hOUme

As I sit on the porch of Pig Skin, sipping my Bloody Mary reading a book, I reminisce on my life in this beautiful town. This town has seen the best and worse of me, sometimes even in the same day. Walking on these bricks for the thousandth time, I think back to my time here and how it would have turned out completely different if I never would have come here. 

Flashback to senior year of high school, college applications were due. I applied to 3 schools. Ball State University, a school I never would actually be able to go to, unless they gave me a scholarship. Ohio University, my top school, the only one I realistically saw myself going to. Wright State University, it's right down the street, all my friends are going, why not? 

First letter to come back, Ball State, I got in, yay. Yet, I knew, out of state tuition would be my downfall. Next, came Wright State. Ok, cool, I could go there and be with a lot of people I knew. Ohio University sent me a letter saying they were missing part of my application and they needed it before they could give me an answer. Shit. Is this the end? Am I not going to get into the only school I really applied for? 

March. The middle of March is when I finally got the acceptance letter and I screamed. I screamed and jump so loudly my dog was barking and my mom was like, "what the hell is wrong with you?" I had gotten in. I was going to Ohio University. There was no decision that needed to be made. The acceptance letter was it. 

July 2008, I received information about where I was living and who my roommate was going to bed. Kyrstin Ratliff. This was scary. My roommate finally had a name and it was real. We were going to be living together for the year. I decided to do what anyone in 2008 would do, I creeped on Facebook until I found her. We talked about what we were bringing and when we were moving in. We wanted to make sure we didn't have duplicates. Good thing too, our room was the smallest on the floor. 

Move in day came before we all knew it. My mom, dad and Jessica moved all of my stuff in. Four flights of stairs later, probably 15 trips up those stairs and everything was in. We made my bed, and put some of my stuff away, then it was inevitably time to say goodbye. Mom hugged me and cried, Jess and I knew we'd see each other soon and then I said goodbye to dad. He knew what it was like, many years before he'd done the same thing at the exact same school with my grandma. 

Being roommates with Kyrstin could have never worked out better than it did. We were instant best friends and I can't imagine my life without her now. Four years, four of the best years we were roommates. We had other roommates along the way that lived with us, but her and I never faltered our friendship. No matter who was in our life, we were the best of friends and nothing and no one would change that. Her last year was the saddest, I had to find a new place to live and with new people, people that weren't her. 

When I finally decided on the summit as my next adventure, I had the privilege of living with two incredible roommates, Natalie and Sarah. Oh, and you can't forget my favorite companion, Rascal. This was another great year, an unexpected year. But, nevertheless one of adventure and finding myself. I came back from a month long trip to Costa Rica, broke up with a guy I had dated most of college and was starting fresh. New roommates, new major, and Racal. 2012 came fast and hard and hit even harder. I think I found myself that year. 

I learned to love myself no matter what anyone thought. I made friends I still have today. And I found new ways to make myself happy. If these bricks could talk, they'd paint a picture of a girl who fought for everything, drank a little too much and learned to believe in the little things. 

December 2012, I met some of the best people I never thought existed. I decided to get a job at my apt complex, The Summit. Thank god I did, or I wouldn't have met my best friend, or my boyfriend. Once Andrea came into my life, I knew things would never be the same. Ever since the day we had to "hold down the fort," and all hell broke loose, we became the best of friends. 

Fast forward a few years. October 13, 2017. Today. I'm in Athens waiting on Andrea. I had an opportunity to walk through campus. I tried to stop at Ellis, the English building, but they're closed for renovations, until 2019. So, I decided to go through Alden Library. 

The stacks. Holy crap. I didn't think I would get that emotional walking up those three flights of stairs to the stacks, but I did. 7th floor Alden saw tears and failures. 7th floor Alden saw my heartbreaking while having to write a paper for a class. 7th floor Alden saw me more than some of my friends. To be back in the place where I wrote nourmous papers, it took me back. I will never forget the smell, the quiet, the books, and the smell. Yes, the smell of old books, it was a euphoric. 

