Memorable Students

I've been doing some of

And I really wanted to write about yesterday's - - - but I had a minor medical procedure in the morning and I spent the afternoon on the couch watching

 

 on Netflix with my eyes mostly shut.

So anyway, yesterday's prompt was "Who are your memorable students? Share a story."

I have two that I wanted to share about. The first was a girl from my very first 3rd grade class that I taught for only one semester. {Read more here.} Her name was Sofia. She was an ESL student. And sort of a "tough chick," even for 3rd grade. I basically remember two things about her - one, at the very end of the year, I tested her for a DRA score - and realized, she just couldn't read. And somehow, she'd fooled me for a whole semester. It made me feel pretty stupid, and I was sad, and full of regret. But I'm also glad I realized pretty early that some of those that need the most help can fool you pretty good. 

The other thing I remember about her is ... well, background first - I got a Burmese student my first semester and she didn't speak any English. And I'm sure you are realizing, I don't speak any Burmese. Well, I think Sofia would have been a good mentor for this girl - show her around, help her learn some English. But I just really missed the boat on that one. 

So, so sorry Sofia, I was just learning. 

And two years ago, Freddy. I love Freddy. He was loud - almost all the time. I don't think he had a quiet button. One time, he'd been a little silly in class, and I went to talk to his dad, and his dad said he couldn't understand English, so I tried to have Freddy tell him, and his dad said he couldn't understand Freddy. Oh whatever!

But, Freddy was willing to ask me questions. And they were things I never thought of. Like I have my phonics lessons on Powerpoints. And I'd have these words that followed the patterns, and never thought much about it. Until one day, Freddy asked, what's that mean? about one of the words. Hmmm, I never thought that some of my ESL kids wouldn't have that vocabulary. So because of Freddy, I look at everything and think, do I need to try to add a picture? What's here that some of my kids might not be familiar with? And I also try to use video clips a lot, to give a little background. It is soooo true that a picture is worth a thousand words!

So thanks Freddy for helping me be a better teacher. 

And that's a little bit about two of mine.

Furry Family Member

Well, it's late in the day, but I certainly couldn't pass this up - - -

Today's challenge - "Share about your special furry family member."

Her favorite place to rest

College Girl {way before she was College Girl} wanted a puppy. {Isn't that where these stories always start???} So we went to the pound. And we looked for a little tiny lap dog. They didn't have anything, but there were some puppies that weren't weaned yet, so we could come back in a couple weeks. We walked out the door, and there was a guy walking this dog {for the pound - like a volunteer}. He asked my daughter if she wanted to walk the dog. And College Girl said yes. And while she's walking the doggie, the guy says, what would you name her if you took her home? Oh, yeah, we were sunk. {We later found out he was an insurance salesman. Not that there's anything wrong with that...but it just let's you know!}

So we took this sorta big dog home. And then my hose got chewed up, and my sprinkler, my shoe, my glove, and my..... and so on and so on and so on. 

And she got out of the yard. We'd get calls. One time, we had like 8 calls on our answering machine - and we could tell where all Blondie had been. One time someone found her and took her to our vet's. One time a friend called my husband at work. I found her twice in our neighborhood.

The good news about Blondie is she is the sweetest dog in the world. She is so mild mannered. She wants to love on everybody. She loves the little stray cats that hang out under our shed, and waits patiently with hope that they will come out and play {they never do}. She anxiously greets College Girl's boyfriend, and is forever hopeful that she can go with them {hasn't ever happened!}. She loves to help answer the door, and hopes that whoever is there is just a new friend she hasn't met yet. 

So I guess now I can say, she's a keeper!

Share My Story

I'm trying the Blogging Challenge from

{Today has been so productive - College Girl and I have been watching 

 

on Netflix since noon. Ack! How did that happen? I totally blame it on her!!!}

Today's challenge is "How did you end up in education? Who or what inspired you to teach? Share your story!"

I wrote about this some here not too long ago.  Well, let me add a little to that. I student taught with a 3rd grade teacher. She was fantastic. Even though she's taught for like 30 years!!!!, she still keeps fresh. She did a lot of hands on things, but she also made sure her students did the basics. She made sure they knew their math facts, but also how to do problem solving. She made them work on handwriting, and grammar, but also worked on higher level comprehension skills. She was very affirming to the little nervous Nellie.

And then, Ack! Out her door I went. Didn't have a job, but it was Christmas break, so whatever. I thought I'd do some subbing, maybe long term. And then I did get asked to do a long term sub for a 1st grade teacher. And then, yahoo! I got an interview for a 3rd grade position at a school I had subbed at a lot. And I went and interviewed. And I drove home, and opened my garage door, and my daughter was standing there waving a note. In the 5 or so minutes it took me to drive home, the personnel officer had called and was offering me the job. When I called him back, he even said, "I guess I beat you home." 

