Why I've Been So Thai'd Up!

So yes I did eventually make it to Thailand! I've been keeping track of my travels and adventures as best I can on my YouTube page, which is why I haven't been blogging as much as I've wanted to. I'm still adjusting to being not only a full time teacher but living 8,000 miles away from everything I've ever known, so unfortunately I haven't had the time to blog AND vlog. Really I haven't even vlogged as much as I've wanted to. I've been more focused on getting my life stable, in my work life and my personal life.

Let's talk about it!

Work Life:

When I first got to Thailand, I was living in an airbnb over an hour away from my job. So to get to work my first week, I had to take 2 BTS trains, which is the sky subway here, AND a bike taxi ride from the train station to work. Yes I said bike taxi, which means I get on the back of a motorcycle driven by a stranger and hope not to die.

Anyway after my horrible commute time, I got to meet my coworkers. They have turned out to be a big blessing in my travels. My job is such a comfortable place to be as a teacher. I work at an international school. What that means is while I am in Thailand, most of my students are from Japan and came here with the purpose of learning English. So I do not teach only English, I teach all subjects, including some I never taught in America, but I do teach only IN English. Most of my students understand English very well, I only have a few that are very beginners. But I get so much support from the families, the administration, and my coworkers. It's really a great work environment. Eventually I did move to a place right across from my job so that long commute has turned into me walking to work. Even a few of my coworkers live in the same building!

Which brings me to my next point

Personal Life:

My personal life starts with those same coworkers. Before I started work I was very lonely out here. I had no one to talk to. Everyone I knew was 11 hours behind me and everyone I tried to speak to when I left the house, didn't speak English. Once I started working I had people to talk to... and in English! They take me out outside of work and show me around to some of the cool places to go. Most of them have been here for at least a year already so they're far more familiar with the area than me. They answer my questions about where to go for shopping, food, clothes, things for my house etc. But I don't want them to be my only friends and feel like I'm clinging on to them to have a social life like... who wants to feel like that??? So I've also been using this app called MeetUp. It's basically an app where people post their events and you RSVP to the ones that interest you. I've so far gone to mixers, parties, and even Thai classes. I've come back with friends from every event I've gone to and it's been really cool.

To sum it up

I've been having a GREAT time in Thailand for the last 8 weeks. I can't wait to see what the rest of my time here brings!

Ready to Reveal!

After over 2 years in the making, I'm finally ready to announce where I'm going to be moving!

When I first started looking into teaching abroad, I thought about going to South Korea.

Yes, South Korea

Everyone always gave me the "are you crazy?!" face since... America and the Koreas have a bit of beef at the moment. But I'm not the type to be swayed by other's opinions without good reason. My main reason for choosing South Korea was because they pay American English teachers well in comparison to their cost of living. They also pay for airfare and housing. I have a bit of student loan debt.

Like most of us.

So I was interested in a way to travel but still be able to save some money. Everyone tried to convince me to go somewhere else but I was set on it...

...until I talked to my brother

He told me, it's a whole year of my life and I shouldn't make the decision based solely on money, I should choose somewhere I always wanted to go.

💡

That made perfect sense to me.

So I looked into somewhere I've always wanted to go... Spain.

In short, it's a bit difficult for an American to work legally in Spain. My only options would've been working illegally on a tourist visa and risk getting kicked out of the country, or work on a student visa and have to enroll in college again and pay for it myself. 

Negative ghostrider.

So I thought about it... where have I always REALLY wished I could go...

THAILAND!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, come August 2019, The Teacher With the Fro is moving to Thailand!

People talk all the time about wanting to just pick up their lives and go somewhere and I'm fortunate enough to actually be able to do it. My certification it Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Hooooowever

The job I landed is actually at an international kindergarten. What that means is, the families that the school serves are expats. I won't even have to teach English! I'll be teaching regular kindergarten which... I have to say I'm far more confident about kindergarten than teaching English. I'm so excited to be doing my dream job in a place I've always dreamed of going... and I'm going to actually get to live there!

FAQs

There's a lot of people in my outernet life that already know about this. Here's a few things I get asked the most.

How do your parents feel about you leaving?

Now that I've chosen something a smidge safer than South Korea, I think my parents are a bit more relieved. I think they're excited for me and proud of me for following my dream.

Are you excited or scared?

Both! I'm so so excited about all of  the adventures that lie ahead but I'm definitely scared to pick up and move to the other side of the world.

Do you speak Thai?

No. No I do not. I've been working on learning it.. Not nearly as hard as I should be, but no I do not.

How long is the flight?

