nerdy school teacher art

last month, i spent a fun weekend in KC and, among the many various activities, we visited the flea markets in the old west bottoms. i was obsessed with all of the vintage fans, dressers, and globes, of course, as i seem to have a compulsive magnetism towards them. but, i managed to control myself and came away with this incredibly colorful old pull down map of kansas. isn't it great? much cheaper than any piece of artwork of the same size! and it seems to fit with my nerdy teachery self!

i wasn't sure of the best way to hang it and finally decided on a pair of antique wooden clothing hangers. here's the inspiration for that lovely idea (courtesy of design*sponge blog).

how to have fun in kansas city

last weekend, kirk and i had a mini-getaway to kansas city (ok, not really a getaway, considering i work in the metro area every day and it's really only 40 minutes from home, but still "away") for our anniversary. we stayed downtown and tried to participate in as many local fun activities as we possibly could in less than 24 hours. here's some shots to tell the story...

on friday we went to the west bottoms to check out the antique shops and flea market area that occupy the first floors of several old warehouse buildings. not only is this a perfect use of old buildings and a fun area to explore, but the shops had a lot of great finds and they seemed to be reasonably priced. we bought an old pull-down map of kansas that we plan to hang in our living room. i'll post pictures of it once i have it up.

friday night we went out to the "K" to watch the Royals. here's alex gordon running the bases after his home run. it was also "fireworks friday." good times.

so, after the game we were hungry and the only places open near our hotel were QUITE expensive...not exactly in our plan for the weekend, but what were we to do?? so, we splurged on a very tasty dinner of mahi tuna, potato gnocci, and fried zucchini. as fate would have it, we also managed to get a hotel room with a view of a brick wall, located directly below the massively loud air conditioning unit for the entire hotel, and directly between the rooms reserved for a wedding party (bachelor party on the left and bachelorette party on the right). after being awoken several times in the night and early morning with the plethora of sounds, we decided we would not be paying full price for this room. at check out, we politely mentioned the variety of issues and the very nice lady at the desk sympathetically discounted our room and took off the parking charge. she wondered why we were not given a better room considering we had made our reservations over a month before...i wondered the same, but appreciated that the discounted hotel room helped me to feel better about the very expensive mahi tuna.

after this, we walked down to the city market for breakfast. we enjoyed the scents of the spice market, the pastries from Bloom Bakery, the view of the city, and coffee before we headed for home.

this is where i spend my days...

...Washington High in KCK. our school was featured this week on the local news station, KCTV5, and awarded the "Cool School" award. here's a few links to SHORT video clips showcasing the school that i wanted to share with you so you can see a little window into my world! i'm very partial to our band, they sure do make our pep rallies way more exciting than any school i've been part of! the drum line is pretty awesome, unfortunately this little bitty clip just doesn't do them justice (but you can take my word for it because i'm DEFINITELY a music snob and refuse to throw out empty compliments!). i love this school, the staff, my principal, the students and am so glad for this job...even when it's really tough. so, check it out:

Washington High wins "Cool School" award

WHS band

spanish club and choir

celebrating friday

first things first: congrats are in order to Carrie and Michelle, who correctly guessed that my favorite thing about fall is ksu football (see previous post here)! the excitement actually begins to mount well before ksu kicks off their season because i really am a fan of all football and NFL training camp starts before college f-ball, thus satisfying my obsession a few weeks early. Tiff and Casey also mentioned other great things about fall: changing leaves, tea, sleeping in on a nice fall day (although that has to happen on saturdays and sundays for me in the fall...it's up at 5:00 am during the week, ick).

anyway, in celebration of it being friday, and continuing my theme of favorite things, here are some favorite things about my job/school (i'm going to be like one of those mom-bloggers right now, except instead of writing about my kids, it's my school and colleagues and students):

*my principal and colleagues are really pretty darn great. it's amazing to be in a building where everyone really values each other, even if there are differences of opinion as to how things should get done. if you work in schools, you know that just doesn't always happen and collegial dynamics can really make or break a job. also, my principal really loves my kids in particular and is so great with them which makes my job so much easier. my kids can be challenging and i just think that speaks a lot to her character.

