Sunday, November 30, 2008

3 Posts in one night

So this is my 3 post for the night. I just keep blogging. Random things to blog about. And I'm currently gathering pictures and stories to recap my Week with the Castros.

Ok I got this from Jed. One last thing...

A: Attached or Single.... Attached> I have his mojo.
B: Best Friend...Alot. Seriously.
C: Cake or Pie... CAKE!!
D. Day of Choice... Friday, of course.
E. Essential Item... Hair tie. I keep one on my wrist all the time.
F: Favorite Color... Green. Or Black. or Both.
G: Gummy bears or worms... Gummi Bears. Delish. But not cheap brand ones.
H: Home town... Roebuck
I: Favorite Indulgence... Peanut M&Ms with Coffee.
J: Jan. or July... January. It's an exciting month of birthdays
K: Kids...I have 21 one of them. But one day I'll have my own...but not now.
L: Lemon in your tea... NO! Have you SEEN the research on them??
M: Marriage Date... Who knows
N: Number or siblings: 1 but I got 2 gals that are like my sistas
O: Oranges or Apples... Apples. Yuck on oranges.
P: Phobias... snakes or any reptile
Q: Quotes... "I try to get to know my students' parents so I can understand and forgive their child."
R: Reasons to smile... 3 weeks till christmas break!
S: Season of choice... Winter
T: Think of 5 people who may do this... Not a dern soul
U: Unusual Fact... I hate my feet.
V: Vegetable... Squash, Onions, and Zuchinnii
W: Worst Habit... biting my nails
X: Excited about.... Gatlinburg after Christmas!!
Y: Your Favorite Food....Mom's Mac and Cheese. And Kyle Fletchers BBQ.
Z: Zoo or ZZZZZ's..... ZZZZZZs of course which is where I'm headed.

