if i had binoculars, i would live in my own little diorama

cane's won again. on the way home i kept thinking i could make it all the way to my apt to make my own dinner...but i don't know what happened; must've been the rain. HAD to be the rain.

so it's been awhile. i guess i kinda imagine myself in a confessional (not that i'd know what that is like, as i am not catholic, but i've seen enough movies...) i might start out with something like, "forgive me blogger, for i have not blogged..." i don't know where it would go from there, but i don't think it would be pretty.

so. school ended. on the last day of professional development, we had the privilege of a training with real school gardens. they began with a drum routine that sounded like a sacrificial interlude from the gilligan episode with the head hunters...luis loved it.

there was a time when i really wanted to purchase a jembe drum

 but the instrument that caught my eye was the rattle...even from a distance, i recognized the beads on the outside. they were the beads that we used to pick off of weeds in costa rica to make bracelets. there was a specific little park that we would go to and then you had to pull the threads of weed out. i was so excited about it! good memories!

amazing weeds!

 we proceeded to have a great training. i think i was a little aloof because i had agreed to move to 3rd grade to teach and so i was going through the training with the 3rd grade teachers. well, that morning, i was asked if i was interested in becoming the reading coach at school. so you must understand that i had run through several emotions at that point. i wasn't as involved as i should have been, but i hadn't accepted the offer at that point, and i wasn't really sure how i felt about anything.

i called my parents and then i had a conversation with lorraine, our former reading coach (who has since accepted a vice principal position-congrats lorraine!). i then went through the arduous process of applying for the position of reading coach. i'm excited because i know it will be a growing and learning process.

the next week we began training for summer science discovery camp. the training went well. i'm going to refrain from saying to much about the actual summer school portion, as i was under the impression that i would be able to stay in my classroom...and i ended up having to move out of my room. but i didn't have anywhere to go, so i had a makeshift classroom on the stage. mood lighting. one side of the 'room' was in the depths of despair-a huge shadow of gloom and doom encompassed them. i had to rig up an easel-using a ladder and duct tape. 

 in fact, one boy's mother actually made him ask me if we were going to be in there for remainder of the summer. i told him he could let her know that we would be moving into a classroom after the first week. it was a long week and i was bitter; but i don't think it was too evident...the kids were having fun.

we have actually covered a lot of information, and i am pretty sure they got it. most of them will be in 5th grade next year, and i have been fortunate to have 5 of my former students. 

i'm pretty sure the 'mouse' in this diorama cannot hear...disclaimer: i am not responsible for teaching them to draw..only teaching them about ecosystems and food chains...and they GOT that!

other than that, we've been very low-key, playing it cool. i have been going to the shooting range-which has been fun.

today we went to the environmental center for a mini field trip. we got to pull out the binoculars and do some bird-watching. i had a blast. i had more fun just looking into the little wooded area-it felt like i was in a real live diorama with 3d trees and such. i realize that sounds silly, as in real life these things are 3d, but when you look through binoculars, everything is so much cooler!!

oh, did i forget to mention that we have trainings that we have to attend with the science camp...well, today the song that kept running through my mind was fugees killing me softly and when he suggested a warm up activity...it was more of a death-warmed-over activity. i thank him for trying, but i'm pretty good at hooking and engaging my students. and today i was counting down because i had some errands to run.

i've also gotten together with some other educators who are excited about ensuring that we have effective teachers in every classroom-and working toward a goal of ensuring that voices our voices are heard and we have a seat at the table when it comes to legislation concerning our students. we can either react to what happens to us, or we can be proactive and help guide the conversations and actions that are in the works. i choose the latter. in essence, this is an extension of what was brought to light in our ed policy program.

good day!
julie

thoughtful friends = chats, warm fuzzies and squirrel panties..

last night right after i finished my post, i remembered that i had to make food for our early 5 de mayo celebration at school today on the 2nd of mayo...so i drove out to get my ingredients (at 9:30 p.m.); it was a late night.

