sharpies are nifty, but rowan bracelets are even better!!

this morning i had to swing by walmart early on because i had some small supplies i needed to acquire...and i almost got sucked into this aisle because i am a sucker for sharpies, bic, any markers and cool pens...

i JUST CAN'T HELP IT!

and apparently our little presentation for the all in learning went really well, because we will be doing another later this week or next week-i must verify... i would never promote a product i don't believe in..it's just that all-in-learning has made my life so much easier!! and more fun for the kiddos!

and i may have just made some bracelet purchases-can't wait for them to get here...my friend was in africa, and the ladies there in rowan make these bracelets to sell to put their kids through school and make a living. and i love the look of them!  please check them out  here!

because i haven't heard back yet about the masters program that i applied for (painstakingly), i'm kinda' making an assumption: that i did not get in. i could be wrong, but i doubt it- i really think i would have heard something by now... that said, it's that time of year when decisions need to be made, and i have to begin making plans for my summer if it is not to be tied up with higher education. certainly some disappointment along with some meta-cognitive reflection.


and just for the record, i definitely enjoyed myself a little dove chocolate tonight-i just wanted to read the wrapper, that's all...

great advice

so, doing what feels right must always match up with what i KNOW is right. i'm thankful that my parents raised me with integrity! at kamp, some of my favorite kampers made a name tag for me that said: rule follower. hmm. to be liked or to be respected...i choose the latter.

goodnight!
julie

can you categorize zombies as decomposers? if you're in my science class, you can try.

so...i was grading science notebooks, and under decomposers, one of my students listed zombies... i suppose they feast on dead things... i don't think i mentioned zombies during the lesson.

i forgot to mention that i got a text from gigi on saturday that made my heart smile (well, figuratively speaking, because we all know that hearts do not have mouths) it was a picture of tulip town-fields of tulips!! outside of seattle-GORGEOUS! it will be so great to see her when she comes to town to visit!

it's even better than the poppy fields of oz!!

so, last night i had a great dream- i was flying and i remember thinking how awesome it was! it was super refreshing! when i got to school this morning, i mentioned it to maria, and she said, "that means something...i'm not sure what, but it means something!" so i just looked it up, and it was pretty cool. i suppose that is how i feel.

 hard to believe that we are getting ready to step into may! today i felt like a salesperson...i felt like i was selling clicker all-in-learning systems! we had some principals from our cluster come in, and i was able to demonstrate how i use them in class and how simple they are and how much they have added to my classroom, data collection, and on the spot reteaching! i can't say enough about it!

is anything worse than waiting for results? i submit that there is not. be it results from a test, an interview, you name it, waiting sucks. sometimes there just isn't anything you can do- i was a little bummed that after send an email early in the morning, i still heard nothing throughout the day. i am not a good waiter...i was a good server when i worked at a restaurant, but not a wait-er. if it's a girl waiting for something does she automatically become a wait-ress? (can't help but think of flo and alice at mel's diner...)

and that's really all i got...until i'm done waiting.

julie

they say no news is good news...i say no news is simply...NO NEWS.

this week has been a busy week! our last two staar tests, some interviewees, and even a board meeting!

staar tests-boring.

the board meeting had lots of awards, and then our school was mentioned for vive verde and our garden, but after that, there was only one interesting topic, the rest was a little dull-lots of long-windedness due to it being election time, and people wanting to be heard.

and i thought they were going to let us know about the urban leadership program this week. i re-read the email, and it said they were finalizing the list by the 25th. i thought that meant that they were going to let people know the same day...either i was wrong, or they forgot to tell me one way or the other...i'll wait a few more days..albeit impatiently...i think the idea of it has become more enticing, because i have really enjoyed the ed policy class so much!

last night while watching the local news, they were reporting from the southlake arts festival, so i finished grading my dra assessments last night, and this morning i finished grading one of three class sets of science journals, and decided to reward myself!

with all of the construction (and the fact that i never go to south lake), i thought i'd gone the wrong way, but gps-lady got me there! so once i parked, i wandered around for a bit trying to find the actual art festival.

i should've looked in the box, i'm sure there was some kind of map or something....

 art festivals are much more fun with friends...and when not on a diet. i was so proud of myself though, even with all of the smells. i seriously wanted one of everything...kettle corn, tacos, candied pecans, cotton candy, diet coke, frozen belinis, corn dog...the smells were ridiculously tempting! BUT I ATE NOTHING!!

this is the wind chime art i had seen on the news the night before. it was next to the little jewelry tent where i found a cute little necklace.

and of course there was live music!

this is the one i got-she had some really neat stuff-i really need to set aside money for art festivals!

and then i made my way home after about an hour and a half. i really do love the area-it reminded me of the only other time i was actually down there to visit my dear friend anna brawner, and so obviously i had to pull out these pics! i love it when friends are in town and i can visit with them and catch up! nothing beats catching up!! i absolutely adore my friends! anna is super talented and just all around super-

we would like to thank south lake for having cows.

then when i got home, i felt bad for the boys, so we went to the park.when we got to the bridge, there were a bunch of kids getting prom pics taken.

as i was walking by, i heard some 'mean girl' up in the savoye apt.s yell down, "hey girl in the coral dress, can i come down there and get in your prom picture?!" i felt like yelling back up at her that you already had your chance, now stop embarrassing yourself...but of course, i behaved and we kept on walking.

