Bad Interaction with a Parent

I honestly meant to write while I was on Spring Break. Really. I promise that was the intention. I just didn't do it. I did pretty much nothing, which was fantastic. There were lots of things I meant to do (grading, catch up on second drafts of lesson plans, fix the play that the fourth graders are working on) but mostly I sat around and knitted on a blanket I've been trying to finish for awhile after taking it apart and starting over.

There are lots of things that I need to catch the blog world up on. But for now, since I have 15 minutes before walking up to meet The Boy with the dog, I'll write up the most recent.

Over the past year it has come to my attention that the most dangerous and scary part of my day is when the kids are let out after school. Some kids are headed for after school program in the cafeteria, but don't want to go because their friends are waiting for their parents. Other kids peel across the school driveway at break neck speed for their parents' cars that don't follow the one way rule of the school parking lot. Those that are left begin swinging on the gazebo and throwing rocks. We don't use buses, so though we are a small school of about 120, that's 120 children running EVERYWHERE. Enough to put even the sanest of teachers into a pretty serious panic.

At the beginning of the year, I made a suggestion that all teachers walk their students out and line them up along the sort-of-basketball-court and as parents drive by children can get in to cars in a safe and organized fashion. This idea was not looked on favorably. Why? Who knows?
Goodness forbid we all do a little extra work at the end of the day in order to keep the children safe. (Though I gotta say our kindergarten teacher does a great job of keeping her kids corralled and accounted for.)

For the most part, I can keep track of whatever class I'm in charge of during the afternoon (3rd or 4th) during dismissal and speak to the parents I need to speak to. The last few weeks have proven difficult and the weather has improved and children have begun using dismissal as recess in earnest. The gazebo is between the "field" (read: rectangle covered with dirt, rocks, used heroine needles and broken glass) and the driveway. This makes it difficult for me to speak to the parents I need to speak too and keep Juanito from throwing rocks at Paulito.

Having had enough of that I decided that I would line up my students anyway. That way I could at least keep a good eye on the students that I am most responsible for. I started this afternoon. Once we got outside, I sent the students that go to after school program to after school program inside the cafeteria. I sent off the students whose parents were already parked and I lined up the rest.

Matt, a fourth grader has been having a lot of trouble following directions and getting his work done lately. He's labeled as gifted and in many ways he is ahead of the game. Today, however seemed to be particularly difficult for him as he refused to do work for Ms. Jenson this morning or for me this afternoon. And so after a few reminders, I caught myself almost begging him to do work. At this point I sent him to Ms. Hernandez so he could do his work in there. Later Mr. Dido took him for the last half an hour of the day as part of his gifted services. He came out a few minutes after the rest of my class with Mr. Dido. I sent him to after school program. He didn't want to go. (Well, he hadn't followed any other direction today, what would make that simple one any different?)

Gilbert is another of my fourth grade students. His father was waiting for him and so he was one of the students I sent off straight away. After Matt refused to follow the direction of going to after school program, Gilbert came up to him and asked for his phone number. I stopped the conversation and sent Gilbert back to his car, after explaining that Matt had a direction to follow and that this wasn't the best time to be asking anyway. I repeated my direction to Matt and he slouched off to cafeteria after shooting me his best sneer.

A minute later, Gilbert's father came strutting up to me. The following was our conversation while he was keeping cars from continuing through the correct one way:

Him: What was that with Gilbert and Matt?
Me: I'm sorry?
Him: (Angry voice) All Gilbert wanted was Matt's phone number.
Me: (Very respectfully) I understand, it's just been difficult lately to keep all the kids safe after school and since you were already here I sent Gilbert back to you.
Him: (Even angrier voice) IT'S AFTER SCHOOL!
Me: You're right! Well done, that's why you're picking your son up after all! Yes, sir.
Him: (Even angrier voice) You always seem to be annoyed about something! (Then he turned his back and walked away.)
Me: (To his back) I'm sorry you feel that way, Sir.

(I can't remember if it was annoyed or another word exactly, but it was something like that.)

Now, if I had been allowed to continue the conversation in a civilized way, I would have suggested that he and Gilbert walk into the cafeteria together to talk to Matt, or that he could, but I wasn't.

Now, Gilbert also has bouts of not following directions and fooling around in class. I talk to his parents about this. I also mention positive things during these conversations. So in no way am I always annoyed when speaking to him.

