Charleah's Bridals

I took Charleah's bridals two weeks before her wedding. It was really fun. I had plans to go all around Houston to get it done. I realized that I was making it too complicated so all the pictures were taken within 5 miles of my parent's house. It made the day less stressful. 

Also, people in Texas are just nice. (Maybe it happens everywhere) Several people stopped or rolled down their window to tell her congratulations. She was in a wedding dress after all.

Charleah is super photogenic. So I felt like every picture was pretty good. Add some photoshop elements actions from The Pioneer Woman, and you get some of my favorite pictures. 

TV Couples

I'm doing a bottle post.

I did this a bit ago.  But there are some TV couples I actually love.

1. Prince Charming and Snow White from Once Upon a Time (if you aren't watching it, get caught up on Hulu Plus)

2. Leslie and Ben on Parks and Rec

3. Cristina and Owen on Grey's Anatomy (The inspiration for this post since Chris and I have been catching up on it)

4. Jess and Nick on The New Girl

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

I loved this book. The book jacket had it as a cross between Harry Potter, X-Men, The Bourne Identify, Indiana Jones, Ghostbuster, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A lot of things to fit into one book. I'd say it had mutations like X-men, memory-forgetting like Bourne, paranormal hunting like Ghostbusters and a strong female lead like Buffy.

Basically, lots of things that I like. Myfanwy wakes up in London surrounded by dead bodies. She doesn't remember anything and finds a letter in her pocket addressed to her. The Myfanwy 24 hours ago knew that she would be losing her memory soon and left letters and instructions to the future memory-loss self. Myfanwy discovers she can control others and works in a secret governmental agency controlling people with unusual talents like herself. Some are good, others like to cause problems.

As Myfanwy puts together the clues to find out what happened to her, she finds there is a mole inside the agency trying to take it over. Her new life is trying to pretend she is good as normal while making it up as she goes.

I couldn't put it down. The bad thing about reading an author's first novel is they don't have other novels for me to pick up.

Teaching

We had a teacher get yelled at by a parent at school the other day. It got me thinking again how teachers are viewed by parents and the general public. They are seen as less than human things who have easy jobs and get summers off. I just read this blog post on this blog.  These are some excerpts.

I used to be a molecular biologist. I spent my days culturing viruses. Sometimes, my experiments would fail miserably, and I’d swear to myself in frustration. Acquaintances would ask how my work was going. I’d explain how I was having a difficult time cloning this one gene. I couldn’t seem to figure out the exact recipe to use for my cloning cocktail.

Acquaintances would sigh sympathetically. And they’d say, “I know you’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”

And then, they’d tilt their heads in a show of respect for my skills….

Today, I’m a high school teacher. I spend my days culturing teenagers. Sometimes, my students get disruptive, and I swear to myself in frustration. Acquaintances ask me how my work is going. I explain how I’m having a difficult time with a certain kid. I can’t seem to get him to pay attention in class.

Acquaintances smirk knowingly. And they say, “well, have you tried making it fun for the kids? That’s how you get through to them, you know?”

And then, they explain to me how I should do my job….

I realize now how little respect teachers get. Teaching is the toughest job everyone who’s never done it thinks they can do. I admit, I was guilty of these delusions myself. When I decided to make the switch from “doing” science to “teaching” science, I found out that I had to go back to school to get a teaching credential.

Teaching isn’t just “making it fun” for the kids. Teaching isn’t just academic content.

Teaching is understanding how the human brain processes information and preparing lessons with this understanding in mind.

Teaching is simultaneously instilling in a child the belief that she can accomplish anything she wants while admonishing her for producing shoddy work.

Teaching is understanding both the psychology and the physiology behind the changes the adolescent mind goes through.

Teaching is convincing a defiant teenager that the work he sees no value in does serve a greater purpose in preparing him for the rest of his life.

Teaching is offering a sympathetic ear while maintaining a stern voice.

Teaching is being both a role model and a mentor to someone who may have neither at home, and may not be looking for either.

Teaching is not easy. Teaching is not intuitive. Teaching is not something that anyone can figure out on their own. Education researchers spend lifetimes developing effective new teaching methods. Teaching takes hard work and constant training. I understand now.

Inspiring kids? Inspiring kids can be downright damned near close to impossible sometimes. And… it’s downright damned near close to impossible to measure. You can’t measure inspiration by a child’s test scores. You can’t measure inspiration by a child’s grades. You measure inspiration 25 years later when that hot-shot doctor, or lawyer, or entrepreneur thanks her fourth-grade teacher for having faith in her and encouraging her to pursue her dreams.

Maybe that’s why teachers get so little respect. It’s hard to respect a skill that is so hard to quantify.