Sunday, October 15, 2017. Being back on campus was just what I needed this weekend. I remembered that I'm getting too old to drink the way I did when I was in college and that's perfectly fine. The amount of food I consumed this weekend was more than enough for a week, but nostalgia hit hard and I couldn't choose one place over another, so had to eat all the things. Had a conversation with a couple and realized she was one of my favorite professors in the education department. Saw some old friends I haven't seen since graduating. Met some older Bobcat alums and realized what a truly small world it is. That's the thing with Bobcats, you can strike up a conversation with just about any other person who went to Ohio University and you will have something in common. 

It's sad that I have to pack up and leave this morning, the weekend went too quickly, but it's okay, I will always come back. 

Love from the girl who walked down 6 and a half years of memories in one long weekend. 

Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.

As I get older, the faster time seems to go. Everyone always tells me, just wait until you you get older. But, I am older. Some days just fly by and I don't even realize it's over, until it's too late. The first quarter of my third year is over on Thursday. I don't know where this quarter went to. In my mind it's the second week of the quarter and we still have plenty of time to complete assignments. Reality, it's four days until the end of the quarter, and projects are in full swing. 

I have all these great intentions of hitting all the standards before the quarter ends, and it always starts off fantastic. Then, we hit a speed bump, I have to reteach something, or they pull me out of the building for two days and then it's just playing catch up. Excuses,  I know. But, I'd like to think that over the lastthree  years, I've actually gotten my shit together. First year teacher me, would be freaking out and having no clue what to do? Second year me, would have it a little more put together, still with a freak out. 

This year, well I'm kinda ready for the quarter to be over already. I've learned that it's okay to not necessarily get all of the standards covered, if you go in depth and focus on a couple of them. Yes, I need to go over all of them, but sometimes you have to stop and slow it down and make sure they understand the ones you're going over. 

At first, I thought it was a bad idea starting of the year with this whole reading thing I was doing. But, you know what? I'm glad I did it. My kids have shown me their love of reading, far more than my previous two years. Constantly, I am asked to send a student to the library so they could get a new book. It's such a great feeling see how excited they get when they enjoy the books their reading. Getting them to love reading has giving me the opportunity to read more and that has been just as cute ok. I never read during the school year because, "I never have time," but I definitely do, just have to put my mind to it. 

My eighth graders have not been enjoying their books as much as I hoped, but I think their dystopian societies they've created are more than I could have asked for. Half of them have only read a few chapters of their books, so I'm hoping next quarter they will show more enthusiasm for reading books that they get to choose oh their own. It hasn't discouraged their imaginations and creations though. The societies they've come up with so far are truly incredible. My takeaway from this, don't let them work in groups for this long without more structured activities. Some groups are all over the place. Lesson learned. 

Seventh grade. They are loving The Watson's go to Birmingham. Today about half of them finished and said it was one of their favorites. It always makes me feel good when I can introduce a book that the kids love. We've talked a little bit about The Civil Rights and I can't wait to see what they have to say when we argue about whether or not segregation still exists. Such a hot topic and I can't wait to keep coming back to it. 

As the quarter nears the end and a new one starts, I hope I can stay on top of it, but I know how fast time seems to go now adays and reality is I will always think I'm ahead even though I'm not. 

Love from the girl who constantly feels like she's going crazy, but remembers that it's the only way to stay sane. 

First Full Week is in the Books

Literally. Books on books. This year has been off to a fantastic start. Third year is a charm. 

On the first day, I threw out the rule book and went with my gut. Starting with a writing prompt about what the quote "when everything feels like an uphill battle, just think about the view from the top," and the students had to describe what that meant to them. We then moved into a get to know them activity with a little bit of getting to know their classmates. Class was over pretty soon after that. Each class went like this and the first day was over before I really even had a chance to sit down and realize it. 

As day two started I brought up rules or procedures as they were needed and reinforced them when a student forgot. This seemed to be an awesome approach. We were able to get right into things and move forward with English class. 