Goodnight.
"TV. If kids are entertained by 2 letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open you're child's imagination. Open a book." -Unknown
I have been an avid book reader since I was wee little. My fourth grade teacher came to a retiree luncheon we had at Roebuck last year. Amazingly, she recognized me. The first thing she said to me was, "Jessica Castro. You always had a book in your hand. I have always rememebered you as 'The Girl with a Book." That was a big compliment to me. I even took books into to church to read during the service and my parents would have to pry the book out of my hand during dinner. I didn't watch a whole lot of tv growing up. While most kids played outside, or they stayed inside to watch TV, I stayed inside to read a book. My mom once told me I needed to be outside more. And what you do you know, Dad found me in the tree, doing what else? Reading a book.
I constantly encourage my students to read (and bribe with M&Ms). They have come a long way and do love to read. I am usually telling students to put books away, which isn't really a bad complaint. But when I started teaching, I told myself that I needed to read more. I got out of the habit of reading while at Winthrop because we were constantly having to read for class so I had no down time to read except during breaks.
This summer I read a lot. Josh often complains that I read too much while I'm with him. I especially do this when I'm frustrated with him or upset about something. I can escape. I tell him it's better that I read instead of getting into a fight with him. When I'm finished reading a chapter or two in my book, I'm calmer and more reasonable. But this summer I got addicted to ordering books off Amazon or going to Barnes and Nobles. I had books coming in that I forgot I ordered. This week Christina, Jenn, and I went to Barnes and Nobles. I picked up 3 books I wanted but put them back. I kept reminding myself that I had at least 4 books at home to read. But I still might slip onto Amazon later and place a couple orders....
Here is a list of "noteable" books in my opinion I think you should check out. Some of them are just fun fiction stories that I enjoyed, and some are thought provoking and non-fiction books. Let me know what you think
Note Worthy Books I Read Over the Summer
  • "3 Weeks with My Brother" by Nicholas Sparks. This book is about Nicholas Sparks traveling with his brother to exotic lands and famous landmarks. I enjoyed reading about the different places he visited (he did an excellent job of making sure you felt like you were there experiencing it) . He also writes about how this brought him and his brother together and gives you a lot of insight into his childhood. Some parts were "laugh out loud" and others brought tears to my eyes. He also talks about his Christinaity and struggle as an author. All and all--very good book.
  • "Tall Tales and Wedding Veils" by Janet Graves A book that is similar to the movie "What Happens in Vegas." An average girl goes to vegas for a bachelorette party and gets drunk and marries (surprise surprise) a man from her local town that she knows, randomly. It was rather funny story about how they were forced to live together under a certain law and how they did not get along at all. Some what trashy but still a good read.
  • "Something Borrowed", "Something Blue", and "Baby Proof" by Emily Giffin. This past summer I started reading "Something Borrowed" and quickly got swept up in her series of books. I lent the book to Valen who lent it to Lauren (who never reads but couldn't put these books down) and we were quickly swapping books left and right. We had our own Summer Book Club!! But "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" has the same characters. It's about 2 best friends and growing up and apart. I cannot even begin to get into the plots of the books because it gets way complicated. But you cannot put these books down. I even had Lauren texting me at times saying, "Oh my gosh...I cannot believe she did that!!....Please tell me this isn't going to happen here..." In "Baby Proof" it's about a husband and wife who at first agree to not have children. Their views change and end up getting a divorce. But a sweet story about how they get back together. I haven't read her new one, Love the One You're With but Lo said it's a must read too.
  • "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. Honestly, who hasn't read this book? Donald Miller discribes Christianity as like jazz music: few boundaries, few restrictions, free to the soul...I was some what confused by it because he questions Christianity and what it really means to some people. His experiences are questionable. And his approach to Christianity is "free style like." I honestly need to read this story again to grasp it some more...
  • "Sweet Home Carolina" by T. Lynn Ocean An advertising/agency wealthy city girl is relocated to a small island off of SC to rejuvinate the town before it closes down. Some what difficult to get into (some language) but once it got going it was pretty funny and intriguing. I loved the racoon in the book. Must read to understand.
  • "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" by James Patterson James Patterson normally writes mystery/murder novels. This book however is totally different from his others. Its about a young girl who gets pregnant and falls in love with a man. He quickly ends the relationship and moves back to Cape Cod. He leaves a diary that was written by his wife, Suzanne, to read to understand why he left. He switches back and forth between the past and present but does an excellent job at it. Very similar to Nicholas Sparks but an excellent read. Gut wrentchling love story for romantic types.
  • "How I Stole Her Husband" by Liz Ireland A young lady takes a job as a nanny and the family she ends up working for is her high school rival girl friend and her exboyfriend. Feeling reignite between the old lovers and discovers what she really needs and wants. Some what predictable but an entertaining book that shows it's ok to "not be" where you want "to be." (If that makes sense)
  • "Shopaholic" series by Sohpie Kinsella I read these books in the last year or two but hilarious stories about a woman who has no clue how to manage her life. Seriously, if you want a good laugh and want to make you feel better about yourself, please, this is your book to read
  • "The Shack" by William P. Young My aunt brought me this book to read. I'm sure a lot of people have heard mixed reviews about this book. I wouldn't say I "enjoyed it" but it did open my eyes to the trinity of Christ. It broke "stereotypes" of what and who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are. Very deep book. I had to read a lot of the pages a few times to understand. Definitely a book to read again to gain better understanding.

Ok looking back I realized I've read some pretty random interesting books. Now, here is a list of books that I plan on finishing by the summer. I hope I can do it.