The flights are about 18 hours total. I hope my back can take that and I hope I sleep... a lot.

How long will you be gone?

My contract is for 1 year but... we'll see what the future holds.

What's the time difference?

Thailand is 11 or 12 hours ahead of New York. I say or not because I don't know the answer, but because Thailand does not observe daylight savings time so the answer depends on when you ask.

Stay tuned for future updates!

Hopefully in the form of a vlog!

Social Studies

Wow! I can't believe it has been almost a year to the day since my last post, a little after my birthday last year. When I started this blog, I was just starting to have my very first classroom and I wanted to record all of the cute projects we were doing, click the tabs at the top to see some of them!

But that was years ago and I've come a long way since then... sort of. In my last post a year ago I was telling you all that I am looking into teaching abroad and hoping to leave before 2019. Well surprise!... I'm still in the United States 🤣🤣🤣

But that's not the end of the story...

I have actually settled on a country. I haven't announced it yet because I am still waiting on some paperwork but the SECOND it is all finalized, I cannot wait to share it with you all!

But I'll get back to that when I can give more information.

Current situation...

Struggling to balance teaching and having a social life

For a long time I didn't have a lot of friends, and the ones I did have were hard to stay in contact with because I kept moving around.

Fast forward to today

I moved... again... to a city nearby the one I was raised in. So I still teach in a district that's 35-45 minutes away from where I live. So I find myself super tired at the end of a work day, mind you I'm still a substitute teacher so I don't grade papers and write lesson plans at the moment. And I've finally stopped going to school so I don't come home and do homework anymore. I've been trying to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones along the way. Last summer I chose not to work and I had what was arguably the BEST summer of my life. I went to the beach, concerts, parties, and made so many great memories with great people.

I guess this is something I deal with because I'm still young and single so I wonder... How do full time teachers with families makes time for... anything else?

Let's Play Catch Up!

Hello all!

  I haven't blogged for several months. I've been a bit busy and a little distracted with my outernet life (life outside of the internet).

But Fro... what have you been doing all this time?

I'm glad you asked!

Let's see my last post was in October and I was talking about wanting to finish my TEFL certification so that I could teach abroad. It took me a little extra time and effort but I have since completed my certification.

I'm still in the United States... months later. I just finished out the school year as a substitute. Some people I work with or who have been following my journey are asking if I'm still going. Well the plain and simple answer is yes, I'm absolutely still planning to travel and teach abroad. I'm hoping to be gone before 2019.

My original plan was to change countries every 6 months or so for the next 5 years, unless anything got in the way of that plan. Well my plans have changed a little bit. Now I want to go away for about a year and then come back to the United States and move to a different state. Preferably one warmer than the state I currently live in.

I'm still not ready to announce what country I'm planning to go to. Originally I didn't want to say because things were not set in stone. And good thing I didn't, because I've changed my mind about 3 times for what country I'm going to go to. But I think after some discussion with people close to me in my life and some research I've finally settled on a country that would be a good fit for me. But I'm still not going to say where until I have a job in place.

The same reason I've been distracted from completing my paperwork to live and work in another country is the same reason I now only plan to be gone for a year and come back. But.... I'm not ready to disclose that reason yet either. 

*Spoiler alert*

It's not a baby.

Everyone always thinks that when you get secretive about stuff.

In the meantime I'm taking some time off from things to focus on getting these things done and actually going. If I don't go now then I'll always look back and regret it.

Stay tuned.

Precious Moments

Sometimes kiddos remind you of why you became a teacher.

The other day I was filling in in kindergarten. I had been in this class a little before and these kids were pretty comfortable with me. We were working on a paper where they were tracing and writing the number 3. A little girl walked up to me and handed me her paper and I said "Sweetheart, it isn't finished, you traced the 3s but you have to write them too." She looks at me and says "I can't write 3s I don't know how to!" I said "But you traced them so I know you can do it if you try." She started to cry. She was crying because she didn't want to try. I chose to go the tough love route because I believe in challenging students and encouraging a growth mindset. You don't get to cry because you don't want to try. So I told her "This is not a reason to cry, you're not a baby." She kept crying and started getting loud. So in a calm voice I said "Well if you're going to cry you can go sit in that chair over there and when you're ready to work you can come back." She sat in the chair and cried for a while and I did NOT engage her. Eventually she stopped crying and I said "If you're ready to work you can come back over." So she came back and sat down. I said "Now if you're ready to work I can help you and we can try this together." She nodded her head yes. So I talked to her about how to make a 3 and reminded her that she had just traced a bunch of 3s. When she did one on her own I was shocked that it was almost perfect. I said "See that 3 is beautiful you don't need my help." and I left her to finish them. When she came to show me she was finished I said to her "I knew you could do it." and she gave me the biggest hug as if to say "Thank you for believing in me".