One of my co workers recommended the book The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. It's all about how independent reading is what she focuses on and uses those to guide her lessons and her talks with the students. I'm only about half way through it, but have already adopted a few of her suggestions and it's been a huge hit. On Monday, I did a "speeding dating" of sorts, with books. My students went to the library where the librarian pulled over 200 books from the stacks and placed them around the room for them to look through. I played music while they perused the collections and when the music stopped, they had to pick one and go answer questions about it. My hopes were for them to open their horizons to different books and maybe by the end find one suitable for them. 

I never imagined that some students would find two and three books they wanted to read and check all of them out. What's more, is they have been so excited to read these books in class. This week, while working on routines and getting them on a more set schedule of what class will look like, I've given them time to read. At first it was kind of forceful, like this it time to read not to do other things. Today, however, the kids were begging to read. Today, day 7 of school, I had a moment where I've already changed my plans to accommodate what the students needed. It was such a great feeling see them all wanting to read, especially kids I had last year who I know hated to read and would refuse. Even they had their noses deep in their books reading. 

Currently, I am rethinking my whole idea of the quarter and trying to think how to use their independent books to get us moving forward. I love their eagerness to open their books the second their finished with their work and waiting for the other to get done. They remind me of me at that age, nose in a book constantly. 

This year is off to a fairly great start, and I cannot wait to see where they go with their reading and writing. 

Love from the girl who has her nose in a book, hoping to keep her students reading. 

Third Year's a Charm

Today is my first day of school as a third year teacher. I still remember my first day of my first year like it was yesterday, and I'm so glad I'm not that girl anymore. Today is a good day, I'm nervous but in a good way. I'm excited to start my second year in the same position and have several repeat students. I've completely revamped my room, again, and am looking forward to seeing where this year takes me. 

Road Trips are for the Adventurous

Almost two weeks ago, Andy and I embarked on our road trip to the Atlantic Coast, with a pitstop in Nashville, Tennessee. We loaded up the car with enough stuff to last a month. All of Bandit's stuff took over most of the back seat, and you can't forget all the snacks we brought for along the way. We were loaded down and ready to go that Friday morning at 6 am. 

I was a little nervous for Bandit on this journey, as she'd only been in the car for a total of 3 1/2 hours at a time. But, she was just as excited to get on the road as we were. We made it through Cincinnati in record time and were well on our way to Nashville. The last time I was in Nashville was almost 10 years ago, so I was excited to see it again. And, we were going to be seeing friends of Andy's and staying with them while we were there. 

Abby and Jon have a cute little apartment about 10 minutes from downtown Nashville. It was great catching up with them and exploring their neck of the woods. We ate great southern food and drank really good beer. Andy and I both said that was what we wanted to do in Nashville and I think we accomplished it, eat and drink our way through the city. After two days and probably 10 pounds later, we packed up the car again to head to South Carolina to see my dad. 

The 10 hour drive slowly turned into 12 with a 45 minute delay when we first got to North Carolina and after our hour break for lunch. When we hit Myrtle, we were so ready to get to my dads. He lives about 30 minutes south in a little town called Pawleys Island. It's away from all the hustle and bustle of Myrtle Beach, which was exactly what the three of us needed. 

Our first day we spent seeing the town and getting to know the area a little. It was a great way to figure out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to while we were there. The very next day, we loaded up my car with chairs, the cooler and our towels. We were ready to spend time on the beach. After about two hours, we quickly learned that an umbrella was going to be a must if we wanted to spend any more time on the beach. It was hot, with no chance to get out of the sun. So, naturally we stayed two more hours and went back to my dad's a nice lobster color. 

While we were with my dad he showed us some of he favorite local spots, and he did not disappoint. Lots of great food and obviously, great drinks. We tried a couple new places together too. After the beach one day, Andy and I were starving so we tried to find a quick bite and ended up at The Ship's Pub. A cute little place with great food options. While we were eating, we even had a chance to meet and talk with one of the owners. She was very friendly and appreciative that we were planning on telling my dad to come back (which we did the very next day).

