Category Archives: school

Books, of the collegiate variety

Posted on January 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

Well folks, I’m a student again. I started my grad school program last night with my Organization of Information course. That’s right people, cataloguing… get excited!

I’m taking 2 courses this semester: the Organization course and then an online course called Advanced Applications of Educational Technology. I’m not technically getting my MLS degree. At my university, it’s categorized as a M.S. in Ed Tech with a specialization in School Library Media. Basically, I can still be a school librarian (yay!) but don’t really have the option of being a public librarian (boo!).

One thing I’ve quickly realized: this blog may start lacking in posts. With work and grad school (not to mention LIFE), I foresee myself being one BUSY woman this semester. I apologize in advance if posts are few and far between. I do promise to still blog about every book I read, but I don’t promise that it will be in a timely manner, and I definitely don’t promise that I’ll get through 77 books like last year.

I do hope that you’ll continue to read. Maybe I’m vain like that.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in school

$25k to help kids get fit

Posted on November 17, 2010 | 1 Comment

If you spend less than 5 minutes a day to help earn $25k for a school, would you? You can!

Our fabulous PE teacher at my school entered a contest to win $25,000 to help our school get fit. We have a program called “Mustang Miles” where the kids walk or run to get healthy. Right now, we have a dirt track that gets really muddy and dangerous. If we win the $25,000, we will build a rubber walking track. We were chosen as one of the top 10 schools in the running.

How can you help? Go to Henkel Helps and vote for Will Rogers Elementary. You can vote once per email address, every single day until December 12th. Right now we are in 3rd place, and we could really use the votes! Please help us!

Oh, and they DON’T email you or sell your email or anything spammy like that.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in school

Will there be Algebra in Hell?

Posted on October 19, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’m fairly certain there will be.

I started studying for the GRE test on Saturday. I’d love to say that it’s way in advance, but since I take it in a mere 4 days, I can’t. I’ve been taking practice tests both online and out of the practice books of For Dummies fame.

I aced the verbal and don’t have to many worries about the Analytical Writing portion. We all know that I tend to be verbose and I can B.S. my way through just about anything. I’m worried about the math, though. Like, REALLY worried.

I did well in high school and college math, but I don’t remember very much of it. Some of the things on the practice tests I haven’t done for like 10 years. Yikes!

Maybe sometime between then and now I’ll be visited by the Math Fairy. Hopefully the Math Fairy is tall, dark, and Australian. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

→ 1 Comment

Posted in school

Cell phones for reading?

Posted on October 9, 2010 | 1 Comment

photo courtesy of Kfor.com

I came across this story on the local news website and wanted to share it with you. The link to the original story is here.

Harvard researchers are doing a study with 6th and 7th grade students in the Oklahoma City school district. They had the students set reading goals. Then, as students read books and complete an Accelerated Reader quiz, they are rewarded with a prepaid cell phone and minutes.

On one hand, I like that it would motivate students who might otherwise not be reading. On the other, I believe that reading should be done for the love of it, rather than for a reward. Believe me, as a teacher, this is a hard balance to find.

My final thought: Why won’t some one reward me with cell phone minutes for reading? That seems like a pretty sweet deal.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

→ 1 Comment

Posted in books, school

Need Help: Postcard exchange

Posted on July 28, 2010 | 5 Comments

Well, you probably know that I’m a teacher. Want proof? Here’s a picture of my room in mid-setup before the beginning of last year:

Yes, they let this filthy-mouthed book nerd teach children. Scary, right? Don’t worry though, no children have been harmed in the making of this career.

I have a project that I’m looking forward to doing this year, but I will need your help. In 4th grade, we spend the year studying the states and regions of the U.S. I also do a letter writing unit early in the year with my students. My goal is to sort of combine these two this year with a postcard exchange.

My students will write letters to people around the country (thats YOU!) asking for postcards, pictures, etc. from that person’s home state. I would really love it if I could get volunteers from all 50 states. So far, I have about 13. I think this will be a better way of teaching writing, because it gives students a purpose for writing, rather than just doing a letter to an imaginary friend.