this morning, one of my friends was so sweet to come in and touch base on the whole masters situation; i don't think i was quite ready to really discuss it, because it prompted some tears-still a little raw. but throughout the day, i think i shook it...it was probably the warm-n-fuzzies and the squirrel panties..

i found that it is much easier to 'put on your big-girl-panties' than to put on the little squirrel panties...

i do have thoughtful friends at work. and later, chatting with maria about entrepreneurship... hmm.the u.s. is certainly in need of more bilingual teacher supplies that are fresh...

tomorrow we have a little field trip to the art museum, which is always a fun little trip. the docents are really good with our kids, and the kids are usually really attentive. and as for me? i love the art museum! and then for the most important part of tomorrow....i know, i've mentioned it all week....

                                       WICKED!!!
i am so excited! i know i've said it before, but i would go every year if it came around to dallas every year! i am mystically enthralled by musicals! i think my love for all things theatrical actually began when i was in elementary school in brodhead, wi....a friend invited me to a play at her church-PETER PAN...(i have no idea why they were performing peter pan at a church.. but they were...perhaps..nope, i got nothing) but i was riveted! i was star-struck with the lead in the play and my imagination drew me right into it all. in fact, i'm pretty sure i imagined that the 'star' and i were bff...crazy, i know.

i'm really excited because one of my old kampers from kamp is going to be applying for the ed policy program! i didn't even realize that she was teaching in the dallas area! i'm so excited because i really do think the world of erika and appreciate all of the hard work that she has put into the program to grow it and create an advocacy experience to help teachers realize the voice that they can have! great job, erika!

 no one mourns the wicked....
julie

i kept my scissors, i am a rebel...their fault!

has it really been over a week? crazy! i meant to post sooner, but i was tired (all week) and then when i finally got un-tired on friday, i realized that i left my usb-phone charger/connector at school and had no way to download pics. so today i went to radio shack for a second cord. which is fine, because i like having an extra to pack in my bag for emergencies!

so i got to radio shack and the guy at the counter showed me the cords that he had, and i opted for the cool enercell retractable one-so smart. and of course, he tried to talk me into getting a new phone (which i need to do, but i need to be prudent with my money more than i need new gadgets). 

well, last sunday p.m. i had a meeting with 5 fellows from our ed-policy class, and erika, our fearless leader. we had a lot of discussion about the bills that we would be testifying on. it was a good meeting, and i was home by around 9 ish...late enough not to worry too much about my observation the following day.

the observation went fine-i was pleasantly surprised when they showed up for science instead of reading...

then the next day i woke up early, went to school to pick up keys to drop the boys off at my principal's home because she was so gracious to spend time with them while i was away! they were a little skeptical, but i think they had a good time! had they stayed longer, they might've even become friends with her silkies. smile. my favorite part was the thoughtful updates that evening.

after i dropped them off, it was off to the airport. per usual, i was early (punctuality is everything..especially when flying!). so i went straight up to the gate. while i was up there i whipped out my scissors to cut some papers up, as i heard the lady on the intercom say no knives, or scissors beyond the security checkpoint area...not my fault they didn't catch it. or the knife in my purse...oops.

the others arrived shortly before boarding..after we boarded the plane and got settled, i was sitting beside a couple who were going beyond austin. so while we were waiting, the lady forced me into small talk, and found out why we were headed to austin. she proceeded to let me know that she knew one of the senators from fort worth, so she gave me her card in case we met the senator. then the pilot let us know that there had been a bird strike on the way in, so they were going to have to maintenance the plane to check its integrity, and we were going to have to switch planes.

so glad we didn't go american-they were grounded for several hours!

so we did just that-hoofed it to the other gate and got in line on the "honor system." fortunately this plane was bigger than the previous, because i was able to actually get a seat by the window this time, even though i was at the back of the line. and the inflight service was worthless, because i pretty much got my coffee, took 3 sips, and they came around to collect our trash because we were already on descent. boo.