Thursday we got up early and headed down to Charleston. We went to a place I had found online called Poogan's Porch. I was so excited to try it out because I had heard such great things and it didn't disappoint. Their biscuits and gravy were on the list for the best I've had. After brunch, we headed to City Market before we headed out to Fort Sumter. To get to Fort Sumter you have to take a ferry which turned out to be awesome because I saw so many dolphins. Andy was definitely in love with seeing Fort Sumter, he got to see cannons and learned more about the Fort. We ended the busy afternoon by heading to Carolina Ale House. 

Friday was another busy day. We headed towards Myrtle Beach to take a short helicopter ride. Neither Andy or I had ever been in a helicopter and it was really fun to get up above the strand and see the beach. It was a quick little ride but fun all the same. After our helicopter ride we drove up to Barefoot Landing. This is where we got to go on a boat ride along the intercostal. It was really fun and I know Andy enjoyed "going fast", especially since he was the one that got to drive ours. My dad went with the guide and we followed behind. It was quite fun after Andy got the hang of it! (: 

The rest of our vacation we spent going to the beach and the pool. It was nice to just relax and not do a whole lot. One day we even built a sandcastle and made sure that the enemy would meet its doom if it got near. Bandit even went to the beach one evening. She wasn't a fan, but we will work on it. 

All in all, we had a great time and only wanted to kill each other once or twice. Which I'd say is pretty good. We were ready to be home though. It's always fun to go on vacation, but it's great to come home well rested. 

Love from the tanned girl who is not looking forward to unpacking or laundry, but who's happy to be sleeping in her own bed. 

One Month of Summer Down

Summer has been on full blast since the last day of school. I had a teacher work day on a Monday and then the day after I was in orientation for TJ Chumps on Tuesday. It's been a wild ride so far. I had 5 days of training, plus a weekend in Cleveland and now I'm on the schedule. 

Cleveland was fun, I got to see family I hadn't seen. My cousin graduated from college and is getting ready to head right for her masters. I left Sunday morning, early, so I could get home in time for a high school graduation. This wasn't just any high school graduation, but none other than a girl I used to babysit for. On top of graduating, she was one of the valedictorians of her school. Holy cow, was I proud of her. I can't believe I started babysitting for her 13 years ago. Made me feel old. 

I've been at TJ Chumps for a solid week now, on my own, and I think I've done a fairly good job. I didn't think I'd want to serve again, but I like it there and it's been fun so far. Getting to meet new people has been another experience. I love the people I work with and the job is so different from where I served before. 

Next week, is vacation time! I'm beyond excited to enjoy time away from Ohio. Andy and I are going on our first vacation together, so it should be quite interesting. Heading to Tennessee to see friends, then heading to South Carolina to visit with my dad for 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to good company, food and drinks. 

Love from the girl who has already started packing for next Friday's adventure. 

Year Two in the Books

Today, was the last day with my students. My second year of teaching is over. I'm still in complete shock. Where has the year gone? I feel like I should still have a few more months with them, but I know that's crazy talk. Honestly, I have no idea where this year has gone. There were many times that I prayed it would be over, but reflecting over the whole year, I cannot believe how incredibly fast it actually went. 

As I look back on last year, and think about finishing up my first year versus my second year, so many things are different. First, I feel like I'm in such a different place than I was this time last year. This year I was much more prepared for the ending of school (even if I didn't realize it was happening), the days seemed to fly by, and the kids seemed to be just as ready as the teachers to be done this year. 

This group of kids was a group that I won't forget for a while. The good and the bad. There were so many ups, and just as many downs this year, some to the point I wasn't sure I'd make it. Overall, the year ended on a good note. And, it's safe to say I'm going to miss a few of them. 

Today was fun, I got to hang out with the 8th graders who stayed after the awards and had the chance to get to know them just a little bit more. We had a good day. The last 15 minutes of school, the 8th graders were called down to the gym to start their processional. They walked the halls of the middle school one last time, hugging and waving to their the teachers and high fiving the soon to be new 8th graders. The only difference from last year is this years group of kids were more emotional. More than half of them came through the 7th grade hallway crying, which in turn made all of teachers get a little emotional. 

