Dreaming of Wishing Wells

My class performing a praise dance before Thanksgiving break. I was only going to film the two girls who knew the choreography, but when I got my camera out, everyone wanted to join in. I think I could watch this a million times...and I'm probably well on my way!

I had a lovely Thanksgiving, but it definitely flew by. I was looking forward to going back to school more than usual because I was excited to start celebrating Christmas with my class. This is (hopefully) going to be the year when I make gingerbread houses with my class and teach them lots of carols and do lots of crafts and other fun stuff. The first day back after Thanksgiving break, four of my students were playing this: They were acting out Thanksgiving dinner. They built a table out of wooden blocks and all helped "cook" and set the table, and then they held hands to pray. It was pretty awesome to watch. I can't really imagine the boy who initiated the hand holding and praying doing that with his family, but maybe he does, or maybe he just decided in his mind that that's how it should be. Speaking of Thanksgiving and thankfulness, I am so thankful for my class. I'm trying to be intentional about telling them that on a regular basis. I have a video of the who...

I've been thinking about lots of things I want to write about in here lately, but whenever I have free time, I've been trying to work on my grad school applications and essays. Or doing quizzes on Sporcle . Which may not be the most productive use of my time, but at least it has replaced Farmville. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. Now if only I could stop wasting time on Facebook, I'd be in business. Since I wrote last, we had another short week of school because of the Urban Promise banquet and first quarter conferences. The banquet was different this year, because instead of having a keynote speaker, the program was put on by the campers, StreetLeaders, and volunteers. UrbanPromise Camden has been doing their banquet like that for years, and now I totally see why. It definitely makes sense. I feel like our guests left with a lot more of an understanding of what Urban Promise is about and how it's an agent of change in people's lives and what some of th...

I'm taking a break from grad school application stuff because my brain can't handle it anymore! My little grad school train is moving on down the tracks, which is good I guess. I've started applications and am going to two open houses this week. I still need to update my sadly out of date resume, write my statement of purpose (and then tweak it for each program I'm applying to), and ask people to write recommendations. I always hate doing that. Plus, it's hard cause the schools want mostly academic references, and although I've kept in touch with professors a little bit because of recruiting for Urban Promise, I haven't talked to them that much. And the ones who initially wrote me recommendations for teaching jobs (which I never even got to use because Urban Promise didn't need to see any of that kind of stuff) are the ones I've talked to the least! During my little application break, I'm watching an episode of Teach: Tony Danza on Hulu. This sh...

Here's some of what I've been up to lately: I took these two lovely ladies to Chick Fil A for a Halloween party. It was the first time I've done something fun with my students outside of school, and it was really nice. Yes, it made for a very long day. But it was totally worth it to see how much fun they were having. Plus they're both very quiet in class, so it was great to see them come out of their shells. They were very giggly! Friday we had a school-wide Harvest Festival. Each class painted a pumpkin. I had a lot of fun painting the pumpkin with my class. Somehow everyone got along and no one argued about how the pumpkin should look. We named ours Benjamin, after a student who was on my class roster the first day but then never came. So we sometimes talk about him, cause I made a cubby and nametag for him and stuff. The day I wore my glasses to school (and apparently looked like Harry Potter), I kept taking them off and calling my students Benjamin, which they thoug...

It's a quiet Friday night, and I'm waiting for a new recipe to finish baking in the oven, so I thought I'd sneak in a blog entry. This recipe is not very impressive or exciting (like the black bean and sweet potato chili I made for dinner), but I am expecting it to be delicious. Quick caramel rolls...yum. I'm making them cause I have a squeeze bottle full of caramel syrup and nothing to do with it. It's mostly just caramel and Pillsbury crescent rolls. This is the first blatantly unhealthy thing I've made this year, and I feel OK about that. So I'm just sitting here smelling my caramel-y delicious treat and thinking about my week. It was a big week of changes at Urban Promise School, namely the departure of two teachers, which when you only had seven teachers to start with, is a big deal. They were the two first year teachers. One left for another job in a public school district, and one is going to be doing a different kind of work with the ministry. So jus...

