Love and Lures

The sun is shining, the day is warm, and I have iced tea in front of me. It is a good day. It is a good day. It is a good day! I am so tired today that I'm having a hard time focusing on anything but staying awake, but I really can't complain. Afterall, this sleepy feeling is my own fault...

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with a student on a behavior plan. He earns points for good behavior, and at the end of the week, if he reaches his goal, he receives one of his favorite things: fishing lures! The only problem with this genius plan is that I know next to nothing about fishing, and as of last night, I still didn't have any lures for the week. Thankfully, Adam does know quite a bit about fishing. Some might even classify him as a lover of the sport. When I realized that Friday was coming fast, I asked Adam to help me out with my lure-less dilemma. He was on board, but mentioned that the only congruent time off we would have in the next two days would be after his 10pm shift. He offered to go it alone so that I could sleep, but we haven't seen much of one another this week, so I was determined to wake up and head out. Crazy? Absolutely, but I'm so glad I made the time to spend with him. 

Over the last few months, we have learned a lot about each other's love languages. While mine are acts of service and physical touch, we were surprised to find out his is quality time. I say we were surprised because Adam has always needed time to himself. What guy out there doesn't?  But apparently he quite likes spending time with me too; probably a good thing since we're linked for life. Since learning more about his love language, I've been actively looking for ways to spend quality time with him, which has proven to be tough with our schedules.

The point is, last night we went to Walmart at 10:50 p.m., a time that is normally reserved for pillows and pj's in my weekday life. We spent almost an hour buying fishing gear, toilet paper, and making fun of my people of Walmart outfit: XL red long sleeved T-shirt, Adam's long shorts, black furry snow boots, and a white jacket. Hey, I can't always be a fashion icon! We laughed, we spent way more money than we had intended, and in my eyes, that hour with my husband was well worth today's sleepy feeling. 

Leader in ME

When I first took this job, I had never heard of the Leader in Me program. I was informed that it was our behavior plan, and the school had seen many benefits from its rollout. That was about it. As a new teacher to this school, I didn't want to fall short so I did some research. Come to find out, it is a student based program based on Stephen Covey's 7 Habit of Highly Effective People.

Fast forward seven months, I'm on board with the idea!  I even serve on our Lighthouse team. We meet twice a month to implement and discuss Leader in Me in our school, but we had a tough time getting traction at the start of this school year. When you read the list of "new" that we faced, you will understand why! In the months of August and September, we were hit with a new literacy series, new principal, new superintendent, new 1:1 technology rollout, and new math standards. See what I mean? By the time we got to Lighthouse, we were all so exhausted, it was hard to even think straight! But I'm happy to announce that in our last few meetings, we are finally getting some impressive traction. Yea! It feels so good to be focusing on this program and implementing the ideas we have been talking about all year.

All the "new" at the start of the year  =  circle of no control
Learning to focus on my circle of control

One of the things we had been throwing around was the idea of school wide leadership roles. While there were tons of different role possibilities, it boiled down to these five. We chose them to highlight the habits, give a variety of choices for all ages, and to simply help our school run smoothly! Applications are due on Friday, but I already have a huge stack on my desk! I'm pretty excited to go through them and choose our new leaders.

So many applications! 

1. Greeter - students will be expected to speak clearly to people as they enter the school and direct them to the office to sign in and get a visitor pass.
2. Shutterbug - student will help to showcase all the great things that are being done around out building! They will need to use a camera/iPad/phone to take pictures
3. Tour Guide - student will need to have basic knowledge of our building and operations of the school. Applicants should be positive, have the ability to communicate well with visitors, and showcase our great school!
4. Habit Announcement Leader - student will need to speak clearly over the school intercom system. Student will be giving a brief 7 Habits reminder once a week. 
5. Weather Specialist - Student will need to be able to use technology to acquire weather data. During the afternoon announcements, each student will share the weather report for the following day. 

Is there something you have been mulling over for months (maybe years), but just haven't quite pulled the trigger? Do it! It feels so wonderful to see these changes in our school, and I can't wait to see what else we come up with now that we're on a roll! 