I loved 3rd grade. Well, I guess I should say, I love 3rd graders. I taught Reading and Science. I had my class in the morning and switched with another teacher in the afternoon. I enjoyed it, but I probably wasn't too good at Guided Reading. OK, I really didn't even do Guided Reading, so it's a fair bet to say it wasn't too good in my room. 

My team, well, they kinda stunk. My literacy coach, not much help. 

So at the end of the year, a 2nd grade teacher was retiring. And I was asked by each of the other 2nd grade teachers, didn't I want to come be a 2nd grade teacher. And my two best advisers, my hubby and my mom, thought it would be a good idea. 

So I did. And now I love 2nd graders. 

That's a little bit more about how I got here. And blogging two days in a row! WhooWhee!

Vacation

I have been on vacation for a week. And apparently, all kinds of things happen when you leave your home for a week. Like kitty-cats seem to take over your yard. 

And, catching up on blogs I love to read this morning, I see that Mrs. Bartel is doing

Blogging every day for a month! 
Well, I don't know if I can do every day, but yesterday's was so appropriate... So here I go!

We decided to go to Vancouver Canada for our vacation this year. I have to say that while all three of us enjoyed it, it almost had to be my hubby's dream vacation.

We went whale watching - those little big guys move fast! This was the best pic I got. It took only slightly less than forever to get out to where they were, on very choppy water. My hubby was in his element. He was at the back of the boat, and getting splashed and loving it. Seeing these whales moving about made it all worth while. 

For my birthday, we went to Queen Elizabeth Garden. Oh, I guess it's really Queen Elizabeth Park. I almost didn't want to go, but the other two talked me into it. I'm glad they did. It was beautiful. They had two quarry gardens - sort of built into rocks - just wonderful. 

We went on the Capilano Suspension Bridge - ack! hold on tight! Lots of swaying. My hubby back there in the red hat - I think he was doing some on purpose swaying, even though he says he wasn't!Very nice forest/rainforest area.

My daughter snapped a pic of hubby and I as we headed down to the water for an evening walk. And we saw a skunk! Yikes! OK, we also saw lots of great big ships and little ships and was just a nice end of the trip walk.

My hubby got us a nice motel room with a small balcony - and I loved just sitting there and people watching and reading. It was very relaxing for me. 

So my vacation is over and done with. I enjoyed being away, but nothing beats seeing the lights of your own little city in the horizon as you come into town at 10:00 at night. It was good to be home. 

Video Making

If you read my blog at all, you'll know I'm taking this online class this summer. And you'll know I'm having to do all sorts of crazy, ummm, interesting things for it. One of which was produce a video. This is the one I came up with using an online program called PowToon. It took just a little bit of work {haha!} so I'm sharing it in as many places as I can.

I personally see poverty as a bigger issue than language. So, what about you? How does poverty affect students in your classroom? 

Five for Friday 6/28

{Apparently, Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching is at the beach. I wish I were in her shoes - or not in her shoes, since she probably is at best, only wearing flip flops, since she's at the beach.}

Rain! I think that should be RAIN! Friends, this has been one dry part of the country, but that seems to be changing. We've had rain Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and again last night. Last night was a good, hard, long rain - and I made my poor hubby go out in the middle of it and turn off the automatic sprinklers. Now that's love!

Painting - College Girl and I tackled one wall in the living room yesterday. 

Yes that's me in my groovy painting outfit!

Well, my picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a beautiful green. As soon as we started, College Girl and I both said "I like it!" It's the perfect color for me in my living room - light and sort of foresty like. This wall hadn't been painted since we moved in - and College Girl's lived here her whole life - so that tells you something. 

My online class is still trucking along. For next week, I need to make a video - but not recording myself. So I've been working on that this week, and I'm fairly happy with how that's turned out - unfortunately, I'm such a perfectionist with these types of things, that I keep messing with it. But basically done, and basically happy about that!

Netflix is a beautiful thing. College Girl and I are watching high brow shows like:

 

Well, West Wing might be high brow, but I'm not so sure about The Office. Anyway, one of these is always our lunch date, depending on our mood. 

Well, I can't be too envious of Kacey at the beach - my family is heading to Vancouver on Tuesday.
 

 

 I can't wait! We've got each day sorta sketched out and once we get there, we'll plan for certain. If anybody has any ideas, you are more than welcome to leave a comment :)

Happy Weekend!