After saying our goodbyes, most of us got out of there as quick as we could. Monday we will be back for teacher work day, but as of now, the school year has come to a close. I'm looking forward to what this summer will bring, as well as the next school year. 

Love from the girl who will live in yoga pants this summer and spend an obscene amount of time watching Netflix. 

May? Say What?

Spring Break flew by. So has the entire month of April.

A few weeks ago I had a really fun day with my 8th graders. I tried something new. Which is sometimes a scary thing. But, most of the time it's a lot of fun. So, we've been working on historical fiction and have done a couple writing prompts to get them thinking in terms of being other characters. For the day's writing prompt, we did a musical chairs of sorts. The students had a writing prompt about World War II and were hiding a Jewish family. I had them write down their initial part of the stories and then they had to switch after about a minute. They went to someone else's story and read it, then added their own thinking to the writing for another minute. We did this four times, then the last minute they went back to their own writings. It was quite funny to watch them get a little mad, especially when another student took the story in a completely different way than what they wanted. Once they finished their stories they had a chance to read them to each other, I've never had so many hands in the air of students willing to read their stories aloud. 

We did the whole process again today and they surprised me so much with how well they did. Their writing has surpassed my expectations this year. They have done so well and I'm so proud of how far they've come. A couple of students have even told me they are going to keep working on their stories even though they already got credit for them. This truly puts a smile on my face. When they are willing to continue writing even after the "grade is given," that's the best feeling. 

We have about 13 days left of school. I don't know where the time has gone. This year has truly flown by and I can't believe I'm getting ready to end my second year of teaching. 

Currently, I am standing in line waiting on buy one get one free from Chipotle for Teacher Appreciation Day. It's a nice treat after this very busy year. I'm looking forward to finishing up the next few weeks and have already started to plan for next year, which is insane to me. To think I've planned all the way through this year and that I'm ready for the next one already. I am in such a different spot in the year than I was last year. The amount of growing I have done in the past year is tremendous. I know it'll only get better from here for the next few years. 

Love from the girl who has checked out of this year and is ready to hit the ground running next year. 

Spring Break Ahead

Today was the second day of the ELA AIR test. I am very thankful that it is over. These last few weeks leading up to Spring Break have been long and tiresome. The students have been preparing to take the ELA test, Fourth Quarter officially started, and Daylight Savings Time kicked us all in the butt. 

 The thing I'm looking forward to most is rejuvenating and getting some much needed rest. When we come back from Spring Break there are only 7 weeks of school remaining. This seems like a lot, but there's two more weeks of testing, kids going to St Louis and all the events that lead up to the final week of school. So, 7 weeks, that's nothing.  Lots of things have been going on the past few weeks in my classes. We finished reading Watson's Go to Birmingham in 7th grade and my 8th graders surprised me with their final drafts of their argumentative papers. I honestly don't know where the time has gone, it's officially week two of fourth quarter. 

 Because of testing, we've had a light week in English. The 7th graders are getting a chance to see the movie version of The Watson's Go to Birmingham which is so different from the book. Personally, I like the movie better because it actually goes into more detail about the Civil Rights movement than the book. So, I am interested to see what the kids opinions are when we're done. In 8th grade I launched their Historical Fiction unit with The Boy in the Striped Pajamas so they can see what the setting and character behaviors look like in a different time period. When we get back from break they will be reading Copper Sun by Sharon Draper. 

 I'm looking forward to the rest of this year, I feel like I have some cool things ready to go for both grades and I know the weeks will come fast. They've already flown so far, I can barely keep up. I keep telling myself I'm going to write more, especially since I make my students write all the time, I should also be writing. Something always seems to come up, maybe one of these days I'll get the hang of it. 

 Love from the exhausted teacher barely making it to Spring Break. 

