When it Rains...It Pours!!!

Today should have been a Monday instead of a Wednesday. It was an all around crappy day. Lots of little things happened today that made today one of those days that you wish you could have just crossed off the calendar
#1...The football coached didn't send my TAKS kids until the period was almost over. It really annoys me that they feel like their football practice is more important than sending the kids to our class. The problem is that the kids see the coaches not care about our class therefore they don't care and give me and Gary a hard time in the short 25 minutes we have them. I could go on and on about this but I will spare you.
#2…My second period class is driving me nuts. We have been doing solving equations now for 5 days. I still have kids who are clueless as to how to start working it. They have plenty of opportunities to get help and they are too lazy to do it. My third period class is better at it however they are too talkative. They won’t shut up the entire period. And 75 minutes is really long with 11 boys and 5 girls.
#3…The math teachers are driving me crazy. They are basically stressing out about doing their jobs. The nitpick everything!!! It is exhausting to work with people who are neurotic, obsessive, pessimistic, and worrisome all the time.
#4…My last period of the day is athletics. It was going really well until the last shot attempt in a fun game of basketball. As two girls were going for the ball, they both fell over each other and one ended up smacking her head against the wall…cement block wall. Great!!! She was fine but the bad part is when another guy coach was on my case about calling her mother. He thought I should have called her immediately!!! I told him that I would in a second after I got all my other girls on their way to getting changed and getting the equipment locked up. He kept on and kept on until finally I cussed at him and told him to give me a damn second and to get off my case. I ended up calling the mom in an unsatisfactory time (to him) of under 5 minutes. I even went a step further and called this evening to make sure she was alright which she is. He is so uptight if you put a lump of coal up his ass he would squeeze out a diamond.
#5…It rained today!!!
Anyway I pray for sunshine and a good day tomorrow.

All's Quiet on the Homefront

So this is what it would be like if I lived alone?!? Justin and the kids are staying in Nederland tonight. He went down to work on our properties. He didn't finish so he needs to stay and work some more tomorrow. I haven't even been home an hour and I am missing my family tremendously. It is so quiet and still. All the toys are still put away...no juice spots to step on...no spit up to wipe up. Sometimes after a long day I wish I could just veg on the couch and not have to get up every 5 seconds to get Aiden off the kitchen table or put Lillie back on her playmat. But now that I have it...I want my kids here. Geez just can't ever please a woman, huh? I guess I will take advantage of it and do some things I haven't done in a while i.e. watch a show without having to get up for anything and take a bath without someone splashing water at me.

What If...??

Justin and I had a very enlightening conversation last night on the way home from the festival. We were talking about when we broke up back in 1999. Wow never realized that was 7 years ago...seems like just yesterday sometimes. To catch some of you up to speed, we broke up our freshman year of college for about 3 months. We each dated other people. I dated a few guys two of which have the same name, Aaron. We discussed what caused us to break up and why we didn't immediately get back together. I think part of the reason we didn't get back together right away was the fact that I was now getting attention from other guys. We had been dating for almost 3 years by then. And I felt like I had a mark on me like the scarlet letter. We continued to rehash that whys, whats, whens, and hows of the break up, separation, frequent encounters at parties, school, frat house, etc. As we were talking I began to wonder what if we had not gotten back together.

Where would I be now?

Would I be married with kids? Would I still be living in the Golden Triangle? Would I be teaching? Would I have followed my parents to Florida then Nebraska? Would I have moved out of my parents house and been on "my" own? Who would I be with?

I remember the day that I went to Justin and ask him if we could get back together and make it work. I didn't realize it then but that was the single moment in time that I changed my destiny in life. I am thankful for my choice and decision. Because I am now married to that wonderful man and have two beautiful kids by him. So my question of "What If..." is not one of felt out of unfulfillment but of shear curiosity.

3 cubed is 12

Being a teacher poses many obstacles these days like being shot at work by some kid you failed or a crazy maniac with a grudge against a former teacher who called on him too many times. What ever the case...teaching sucks!!! About half the teachers quit after 5 years of teaching. I laughed at that when I heard that stat when I was a first year teacher. But I can completely understand now. Your 1st -3 rd years you are just trying to keep your head above water. Your 4th and 5th year you are wondering why you didnt listen to everyone who was warning you about teaching.I currently have 31 students in my two math classes. Out of those 31, I have 23 targeted "at risk" for AMI (Accelerated Math Instruction). Basically meaning they have educational gaps in their Math education. By district and state laws I am required to keep documentation on these 23 students. 23 kids, 23 folders, 23 AIP (Accelerated Instructional Plans), 23 kids who may not pass TAKS. Keep in mind that I only have a total of 31!!!!My remaining 8 kids I have to raise their scores to show a year's growth and hopefully get them to commended performance on the TAKS.

Today we did a review over all the material we have covered in the past 8 weeks. I might as well have not taught anything to them the past 8 weeks. Because they proved to me that they could not remember anything that I taught them. For example, one of the problems included 3 cubed. I had more than one student come to me and tell me that 3 cubed was 12!!! I asked "How did you get that?" Students reply "well 3 x 3 is 9 plus 3 is 12" Really? Well I need to call Harvard because you have just discovered a new math concept!!! Mind you I have taught exponents to great lengths. And they still do not get the whole idea of what to do.

At what point do I get to cut to the chase with these kids and just tell them it doesnt matter if you learn it...you are just going to mow lawns the rest of you life or mooch off the government along with all the rest of your uneducated family .

Rest of the world

I have officially caught up with the rest of the world and created a blog. I find it humorous that we as a society find it acceptable to post our personal thoughts for the whole world to see. I guess I will enlighten the world with my "exciting" life which will consist of me being a mom to two under two, teacher to 7th grade hormonal morons, coach to girls who try so hard but will rarely win a game, and wife to a stay at home dad who I love very much. This ought to be interesting and if it is not I will embellish on the parts that are dull to the common folk.