I felt a little guilty after this interaction, so I walked myself into the cafeteria and asked Matt for his phone number. He couldn't remember it! He gave me nine numbers and then when I said that couldn't be right, he gave me five. I went outside to pass on this information to find that they had already left.

I was surprised by this interaction because this is one of the families I know the best. I was their daughter Loo Loo's teacher when she was in fourth grade. I tutored her on my own time and was not compensated by them. (The school got a grant from the city.) I drove Gilbert and Loo Loo home a few times this year while their father was in the hospital, so their mother could stay with him or run some errands. (They are right on the way to my house.) And earlier this year Gilbert broke his glasses and on my own time (they even called me over Christmas Break) I helped them get glasses for cheap over the internet.

Now, I did those things as a pay-it-forward-sort-of-thing. My good deed for the day or whatever. But after all this I was hurt to be treated this way by this father. Thankfully, I kept my voice down and was respectful. (Mum taught me well and Sophia taught me how to stand up for myself in front of parents.)

The cool thing was that I was one of the first classes out for dismissal this afternoon. Other teacher saw what I was doing and copied it! So we had grades 1 - 6 lined up on the-sort-of-basketball-court.

Multiplication Tables

I'm not a teacher that is a fan of having kids memorize things in general. However, I feel differently when it comes to multiplication tables. They are the one thing that I think kids just need to memorize.

I think they should know the 2's through the 12's (because the zero's and one's are easy) and the 15's and the 20's through to 12 (because in my own life I use the 15's and 20's a lot and wish they were as beaten into my brain as the others.) I use the 15's and 20's as extra credit for the kids who learn the 2's through the 12's. Whenever I begin the process with classes, they balk at the number of facts they need to learn, but actually, there's so many turn around facts that in the end it's always about two thirds less than they think it is.

My classes use flash cards and they take home half sheets of paper corresponding the to the table they need to learn to help them practice at night. Every day at the beginning of math time, they take a quiz corresponding to the table they are working on. It's a laminated one by six inch sheet with mix facts and they have a minute to complete it with a dry erase marker. (The laminating idea was Sophie's and totally saved me paper and time!) This encourages the kids to stop counting on their fingers. They learn quickly that if they count on their fingers, they run out of time. I keep track of their progress on a big sheet that is hung on the wall of my classroom.

The homework part was the hardest to make a good routine out of. I found this fantastic website. Here you can get already made worksheets to give to the kids for homework. The site is mostly about math but covers everything from geometry to dollars and cents notation. I've used it with third to sixth grade to great success. It's easy for me to print stuff out, make copies and put them in a filing cabinet for easy access.

This year I've been really impressed with my both my third grade and fourth grade class in that they want to pass their tables. That hasn't always been the case as most of my previous classes have looked at them as a chore.

Here's a picture of the charts in my classroom (of course you can't see names or anything!) and the little quizzes and homework sheets.

More Co-Teacher Drama

Hehe.

The other morning I was doing my "duty" outside where all the cars come in, Sr. Callejo brought his son (who is in Kinder and totally adorable) to the cafeteria and then came back and exchanged pleasantries with me for a few moments. As he was walking away Ellie and Fiona's mum came up to talk to him. Whenever I see one of my parents talking to my principal I'm always nervous that they are saying mean things about me since that was all that was ever said about me to my principal that first year of teaching. She walked away and he meandered back to me. He explained that she was thinking about pulling Ellie out of the school because Ms. Jenson (co-teacher) says mean things to her. Example; "Ellie, your handwriting is ugly." This is the first time we've heard the same comment from parents, so now we knew that really is what she was saying and not the kids putting words in her mouth.

He asked me to tell her before we started classes that morning that she should really try to be more positive with the kids and less negative because we can't loose kids at this point, especially because of something like that. He couldn't because he had to leave for a day long meeting. I balked at this a bit. If it had been Sophia, it might have been a little awkward, the conversation would have been casual enough that the awkwardness would have blown over pretty quickly. This I feared would not be the case with Ms. Jenson. I said as much and he said that he really appreciated me sending on the message. I reluctantly agreed to pass on the message. Which pretty much went over exactly the way I predicted, with Ms. Jenson saying things like, "Why would he tell you and not me, hum...hum" (fake dramatic confused look.)