Three Day Weekends

Weekends. Those two days never seem long enough. You get one day to yourself and then another where you are grading papers and lesson planning for the next week. Because let's face it, you tried to get ahead during the week but it never goes as planned. 

 As a teacher I live for the weekends. It's my time to rejuvenate, hang out with my pup and just relax. This weekend especially, getting Monday off, makes it just a little sweeter. I could say it's a four day weekend away from the kids. Today we had a professional development day.

 You know, some of the times, I dread P.D. days. They don't offer sessions that are meaningful or beneficial to my teaching. Well, today was different. I left feeling like I gained some things I could bring back to my classroom.

 First, we watched a movie called Paper Tigers and it was very eye opening. It talked about trauma and how to be trauma sensitive. With the kids I serve everyday, I have to realize that most of them have trauma of some sort. We had a chance to respond to the movie with our school and there are somethings that irritated me about what people said. Sometimes you have to be passive aggressive in your responses if you want to see any changes. And, that's all I'll say about it. 

 My two sessions after lunch were just as productive and meaningful. I learned more about using the Gradual Release model. This was great because the way the lesson was taught was using the RACE method and it was interesting to see how someone else taught it. I love when I'm able to bring things back to my class and actually use it. The other session I was in was The Grid Method, which I saw firsthand at OCTELA. It was great seeing it again, especially after it being one of my last sessions during OCTELA. I learned more this time around than last.

 Overall, it was actually a decent day. Hopefully this weekend I can hit the reset button along with my students and we can all come back on Tuesday ready to roll. We have a few weeks left of the quarter and then testing the week after. We're getting into the nitty gritty of third quarter and testing season.  

Love from the girl who is going to be more optimistic starting with this weekend.

The Good Days outnumber the Bad

Lately, I've felt that I have been complaining more than normal and that the bad days have outnumbered the good. There have been several rough days in a row for this reason or that. Sometimes it's the discipline, sometimes everything that can go wrong, does. It just seems like some days never end.  

Then, you get those days when things click, things go so well that you actually leave with a smile on your face. Instead of that headache ridden face. Somedays you leave going, damn, that went way better than I thought. 

 Today, was one of those days. The writing standard for eighth grade for this quarter is argumentative writing. What eighth grader doesn't like to argue? This is one of my favorite standards to work with. Like last year, I started off by giving the kids a list of topics for them to consider. Things that are popular and "hot topics", they get a chance to choose their own. While they are doing this, they're researching both sides of the topic and coming up with how they feel about it, then we go into making a claim and using evidence to back it up.

This year, after reading The Cult of Pedagogy, I decided to change things up. In the article I read, it said to give them two high interest articles to compare and see which one is producing the better argument. So we did this. They did very well on it. The next step was to play "This or That," where you give students topics and they choose this or that. Well, I decided to make it a little more interesting and got questions that have yes or no answers. This way the students had to pick a side and then respectfully argue their cases. 

 Yesterday and today we tried it out, only after setting some rules and guidelines on how it was going to look. The students understood that everyone was going to get a chance to talk, if the wanted to, and there would be no interrupting each other. Because my students love to argue, I wanted to make sure they knew they could in our "safe space," but they needed to do it appropriately.

 Both days my fifth period class surprised the hell out of me on how well they did with this activity. The kids had so much fun arguing with each other and were respectful, for the most part. It actually was pretty funny when the one question turned so heated that they almost couldn't wait for their turn to rebuttal. They kept trying to speak, but stopping mid sentence to let the other side finish. We were in the middle of a debate on "Should schools have a dress code?" when I had to stop them and reevaluate everything. 

 The kids were so passionate about this topic and had such great evidence to back up their  claims, I decided I had to take a vote. So I asked them, did they want to continue researching the prompts we had been working on, or did they want write proposals and argue this dress code issue. I was shocked the moment I saw every single hand go up for the dress code issue and not their own topics. As a class, they made the unanimous decision to fight for something they all believed in. 

