Day 9: Your Beliefs (in great detail)

I believe the government should have no regulation over anyone's personal behavior unless it is truly harming other people.

I believe in the free market.

I believe life is what you make it.

I believe in the value of hard work.

Crisis in Dairyland

I have a love/hate relationship with Jon Stewart. This is one of those times where I love him.

The Daily Show - Crisis in Dairyland - Message for Teachers
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Had a pretty good day. I got to start teaching my absolute favorite thing in the world (World War II) today. I told my kids about the Miracle at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain and Vichy France, stuff most of them have never heard of and know nothing about. I love it. I kind of love the way I teach World War II also. They color in a map of the ETO and Pacific theaters step by step while I narrate what is going on. When there are important moments/battles/events I have them stop, write a #1/2/3 etc..., and then we add it to our key on another page. We didn't get as far as I wanted to today, but they were so engaged. And it really was just me lecturing with my awesome PPT and them coloring the map and taking notes.

Government was kind of awesome too 'cos we did more with the Supreme Court. I'm so proud of my government kids. Sure, they fail a lot of my quizzes, but those kids know what a writ of certiorari is and they know all the Supreme Court justices and who appointed them and who is more liberal and who is conservative. My favorite moment of the day was when one my seniors walked in the door with a white t-shirt that said in magic marker, I <3 Sam Alito. I guess she saw on the update on my class Facebook page that Alito was the only one who dissented in the Phelps vs. Snyder case. Gotta love strong-willed and opinionated teenagers.

I'm still at school, in case anyone is wondering. Practice was done by about 5:15, buw We wave a meeting tonight with parents about AP next year so I've been hanging out grading papers and trying to get my desk a little more organized. I just came in from watching the girls tennis scrimmage, about 7 of my current students, 4 former students, and 1 girl I haven't taught, but coached in cross-country are on the team so I thought I'd cheer them on.

I'm missing a new episode of Bones tonight and can't remember if I set my DVR....

Feel Good Friday

I haven't done Feel Good Friday in a while, but I have a lot to be feel good about! For those that are new to the blog and don't know, Feel Good Friday is a great idea from Erika over at The Girl Next Door Grows Up. Every Friday you list five things that made you smile this week. This week I have LOTS to smile about, but sometimes it can be hard. That is the best part of Feel Good Friday to me! Looking for something to smile about, even those weeks where everything goes wrong and you don't even want to get out of bed. Thankfully, this was not one of those weeks. I have a ton of things to feel great about!

1) My niece, Claire, turned one month old this week! Claire was very tiny when she was born (5 lb and 12 oz) and while she is doing great, she is having some trouble gaining weight. I know we are all envious of her problems, but if you could keep her in your thoughts it would mean a lot! I want big plump baby cheeks to pinch when I go out to see her.

2) I'm going to the barn right after I finish this post to ride Trouble! It's a little windy, but that's certainly not going to stop me from going. It is the best way to end a week.

3) I have a date tonight! I'm doing dinner and a movie tonight with a guy I'm pretty excited about. I have high hopes for our date and hope you hear about him again in next week's Feel Good Friday.

4) I got to teach one of my favorite units this week in history, the rise of dictators after World War I. It definitely helps that the kids seem to love learning about it as much as I love teaching it.

5) This marking period is almost over, which means I only have 2 more marking periods until the end of school. I can't believe how fast this year is going!!

I Love Trouble

This is Trouble!

What Teachers Make

30 Great Details: A Moment (In Great Detail)

This was October of 2001 and is the moment I decided I wanted to become a history major (and indirectly a history teacher). I was 18 years old and studying abroad in France for my first semester of college. My mother came out to visit me and she asked me if there was anything I wanted to do together with her. I'd already traveled to Paris and to the south of France and all around the Burgundy countryside, but there was one thing I wanted to see. I had seen pictures of Mont St. Michel and thought it would be neat. For those that don't know French geography, Dijon is on one side of the country and Mont St. Michel is on the other. My mother suggested if we were going to be on that side then maybe we should see Normandy. I didn't know anything about Normandy aside from it was the setting for the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. Despite making all As in my high school history classes, I didn't really have an understanding of what the context of that famous scene was. World War II, blah, blah, blah. I'm not proud to admit it, but I didn't really know much and didn't care.

My mom insisted we go, that it was something every American should see, so we went. First we stopped at a spectacular museum where we spent most of the morning. Then we traveled to Gold Beach, then Sword Beach where we saw a spectacular 360 video called The Price of Freedom, then we visited the American cemetery and lastly we journeyed down to Omaha Beach. I don't know how to describe what it was like being there. To stand there and look out into the water was so humbling. I didn't know much about the Normandy invasion, but thanks to Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg I knew those waves claimed a lot of lives. I didn't know 1/10th of what I know now - not who was involved or even the context of the invasions - but just thinking about standing there and looking into those waves makes me choke up.