This morning the third graders were in my classroom for the first hour (as per our implementation of reading recovery) and I realized that Ellie, wasn't in class. The girls are rarely late and absent less than they are late. I wondered if I had inadvertently left her in the cafeteria. I asked the other kids if they had seen her that morning and they all answered in the negative. Then little Molly (Callie's little sister) piped up and said, "She's not coming to the this school anymore, my sister told me." I was so surprised. Then it hit me. If Ellie was gone, that probably meant that Fiona, my most favorite student ever was gone too.

I opened the door to my classroom when I saw the seventh graders coming through the hallway. I was relieved to see that Fiona was in the line. I asked their teacher if I could borrow Fiona for a moment. She followed me to my classroom and explained that their Mum didn't like the way that Ms. Jenson spoke to the kids. I asked her if she was leaving and she said that her Mum hadn't decided yet. I explained that I really didn't want to lose touch with her. So I gave her my email address and my cell phone number and made her promise to keep in touch if she had to leave the school. She promised and gave me a hug. I really hope she keeps her promise.

I hate that we're losing kids because of this...other things I can understand. But this? Come on. Especially that family. They have been with us from the beginning and it's just too bad.

There was a staff meeting today and Sr. Callejo explained to the whole staff we needed to keep "positive reinforcement" in mind. He also said that the PTA President wanted all complaints like this to come to her so that she can speak to the family and give them a tour of school, so that parents have the chance to see all the good things we are doing. I think this is a great step, something I wish I had thought of. So many parents never come into the classroom. These sorts of things make our school more community oriented.

By the way. I think I have the third graders licked. Licked I tell you. More on that later.

Want a great kid's book? Try Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. I just finished reading it out loud to them today. They loved it.

Routine

School is beginning to become a routine again. Yay!

So remember how I wondered what would happen when Ms. Jenson and I couldn't communicate about what was being taught in the classroom. Well. It happened.

So. We are a bilingual school, which means that the students have half of their day in English and half of their day in Spanish. We have to find a way to do this without "translating," which means that I can't teach on lesson in English and then that afternoon another teacher (in this case Ms. Jenson) teach the same lesson in Spanish. The two lessons need to build on each other in some way. This is easy to figure out for most subjects. We both teach Language Arts in each language, I teach science in English and she teaches Social Studies in Spanish. Math sort of throws a wrench in this finely tuned machine.

Because of the way that "Everyday Mathematics" is set up as a spiraling curriculum, we can't do every other chapter on our own the way we do with the reading curriculum. We have to know what each other taught yesterday, so that both of us know what to teach today and tomorrow. This, at least at the beginning involves a lot of planning. Sophia and I figured it out together last year and it took us a few weeks to get used to how it worked. We worked so well together, that eventually we didn't need to sit down and plan together because we got into a groove. I don't foresee this happening with Ms. Jenson.

Before school started I sat down and explained how we use the math curriculum in a bilingual school. She seemed amenable to this at first and the first two days of teaching this way went alright. On Thursday, I asked her how far she had gotten with the third graders that morning so I knew what I needed to work on with them that afternoon. It was then that she told me that she didn't think that she was going to be able to to do it the way we talked about. Rather, no matter what part of the day, she said that I should teach the introductory lesson (the lessons are mostly broken up into two main parts with smaller third part) and she should do the follow up. She said that kids just don't know any Spanish at all and that she was going to start teaching them SSL (Spanish as a Second Language.)

Now. It could have been worse. She could have suggested the translating method. This was a step or two above that, which is good. But this is the one thing that Sr. Callejo was clear about, this is how we were teach math to give the kids the best chance of having a bilingual vocabulary in the subject of Mathematics. So very carefully, very politely I said that if she really thought that was the best plan because she didn't think the kids could succeed the way we were doing it, she should bring it up with Sr. Callejo so that he knows that we will be switching it up a bit.

Well. That went over like a lead balloon. She went off about how she left public school because she was sick of being told how and what to teach. And that she couldn't believe that this was happening to her in a charter school and how she was just going to have to learn how to deal with it again and finally that she just couldn't believe that I was suggesting she get permission to change the way she was teaching. Which of course was not my intention, or in fact, what I said at all.

Now. Honestly. We have it really good at ALDR. We are not handed our schedules, our lesson plans, we get to use the curriculum (other than this relatively loose method with the math curriculum) in any way we wish as long as we address the standards set down by the state. We are not micromanaged at all. At all. The rules and procedures we do follow and set down we do to follow the laws set down by the state.

Nutter. This lady is at least part nutter. I spoke to Sr. Callejo about it and he talked her down from the ledge today at lunch.

