I'm tired

I feel a lot of things about teachers and education and the way children think and learn. It's an exhausting discussion that I often shut down about, because I can't see the solution or the winning point. I quit talking about it and just go back to my classroom. I do however get fired up/furious/sad when teachers are lumped together as whole single unit working to destroy the lives of the children we come in contact with.

I don't blame parents for the problems in education. However, I don't think it's all my fault either. :)

http://theeducatorsroom.com/2012/09/the-exhaustion-of-the-american-teacher/

The Summer Review

Now that school is in full swing and somewhat less time consuming, I looked back through pictures of the long forgotten summer. We were fortunate to have an action packed one full of adventure and family time. Here are a few pictures to prove it.

Zooey turned two  in June and we celebrated with a few friends in the backyard. There were Super kid capes, a new sandbox, sprinklers, bubbles and lots of cupcakes!

Zooey and I took a road trip to Mississippi to see Grammi and Pappi. We got to stop in Hattiesburg to see Aunt Amy, at work at the zoo, along the way. She gave us the VIP treatment complete with a train ride, petting zoo and up close snake encounters. (Amy will definitely be the wild/fun aunt.)  Zooey is NOT afraid of snakes and may think that he can pet them. :)

 The Shepherd's went to Colorado!!! It seems like a dream  that we actually drove across the country, rented an apartment and lived in Fort Collins for a month. It was a joking conversation at first that neither of us really thought was possible, but the pieces fell into place and we jumped at the chance to escape the Florida July heat.

 The River, our favorite

enchanted forests

where buffalo roam

camping, hiking

more river time

The Great Stupa at the Shambhala Mountain Center

As I said before, lots of adventure. 

Next on the list... The Fall Review - the adventure continues.

Baking with Zooey

The weather was actually cold this weekend, so it was a perfect time to make cookies! My friend, Laurie- an awesome cook, made me so happy awhile back when she posted her cookie recipe, so Zooey and I decided to try it out.

With not a lot of counter space and Zooey wanting to be in the middle of the action, we mixed our cookies on the floor.

Zooey's stirring was a bit flingy.

Zooey sneaking raisins from the batter. Stir a little...snack a lot.

Yummy success!

Even though I miss a really cold snowy day, a Florida winter has a few perks. There are tons of awesome, blue sky, sunny, warmish days that are perfect for picnics and hikes, as evidenced below:

Affirmation

I teach for a lot of reasons. I love kids, but also, I love to watch kids learn new things and make connections, and I love being a facilitator of that process.

It's a lot of work and I don't always feel like I'm cut out for it. I get anxious and frustrated when I am unsure of the job that I am doing. That usually leads to me thinking of the others jobs that maybe I should have chosen as careers.

As my students trickled into class the other day, I was running around setting out various supplies that we would need throughout the day. I was feeling stressed and needing affirmation that I'm actually good at what I do.

At that moment, I feel a student hugging my leg. "Good morning, Camille. Please unpack and start your morning work," I said, not looking up from my preparations.

"Mrs. Shepherd, I love you more than rainbows," was her reply.

'Yep,' I thought to myself. I'm right where I need to be.

Adventures in Teaching, Volume 1 - The Gerbil

First Graders provide an infinite amount of entertainment. Sometimes it makes me laugh and other times, well... I'll laugh later. I can plan lessons all I want to, but the truth is, I never know what might happen in my classroom.

Here's an example that I think captures perfectly the adventurous job of teaching:

On Tuesday this week, I called my students to our meeting area to start the day. I noticed a little girl fiddling with something in her lap that clearly she didn't want me to see. I gave my usual warning. "(Student), I see that you have a toy in your lap, if you don't want me to take it up, you should go put it in your backpack. If I see it out again, it goes in my 'June drawer'(where you won't get it back until June)."

I held my hand out to her. "I'm happy to take it up now, if you think it's going to distract you from learning today."

"Noooo, Mrs. Shepherd, I'll put it away." And off she ran to put whatever she had safe in her backpack.

On Wednesday, while the kids were at lunch, I received an email from a mom, which included a 'PS' telling me that her daughter had informed her that the Tuesday student had brought her gerbil to school yesterday and planned to do the same today. She wasn't sure if she meant a stuffed animal or not.

I chuckled to myself, thinking "Yeah, right." But a quick flash back to the day before, and how urgent she was to put her toy away without me seeing it, plus hearing scurrying in the cubbies and thinking that I should talk to the custodian and I decided to check her backpack.

Nervously, I unzipped her backpack, only to find a ton of junk - old work, multiple silly hats, crayons, gloves and a zippered pencil pouch. I thought of breathing a sigh of relief but looked again at the zipper pouch. "Please, no." , but yes. I unzipped it just enough for a terrified gerbil (who looked much more like a rat with a 5 inch tail!) to shove his head through and try to escape. The next moments are a blur of me shoving him back in, zipping it up, jumping up and down and running to my friend's classroom next door.

After finding a better container for the pet, I tried to compassionately yet sternly explain to the little girl the hideousness of her decisions. From an 'animal rights perspective(two days in a zipper pouch with no food, water, or air)' to a 'school is for learning perspective'. She sobbingly explained that her friend wanted to see her gerbil, to which I replied, "If my friend wants to see my horse, does that make it okay to zip him up in my backpack and sneak him to school? A picture of your gerbil would have been a much better choice.

Therefore, despite my lesson plans, animal ethics replaced subtraction that day. Like I said, an infinite amount of entertainment.

Still Here

I’ve totally been MIA for the past few weeks as so much has been going on. For starters, I began a new job and am officially back in the classroom teaching(where I belong). Due to some changes in my research job, I was on a serious job hunt and scored a 1^st grade position at a wonderful school in town. Not long after being hired that 1^st grade position became a Kindergarten/1^st grade combination class, which is a little trickier, but still proving to be a lot of fun(and work). I totally forgot how much work goes into teaching. Needless to say, the first two weeks of school have been exciting and exhausting, but still affirming.

Secondly, we moved into a cute little rental house around the corner from where we were living – the weekend before I started the above mentioned new job – might I add. It was a bit impulsive, but increasingly worth it. We passed our new home while out for a morning stroll and about three weeks later were moving in. It was the huge East facing window in the living room that did it for me and built in bookcases that did it for Josh (who needed more convincing when the projected budget was done.)

Zooey is loving his new space to roam, looking out all the windows! and his very own bedroom. It was his momma, actually, who had a harder time with him liking his own bedroom.

With the new house comes Zooey’s first steps! Momma and Daddy are experiencing a new feeling of joy when this little man pulls himself upright and with a huge smile and giggles as he timidly steps/runs into our arms. It’s my new favorite thing.

And then there’s the trip to the Emergency room that we are still somewhat recovering from. Zooey had a terrible bout with croup Thursday night, which resulted in two breathing treatments, steroids and a near admittance into the hospital. After sitting up in a very uncomfortable and freezing room from 1:30am -7:30am the doctor reluctantly sent us home under strict orders to watch an listen for any change in his breathing, in which, we were to come straight back. Have you ever heard of “resting strider”? It apparently is a hardcore type of croup that Zooey had that has the power to make a confident doctor listen several times to a baby’s breathing and even then scratch his head a bit before making his decision. He’s is better now, but I never ever want to hear that barking cough or sucking wind sound come from my child again.

So now that we’ve had an extremely eventful month, I’m hoping for a quieter settling in at our new home (if I can get some of these boxes out of the way) and a welcoming of fall – my favorite. Which in Florida has to begin in my mind as I stare out the window, hopefully knitting, and imagine cooler temperature – that in reality won’t be here until November.