Sad to See the Weekend Go

There are people in this world who you can just be silly with, and it is with those people that I want to surround myself. One of the reasons I fell for Adam was because we had such a blast together, and he never judged my kitchen dancing, shower singing, or random urges to speak in an accent. So, being silly is important. This silly concept is also a reason why I am such peas in a pod with Mrs. Emily. This weekend we went Iowa City in celebration of her birthday, and it was just about perfect. We ate yummy food, did some shopping, and got our nails done.

However, my absolute favorite moment of the weekend came from the above mentioned silliness. When Emily and I lived together right out of college, we used to get home from work on Friday nights, pop a bottle of Andre, and blast music while we got ready for an night out. A typical early 20's weekend! On every one of these evenings, there was dancing. It didn't really matter where, though it usually culminated in the kitchen.

Over the last few years, we have both calmed down quite a bit; adult responsibilities and husbands will do that. Friday evenings are no longer about going out, but more about recovery from a long work week. And most of the time, I love the evenings spend with the hubs or Netflix...but this Friday, we brought back dancing! After an incredibly fun dinner at Konomi, we all headed back to the Miska's for drinks. Drinks turned into the boys relaxing while the girls danced like nobody was watching, for hours, to our favorites: Whitney, Celine, Idina, and more. Our friend Mere has quite the way with a playlist! My heart was overflowing with happiness. I am so thankful for those moments!

We ate at a delicious Argentinean restaurant Saturday night, and later on, Emily's face lit up when she found out we were playing Catch Phrase. That girl is a competitor in all she does, so I was quite pleased to be on her team. We ate bulldog birthday cake, and slept in on Sunday morning.

At some point in the weekend Adam pulled me over, kissed me on the forehead and said, "I've missed that smile." I realized I had too. It has been a long time since I've had that much carefree, silly fun, and I'm so glad it happened this weekend.

Even cake can be eaten with chopsticks! #lentenpromise

Coaxed, Cakes, and Chopsticks

I am officially pulling my hair out. Okay, not really, but there were a few moments today that I had the thought, "What am I going to do for the next month?" As I talked about earlier in the week, my student teacher has officially taken over teaching responsibilities...for the next month. Monday was hard for me to give up control. Tuesday and Wednesday brought a strange freedom and surge of energy, but today I was bored out of my mind. I am completely caught up on grading, so I ask, what is a teacher to do who can't teach? Well, I'll tell you.

1. I pulled small groups when the chance arose. 
2. I planned an entire geometry unit that I'll never get the chance to teach.
3. I searched endlessly for some ideas for Emily's birthday cake.
4. I talked about our vocabulary word this week, urged, and how it means coaxed. 
5. I ate with chopsticks for the first of 40 days. Wish me Lenten luck!

I'm thinking this list needs to expand quite a bit in the next few weeks, so hopefully there are some brilliant ideas out there for me. 

Moving on, this weekend Adam and I are going to visit Emily (and Paul!) for her birthday. Her birthday is on Tuesday, but we make due with weekend time. Plus, every year we are both in the same state is a win in my book. Can I just mention that I am SO excited to try out my cake decorating skills tonight? I have decided to go with a theme that Emily loves, but will hold off on sharing until this weekend. Stay tuned :-) 

Emily and I being silly: June 8, 2013

New Friends

Before our big move to a little town, I had my friend circle pretty much made. I had the friends that I could always count on to have a glass of wine with after work on Fridays, a solid base of work friends, and the friends who would wear sweats over and gab while marathoning something on Netflix. Adam and I also had the most perfect couples friends for double dates, road trips, and random laughs. While we still have all of those friends in Des Moines and around Iowa, they no longer live just down the street.

Thus my 2014 goal: make new friends. We have been living in our new town for seven months now, and I am finally achieving this goal. However...making friends is down right hard for me! Speaking to people in a professional situation? Great. Being kind to people in the grocery store? Count me in. Actually open up and ask a brand new person to "hang out sometime"? Awkward.