Then when I looked back up the great expanse of beach, to the cliffs behind and the pillboxes still visible in the hillside...it was overwhelming. For a long time I just stood there and stared like I am in that first picture. All I could think about was how anybody could have possibly made it up that beach. We came at low tide and it was just this tremendous expanse of sand just to reach the seawall and then those cliffs...it seemed impossible. It was so awe inspiring and humbling and just completely overwhelming.


I had this weird realization that the people who arrived at that beach, whether they made it to the seawall or even stepped onto the sand are the people who made World War II. And I had this larger understanding that the history I'd studied all through high school - presidents, kings, emperors - wasn't really history at all. Stepping on that beach made me realize that history is made by normal people like the people who landed that beach. And when I left it I bought as many books as I could on the Normandy landings and read as much as possible. To risk sounding cliche, the moment above changed my life. I developed a love of history that took me through 4 years of college, into graduate school, and now into my own classroom where I share the story of being on that beach.

Wordless Wednesday

30 Great Details: Your Best Friend

The picture above was taken way with my best friend way back in 11th grade. Yes, the huge dork on the left is me. No, I did not dress in all black on a regular basis. I was in charge of the props for 4 years for all our high school musicals (sometimes I had to run onstage to bring them on and off thus I had to dress in all black). The prop in my hands is what my best friend, Kara, and I refer to as the "creepy Blair Witch candle thing". This was taken for our high school production of Brigadoon my junior year. Kara was obviously a candle salesman/creepy witch with neon hair. This is the oldest picture I think I have of the two of us. Mostly I love it because of how ridiculous we both look. It reminds me of how awkward I was in high school, but how my best friend was kind of awkward too so it was all good.

I'd love to say Kara and I have been best friends since we were little kids, but that wouldn't be true. We went to elementary school together, rode the same bus for years, she's in all my first Communion photos standing right behind me, she lived only a couple blocks away, but somehow we did not become friends until 9th grade. When we did we became pretty fast friends. We both were huge Mets fans and I could tell more than a few stories about trips to Shea Stadium to cheer on our favorite Norwegian first baseman, John Olerud. We didn't have the same taste in TV (she loved the X Files, I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or music (she loved the Monkees and They Might Be Giants, I loved Bush and the Offspring), but that made no difference. She was the friend who I reserved the best page in my Yearbook for (and who would write 2 pages worth of inside jokes that STILL make me laugh to this day to read). She was the friend I'd "talk" to on the phone every day, even when talking just meant I played the piano over the phone and she listened to me mess up or zoning out and saying nothing while flipping through the channels. She was the friend whose house I ran to when my brother and my parents were fighting so badly I couldn't take it anymore. Whenever I laugh at how silly my high school students can be I always just think of Kara and laugh. We were such goofballs and had so many ridiculous inside jokes.

Sadly, most of my college years were "pre-Facebook" and we were both lousy about keeping in touch. We'd get together maybe once a year when I returned home to NY, but no more than that. I sadly knew very little about what was going on in her life - what she was majoring in, how college was, who she was dating (the man who would one day be her husband). I hate that it took a tragedy for us to reconnect, but only after her mom passed away did we really start talking again on a regular basis.

She is now the person I can call in Charlottesville and hang up with two hours later when I'm home in Lynchburg. She's the person who inspired me to get back into long-distance running and to take up blogging. She's the friend I can call just to vent to who I know will always listen and understand, even if she doesn't agree. She's the friend I want to call right after a really good first date. She's the friend I want to call right after a really awful one. She is who I call when I need someone to talk me down from contacting my ex. Looking back at that ridiculously embarrassing photo of the two of us as teenagers or one like this of the two of us at our Senior Prom makes me feel so old.



It's crazy to think about the fact that I was the maid of honor at her wedding and gave a toast (in which I managed to incorporate both the Monkees and John Olerud) or that the next time I see her I will be meeting her little boy. Despite how creepy I look in this last picture I love it. To me it sums up how goofy and crazy we both are. We attempted to learn the Thriller Dance so we could do it at her wedding. It didn't achieve quite the same success as when Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo do it in 13 Going On 30, but we got quite a few people out of their seats! I know Kara will be there at my wedding (whenever that may be) and I can't wait to see where the next ten years of friendship take us.

30 Great Details: Your Day In Great Detail

The snow is falling and I am sitting on my couch watching Sex and the City enjoying the joys of a 2 hour early dismissal and the prospect of a day off from school tomorrow. I thought I would jump on the blog and make a dent in my 30 Great Details. So here goes: Tuesday, January 25 in great detail.