It was something as small as writing the number 3 and even though I had just made her cry a few minutes before, she knew I cared about her and believed in her. My kids get upset with me sometimes but the know I love and encourage them and they respect me.

Back to the Grind

Today was my first day back in the classroom as a regular sub in my old district. I was dreading moving back to my old district for a few reasons. I feel like moving back is kind of a step backwards from the direction my life has been going, even though it really isn't, it's more of a temporary stepping stone towards the next chapter in my life.

Being a building sub meant that I went to the same school every day so I has a relationship with my kiddos and my coworkers. Being a regular sub means I go to not only a different class but a different school everyday. Up side, I get to meet a lot of different staff and students and get different experiences. Down side, I don't get to stay in a place for too long if I like it. I tried to see if I could become a building sub in this district but it looks like they don't hire them here. I checked. My next best option would be to get in good with a principal at a school I like and have them just claim me like everyday.

Today actually wasn't bad. After looking back at my resume when I was updating it, I realized I only subbed in this district for about 4 months before I took over my first daycare classroom that summer. I think I've overestimated the negative experiences I had in this district. I think for some reason I have it in my head that I only had a positive experience at one school and just really remember several negative ones at other schools so in my head I associate this district with negative times. After just working a half day today, I don't think this district is as bad as I made it out to be. I think it was the first district I subbed in so I was very new to being a sub. Maybe the experience I've gained has changed my outlook. It also might have to do with the fact that I was a reading teacher today and spent part of my time reading to preschoolers and I love Preschool and Kindergarten.

Basically I'm going to hopefully spend most of my time in elementary school and have a good time. Maybe I have a lot tougher skin after my last district and being a regular sub again won't be so bad. I'm going to try my best to have a positive outlook. Tomorrow is my first full day back even though I'm still a little sick I thought I would be feeling better by now. Hopefully my first full day back in the classroom will be a positive one. But I guess that's up to me.

Summer of Fun

This post is pretty late but over the summer I was in charge of my own kindergarten class which was amazing... and a mess at the same time. I think some of this may have been covered in my last post but I just wanted to make sure that when I look back I didn't forget this time in my life. Instead of going through a long drawn out post, I'll list a few pertinent parts of my experience.

1. I had 13 kids on my roster but was lucky if I had 9 of them all show up on the same day.
2. We were in a super hot building and told we were getting air conditioning, but only a few rooms got them.
3. We were told there would be no children with extreme behavior problems in the program... there were. Several that were in self contained classes during the year, and placed with non special ed teachers with non special ed teaching assistants.
4. I met some amazing people that I taught with and hope to stay friends with.
5. My students were my favorite part of the program. They weren't perfect angels but I love to learn from them and gain new experiences.
6. I had some interesting experiences with parents.
7. We took the kids swimming one day. Lots of kids say they can swim... until they get in a pool.
8. We had our students for 10 hours a day... 10. hours.
9. The money I made was crazy good.
10. I probably would do the program again in the future if I still lived in that area.

Here Come the Water Works

Today was my last day as the building sub at my school. I thought I'd be able to make it through it okay since I'd been fine lately but oh man. When I tried to talk and thank some of my particular co-workers that really helped me out a lot, the tears started welling up. I managed to keep it together because I didn't want my students to see me like that.

It really was hard. We only had an hour and a half of school today and probably more faculty than students. I'm grateful someone took a chance on me and that I ended up at the school I did. It was a tough school but I'm a lot stronger as a teacher than I was a year and a half ago. And I've made some good friends.

My next step is I'll be teaching kindergarten for summer school in a nearby district. I'm excited to finally be the teacher and not the sub in someone else's classroom dealing with someone else's class.

I feel like I'm taking a lot of small baby steps toward becoming a teacher. Most people hop out of college and into the classroom. I went from college to daycare to subbing, back to college, then building subbing, then summer school. I sometimes wonder two things about myself:

1. If I'm addicted to school. Almost as far back as I can remember (which is back to preschool), I've been in school and operated on school year time. Other professions work on regular January-December calendar after they're done with school. Teachers operate on the same schedule we were on throughout our years as a student. I wonder if subconsciously I became a teacher because I don't know how to function on a different time schedule. After high school I went right into college, where I was working at the same grocery store for 6 years when I would come home for breaks. I didn't like that job but I knew I was on school year time so I only had to work there for the summer and then I could be out. Would I be able to be a productive member of society if I had to work at a job like that through the whole year like other people do? Then I went to graduate school. I was also subbing which meant, I was still operating on school year time and working a different job in the summer. Then what did I do? The minute I graduated I signed up for another course to teach English as a foreign language. Do I not know how to survive without having homework to do?
2. If I'm avoiding becoming a career teacher. I mentioned above all of the small steps I've taken since being in college. I wonder if all of those smaller steps are me trying to avoid being the full time teacher because I'm afraid. I'm afraid of all of the teacher stuff that happens behind the scenes. All of the stuff that you don't know how to do until you're in it. A lot of my teacher friends have been great with answering all of my questions but you never know what it's like until you do it and I'm scared to death. What if I become a teacher and I fail? I try to keep myself strong and confident though. Sometimes I just get a little down. So what do I do? Decide to fly to another country and teacher there -_-. Whose idea was this 🤣?

This Next One is a Doozy!

One thing I've always wanted to do is travel the world but that's expensive. People always say there are several ways to travel and not break the bank... I have not yet mastered that craft.

I have however stumbled upon a better opportunity.

When I was younger I wanted to study abroad but you have to pay for that and I wasn't footing the bill for my undergad degree so the decisions weren't entirely up to me. Fast forward to now where I'm all finished with my Bachelor's and Master's degrees and I have a bit more freedom.

So here it is....

The big news you've all been waiting for...

I'm excited to announce to the world...

The Teacher With The Fro is going abroad!!!!

I have signed up for a TEFL, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, course through the International TEFL academy. Which I will begin next week, a few days before my birthday and right as the school year is ending so perfect timing. The course will be online and take me about 10 weeks to finish, plus 20 hours of practicum (which means being in a real classroom with students learning English, for my non-teacher readers.) After I finish all of my requirements I will have lifetime access to job guidance through the program and I have already aligned myself with their official facebook groups and talked with people who are living in other countries right now through this program. 

While it did cost me a small fortune, I choose to look at it as an investment in my career, my future, and myself. The program offers over 200 countries so I'm still thinking about which one I want to choose, there are a lot of things to factor in when you up and move your whole life to another country where you don't speak the language and don't know anyone.

But Fro, how do you feel about all of this?!

I'm glad you asked! I'm feeling extremely scared! However I'm also feeling very excited. This is a whole new chapter in my life. I'm young and I don't have any significant ties right now (such as marriage or kids), so this is the time for me to focus on myself. Of course there are people and things here I will miss but this is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I don't want to look back in a couple of decades and wish I had and be full of shoulda, woulda, couldas. I want to see the world and experience different cultures. Who knows, I may not like it and come back, or I may love it and move permanently somewhere else. My current plan is to only sign 6 month contracts so that I can see another country every 6 months for a few years. But like I said, who knows what will happen. All I know for sure is I'll never know unless I try and I'd rather try and fail than wonder what could've been.

This is my shot, and I'm going to take it...

and blog about it so you can all take it with me!

Where Did the Fro Go?!

To answer your question the Fro hasn't gone anywhere. Balthazaar and I have just been very busy the past few months.

December: I took a break from blogging because I was closing in on the end of my final semester of graduate school and it was important to me that nothing else came in the way of my finishing school strong. I did finish my Literacy Master's degree Birth through Grade 6 from The College of Saint Rose🎓. *picks fro* The same weekend my brother finished his Doctoral degree so I actually submitted my final assignment online from a different state so that I could watch my brother walk across the stage since his school had a winter graduation and mine does not. I couldn't be more proud of the two of us!

My family the weekend of my brother and my graduation.

January: Since I have some more free time, now that I don't have to come home and stress about homework every night, I decided to contribute to my school's after school program which is always looking for more teachers. I was feeling apprehensive about jumping in and taking over so I was assigned to work with a co-teacher. She was looking to only teach some days and I was looking to just get my feet wet and learn how things are done in the program. I must say I really lucked out with the teacher I got paired with she's so great to work with. She helps me out with anything I need and was great about showing me the ropes of the program. We alternate teaching days and planning weeks and from how it's been going so far I think everything is going great. It also gives me some experience in planning and in being in charge of my own class even if it is only for a few hours after school.

I also took my final Literacy exam in January. I am still waiting on the results but I felt pretty good about the exam when I left. This is my last exam before I can apply for my initial certification in Literacy. I haven't quite decided what my next step is after that. My family is looking to move, but we can't decide where. Once we figure out where we're going I can see about moving my certifications to another state and figuring out how to count my substitute teaching experience toward my professional certification.

