was told to wait 10 more minutes. So he says,"Fine. If you won't do it, I will draw it on myself."

Does ADHD cause meanness? Or just an inability to focus? Why is this kid able to focus on this attendance chart? Shouldn't he have forgotten it already?

I am not sure what I am going to do about his crankiness toward me. It has only been three days. :) It is gonna be an interesting seven weeks.


ETA~ I think my angry boy may also have something called oppositional defiant disorder. I have been researching this just because it is stressing me out. This is also translated as not liking to listen to adults. :)

An Interview with Emma and Tripp.

How old is your mom?

T- 15
E - 34

When did your mom and dad get married?
T - June 5, 2006
E - 97

Who is the favorite child?
T- me
E - Emma

Who is your mom's boyfriend?
T- Peyton Manning
E - Dad

Who is your mom's mom?
T - Grandma Sadler
E - Granny

Who is your dad's mom?
T - Grandma Sadler
E - Grandma

What does your mom do all day?
T-Work.
E - She works at the church.

What makes your mom happy?
T- Cleaning your room.
E - giving her a hug and a kiss

What makes your mom sad?
T- Not cleaning your room.
E -when she says no and you ask somebody else.

If you could tell your mom anything, what would you tell her?
T- I love her and I would do anything if she would let me spend the night with Grandma.
E - That I love her very, very much.

What do you love about Grandma -
T - I love her very much because she lets me spend the night with her.
E - She is so much fun.

What does Grandma do that is fun?
T - Walking Harley. But Harley ran away, so now she can't.
E - She gets to cuddle me and I get to spend time with her.

Anything else?
E - Thank you for interviewing me. Can we do it again after I read you a book?
T - Where did you put the remote?

School Updates.

So, today was the first day of my student teaching experience.

I loved it!

I loved 2nd graders! My host teacher was kind- she threw me right out to the wolves - and even though it scared me, I was OK. After I did a Read Aloud, I looked up, and they were all staring at me. A little boy in the front row asked, "Will you read us another book?"

I had been worried about what I would remember about the last several months of class. When I was in my 2nd grade room, I kept having flashbacks... for example, when I was listening to the host teacher teach, I had flashbacks of text-to-world. And when I was working with the kids on a spelling lesson, I got an extra book out - because I would not ask them to do something I would not do myself.

Aah!

So, anyways, this afternoon I had to meet with my new advisor at Tech. This man is a professor who teaches my next block set of education classes. Guess what he said! Guess WHAT HE SAID!

Did you guess????

First thing, He said," You need to go ahead and fill out your application for graduation."

Aah!

I almost cried!

Phone Calls.

Last night - about 10:30'ish - Tripper calls his Grandma and sugar coats his voice.

T - Hello Grandma...
G- Hiiiii Tripp.....
T- Grandma, can I tell you something?
G- Yes, Tripp?
T- I love you.....
G- I love you too, Tripp....
T-Can I come spend the night with you?
G-Yes, Tripp....

At that point, Tripp turns to his daddy, and goes, "Ha HAAAAAA!"

And just like that, she was suckered into The Tripper Sweet Talk.

From there, the kid runs around the house with a Wal-Mart bag, gathering clothes. So, he came and told me what he was doing, and as he was talking, the joy was all over his face. He was so animated that his eyebrows raised by themselves, one by one, while he was showing me who the boss was in this house.

Now, Grandma lives two houses down from us. This is fabulous because 1. When the kids want to see her at 10:30 at night, I go outside my back door, she goes to her side door, we both turn lights on, and wave! 2. I love the fact that my children have a great set of grandparents who spend time with them- the more people who love you, the better off you are, right? 3. It is just really fun!

I made Tripper do a repeat phone call, complete with his dialing the numbers himself. (Yey! He knows his numbers!) I listened to the whole sweet conversation again. Then I talked to her. Then, I took that sweet little boy to the back door and watched him walk to His Grandma, with Emma's princess sword in hand - for light and protection. And he had a good night.

Slacker.

I have sat down to write a new blog post about 15 million times, but I am unsuccessful in producing anything worth reading.

Spring break (for me) is here. I go back to school this coming Monday, but like always, when there is no school there is still SO MANY other things going on that I am still in my mini-tornado.

Take today, for example. I went and observed a neat First Grade class. The teacher invited me, and was expecting me, so I went for one hour. Then, I went to work. Then two hours later, I went to the post office, and I fell, like a big dumb idiot. It had been raining, and as I was coming out the door, I told a man (who was going in), "Boy, this is slick. Be careful and don't fall." Well, then I turned around and fell down the steps. I hopped up, praying that no one saw, and ran/hobbled to the van. Then, I called Dave, whined about my leg, ankle, and ring finger that got trapped underneath me. From there, I went and got Eli at school, picked Emma up, and met Dave and Tripper at the dentist. Emma and Tripper needed minor fillings (no numbing needed!) and Eli got a cleaning and a referral to an orthodontist for a jaw problem. His teeth are straight - looks like he already had braces - but his jaw has issues and his teeth are angle-ing in. So, then I had a sad, teary eyed 14 year old boy who was having visions of starting high school with a mouth full of metal.

So now, I am back at work. I have to get Eli's permission-to-ski papers notarized - he is going away for the weekend tomorrow. And I have to go pick Mallie and Emma up in 1 1/2 hours. Then, Eli has a soccer game at 4:30 in the next town.

See why I am in Tornado-land?

I am so happy that all I have to do is make a phone call - well, not even that - I have a sweet husband that helps with the kids, meets me at the dentist, takes a kid to school, and lectures a whiny 14 year old better than I ever could.

So, this has turned into a Thank You Dave letter.
I appreciate you and all you do!

A Date!

Tonight, Dave and I are off the Nashville - all by ourselves! I am so excited that I can't stand myself. We haven't been alone since the first of November. I have all these thoughts running through my head of things we can do (get your mind outta the gutter!) and things we can talk about. I do this every time we go somewhere by ourselves. My "to do alone" list would take me about a week to complete.

*****************

We are going to a Predators game. I have never been to a hockey game, and I am not sure if it is for me. But, I get to hold hands with my husband, (Dave, you know you secretly like to hold my hand) and not have anyone wipe snot on my shirt, and not have to wipe any butts, so this is a good deal.

*****************

In just 11 short days, I start my practicum for my READ Block. Tomorrow, my teachers will email me my assignment and then I have to call my Host Teacher and meet with her next week. I am apprehensive about this, well, I am downright scared, if you wanna know the truth. Yesterday, in class, my teachers gave me a list of rules - dress code, things I need to know, etc. So I was sitting there, with my mouth hanging open, thinking, "What do I know? Can I teach? Am I ready for this?" All of my studies from the past two and 1/2 years are swirling around in my head. At any given time, a lesson pops up. I hope that when I get in the classroom, this information gets in order and I can get it out coherently. That way, I don't look too stupid.

Updates.

Since I am a slacker... here are some updates - bullet style!

• We spent the weekend in Gatlinburg for a youth conference with our small kids and about 10 million other children. What fun!
• Eli turned 14 on Sunday. It was a happy/sad day for me. I am so thankful for this child who is my sweet firstborn.
• I have less than two weeks before my Practicum starts.
• I am loving the last Twilight book - but I would like to rewrite certain scenes to be more graphic. I need more juice. It is not enough spice for me.
• I just registered Eli for the ACT test on April 10th. He can take it 12 times trying for the best score. I am anxious to see how he does in the 8th grade vs. 12th grade.
• It is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. Imagine that!