Friday, December 31, 2010

six words that describe you

My sister is really smart. She also happens to be a teacher, and recently gave this assignment to her students. I'm completely fascinated with this assignment. I keep on thinking of six words that describe other people.

My sister made this fancy presentation with music and everything, with tons of great examples of this assignment. I'll post it, if I can get her permission and figure out how to put videos on this here blog.

Till then, this is what I came up with.

'Labeled by the school. Succeeding anyway.'



This assignment can be powerful!

I sit around all the time now, and try to think up some great words to describe my life. I've discovered that my six words can change daily. Even hourly, or by the minute depending on what kind of day I'm having.

I think the best one so far has got to be:

'my life is not for everyone.'

Now, I just need some really great picture of me hanging upside down from the monkey bars, wearing a prom dress, shorts and some great pair of red sneaks. Just as soon as I make that happen, I'll post it. Until then.....

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Listing the really annoying.

In no particular order:

1. Reading the TV guide to me as I am also reading it and scrolling down. Who here remembers the TV Guide that used to come in the Sunday paper? I do. At my house, we saved that TV Guide, and no one dare lose it! We studied it from front cover to back, marking our favorite shows, and flagging things not to be forgotten. NOW, we have the interactive TV Guide scrolling down the TV in real time. YAY! Or not. Guess what children? I can read it. I will select something I like without you narrating the actual scroll down. Get busy with the shutting up.

2. Don’t poke me in the shoulder. Really? Don’t poke me anywhere, but ESPECIALLY in the shoulder. ‘nuf said.

3. Don’t walk in front of me, and then stop. I’m pretty sure I’ve complained about this behavior before, but it didn’t seem to work then, so I’ll try one more jaunt down the bitchy alley. Walk beside me, or wait for me in the car.

4. If you’d like to ask me a question about what activities I’ve got scheduled, just come right out with the question. Don’t quiz me first, to see if I might be available. Put on your big girl panties, and come right out with the request, and then take the response I give you. Guilt is a two way street, and I’m really getting good at it. Plus, it rarely works on me, because I’m mostly mean.

5. If I’d like to wish you a ‘Happy Holidays’, it’s not because I don’t love Jesus. ‘Merry Christmas’ to you, and also ‘Happy New Year’, but since I’m mostly lazy, ‘Happy Holidays’ covers everything with fewer words. I won’t be judged by you or your misguided holiday wishes. You can go right ahead and frown and scowl at my ‘Happy Holidays’, but you’re missing the point.

My life isn’t for everyone.

Get ready for a more honest blog.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Today's the day.

On this date in history, back in 1998.... our family went from 'double team' defense to the 'zone' defense. Our small family of three, suddenly jumped to five! It was so long ago, that I don't even have any tiny baby pictures on CD.

Please enjoy these snap shots from 2005. This is what basketball looked like... way back then.





Basketball looks more like this now.




Happy Birthday to a couple of pretty terrific boys!



I'll text you later!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Cool Handshakes

I can't believe how long it's been since I last shared an episode of Adventures in Substitute Teaching! I have a fun story to tell you.

Scene: Elementary Math class.

Our task today was fun and full of learning. I was entertaining while the children learned about bar graphs. Sometimes, there's that one little boy that will finish early. He did. So, with just a few minutes left in the class, he asked if he could draw. I said, sure, but just for three minutes.

Sure enough, at the end of three minutes, he brought me a beautifully drawn paper.... for me to keep. It said, '3 Minutes'. He then left for the next class, bidding me farewell by saying, 'later, Rock star.'

I love a sense of humor in 4th grade.

A sense of humor is a good thing to have in the 5th grade as well.

A precious face told me how to spell his name today. He sounded it out through a thick phonics lisp. Seriously, twice, just so I understood.

One extremely cool 10 point handshake later, and the class was over. Days as delightful as this make me wonder why the real teacher ever leaves.