Simply

 I have officially 13 days left of teaching before I go on my break! I am staying at Durant for at least one more year and am staying in 7th grade. I'm feeling very excited for this year to be over! There are some changes happening next year that I'm excited about. Subject Change There is a lot of movement in teachers this year and my principal asked me if I'd be willing to switch to teaching Social Studies instead of ELA. At first I was shocked and didn't feel like I could just switch. I have been working so much with the ELA curriculum and my materials so that next year would be a breeze, but switching would mean that I would start over with completely brand new curriculum. I told him I was willing but I honestly just needed time to think about it. After talking with the other teachers, they really got me excited for what this change could look like. I would no longer be teaching a tested subject, which means I can adjust the curriculum and lessons more than I could w...

 Teaching has to be the one of the biggest emotional roller coasters out there. Especially when you're at a school like mine. I know I've talked about the title 1 life a few times on here, but recently it's been feeling a little different. Let me explain. There's always challenges with teaching in general, and even more at a title 1 school, but sometimes it all feels like a lot. Let me explain.  Usually the challenges have to do with children with chronic absences, minimal funding, absent parents, and a lack of admin support. And don't get me wrong, all of these challenges are still happening, but somehow there's new ones.  First, there are a few boys from my 2nd class of the day that are my behavior kiddos, but we've always had a good relationship. They mess around in class, I redirect constantly, they never do work, but when we are conversating, there is no bad blood and the good relationship is there. The problem is, that admin has not handled things well...

 Hawaii 2026 4/5 Sunday All of us landed in Oahu around 3:00PM on Sunday and we immediately start heading to the airbnb. It's been a while since I've seen my family so it was so nice just to be together! Once we checked into our airbnb we instantly went to get shaved ice (Clayton's request every day this week) for a snack. This shaved ice honestly wasn't great but we had many more great ones later.  We spent this evening walking around Wakiki looking at the beach, walking around the shops at the international market place which was so cool. The beach was so much more cool than I remembered it being. We had dinner at Duke's and we had to wait like 2 hours which sucked but luckily every other night was not this way.  The airbnb had a nice balcony that we spent time on every evening where we could enjoy the city views and the warm weather when we were settled down for the night. The time on the balcony was a part of the trip I unexpectedly really enjoyed.  4/6 Monday T...

Teaching in a Title 1 school is a crazy thing. I've talked about it a little bit here, but you truly do not understand until you actually are a part of it yourself. Yesterday was the last day of Quarter 3, meaning it's the last 3 week track out break before the end of the school year. I am having many mixed emotions and have been discussing all of them with the other teachers on the 7th grade hallway. One of them (who I respect deeply as a teacher and as a person) made a post about a puzzle on Facebook that really hit me hard. I wanted to include some of her story here, because like I said, it's hard for people to understand what it's like teaching at a Title 1 school. This story really encapsulates how I feel, so here it is. "To some people this may be an ordinary puzzle. It's missing 2 pieces, which may drive some people to the point of insanity. But to me, this puzzle holds hope.  I work in a Title 1 school. Working in any school holds its own unpredictabili...

 Recently I have been thinking about confidence. This is something that I have excelled at but have also extremely struggled with throughout my life. It also involves one of my most terrible memories (and best memories) of growing up. So let's sort through my thoughts.  When I was little, being confident was one of my strongest personality traits. I always thought I was the smartest in the class (and if I wasn't, I knew I would become it). I got perfect grades in everything I did. I was super competitive in the sports I played, and knew that I was an asset to my team. I also wanted to play every sport and be the best.  When I think of confidence, I always think back to my dad. He's the type of parent that always told me about all the amazing things about me and I always believed him. Maybe I took it to heart because I was more of a daddy's girl, but he's also just like that. No matter what stage of life I was in, he always had that constant awe about me and who I wa...

The first thing that's been on my mind is teaching! Quarter 3 teaching is the best! Maybe it's just because we started the quarter off with a few snow days and delays, but it has felt so much better! I feel like my student relationships feel so solidified, expectations are established and easy to follow through with, I have a good routine going with planning and prep, my sleep schedule is back to normal, and I have been dreading less days than before. The only negative feelings I have are on days when I'm tired, but I think that's inevitable for me haha. I also feel like the unit I'm teaching is a little more engaging with the students, and they had a long break before starting the quarter. But next week we are already sending out midterms which is crazy! Also as I'm writing this, the weather has gotten a lot warmer the past 2 weeks, having days in the 60s and 70s so maybe that's where my positivity is coming from. Never will I ever live anywhere with more c...