at this point, we were running behind schedule, so there really wasn't time to grab lunch. we went straight to the hotel and dropped our stuff off in our rooms.

i've not seen this before, but they had a little model to show people how to draw the curtains and open the door...they must get a lot of idiots in their hotels...

 then we walked up to the capitol building. what a beautiful building!

and once we went in, we found a couple of the people from Educate Texas, who were waiting for us. they helped us get registered to testify and then we went to some of the offices to meet with the representatives or their spokespersons. it was very interesting. each office that we went into, it pretty much turned into a continued conversation as we explained why we were there.

erika was communicating with some of the advocates who were actually monitoring the session to let us know when we would be up...as 20 minutes turned into umm...3 hours..but it's ok, because that gave us a chance to stop and get a bite at the cafeteria. a salad and a coffee to tie me over until dinner, surely. well, we went to the session and listened in on some testimony for a couple of different bills, and finally our first bill was up. we gave our testimony to the education committee (there are 9 or 10 of them), but some were present, some stepped out (rude). it went well, and then we knew that we wouldn't be up until the last bill, so we left and went to get dinner at a little mexican restaurant across from our hotel, and two of our advocate friends came to join us and the conversation was good.

we still had plenty of time left, so we went back tot he hotel, and at about 11:45 we met back in the lobby to go back to the capitol building to testify for our last bill.

two of the gals had gotten there before us, and they had actually kind of cornered the chair of the committee, who had stepped out to meet them because another rep slipped him a note. so we walked up just as they started speaking with him-perfect timing! apparently, on previous visits, erika had tried to set up appointments to meet with him, but to no avail, so this was a plus.

then we went in to sit and wait a little more for our chance to talk about hb 2977. it was quite empowering to stand in front of the reps and state our position and give testimony as to why we support our position! good times. well, hopefully we had coherent arguments..the fact of the matter is that we were not finished until about 2-2:30, i am pretty sure i laid my head down on my pillow at about 3 a.m. and my roomie had to be up at 4:30 because she was leaving on an earlier flight. so i was able to go back to sleep for an hour before i had to get up and at 'em. we arrived at the airport, and guess what, my scissors and knife made it through again! (i was pretty sure that the rules had changed-maybe they just hadn't changed the announcements yet).  

at that point, we were on the lookout for breakfast food. all we found was a little mexican fast food, and a burger/sandwich joint. so we got a couple of egg and bacon tacos. the flight was on time, and we were off without a hitch...until we landed and the gate we were supposed to pull into was full, so they had to wait for permission to park it elsewhere. (this is where it comes in handy to have worked for the airlines before, things like this don't phase me too much).

then i went to get the boys, and bring them home. they were talking nonstop about how much fun they had at the sleepover.when we got home, they crashed with me for a 40 minute power nap, and then i was up to shower and get to school before noon.

the rest of the week went by fairly quickly and i enjoyed tutoring science...i think sandra learned some stuff too! 

and yesterday it hit me that we are two weeks away (and counting) to wicked!!!

i'm so excited!! my principal went and thoroughly enjoyed it-she let me look at her playbill, and i am even more excited than ever!!

well, i think that pretty much catches us up!

evening!
julie

it's sibling day! bummer for all of you single children (guess you'll just have to find something else to celebrate)

i did my civic duty. i called the house chair about the bill we want to pass. (if you didn't know i was in an education policy class, you might think i called out to the chair in my house..like a kitchen chair about getting rid of a counterfeit bill....or that one of us-probably not the chair had eaten a bill and needed to pass it out of our system..or you might even think i was calling my chair about walking past a certain hottie named "bill"...but NO), as those of you who have followed this blog know, i have been in this class since december, and most recently, we are trying to get the tx house of reps to see and support a bill about recruiting and retaining the most effective teachers possible in classrooms.

we had a great class last night, speaking/listening to what our local dallas board trustee had to say about local policy and explaining how our board does things. it was very enlightening. i wish more of our trustees were as diligent as he is in looking at things and putting actual thought into what is happening and needs to happen to help improve our school district.