*the great thing about working in an urban school is that our "pep band" is really just a big, awesome drum line. i love it. sometime i'll record them for you and post it on my blog so you can hear the awesomeness.

*my idea book. i like to keep a moleskine notebook around so that anytime ANY idea comes to mind i can write

it down. i don't always implement all of my ideas, but it sure does help to have a source of creative, fresh inspirations when my brain-well starts to run dry!

*i really love my students and their parents/grandparents. that does not mean that everything is always peachy...as i said, my kids can be challenging. but, you learn to recognize the hints of progress...like hearing that one of my students wrote an email to apologize to a teacher for cussing him out, or seeing one of my more reluctant students show up at my door to ask for help writing a paper, or getting a student to put his/her cell phone (otherwise known as teenage binkies) away the FIRST time i ask. i know these things seem "small" but they are huge steps for my students.

*my classroom and my great husband who helped me set it up yesterday morning! check out my reading/conference area, the beginnings of my inspiration wall (i don't actually call it that or my students would punch me in the face for being cheesy, but that's what it is), and my desk area.

school!

well, students show up tomorrow! yikes. i am super nervous. i feel like i've been trying to sip from a fire hydrant that is opened full blast. there is so much information, so much that i'm expected to know already, and i'm really nervous about how the students will respond to me. all to be expected, i suppose. the two most stressful things in a teacher's career are the first year of teaching and adjusting to a new district... i'm doing both this year. i feel like i know a storm is approaching and i can't avoid it but i am just hoping to weather the storm. i know that it's going to be busy, stressful, uncomfortable, confusing and scary for a little while but if i can just get through these first few months, i'll start to settle in a bit. here's some pics of my classroom.

i'll be teaching social development skills to kids with emotional and behavioral disorders. most of the office referrals from last year came from kids in my caseload, specifically the class that i teach. i'll also be working in an intervention room to help students with academic and behavioral problems that come up during their gen ed classes. and, finally, i will have my family advocacy group, which are kids that i will have close communication with everyday, close connections to their families, and help them stay on track with their goals, graduation requirements, etc.

big announcement

i know it's been forever since i blogged and there is a reason for that. the only thing that is going on in my life right now is that i've been trying to get a job. i reinstated my teaching license last fall and am eligible to teach special ed while i'm completing my masters. however, this is a stupid time to try to get a job with the state of the economy and schools facing cut backs. so, it's been a long process with lots of disappointing closed doors, which is why i haven't wanted to say anything about it until now.

i hoped to stay in lawrence, as it has been my home for 4 years as a para. i live only a few blocks from the school, have 4 years of relationships established with the teachers and the students, and it's familiar. but, to cover my bases (and due to rumors that lawrence was facing cuts in teaching positions) i also applied in the KCK school district. those of you who know me well know that i've always wanted to teach in an urban school with a diverse population. well, i was called in for an interview with a sped person from the KCK district about a month ago. the interview went well and my name was passed along to a few building principals to consider for a second interview. instead of a second interview, i was offered a job 2 days later!

since then, my application had to approved by the school board and i had to complete some preliminary paperwork so i've been waiting until i had the contract IN MY HAND before i really made the official announcement. i just couldn't face telling everyone that i'd been offered a job and then have the district cut my position or something else happen, so i waited.

anyway, i'm really excited about the job! i will be an Emotional Disturbance (used to be Behavior Disorder - the so-called "bad kids" that struggle to succeed in traditional school settings) teacher at Washington High School in KCK. it is definitely an urban school facing all of the usual challenges, but there are a lot of exciting things that the school and the district is willing to give a try in order to see their students succeed. i will have my own classroom, which i'm excited about (may not seem like a big deal, but it's not always a guarantee for sped teachers). i've got a lot of ideas for how to decorate! once i get all set up, i'll take some pics of my classroom and post them! i will be co-teaching part of the day in general ed classes (probably math, social studies, maybe english, hopefully not science!) and then i will have both studies skills and social development classes of my own to teach.

oh, by the way, i will be tripling my yearly salary that i've been earning as a para. yeah.

anyway, look for my summer reading list sometime in the next couple of weeks. i just have to get through the next week and a half of school and then i will be a more rested, lively version of myself!