I saw Waiting for "Superman" yesterday. Kristin offered to go with me, and she was great person to go with. I really liked the movie. David Guggenheim did a great job of making you care about the children that the movie follows as they try to get into a charter school. And I liked how he illustrated the statistics with little cartoon people. Honestly, I was expecting the movie to be more controversial. I'd heard different groups (especially teachers' unions) were boycotting it. I left the movie feeling really sad that people were refusing to see it or saying it was evil. Because really the message of the movie was that we need to work together to make sure children get a better education. I guess some teachers are angry because the movie didn't say much about parents who need to do their part and be more involved in their child's education. True. But the movie gave examples of schools that are being very effective at education children from low-income families...

I've still been extra busy with school stuff, and I've been thinking about school a lot, so I feel like writing something that's mostly not about school. Let's see...this might not be too exciting. Yesterday the girl who cut my hair asked me what I like to do for fun, and I literally said, "Uhhhh..." until she asked me another question. I hate answering that question. Yes, I do things for fun, but I never feel like they are exciting enough to say to someone to answer the question. Like I like reading (even though I don't do it too much) and watching my TV shows and going for walks. I feel like that sounds kind of lame. I feel like I should say I like rock climbing and going clubbing and writing bestselling novels or something like that. Speaking of haircut...I got my hair cut. All my hairs. I'm expecting at least 1 kid will tell me I look like a boy tomorrow. But I like it, and it's been a couple years since I last got lots of hair chopped off, whi...

Yes, I did email Oprah this week. I didn't hear back. Which is fine. Ever since I was an intern in Camden for Urban Promise, I've thought it would be cool if Oprah found out about UP and wanted to give us lots of money. But I never did anything about it. On Monday I was at the gym and caught the beginning of her episode about the new documentary "Waiting for Superman." It was really good and lots of my favorite education people were on it, especially Geoffrey Canada. I had to leave before the episode was over unfortunately, because I had to speak at the Urban Promise board meeting. But when I got home I got on Oprah's website to see if there were any clips I could watch or anything. And it said she was doing a reaction show on Friday and there was a link for you to click on if you were a teacher or parent who had a response to the show. So I figured this was my chance to tell Oprah about Urban Promise. I tried to make it relevant to what had been on her show, but ...

Well, I have successfully completed two days of school. The weekend/beginning of the week was really busy with classroom setup and trying to get everything just right for the first day. There are still a few things I didn't get to, but they don't really affect the kids or anything we've done yet, so I'm going to try to go in Saturday to finish it. Like I finally got around to organizing my classroom library into book bins (I didn't want to spend money, so I used random shelves and bins that were around the office, so it's not the most beautiful thing), but I haven't put labels on all the books yet so the kids know how to put them away. But I feel good about how my classroom looks and about the activities I've been doing with the kids so far. I have 8 students this year: 3 boys and 5 girls. I've never had more girls than boys, and it's pretty different! I have a few students that are really, really cute. So far everything's been going smoothly...

So I gave my blog a look more appropriate for fall (Yay! Fall is almost here! No more heat and humidity and fleas!). In a lot of ways, this summer really flew by. A lot happened, too. It's hard for me to believe it's over and that it's time to start another school year. Starting school is pretty daunting; it's kind of like diving into the water and knowing I won't be getting out for ten months. Yes, I'll come up for air along the way, and hopefully I won't drown, but it's still the start of something big. And long. We had inservice this week, and it went really well overall. It's so nice to be with all the teachers again. Of course I miss Linda and Kaitlin a lot. There's no one for me to debrief with after a really long and funny/boring/unexpected/heated/bizarre meeting, whatever the case may be. But that's ok; I can silently laugh to myself, and maybe it's even better that way, although it's definitely not as fun. Everyone was in goo...

Yes, it's sad but true. Summer is coming to a close. A lot of schools around here started today. We are Urban Promise, thankfully, are not quite that on the ball. We don't start till September 8th, and I'm looking forward to the extra time without kids around. We start inservice a week from tomorrow. I am not looking forward to setting up my classroom. It takes soooo long. I think kindergarten and Pre-K are extra tedious because there are so many little toys to disinfect and organize and just lots and lots of stuff. I am glad I have a car this year, so that means I can go as early and stay as late as I want, so if I'm on a roll one day, I'll just keep working. That should be nice. I plan to blast my music, bring snacks, and just plow through. Last year while I set up my classroom, I listened to Pandora over 40 hours, and then I couldn't listen any more for the rest of the month. Today I successfully navigated the crazy Delaware DMV and got my Delaware license. I...

