Time is neither friend nor enemy

Fin! The school year is over and I am officially "on vacation"! To my extreme disappointment ::dripping with sarcasm:: I no longer wake up first. In fact, even after Melvin has left I still make the sacrifice to not get up. It's part of my newly acquired effort to "be green". You see, what would I do with that extra hour or two if I were up? Surely I would just be using unnecessary electricity to listen to music or watch TV and that would be wasteful. Thus, staying in bed is my contribution to our planet.

I am gorging myself on books. I've missed reading. Yes, I was a Language Arts/English teacher for the past year, but I was too busy planning, grading, and/or reading novels meant for middle schoolers. (Not to imply that it was unworthy reading material, but my brain yearned for more). So I'm playing catch up!

Aside from seeing a few kids for speech daily, I am trying to organize and "decorate" the other upstairs bedrooms and the landing/office area. I say "decorate" because I'm not so good at it. Either I didn't get that gene, or it hasn't yet been sufficiently stimulated or come to fruition so to speak. I'm hoping the light comes on sooner or later.

Peace and blessings!

Winding down

There are exactly 3 weeks left of school and I can still remember the first day. I've almost survived my first (and possibly last) year of teaching! All in all, I truly have enjoyed the experience. I'm surprisingly more relaxed this last quarter, even among all of the end of the year chaos. I honestly wouldn't mind taking on another class in the future, but speech and hearing services beckons.

This is the time of year where you can truly see the fruits of your labor. Reaping what you sow, if you will. It's definitely rewarding to see the students' progress from the beginning up until now, and to be thankful that you were a part of that. Then you hope that you will be looked back on in fondness rather than contempt. My goal was to be the teacher that you can look back on and say, "She pushed me, but I learned."

Now I will only wait for what will seem like a year or two, when my 6th graders are seniors.

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

Gorilla Brownies and Ferret Farms

I'm taking my first intensive Master's course this week and it's been surprisingly refreshing. It covers foundations of creative learning and thinking. The idea is that in order for us to be able to inspire creativity within our kids, we need to be able to instill it in ourselves first. So, how does that get us to Gorilla Brownies and Ferret Farms?

At the beginning of each class, we do some creative warm-ups that can be applied in the classroom as well. Many are improv/theatre games. One was very similar to some of the things we see on "Whose Line Is It Anyway". It requires an interviewer and interviewee. The interviewee is the EXPERT on a particular topic.

Our teacher asked for volunteers and everyone immediately turned their gaze to the floor. Finally, one brave soul spoke up and chose the interviewer position. A minute later, I volunteered to be the expert, despite the screams of the introvert inside me. Within 30 seconds, I was the expert on gorillas and cooking. Basically, you have to agree and expand on everything that is asked. I actually surprised myself in coming up with a story involving an expedition to Africa, and teaching gorillas sign language and then brownie making. The final product involved a marketed product called Gorilla Brownies made by gorillas in biohazard suits who sometimes make mistakes like pouring Lysol into the batter, all to raise money for gorillas in Africa.

I'll leave ferret farms up to your imagination!

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

Spring Slump

It's definitely that time of the school year. The kids are listless, teachers are tired and/or sick, and Spring Break still seems too far away. I wonder if there's been any research done on student achievement during this time. Progress reports went out this week, which explains the line-up of parent conferences next week. No project + bad test grade = trouble.

On a more positive note, we have been working on 5 paragraph essays (ambitious, I know). I'm trying to create overachievers, what can I say? The cool thing is I think they're getting it! We are using this strategy called "The Bing, The Bang, and The Bongo". If you're intrigued, you can visit my wikispace www.msimon.wikispaces.com.

Tomorrow I'll be heading over to the JMA Clinic at Baxter Institute to oversee the construction of the sound booth! It's parts and pieces right now, so this should be interesting.

Peace and blessings!

Blog Abuse

If there were a law regarding neglect of one's blog, I would be the prime offender. Better late than never!

Well, I'll TRY to provide a brief update. Brevity is painful when you love details.

Ok, since September ---

• We celebrated my birthday in October. Melvin threw a party for me at a lounge here called The Rio. It was a fun night and we closed the place down.
• We moved! Ok, it was only 1 block down from our old apartment, but it was a big step because we moved into a house. It's a perfect size, 3 bedroom, 2 and a half bathroom, 2 story house with a patio and yard space. One of the first things we did was buy a barbecue and patio table set because we were so excited to have the patio area!
• I hosted my first Thanksgiving! It was fun to bring the Thanksgiving tradition to Honduras and sharing it with Melvin's family (and some friends) for the first time. Melvin and I were up until midnight the night before preparing the turkey and side dishes. I love having a husband who not only cooks, but is amazingly good at it and actually enjoys it!
• It was our turn to spend Christmas in California, so that's what we did! We had a great time visiting my family and connecting with friends. We spent New Year's in Vegas (thanks to my Mom) and got to see Cirque de Soleil's "O" thanks to my Dad. I miss everyone, but I'll be back in June!
• Getting back into the groove the first week back to school wasn't easy for me or for the students. Apart from leaving some of our brains behind at break, the new schedule change (7:30 start time) was an adjustment! While getting out at 2:30 rocks, waking up before the sun comes up doesn't! I am SO not a morning person and I am bitter that I have to wake up first.
• Earlier this month I went to Baxter Institute/James Moody Clinic to check out some of the newly arrived audiology equipment! We have a brand new sound booth, audiometer, and impedance equipment! The area where the audiology section of the clinic will be is being repainted and there is still some more equipment on the way! This is an answer to prayer for me. I prayed that God would use my skills here, and he answered.
• Another piece of exciting news is that I will be working as the speech and hearing specialist at The American School next year! I am organizing a speech/language therapy evaluation and therapy pull-out program, as well as a hearing screening program! I am extremely excited and blessed to have the opportunity to work in these areas, where my passion truly lies. I spent this week researching resources I will be needing next year and checking out my office/therapy space! Now let's pray that everything on the list can be covered by the budget!
• Oh no, folks! It's not over yet! Call me crazy, but I've signed up for another Master's program. The American School sponsors a Master of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies/International Education from the State University of New York, Buffalo for faculty members. Professors fly in to give intensive courses every few months and our tuition is covered by the school with the stipulation that you agree to work for the school for a period of 3 years. It is my philosophy that one should never cease to learn, and since the school is footing the bill, I jumped on the bandwagon! I'm not worried about the 3 years because as long as we're here I plan on maintaining a relationship with the school. After all, our future kids will be going there!

My cup overfloweth. Peace and blessings,

Michelle