Books I Plan on Reading (or finishing)

  • "One Fifth Avenue" by Candice Bushnell The same author of Sex and the City. About 4 or 5 ladies (soo many characters to keep up with) and all of them living in the same apt building. I'm currently working on this book.
  • "Have a New Kid by Friday" by Dr. Kevin Leman My aunt gave me this book to read also. Dr. Leman plants out 5 simple days to help change your child's attitude, behavior, and character in 5 days. I'm very interested to read this book and test it out on my students...buahahaha
  • "Educating Esme" by Esme Raji Cotell Rhonda gave me this book to read. She read it her first year teaching and said it was insanely funny. It's an account of a first year teacher in an inner city school and her challenges. I can't wait to read this book.
  • "Notes from the Classroom" by Kay McSpadden A teacher from York, SC writes about her teaching experiences in a poor country school. She journals about her 30 years as an educator. I'm bound to learn something from her.
  • "Case for Christ and Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel 2 books about apologetics. To some people that is way over their head but I love books and listening to speakers about this. We went to a college conference with my friend Amanda Nick's church and they had a session dedicated to this. I think I went to that session 2 or 3 times. I am definitely hitting those books soon. Been on my list for a while.
  • "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson Pastor Steven pushed this book while I was at Elevation and even Alli read it. It's about how to thrive when opportunity knocks at your door and how every opportunity is not for you.
  • "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult Two families teenage children start dating. The daughter is shot by her boyfriend and the son commits suicide (like Romeo and Juliet). It's gotten great reviews and I've heard nothing but great this about this author so I'm psyched about getting a jump ont his book.
  • "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller Donald and his friend take off to discover deeper meaning of life. Reminds me of me, Alli, Grover, and Jenn at WU. We always planned this big trips (not to search for meaning) but just to go and experience it. We hardly ever made it but we can dream right? Since I had mixed feelings about "Blue Like Jazz" I am curious how Don approaches God, existence, and life. I've started it but haven't gotten to the meat of it.

Ok that's my list for now. Let me know what you think. Any suggestions?? Reviews?????

An Ode to an Old Friend

So my old good friend Brooke Ard's birthday was yesterday and I forgot to call her (because I stink) soo I'm doing an "ode" to Pam Brooke of past pictures.

Brooke and I became good friends while enduring the pure madness of studying education at Winthrop. We instantly bonded with our random, sarcastic, dry humor in classes. We quickly created a group of friends that frequented trips to McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Dance Revolution Game Nights, "booking it" to classes, carpooling to Chester during our student teaching and surviving living in University Place. Brooke came and helped me paint my awful room at North Wilson Street (Actually, she watched because she was injured but she did help some...haha), took care of Sadie Mae for a short while, and was a constant encourager. She gave hugs when needed and a good laugh, even when it wasn't appropriate times. She never took a serious picture because she hated (and probably still does) her smile. I miss good ole Pam Brooke. She stayed in the Thrill while I moved back to Sparkle. I haven't seen her or sadly talked with her a whole lot which I regret. When we do talk we share insanely funny stories about our classrooms. I miss this chick. I miss you PAM. I hope you enjoy the following pictures...just some old ones...


On this particular day, we were FINISHED with stupid science learning cycles with the athiest professor. We did not benefit at all from that class.


After a typical day in the EDU Building...Brings tears to my eyes.


My FAVORITE picture of Brooke, Myself, and Mer.


Ahh...the classic "kissy face" picture of our Dean. We laughed that whole session.


Of course, an elevator picture with Brooke making a face.


The Girls on our last day together at WU. Peek a boo, I see you!


Mine and Mer's Rap to Brooke. Do you still have that awesome song??

Monday, November 24, 2008

A look into...


Shaundre has a hunter...or something.


Kayla as Betsy Ross


Colonial Day...Lord help me I hope I never have to go back to that day.


Me in my hamburger hat


Zammion with his "hamburger" when we learned about paragraph writing.


Hallie and Hannah with Gwinnie


Our Crayfish that I left on my assistant principal's desk. I found out a week later that he was going to be my evaluator for the year. Whops...


Check out Amaya's face. She did not like that smell.


Crime Scene Detectives

Saturday, November 22, 2008

This is why you shouldn't drink

Wow. That's all I can say.

http://www.acetj.com/features/HangoverPictures.php

(I can't get the link to insert right so just copy and paste the link in your browser)

Friday, November 21, 2008

We're half way there but we're not prepared

It hit me the other day in our faculty meeting that we were half way through the year. Actually, Annie said it and it was like, "Bam." Wow. We are. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is around the corner then 3 weeks till Christmas. Seriously? This year has gone by so fast so far.