Hi, blog. Sorry I've neglected you again. Since my last post, I spent a lovely and relaxing week in Chincoteague on vacation. I ate some very, very delicious ice cream (Java Jolt and Snickers Cheesecake), went for lots of walks and jogs around different parts of the island, improved my crossword-puzzling skills, and started reading a good book. I go through phases where I read a lot, but this past year I haven't read much at all. Hopefully, reading on vacation will kick-start a lot more reading. I made a "no eating in front of the computer" rule for myself that has only been in effect for 5 days so far, and I'm hoping it sticks. I think it'll force me to 1) read a lot more and 2) not mindlessly snack so much. But a lot of times my rules for myself don't stick for too long. That doesn't stop me from making them though. I am an enneagram type 1 , so I guess it fits. (Sidetrack..."Ones are conscientious and ethical, with a strong sense of ...

So the fleas in my apartment have been getting me down lately. July has not quite been the fun-filled party I was hoping, and the fleas are mostly to blame. Plus to make matters worse we are still baffled about how they are getting in or why they're here in the first place, since we don't have pets. I could rant about the fleas for a long time, but I will spare you. I'll just give you the flea story in a nutshell and then move on... When I got back from Chicago, my roommate showed me a collection of awful looking bug bites on her feet and legs. After some Google research, we concluded fleas were probably the culprit. Then she started seeing them in her bedroom. I bought flea spray and sprayed all the carpets and furniture. I read that they don't like the smell of Pine-Sol, so I Pine-Sol-ed our whole apartment over the course of an afternoon. It still smelled a few days later. But still the fleas were biting poor Bethany. Then they moved into my room. Before the extermin...

I was going to post sooner, but I've been somewhat preoccupied by an infestation of fleas here in my apartment. But that's another story. So for now, let me tell you about my trip to Chicago... (and a flea just bit me) I was blessed to have the opportunity to travel to Chicago with Pine Street Presbyterian Church's youth group. Pine Street has been my church since I was about 8 years old and until only recently when I joined a church in Delaware. I have a lot of memories from conferences and camps I attended through the church when I was in high school; they were definitely influential in my life. I never got to go on a mission trip though. This was their first mission trip for youth, and I thought it was really special that I was able to go and be part of it, even though I'm not longer a student and not around the church much anymore. When I was in high school, the youth group (which didn't start till my senior year) was very, very small...like 3 or 4 people on an ...

It is summer! I made it! I've only been out of school for a week and a half, but it really feels like longer, maybe because lots has happened. Kaitlin moved out. Bethany moved in. I bought a car. I successfully got car insurance, which was an ordeal. I had my birthday. I chilled at home then came back here. Carrie came to visit. I started tutoring a boy from my class. I went to Read Aloud Delaware volunteer training. I went to a new members' picnic at church (not very fun), and I sang with the choir. The last day of school was a half day. It was really nice. I invited all the parents to come at 9:00 for a class program/awards ceremony/kind-of graduation (minus the caps and gowns, although that's a goal for next year). Almost everyone came, and some brought aunts, uncles, and grandparents. The kids sang a bunch of cute songs and mostly did a great job, even though we hadn't rehearsed nearly as much as I'd hoped, and every time we did practice it ended in me yelling ...

I just finished my lesson plans through the end of the year!! Also, I just worked on making a class book for over an hour and then accidentally saved over it. But let's focus on the positive. Happy Memorial Day, everyone. No cookouts for me this year...just lesson planning, quilting, and working out. And I'm about to go for a walk in the park. I think if every weekend were a three-day weekend, I would be a really relaxed and happy person. So just 6.5 more days of school. I'll get zero breaks from my students (art, music, and gym are done; so is Friday lunch where the interns eat with our classes), so I'll just have to take a deep breath and dive in to this last week and a half. Ready...go. See you when it's summer.