Mondays are going to be my saving grace because the third graders have performing arts at the same time as the fourth graders have physical education and then vice versa. This means that Ms. Jenson and I get to plan together for a whole hour and a half. So today we sat down to talk through what we were going to teach for math (just math mind you) for the next five days. It took us over an hour to get through FIVE (five people) days. Crazy.

HaHa! Funny story from today. Fred came back today, I was expecting him last week but he didn't show up until today. I was helping him with some Geometry today when he looked at me and said, "Ms. Knitter, you've got stuff right here." He pointed to the part of his eye nearest his nose. I realized that he thought my eye brightener looked like "stuff." From the mouths of babe eh?

And My New Co-Teacher Is...

Introducing: Ms. Jenson.

The other day Sr. Callejo called and asked if I wanted to be in on the interview for my co-teacher. I replied in the affirmative of course. And then realized...that meant for sure that was going to be teaching fourth grade (well at least for half the time)! There was awhile when it was thought that I would have to repeat my stint in the middle school grades.

So here's how its going to work: I'll be the homeroom teacher for the fourth graders and have them for half the day. The other half of the day I'll be teaching the third graders. Ms. Jenson will be teaching the kids when I don't have them.

We interviewed two teachers today and I didn't LOVE either of them. But I realized that's because I was comparing them to Sophia...and no one can top her. I learned so much from working with her and she was such a great role model.

Ms. Jenson is much older than me...perhaps in her sixties, anglo and bilingual. She's taught all grade levels, in inner cities as well in refugee camps in Costa Rica. She's got some serious experience. I hope to be able to learn as much from her as I did from Sophia. I really hope that she wants to work together for the both classes, rather than us planning seperately for both.

It was good to go back to ADLR. For awhile we thought we were going to move back to where our school was orginally situated, this was the reason for all the hurried packing at the end of last year. At the last moment, Sr. Callejo decided that it was better to stay where we were rather than make the move, which means that the packing was a mute point. It was nice to be back in the classrooms, everyone coming back from break, seeing the old faces. Report day is August 3. I'm ready.

Aaahh, the sweet smells of summer!

I'm so glad its over. So very glad. The last day went relatively smoothly. In the morning I sent some of the kids to the first grade classroom to help that teacher pack her things (first graders aren't very good at that!) I had sent kids to Kindergarten the day before as well. Then, they watched a bit of Monster's INC and then we joined up with fourth grade to go to the park.

I brought my towel for a blanket and camped out on the grass with Sophie for the three hours we were there, every twenty minutes or so I would get up and make sure my nine students were still inside the park. It was sunny with clouds and not too hot, there were trees, grass and shade so it was very nice. Some of the other teachers had brought kites, balls, bats and frisbees for the kids to share. The organized chaos was quite bearable. The Boy brought me lunch on the motorcycle. Twas lovely.

We got back to school with about two hours to go and watched "The Amazing Panda Adventure with the fourth grade. Cosmo had been giving me trouble day, disrespectful comments, whining, refusal to follow directions, the works. But it came to a head during the movie. He had been sitting quietly watching the movie for about an hour next to Allen on one side of the room. Cassie and Fiona were on the other side of the room reading books and picking their heads up only at the action parts. One second I look over and Cosmo is next to Allen, the next he's shoved himself up next to Cassie and Fiona and has started talking to them. I asked him nicely (even used the word 'please') to move back to where he was sitting for two reasons; 1, he has been smothering Fiona lately and 2. Everything was quiet before he moved. He refused and I asked him again, he refused, then said he would and then didn't move. I tried one more time. Nothing. Sophia popped up and said, "That's it. You stand up right now and come with me." And out of class he went for a stern talking to.

I know that Fiona said that she talked her mother into letting her go to ADLR next year for seventh grade but I'm afraid that she'll change her mind over the summer and I won't ever see her again. So after every one was dismissed I gave her my email address and told her to keep in touch and that I was really proud of what she had done this year. She gave me a big hug and promised to get in touch. I hope hope she does. I would hate to lose track of her.

It really was great to come home that day. Wheww. I'm really looking forward to classes starting this summer. I can't wait to be on the other side of the desk for a change. I hope the summer camp with Sophia goes off without a hitch. We have one trip planned for the end of the summer and perhaps even a drive to Roswell (no alien stuff without you Grant, I promise!) to see my first roommate from college, Ben's parents are coming down to visit and revel in their beautiful house. It should be a really nice two months.