If you’re interested in helping, please leave a comment below and I will email you to get your mailing address. Or, you can click the Contact Me tab above and send me a message that way. I really appreciate it, guys!

You just might receive one of these in return:

→ 5 Comments

Posted in school, Uncategorized

School and my not-so-new job

Posted on May 29, 2010 | 3 Comments

Well, I got some good news on Thursday. I’m just now posting it… procrastinate much?

In my school district, you are on a temporary contract for your first year of teaching here, regardless of how many years you’ve actually been a teacher. At the end of that year, you can choose to re-interview for your position or to leave without consequence. I’m still not uber-certain about the future, but I decided that re-interviewing was the best way to go. That way, I have my job.

I was really worried about the interview, because I was in Arizona at the time and had to do a phone interview with my principal and 4 other principals. I had NO idea how hard phone interviews are. You just don’t have any indication of how you’re doing, because you can’t see anyone’s reaction to your answers. Apparently though, I did pretty well, because I GO REHIRED!

Woohoo! :happy dance:

And on to my 2nd topic: going back to school…

I’ve been wavering back and forth on whether or not to go back and get my Master’s degree. I live in a university town, so the logistics of it aren’t that bad. I just wasn’t sure if I could handle the class load as well as work. With everything that went on this last semester in my life, I’m SO glad I opted not to start it yet.

I’m really thinking about starting it in the Fall or the Spring, though. My school district has a deal worked out with the university that gives us the opportunity to take classes tuition free (all we pay is the student fees). Every time our district accepts a student teacher from this university, we receive a tuition waiver for 3 graduate credit hours. They are available for any teacher in the district. We only have to go to the board of education to get them.

Sounds great, right? it is. There are only 2 things holding me back:

1) I would have to take and pass the GRE. I think I can do it here at my university testing center, but it’s like a $250 test or something. Hello, Discover card.

2) The program here at my university is close to what I want to do, but not exactly it. I want to get my MLS (Masters in Library Science). This university offers a School Library Media degree. Unfortunately, that would keep me from working in a public or university library. Most likely, I would want to work in a school library setting, but I want to have those other options available to me.

What do you think…should I go for it? If you’ve taken the GRE, let me know how it is.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in school, work

Yodel for a good cause

Posted on October 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

As you can see by my sidebar, I’ve got a project listed on www.donorschoose.org. It is a website that allows people to donate to projects that classroom teachers have posted. It’s like a mini-grant program for the public to be a part of.

Recently, DonorsChoose partnered with Yahoo to help get more projects funded. If you go the the Yodel Creator and post a video of yourself doing the Yahoo yodel (or you can do like I did an point the camera toward your dogs while you yodel), they will provide you with a free $10 donation towards any project of your choice. I need 50 people to yodel in order to get my classroom project funded. You need a webcam of some sort to do this. Here’s how it works:
1) Click on this link: Yodel.
2.) Click allow on the button on the blank recording screen. This will turn on your camera. If you’re a Mac user, there are instructions that you must follow a little farther down on that page.
3) Record your Yahoo yodel. If you want to see other’s yodels first, there is a yodel gallery you can view. Submit your yodel.
4) After you’ve submitted your yodel, it will provide you with a code. It is usually 6 characters long and a mix of letters and numbers.
5) Visit DonorsChoose and search for project # 332881 (or any you choose to help). In the green donation box, put $10. Proceed to checkout.
6) You need to create a username. It is quick and only takes a minute.
7) At the end of the checkout process, it will have a box that says something like “Donation Gift card code.” This is where you paste that code. Then, you finish checking out.
This doesn’t cost anything, and it will help me out tremendously. I really appreciate any support I can get on this. If you have a husband or a child that wants to create their own yodel, they are welcome to. I think you can create 1 yodel per email address. If you have any questions, feel free to send a comment.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in donations, Donors Choose, school