When it boils down to it, making a new friend in adulthood is much like trying to find a date. You have to read the potential friend, make sure you don't come on to strong, and hope they end up liking you back. Once you're feeling pretty confident, you might even ask them out for a friend-drink. Whew, it can be exhausting!

So, how did I end up finally getting the courage to make some friends after five months? I joined a bootcamp. Apparently I am most comfortable when I'm sweating my tush off, bear crawling across a gym floor. Maybe it is because no one looks intimidating when they are shaking in a wall sit. But I really think it is because I finally had a common ground with a good group of people. Since the bootcamp started, I also started walking/running with a few of the women once a week, and it has been great. Beyond that, I found "my group", which is five other athletic ladies who push me and amaze me with their gumption...as well as their ability to go out and have fun.

Have I found a new best friend? No, but I wasn't looking for one. That position was filled years ago! What I have found is a great group of people that help to make our little town feel a little more like home.

Weirdly Great Day

Have you ever had one of those days that just plain brings happiness? There may be no particular reason or contributing factor, other than you woke up on the right side of the bed. Those days that you feel like you could handle whatever gets thrown at you...because surly nothing will get thrown you to today! Today was one of those days for me.

I think it all started last night around 10:45, when Adam came in to check on me when he got off shift. I heard him get home, but wasn't really expecting to see him. He is currently on the swing shift and sleeps during the day. Then, creeeeek, the bedroom door opened, and Adam snuggled into bed with me for a little while. It may sound strange, but it was such a nice treat to see him, especially when I didn't think I would. This one small thing set the happy stage for the next 24 hours.

Needless to say, when my alarm went off this morning, I was in a great mood. I leisurely checked social media, lazily did my hair, made cinnamon raisin oatmeal, and made my way to school. My student teacher was in charge today, so I came prepared. Stacks of grades have been calling my name for the last week, so I got right to work. At 11:00 I went over to the high school to take part in career day and even hastily grabbed coffee at the gas station on my way back to the elementary. Is that how people with non-teaching jobs feel at lunch time? Amazing! Then I spent my afternoon with students who I have been dying to work one-on-one with, but never could find the time before. Did I mention I also input all my grades in the online grade book and put up a Leader in Me bulletin board? Apparently this giving up control of my room thing may be super beneficial for my to-do list.

Tonight was filled with a random meet with Adam that consisted of a hug and a high five, taco salad, and a kick butt workout with some new friends.

It really is staggering how different a day can be when I embrace Queen Elsa's attitude and just "Let it Go"!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Giving Up Control

I have been teaching for the last six year. Scratch that, I have been teaching, in some form, for as long as I can remember. When I was nine years old, I had passed out of swimming classes, started being an aid instead, and it didn't take me long to take over my own class. From then on, I was teaching something: swimming, dancing, reading, third grade, and finally fifth grade. While I initially struggled to figure out what my ultimate major would be in college, it wasn't that big of a shock when I landed in elementary education.

This semester, I have been given my first ever cooperating teacher position. I have had a few practicum students in the past, but this is my first full time student teacher. I was am thrilled to have this fresh, new face learning with me. He has, as you would expect, a lot to learn, but I figure that is why he is student teaching. I learned more in that one semester of being in the classroom than I had the rest of the 4 years!

But today...today I had to give up my classroom. Talk about a heartbreak! I had no idea it would be so hard to sit back and let someone else teach my kids! I kept thinking, "But if you say it this way, it is going to click!"

Four weeks to get caught up on paperwork? Great! Four weeks to be able to pull small groups and reteach? Amazing! Four weeks of not being in control? Uh-oh, I might be in trouble.

Listen, logically I get that he doesn't have to teach the way I do, and honestly he shouldn't. What makes a great teaching is figuring out who you are as a teacher and then playing to those strengths while working to improve on your downfalls.

I guess these four weeks will be a test in my self control, and that is Ok. Heck, that is probably good for me! But more than anything, these next four weeks will be a true test of how well I can teach, no matter the student's age.