-also yesterday-
my class went to the book fair. woohoo! there are actually several books that i want!

how CUTE is this baby sloth??! too cute, i tell ya!

this morning on the way to work, on the radio, the commentator totally referred to a spelling bee as a sport! WHAT?? it's true.

today is national sibling day- HAPPINESS TO ALL SIBLINGS! so, here is my tribute to my brother, david:

first airplane trip to visit the grandparents

look at what my parents did to us at Easter!!

yes, my dad was the pastor and we were the main attraction, at least in our minds (i think david is picking a wedgie in this one-or he just thought he would make special pose-putting me in a headlock). please notice my open mouth-i'm pretty sure that is not how my parents taught us to smile...

...but then again, my brother has the open-mouth smile as well-this was in college, when he worked for the sound department

so, he really wanted to stencil the chiquita banana symbol on the side of his baby (the car, not his real baby below)-totally cool 80's

and david with their first child-who is now growing up faster than she should!

david and i had a lot of fun growing up. we shared some of the same friends and i always wanted to play with his friends. in wisconsin it was riding bikes, playing funny dress-up games with the mcguinty's, sand box, tree house, football, baseball and when we were in iowa, we did everything together with our youth group, from Bible quizzing to snowball fights and snowmen, to going pretty much anywhere in the little yellow beetle...

 then in HONDURAS we did a lot together when we were older. we played basketball with friends, played water-gun war all over the neighborhood at night, climbed water towers and ate hawaiian pizza while watching fireworks, hiked back to the river to slide down the natural rock slide, drove around the strip drinking tao's iced tea...there wasn't much that we DIDN'T do together with friends when we were in high school.

my sibling is pretty cool. he is much more intelligent than i am-he would come home with calculus and physics tests with a + and i would find them in the trash can and think, "dude! if that were mine, i would frame it!" he is much more level-headed than i am, and he is very patient. i wish we didn't live 11 hours apart, but whatcha gonna' do?! i'm not a great sibling because i don't call very often-i am not good at talking on the phone. but i do try to get a letter off once in awhile! so, david, here's to you!

happy sibling day, ya'll!
julie

when i dress up, people don't usually say 'you clean up well,' they just laugh at me...rude.

i should have planned my time better while in misourri. i have so many special people in the area, yet i spent most of my time at mom and dad's doing school work and just relaxing...

today reminded me of how i need to do better at keeping up with friends! it was a joy and a breath of fresh air to hang out with kristin today and meet her kiddos! they are quite the crew, and i love watching her in their teachable moments!

i meant to get a pic of us today, but here is one of our more memorable moments in college...

not a special event...we just wanted to dress up for dinner...at the steak house.

 when did i start taking myself so seriously? time to have fun again! there is nothing more wonderful than catching up with old friends!

and unfortunately i didn't have time to go to my friend's home to put up the welcome home banner because i had to meet mom and dad in ozark for dinner at lamberts! they had never been there to eat, so they had a treat! i only finished one of my pieces of chicken because they overfeed you with southern cookin'! hot rolls thrown right at your face so that if you miss it, at least it falls on your table.. yum.

and my new friend, who will be making random appearances on the blog...robert de masmines the knight. he met tiger and the mouse tonight.

tiger was unimpressed and told him to put his sword away...(is anyone quoting the office right now?)

but he dominated the mouse!

if i hadn't made plans to come to misourri, i would have gone to austin with others from the fellows cohort on ed-policy reform-it looks like they had a great time and got a priceless experience first hand! the best opportunity for teachers to make a difference in policy is by telling our story to influence the policy makers, or becoming policy-makers ourselves. i cannot wait to hear about it next tuesday! check out pics of what they did here!

so, up bright and early tomorrow to get home at a decent time. next time i will plan more accordingly and give my friends the heads up to see if we can't work out some get-together-time!

pray for safe driving tomorrow!
julie