I woke up around 5:30 thanks to my two feline roommates. My alarm is set for 6 AM, but I almost always wake up before that thanks to my two cats. I usually lie in bed for a while and roll out and officially start my day around 6:16. I don't shower in the morning 'cos if I did I'd have to get up even earlier. Plus, I usually work out after school and I don't like to shower twice a day. I turned on WSET to see if the weather forecast for the week had changed. I swear it has changed about five times in about two days - from rain to sleet to 1-3" to 3-5". I fed the miserables, picked out an outfit (which always takes me a while), ate a bowl of cereal, and walked down the three flights of stairs to my car. My forty-five minute commute was not too awful. I got caught behind a logging truck on the last 15 minutes of the drive, but as my school is located about 6 miles down the road from a Georgia-Pacific Plant that is a normal occurrence.

I arrived at school around 7:30 which leaves me about 45 minutes to prepare before my first class. As per usual, the copier was not working. The copier is probably the source of most of my frustrations at school. There is ONE copier for the entire high school and middle school. It breaks down and is out of commission at least two days a week. It jams at least once almost every time you visit it. The machine drives me bonkers. I did not know a thing about copy machines before I arrived at this school, but I am now! I actually met a new student teacher in the school while I was at the copier. It felt so funny to talk to her as the "2 year veteran" teacher. I know I'm only in my second year and am hardly a veteran, but it was amazing to look back at her and remember MY student teaching. I showed her how to work the copier like I remember someone showing me, told her tricks when you unjam it, gave her a lesson idea for her government class (she has the regular government class I taught last year). It was a neat moment.

My first three periods zoomed by. My 10th graders took a quiz and we finished up imperialism. I think I taught it this year much better than last year. All my kids from last year remember is that I showed them a picture of people being strapped to a cannon (the ill-fated results of the Sepoy Mutiny). I'm telling you kids and violence and horrible methods of execution...they love it. They all loved when I taught them about the guillotine during the French Revolution. It's ridiculous. Anyway, the next big unit is World War I, which I really love teaching.

I didn't pack a lunch so I headed to the cafeteria to buy my sad little cafeteria salad and a fruit cup for $2.50. Lettuce, carrots, cheese, broccoli, croutons and ranch dressing. It's nothing special, but I'm pretty impressed that the school even offers it. All you hear about is how unhealthy school lunches are, but the high school I went to certainly didn't offer salad every day. I ate Funions and SmartFood! Lunch with the girl on my floor flew by much too quickly. It was the usual teacher lounge stuff: we talked about the possibility of snow, complained about students, gossiped about what a certain student had done to get 10 days of out of school suspension. Alas, the bell rang and I had to get to my seniors.

It is the class I look forward to least and I'm not sure why. I think it's just 'cos it's after lunch and I wish lunch was longer (a lot like my kids). We actually had a pretty good class. They were learning about the War Powers Resolution and I split them up into groups. Each group read a different article about the Iraq War and the powers of Congress and the President to wage war. They did a REALLY good job! At the end of class I gave them a silly quiz I found online called "How Much Do You Know About the State of the Union?". It was a fun quiz and even I only got 4/7 right. They were so excited to see how they did. I honestly don't know if they've ever been that excited. Their homework was to NOT watch the State of the Union and instead to fill out the chart I gave them about what they thought he would talk about. (We watched it in class today and they checked off what they were right about).

I had my planning period next and I hopped in the car and drove 1 mile down the road to the local post office to finally mail the package of all JC's old stuff back to him. No more blankets, shirts, sweatshirts, or anything of his in my apart ment. Hooray! I graded my history class quizzes and looked at pictures of my new niece on Facebook and then got ready for my 6th period, which went just like 2 and 3. 7th period was my other government class and I was really impressed at how well they did also. The class was cut a bit short 'cos we were handing out report cards, which means kids report to their homeroom at the end of the day. School gets out at 2:40. Lately, I've been getting out of school pretty early - around 4:15-4:30 - but last night I had gate duty.