I haven't been too faithful about writing in my blog lately. Some of my excuses include crazy kindergartners sucking away my energy, an exhausting field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, visitors at our apartment this weekend, the stressful search for a car, Kaitlin's bachelorette party, the fun but emotionally exhausting end of the year party for Urban Promise staff at Rob's, and the finale of Lost. Yes, it is the busy time of year. This week I have my last 3 days of Reading Assist training. Tomorrow is field day at school, and I'll miss it. At first I was kind of excited, because last year the kids were cranky and bad sports, but now I'm kind of sad. It's our last field trip of the year, and I'll miss seeing them play games and taking pictures. But it's supposed to be 93 degrees, so I'm happy to be missing 4 hours in the sun. But I would probably get a nice start to a summer tan...as you can see, I am conflicted. Our field trip to the zoo went pretty w...

This week I missed two days of school for the beginning of the 5 day training I'm attending about the Reading Assist (RAPS) program. It's for teachers in the Brandywine school district, but they also invited one person from every private school that's in their district's boundaries. It was at a nearby high school, and IT WAS SO FUN!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that's right. It was very fun. I was like a kid in a candy shop....talking about phonological and orthographic processes and debating how many phonemes are in the words pneumonia and folk . Any guesses? Huh? (I think it was 7 and 3.) Plus we started half an hour late, got a 20 minute morning break, an hour and a half lunch break, lots of candy, AND we got to leave 45 minutes early. Man. I got to experience what it was like not to feel exhausted at the end of a weekday. I was (of course) feeling kind of anxious going into it...I didn't really know how to get there, I was scared I was going to be late, I had trouble wor...

This week I missed my first of six days I'll be out of school in Monday for professional development stuff. Thursday, the Pre-K teacher and I went to the annual Inclusion Conference for Delaware in Dover. It was very good. I think it was mostly special education teachers, but there were over 600 people there. We don't formally do inclusion, but I'd say we have lots of students who would likely have a label of some sort in the public schools, and we educate them all in the regular classroom. So in some ways we do inclusion but without any of the supports or training. I was hoping to pick up on some tips for helping these students succeed behaviorally and academically in the regular classroom that we could actually use...so not things that involve a speech therapist or an occupational therapist or anything like that that we don't have. There was a two hour keynote speaker in the morning (preceded by breakfast foods...score!). She was an advocate for inclusion and a great ...

This week was full of support letter assembling and mailing and quilt making. And finishing Season 3 of the Wire! I was pretty worn out by the time Friday rolled around. I was in such a hurry and so tired doing my support letters, I sent out a few without stamps. Oops...that's a little embarrassing. The highlight of my week (which was overall fairly good) was definitely Thursday morning. Music class had been canceled, so I had told my class I'd bring my guitar. The night before I looked up chords to lots of songs we sing in class. We had a lot of fun singing the songs, and they sounded like a choir of little angels. Seriously. They sounded so good. We sang again in the afternoon, and at that point, the novelty had kind of worn off, so their singing was less enthusiastic. I wish I had recorded them singing in the morning. It gave me chills. Plus when I wasn't messing up on the guitar, I didn't sound too bad! I also loved the chance to teach them a bunch of different thin...

I'm finally giving my sewing machine some use. One of the things I was looking forward to about having an apartment was being able to bring my sewing machine (which I couldn't do in the staff house) and have space to sew. And after making two pillows when I first moved in, the poor thing has lived in its case under my desk for months and months. But no longer. I am hard at work at a quilt top that is looking good so far. I will do a real post soon, but I just wanted to share a funny/cute quote from one of my students. Good old Jake (prone to angry meltdowns and brutal honesty) was praying this morning during our circle time. He said, "God, I pray for Chile and Haiti and the earthquakes. And God, I don't know why you made earthquakes. I'm not trying to be mean to you. But I just don't know why you did that." Tiring week at school so far...art class was canceled today and music is canceled Thursday. Luckily it was my week to have a lunch break today (I get o...

...so I will write in my blog. I am about to go to lunch with my good friend and future apartment-mate Bethany. I am excited that she is going to move in here! But that means first Kaitlin is going to move out, which is sad. Things will definitely be different around here next year! I apologize for the depressing-ness of my last entry. The rest of my week was not a disaster. But Thursday morning one of my students (I'll call him Jake) had a total meltdown. I walked my class to music and some of them were having problems in line. So we turned around and walked back a little bit and did it again. I said something along the lines of if they still had problems in line they would need to practice with me at the beginning of recess. Jake was purposely stepping on the feet of the girl in front of him. I didn't single him out since multiple children were having issues. He got very upset when I made the class walk back and do it again. Then he stepped on the girl's feet again. I sti...