So, maybe you just have to take our word for it. The next time you walk into a classroom, and you see the teacher calmly presiding over a room full of kids, all actively engaged in the lesson, realize that it’s not because the job is easy. It’s because we make it look easy. And because we work our asses off to make it look easy.

And, yes, we make it fun, too.

2 truths and a lie

1. Today was a fantastic day at work! (The lie)

But to make up for it, I got two bits of awesome news.

#1 I won a giveaway on Goodreads for the audio book of Game of Thrones. I am mostly excited that I won something.

#2 I got selected to do G-camp for teachers. It is a 2 week geology camp (for teachers) in July. We will travel through Texas, Colorado and New Mexico visiting geology sites. It is all expenses paid, I just have to find my way to College Station and back (I think I can manage.) Here is there facebook page.  I really think it will help me getting into the Master program I have selected.

Magic Trash

As I said, I am starting to try some new ideas for my class. This week I tried Magic Trash. I have a probably at the end of the day with trash all over my room. At the beginning of the year, some students would pick it up if I asked, but that gets old when you realized you are the only few doing it.

So... the process.

1. Scan the room and decided on the piece of Magic Trash.

2. Have the students pick up the trash telling them there is a piece of magic trash and whoever gets it, wins the prize.

3. Watch as they all scramble to pick up even the tiniest piece of paper.

4. Announce who won. Be as honest as you want. Pick a real piece of trash or pick a student who gets little recognition.

I did this today, and seriously it was amazing. Most students got up and participated. And those that didn't just didn't get a chance at some gum. (Yes, one stick of gum is what it takes. They would get excited over a cup of ice. Which i have also used before.)

Fab Friday

1. STAAR (our state assessment) is over for the year. Watching students take tests has got to be the most boring thing in the world. I can't read, grade, plan, have a cell phone, get on the computer etc. All I can do is "actively monitor" my students. I did some calf raises during it. Engaged my abs as I walked, but that is about as much I could do. BORING.

2. 24 days left of school. (Counting today)

3. This is the time of the year where I start planning for next year. I get anxious and find all these ideas I would love to try. I am going to try to implement some of them this year and see how they work.

4. I have finally decided what to get my masters in. As of now, it is a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. And A&M has a completely online program. I am so excited to get started, but it wouldn't be until January 2013. My final goal is to be a Director of Curriculum for a district.

5. I have worked out at least 3 times for the last 7 weeks (only taking the week of the wedding off) Unfortunately, I eat away my workouts (as Jullian Michaels says). I got to get that on the same page but food is so good!

Where There's Smoke There's Fire

When you wake up at 1am to some weird sound, there is going to be some confusion. And you might have to pee.

When Chris and I finally determined it was our three smoke alarms going off, we went to work trying to turn them off. We kept pushing the buttons in our mostly asleep state and they just kept going off. We circled the rooms a few times before we realized something else might be up.

He checked the rest of the apartment and I opened the front door. There was smoke in the entry way and I quickly shut the front door.

Then I went to the bathroom. Because I had to go. I let Chris know about the smoke, but I needed to take 30 seconds.

Then I hear, "There's a fire. Call 911." I finish up my business and head outside, calling 911. The first thing Chris does is run upstairs to wake up our neighbor upstairs because it looks like that is where the smoke is coming from. (He wins the citizenship award for the year for that act.)

I see our other neighbor outside and his kids in the car.

We learned that the fire was actually at our neighbors who was already outside. Who knows how long he was out there, but he didn't call 911. Or bother to wake us up. There are only 3 apartments in our triplex and smoke travels. Especially up to the upstairs apartment.

I understand that accidents happens, there is not much we can do about that. I am pretty forgiving. I am not forgiving about NOT calling 911 when there is so much smoke, you had to open a window to get your kids out of the apartment or when you realize that your couldn't put the small fire out yourself.

Also, I had no idea what the night was going to hold once I saw the smoke. I didn't immediately see flames, so I figured I could spare the 30 seconds. But Chris thinks it is just the most horrible thing that I did that! Since I was outside for over an hour, I think I made the best decision.

We ended up being outside for a little over an hour while we waited for the fire department to check everything and clear out the smoke.

This is what the first department pulled out.

Perfect Date

I hope you enjoyed your perfect date today!

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

I loved the first book Across the Universe and this is a rare case where the sequel just got better. If you want a great YA book to read, these two are my recommendations.

It is still Sci-fi, but there is a dystopian twist. There is no love triangle, but there is still some teenage angst. Can you have a YA novel without it?

It is really hard to review this book without spoiling it. Just know that I was glued to the book the whole time with anticipation. Not anticipation where I am annoyed with the author. She reveals enough stuff at just the right time. And the ending was not disappointing, as most books that build up all the anticipation. My only complaint is that it ended too soon. But that is why it is a trilogy.

Read it!