Gate duty is one of those responsibilities teachers have that people don't realize. Three times a year we have to sell tickets and work the gate at a sporting event. I always choose the boy's basketball games because I'm friends with the boy's basketball coach and I have a ton of boys on the team. That's not to say that I don't have a lot of girls on the girls team, but I just can't make myself watch girls basketball. I really only get to watch the last quarter, but still. I brought my computer so I could multitask and make my WWI PowerPoint for tomorrow while I sold tickets. Usually I just sit there for 4 hours and do nothing but eat nachos and play with my phone. I was pretty pleased with my ability to multitask. It also just felt so much more familiar. My gate duties last year were so new. I felt like such an outsider. Here I had someone sit down with me and ask how the track team was looking this year. The girl selling concessions behind the counter shouted out, "hey Ms. R, can I get you anything?" (I had her bring me a hot dog and a Dr. Pepper). Lots of my kids from last year came over and said hello and asked what we were learning. I told them I was putting together a PowerPoint on WWI and they were all excited to show me they still remembered stuff from last year like the Lusitania and Franz Ferdinand and who was in the Triple Entente. It was actually not a bad night! I usually hate gate duty nights and go home exhausted.

I came home and since I had done most of my planning at the game I could relax a bit. I called my high school pal who I haven't talked to in a while. She is such a good friend and ear to listen. She is the friend I tell stuff to that I don't tell anyone else. After I got off the phone I watched the State of the Union, showered, and then got a surprise phone call from a friend of mine out in Wyoming. I call him my "little brother" and I've known him since he was about 9 or 10. He's currently a sophomore in college, which is just crazy, but I can save that for another post. Anyway, his phone call was such a surprise and it was so nice catching up with him! He is so excited to have me back out at the ranch this summer. The last time I saw him was my sister's wedding almost 2 years ago and we had so much fun dancing all night! I am so proud of what a wonderful young man he has become. I spent a lot of time with him when I lived out at the ranch and even tutored him his junior year so I like to think I have a little something to do with that. It was a nice way to end the night, even though I stayed up a bit later than I planned on talking to him (2 hour time change and all).

And that was my day in - as the title asks for - excruciatingly great detail.

Four Things Monday

I know I still need to finish my 30 Great Details and as slow as it is going I have every intention of finishing it; however, my pal Kara over at Kara's Marathon tagged me in this so here goes...

Four TV Shows I Watch:

- Bones

- Glee

- Parenthood

- How I Met Your Mother

Four Things I’m Passionate About:

- Teaching

- Running

- Sports of all kinds

- Horses

Four Words/Phrases I Use Too Much:

- "Ummmm..."

- I just realized I call my kids "folks" all the time

- "One time at the ranch...." (I talk about the ranch way too much)

- "But anyway..."

Four Things I’ve Learned From The Past:

- Coupons are awesome

- Having pictures of your boyfriend in every room is a huge mistake. Breakup 1 taught me that, breakup 2 was much easie

- Don't be afraid to open up the door just because you think someone is trying to sell you something or get you to come to their Church. Sometimes you get carolers!

- Life is way too short to live with regret

Four Things I’m Looking Forward To:

- Spending the summer at the ranch with my little niece or nephew!

- Spring break at Harry Potter land in T - 89 days!!

- The last four weeks of school after SOLs

- Meeting Kara and Matt's little boy!

Four Things I Love About Winter:

- Snow days, snow days, snow days!

- Brunswick stew!

- Curing up with fleece blankets

- Buying an inordinate amount of Swiss Miss hot cocoa and marshmallows and using all the mugs I never use 'cos I don't drink coffee

I just got thanked on the Golden Globes!

Thank you Ian Brennan, co-creator of Glee, for thanking ME and my colleagues while accepting your Golden Globe award for Best Comedy Series.

In a sea of boring acceptance speeches and platitudes, Ian Brennan grabbed the microphone and said:

"I just want to say thank you to public school teachers. You don't get paid like it, but you're doing the most important work in America."

I just got the first season of Glee on DVD and I fell in love with the show because it is not just about a bunch of misfits who sing and dance. I fell in love with it because it is, to me, about a teacher who cares deeply about his job and helps his kids be great.

My Illustrious Return to Blogging

Okay, I just wrote a massive return post that the internet ate thanks to stupid FB chat. Whenever I hit backspace while I have FB chat open it deletes whatever I am writing - whether it is on a message board or on my blog. Grrr.

Anyway, here is my massive post in brief. I'm going to try to get back into blogging, but it will probably continue to be very random.

I actually had a coherent and organized post written tonight, but I don't feel like rewriting it. So here it is in short!

1) Ritz crackers are frickin' amazing. I almost ate a whole sleeve of them.
2) Two hour delays at school actually end up being incredibly long days. Seeing your six classes all in a row - even if they are only for 25 minutes - makes for a very long day. Additionally, trying to teach anything in 25 minutes is REALLY hard!
3) I'm drinking an incredibly large glass of Chardonnay right now in preparation for the enormous stack of papers I have to grade.
4) I am loving the 4 day weekend that is coming up, but not the fact that it will be the last break we have until Spring Break in April...
5) There are 94 days until Spring Break aka Abigail goes to Harry Potter land and Disney World and acts like a 12 year old