 In those moments, you have to throw out the lesson plans and go along with the students. It was almost liberating to see them be as passionate as they were. This is when you know their best work and their best writing will come into play because they had the choice and a voice in the decision.  Today was a good day. I cannot wait to see what their voices do in the next few weeks as we write these proposals and argue, the write way. 

 Love from the girl who now has to change her whole lesson plan so her class can do what they love most, to argue.

Confirmation of Why I became a Teacher

A little over a year ago my RESA mentor told me about this conference that I should check out. Sharon Draper was going to be speaking and she thought it would be awesome for me to have this opportunity. Little did anyone know at the time that it would become one of the most important and influential pieces of a first year teacher who was barely making it, and questioning everything.

 Fast forward to now and I find myself sitting in a similar position. For teachers, February seems to be the shortest number of days but the longest month of the school year. For me, it's where I feel I get into a rut. I get discouraged. I feel like I can't do anything right. This conference changes all of that.  

OCTELA is a chance to meet other English teachers from all over the state of Ohio. It's a chance to network and connect with new people. As teachers, we like being able to hear from other teachers who are going through similar situations, or the teachers who've actually made a break through into an issue that we have had. We get to hear from authors on how they got their start, how for most, they were that reluctant reader hiding in the back of the room. No matter the situation, there's a way to connect to it no matter what it is.

This weekend has been no different. The theme, diversity. Appropriate with everything that is going on around us. Diversity. It's not something that we can push under the rug, it's something that we need to accept and bring to life in the classroom. 

A.S. King said "We don't grow or feel if we don't express." If we don't give our students opportunities to speak or write their stories down, we are restricting them. She left us with, "It's time to build our own common core of compassion and put it in every lesson." They need us to be that outlet of expression. Yes, there are standards and there are lessons to teach, but first and foremost we teach students. 

The many breakout sessions I was able to attend taught me many different things, strategies, ideas, stories and so much more that I can bring back and use in my own classroom. It's such a refreshing weekend with fellow English teachers, past, present and future. 

The Keynote speakers have been phenomenal is their own ways. This year, I didn't know much about any of them before getting here. Which turned out to be a mistake. Why hadn't I heard of these extraordinary people before? They inspired me to get back into my classroom and give my students their voices back, to give them as many opportunities to write and express and to give them a safe place to do all of this. Matt de la Pena said, "Sometimes when you give someone a book, you're not just giving them a book, you're giving them a way to live."

There's so much more that I could say, but as I'm still digesting all the information myself, I will leave it here for now. 

Love from the girl who is currently adding more books to her ever long reading list.

New Year, New Everything

2017. Wow, where did you come from? This past year has gone by faster than most. Maybe it's because there has been so many firsts that happened. I finished my first year of school. I moved into my first apartment. I had my first experience of working with exotic animals, including my all time favorite, sloths.I took my first professional development class in Atlanta, Georgia. My dad and I had our first Christmas on the beach.  There were also many lasts. My last days with Rascal before she headed over the Rainbow Bridge. My last time ever sleeping in my childhood home. My last car payment. Lots of good things and bad things happened this year, just like any other. And just like any other year, there are things I look forward to in the coming year.

I am looking forward to one of my best friends getting married at the end of the month, and getting the opportunity to stand by her side when she says I do. Possibly getting a chance to visit friends in Toronto for Spring Break. Spending time in Myrtle Beach this summer with my dad. Spending as much time as I can with Andy. Ending my second year of teaching and starting my third, and everything in between. It's a new year for life to get in the way and I am ready.

As I write this on my last day of break, I think about all the new things I hope to try with my students this year. We are going to continue writing as much as we can, which is why I've decided that I am going to do a better job of blogging. Asking my kids to write and I don't write enough just doesn't seem very fair. So, we are all going to be writing more. My seventh graders are going to continue to work on their memoirs to perfect them, so that we can publish them. My eighth graders love to argue, so what better way to let them do that than with argumentative papers about topics they are interested in.

Even though this school year is half way over already, there is still so much ahead. Excited to see what the rest of the year holds.

Love from the girl who is procrastinating her planning to blog.