But this fast movement is freaking me out. We have the writing part of PASS (the "new" PACT) in March and my students' writing is awful. I hate teaching writing. Can I say that? Yes I can because every teacher is entitled to having a subject they hate teaching. I have found that the subjects that I excelled in while I was in school I hate teaching. I hate it because I don't know how to teach it--it just clicks with me. The subjects that I sucked horribly at in school I love teaching. I love teaching those subjects because I know what it's like not to understand and I know how to explain it because I too once didn't explain it.

Anyways, on to PASS. Some of my students' writing isn't half that bad--just need a few tweaks. Then others--I have to ask them to read their writing responses to me on an assignment. Their spelling isn't there and neither is their phonemic recognition (that means they can't recognize letter sounds). I am so worried we're going to get that test in March, my kids are going to freak out. Then I'll lock myself in my closet.

So this week we have been hitting writing pretty hard. We've been reading paragraphs, correcting them, re-writing them, etc. It's gotten so bad that today when we started language/writing I heard someone say, "Oh gosh, here we go again."

Another thing that freaks me out is that we can't read the test to them this year. Now in the past we always complained about reading the test because those tests take FOREVER to read. But it helped our students comprehend the questions (this came especially handy in Social Studies and Science). But nope. Not this year. WE can't read it. Now this does make me mad. Over the last 3 or 4 years, 3rd grade scores have steadily been improving, especially in the last year. But after this year, we're going to see a decrease. It's not that I don't believe in my students and that they can't do it (because they very well can). It's just that they are not going to realize how serious this is, read each little part and break it down as if I was reading it to them.

So here is my final question: How do we prepare to pass PASS? How do I, a 2nd year teacher with ADEPT hanging over my head determining if I should teach or not in the future, prepare to prepare my kids? Does that make any sense?

I hate telling my students "I cannot help you on that" but I always follow up with "I am preparing you for the end of the year test. Read it, try it, I'll check it." What else can I do? Am I doing enough? Am I missing something?

This is a big reason why beginning teachers burn out. We have pressure on us to MAKE our student succeed when we're still learning our best practice strategies to teach. The content is constantly changing, our students are constantly changing along with society, the requirements are always raise a little bit higher and I'm about to fall over because I'm tired of standing on the tip of my toes to reach that bar of requirements.

Am I crazy? Does any other teacher feel this way?

And people wonder why I go to wine tastings in the middle of the week or completely crash at 7:30 at night.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

It's too early to do this

Mom, India, and myself got up early to go vote. Yep. 6:30 AM we went to Gable and stood in line. Actually the line wasn't THAT bad. We had to wait about an hour and a half. And thank goodness it wasn't too cold either. I did however see 3 parents of my students while in line (they didn't see me...are you crazy?? do you THINK i would talk to them on my day off! HA). Mom said she was glad she made me change out of my duckie fleece pajama bottoms. I guess I am too.

Today India and I are off to G-vegas to buy my bridesmaid dress for Shawn and Reo's wedding. Whoo-hoo.

Oh I have found my new lunch buddy-Zammion. He is so funny and really smart too. His scores always surprise me. Yesterday at lunch he was telling me about his weekend. He had to go see his grandma in NC. But he was telling me that they have had to move her from several nursing homes because she gets kicked out. Upon asking why, he explains to me that she tries to ESCAPE from them...her in wheelchair. I about spit out my soup when he told me that. I'm sure his dad would DIE if he know some of the stories that Zammion tells me about his family. And supposidly his grandma had (or has) 15 cats. Geez. I would be out of my mind too if I have 15 cats at one time.

I'm going to fix me a nice cup of coffee and some waffles and actually watch the morning show for once. Holla back now--whop whop!

And I'm not telling who I voted for...