Next week I'm working with an education consulting firm that I love. I was introduced to the woman who runs it, Marta (not real name) during my E.A. year when she hired me to write some of the Social Studies curriculum that we use now. These workshops are going to be a Standards Based Checklist that she created for teachers to easily track what their students know according to the state standards during the course of a year. I love them. I really wish ADLR used them. On Monday, I'll be speaking at a pueblo school and on Tuesday for two other charter school in the city. I've done five or six workshops for her now. I'm almost not even nervous!

Five Days Left! And a forgotten favorite lesson!

There are only five days left of school. Last night was the Indigo Girls concert, so I'm not at Alma De La Rosa today. However, yesterday was a doozy.

Everything went alright until the afternoon, which is about par. Cosmo has started playing football. Everything is about football. He loves to regale me with how many times he had to run up and down the hill during practice the night before. Yesterday at lunch he told me that he couldn't get in trouble for the rest of the year or he wouldn't be able to stay on the team and I said, "Wow what great leverage to hold." Then he asked me if I thought he could throw an apple (he had one in his hand) from the inside of the cafeteria where we were sitting across the driveway of the school, across the next street and hit the house on the south side of the street. This was a good long distance that perhaps Tom Brady could have made. But not my dear Cosmo. So I said, "No, I don't think you could make that throw and even if I did think you could make it, I wouldn't let you try because that's totally not allowed." He gave me a sly smile continued to beg which I mostly ignored other than to say "You better not," about three more times.

Well. He did it. And than had the gall to be upset when I wrote him up. He was given in school suspension for three days. At first I felt a little guilty because of what he told me about his football team and then I snapped out it. 1. He was dumb enough to tell me about it in first place and then 2. He was dumb enough to be so directly disobedient that he had to know I was going to write him up. I do not feel guilty.

Oh and while I'm out Teacher Rhonda is substituting for me. Awesome. Tomorrow is going to be rad! (so. not.)

A forgotten lesson: Before the election, I signed the school up to do an online election. I thought this would be it, but no, I got totally into it. My friend Brigid was working for Tom Udall at the time and I invited her to come speak to my fourth graders and give an unbiased perspective on the two candidates! The kids asked some good questions as well as some inane ones. (One of the fourth graders, Lacey is obsessed with knowing what happens to a person's property and financials after they die, she has asked each speaker we've had about it.) I created Voter Registration card based on the one I received from the state of New Mexico. The Boy used the computer to actually make it a card, with the school mascot on it and Sr. Callejo signed it as the Registrar. It was totally rad.

When the big day finally came, Sophia taught our class all day, so I could go around to all the classes and help them through the internet voting program! There was even a map that popped up (like the one on CNN) so that the kids could see how kids in other states were voting. Only seven voted for John McCain, one of the girls, Brita doing so because "Well, the other one kills babies." (Awesome.) After the election we had an all school assembly and Sr. Callejo asked me to talk to the kids about it one more time. So I stressed that in this election more young people had voted than in many years past and that when they turned 18 it would be their turn to vote for real. I really hope they remember that.

Favorite Lessons from this year!

So in the interest of being less negative, I decided to write about some of my favorite lessons of this year.

During Balloon Fiesta, (while I was still teaching fourth grade) Sophia and put together paper mache project. Simple enough, the kids had a great time and they were beautiful to look at when they were finished. Another teacher, Mr. Dido brought in a tissue paper balloon and we talked about how real balloons fly. I got to tell them my story of taking a ride in one and being in the chase car. It was the perfect example of teachers working together to create a great lesson for kids.

Before Thanksgiving (still in fourth grade) Sophia set up a soap making lesson! The kids actually made soap. I did some introductory lessons about simple chemistry and we pooled money for the materials. Parents came in and helped with some of the more complicated steps. All the kids were involved in all the steps and at the end we wrapped the soaps up and the kids sold them and used the money towards the "Earth" field trip. Fun and learning was had by all.

So far, these have been other people's (mostly the awesome Sophia) ideas. But this one is all mine. It started to snow one day (still fourth grade) and the kids were so excited for recess. Except that Sr. Callejo imposed every kids' worst nightmare; indoor recess. The kids were devastated. He does this because we are living in New Mexico and he think parents will be mad if their children are outside in less than 60 degree weather. Anyway. Well the bathrooms are across the driveway so I took the kids to the bathroom and on the way there and back I had them catch snowflakes on their shirtsleeves and look at them up close. When we got back to the classroom I read them the story about Snowflake Bentley (which I had just happened to order the week before) and then in small groups of three they looked at pictures on the internet of snowflakes magnified. The kids loved it. I felt really good about it!