i think i tired them because bruno was moaning about having to walk up that last hill.

now it's back to grading. gotta get it done!

julie

i'm just a teacher...with a voice...impacting wherever possible.

i did not sign up to teach with the notion that i would be in a classroom spinning my wheels because of our broken system, but that is the reality i walked into. now i need to do whatever it takes to make a difference.

i will preface this with: this is not a normal blog post for me-it is a description of what i have been involved with lately in the realm of education reform policy, because the past couple of weeks i have been breathing this stuff..it's like glue (i think...i don't know, i've never sniffed glue-i kinda like my brain cells). i described a little of what we did last week here.

ok, so..some of you may not really understand what i have been doing with the ed policy fellows, through the Teaching Trust. it has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about policy that is affecting teachers and policy that has the potential to affect our students. we have looked at local, state and national policy. we've had a LOT of reading and some writing assignments to flesh out our views. teachers have more of a voice than i think they realize, it is just a matter of looking into the issues and working together to try to promote changes that will help close the achievement gap in our schools.

the discussion panels have been enlightening-board members, SMU professors, advocates from various groups such as Educate Texas, Dallas Kids First, Stand for Children, the Dallas Regional Chamber, William McKenzie of the dallas morning news, recruitment personnel from disd and uplift education, and a few others.

after making contact with one of the advocates from dallas kids first, our group was invited to go to austin to meet different senators and discuss our program and our views in regards to one of the bills that was crafted around the texas teaching commission report of 2012. a couple of them were asked to testify on a bill that was up on the floor, impromptu, and they loved it!

about a week or two later, erika was contacted to see if we could come down again, so three fellows prepared to go back and had a great showing in the senate again. we were then contacted again to testify on two accompanying bills that dealt with smaller pieces in the house of representatives before the education committee.

the first bill that we testified on was hb 1751. the strengths of this bill are that it allows for development in a school district in various areas such as: building a strong mentoring program for the first 3 years of teaching, stronger teacher eval systems (including observations, teacher self evaluations, multiple points of student data including learning and growth), restructuring school days for collaborative communities, and instituting alternative teacher compensation-retention system, with a requirement of approval by teachers and school board.

while it certainly has its areas for improvement, it is a great jumping off point to begin dialoguing about.

the second bill is hb 2977. this bill could prove to be especially beneficial to students in the long run, by ensuring that we place an effective teacher in front of every student! It is powerful because it includes student achievement AND growth as one of the multiple evaluation measures, evaluations should inform individualized professional development plans, the commissioner must include teachers in the consultation process to review the evaluation framework, and all teachers would be evaluated at least once during the school year.

if i had students in school, i would be happy with both of these bills because they would impact the quality of teacher in the classroom. that is the goal of our program to look at policy, and learn to advocate on behalf of the teachers that are making a difference in order to impact our students.


i received a couple of thank you emails for being a part of advocacy in the capital. it takes a bit to turn a large ship, but if you don't even put your hands on the wheel, the ship will continue to trudge along in the same direction, and currently that direction is not producing thinking, cutting edge students who can thrive in today's college and workforce. we must do better!

CHECK OUT PICTURES OF OUR VISIT AND LIKE THE TEACHING TRUST FACEBOOK PAGE HERE, AND IF ANY OF THIS SOUNDS INTERESTING TO YOU (AND YOU TEACH IN Dallas ISD, DeSoto ISD, Irving ISD, Lancaster ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Uplift Education, and KIPP DFW), there are links to apply for this program.

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

my coworker now has a white elephant gift for next Christmas...and i have a warm fuzzy!

 WAIT! I MISSED IT! apparently today was national grilled cheese day....and i MISSED it!! boo. sigh. tear.

and moving right along..remember those squirrel underpants i got? no, seriously. well, today i gave them to a co-worker with a similar sense of humor to start friday out right! and in return i got a warm fuzzy! i remember hearing the story about warm fuzzies when i was younger, and i loved it, so when i saw them in her room a couple of months ago, it made me happy!

ahhhhh. warm fuzzy.

i seriously do love the idea of having the warm fuzzies as a special reward in class...

yesterday, as i was getting ready to go into a data meeting that we had already kinda discussed, i got an email about a spot observation on monday. i might not have been as focussed as i could have been. hmm. good times. so i had to clean up my room a bit. it's like mom's coming over, so you make your bed and pick up your socks. only no bed and no socks...and it's not my mom...

so that was the key pressure point of preparation and then i got an email this morning. i was very excited to get it! it was a request for ed-policy fellows to give testimony on the two bills that we called austin about on wednesday! they called the teaching trust and asked our group to go down again! how cool is that? this time we will be giving testimony for hb 2977 introduced by Villalba and Patrick's hb 1751. very exciting! this means that i will be using this weekend to read up and work on my testimony. a group of us will then meet up to talk over our work and our plans.

monday observation...tuesday testimony...wednesday morning fly back and pick up the latter half of the day and tutoring.  wednesday night 5 pm advisory committee for policy ed...busy week.

 so i need to think of some way to make it up to the boys..we're going to need to go to petsmart or something tomorrow, i think.

oh, and fyi, the diet is going great! no sugar except an occasional dark chocolate piece...no diet coke-no craving, no breads or chips...feeling like a cave man....can't wait till my 31 days are up. i want a slice of pizza. and the cake that i saw my assistant principal carrying yesterday!

'sweet' dreams (for everyone else),
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