Now for the sixth grade. There have been many moments, especially since Monte moved into our school. Monte is questioning some part of his gender. This has opened up a can of worms that until he came was just not something that was part of the class' world. But there have been at least three conversations where I think I really made a difference in the way that the kids saw people that do not follow the usual gender identity pattern.

I also just absolutely love how the girls have turned out. They really are a bit of a hint of what they will be.

Summer Plans!

Sophia asked me this morning if I thought she was crazy to try and create a small summer camp. I said, "No, I don't think that's a crazy idea at all and I'd like to help!" Cooking, knitting, making soap, wrapping soap, taking the dog for a walk (her dog), making ice cream, taking hikes are all some fun ideas we have come up with. We will also do some reading and math along the way. I hope it works out!

Back to the Basics

When I was working on my Master's in Teaching, one of the main tenets of my program at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont was reflective teaching. This meant quite simply that we were to spend time writing about what we did that day, what worked, what didn't work and think of ways to fix it for the next day. While I was teaching my fourth grade class, I was very good at this...I had to be because it was all going to be incorporated into my final portfolio project. This project called "Knit One, Purl Two: A Guide to Knitting Knowledge" which was the inspiration for the title of the blog. Also, as anyone who knows me will tell you...I live to knit!

When I moved to La Pasa in the Fall of 2006, there was not a full time teaching position here for me at Alma De La Rosa (a 50/50 Bilingual school), but the principal assured me that if I stuck it out as a paraprofessional, he would give me a class of my own in the fall of 2007. So for a year I didn't eat much as paraprofessionals are barely paid...but that was alright with me, I was waiting for what was next.

As I began the 2007 - 2008 year, I dived into my class and the curriculum. I had a four/five combo class. On top of that, I taught third grade science for an hour in the afternoon. Think about that: three grades to plan for each week, three different sets of standards to become familiar with and on top of that, English was the only the second language of most of my students (Espanol was the first). It was daunting. I spent most of the time with my head buried in the curriculum and not trying to think outside the box. So, I was not very good about reflection (like, at all.) It was a very stressful year (as any first year teacher's would be.) Epic might be a good descriptor. By February, there was barely any sleep to be had. I ended it, ready to put it behind me, take what I had learned and begin the next year.

I had a better situation for 2008 - 2009. I was going to be teaching ONLY the English component of the fourth grade (my FAVORITE) and I was going to have a Co - Teacher to teach the Spanish component. I was so excited to be working with a partner again the way I did when I was teaching in Bennington, but mostly I was excited about only teaching one grade at a time. It was amazing. My Co - Teacher, Sophia was a constant source of support and I was getting back to stepping outside of the box with my lesson planning. We had a great crew of fourth graders, many of them I had known since I began working at Alma De La Rosa. I was happy!

Why the past tense you may ask? Because at the end of January I was pulled from my fourth grade classroom and put into the sixth grade classroom! The sixth grade teacher at the time, we'll call her "Teacher Ronda" (not her real name, but it is true that she has the kids call her "Teacher _______ ," which I think is absolutely ridiculous, but that's not the point right now) was so incompetent the principal Sr. Callejo could not let her continue in that position. I was asked to take over because I was in one of classrooms with two teachers and because Sr. Callejo knows that I like to teach with a strict routine...which is exactly what he thought these kids needed. My fantasy world came crashing down!

As my stress level over the past few months has begun to rise again and the hours of sleep a night continue to dwindle, it dawned on me that it had been three years since I had written about my daily life as a teacher. In the past, after nights of no sleep it has been suggested very nicely to me by amazing boyfriend of two years from here on out known as The Boy, that perhaps I should to go speak to someone (i.e. get my head shrunk). Reluctant to go that route (though too terrified is probably the more accurate description) I realized after reading my very dear friend (and !Swingle Sister!) Erin's blog that perhaps going back to the basics would be a less drastic option. (Another plug: my friend Shani has also started a fun food blog!)

It's almost (actually not quite at all) unfortunate that school will be ending in five weeks. But that's alright. I have all summer to learn how to code and perhaps not sound so boring in these posts. This summer, I have a house to put together, (we FINALLY close tomorrow) a clase de espanol to take through the community college, a puppy to buy and hopefully some road trips!