February: I've been using this month to take The Teacher With the Fro to a whole new level. I now have items for sale on my Teachers Pay Teachers account which you can always see in the sidebar. I've set up a Facebook account for The Teacher With the Fro! You can also follow me on instagram!

Thank you all for your support through liking and sharing my pages as well as making purchases!

There's more to come!

Ah The Good Ole Days

The other day I received an email about teachers that were going to Boston and the teachers that were being assigned to cover them... The only problem was these teachers work at a different school than I do. I went to ask my principal if she knew anything about it and she said yes. Apparently there is some professional development going on and because of the amount of teachers they had going to it they were scrambling for subs and my principal was like "cool borrow my building sub!" The only problem is she didn't tell me about this conversation and I wasn't notified that I was going to another school until I got that email. After I asked her about it she asked if I was comfortable with it, at that point I didn't want to be a problem. Honestly I was/am comfortable with it, when our district is in need I want to be a team player and help out any way that I can. I just would've like to have been asked or at least notified as opposed to being loaned out like a piece of furniture.

Anyway....

While I was talking to a teacher about being loaned out another teacher that works at my school and the school I'm on loan to so she knew the teacher I was subbing for. She said the class was good and just had one heavy hitter that they probably would keep home. Fast forward to this morning when I got there. There were no kids in the classroom yet and I was reading through the plans and saw a behavior chart with a students name on it and I immediately flashed back to a year ago, which was the last time I had been in this building, and remember this kindergartner flipping out on me. I had no idea she had any special needs, although at the beginning of the school year in kindergarten it's possible she had not been diagnosed with anything yet. So this adorable little girl, now a first grader who somehow remembers me... came in, went to special, spit on someone flipped out and was sent home before 8:15.

Meanwhile, the kids are in special and this school's building sub decided to come chat me up... clearly not noticing I'm trying to familiarize myself with the math lesson before they get back, I'm sure she was just trying to be nice and I wasn't in a bad mood but for some reason she was just rubbing me the wrong me. Later during lunch she came in again and I mentioned that I was writing an email to the teacher I was in for and she looked at me with this face and said "You have her email address? And why are you emailing her??" Like it was the strangest thing ever and I was like "Since I have a district email it's easier for me to leave a detailed account of the day than to try and write it on a piece of paper and I'm sure the teacher wants to know how the day went, I would if it was my class." And she's like "Not me, if it was my class I wouldn't care, I wasn't there so I don't wanna know." Which to me that was an insane answer, if it was my class I would want to know behaviors of my students while I was away and what work was done so I'd know where to pick up and didn't have to rely on kids because whenever you ask a group of kids something you get 100 different answers. Honestly I've been a building sub for almost a year and she's been one for less than a month and she's question how I do my job? I've never had a teacher be like "thanks for the email, next time a little less detail."

Also...

My biggest surprise came when this huge child came up and gave me a hug, didn't say a word, and walked off. After about 20 minutes of contemplation and trying to figure out where I knew that kid's eyes from I realize, he went to the school I work at last year and let's just say he's not one I'd expect to give me a hug on sight. I feel bad that I just kind of mutter out "hey" when I saw him because I didn't recognize him, I actually was happy to see him and would've been happy to talk to him and ask him how he's adjusting at this school. Maybe tomorrow when I go back I'll see him again. I later saw 2 of my other former students and couldn't immediately place their names. It weird to me that I knew their faces but after only a few months I'd dropped their names from my immediate memory. I also saw one of my former coworkers who I really admire as a teacher, and I got to hang out with a library media teacher I like, but I see her sometimes at my current job.

Lastly...

I was reminded of my favorite thing about working at a school where people don't see me everyday, the compliments. I'm down about my ability to be a teacher sometimes but I'm damn good at it. Other teachers and principals always come up to me and talk about how strong of a teacher I am and how I can keep the kids in line, followed by the "are you going to be applying for a job in the district soon?" It's a huge compliment when someone takes notice of how I can do my job. And the substitute principal came in the room today during a moment when the class was behaving amazingly and I was enthusiastically and confidently modelling the math lesson. He gave me a fist bump.

Wacky Work Week

I'm entering my final week as Lead Teacher... again. My boss' boss was in our facility the other day and tried to convince me to stay on like my boss has been. She tried telling me about how I could be an assistant director or a director. And I mentioned to her that I didn't know if I was qualified to be a director, she says I am. Mind you this is only the first or second time I've met this woman so if she's trying to convince me to stay on and climb the ranks than I can only assume my boss has spoken pretty highly of me.

If there is an opening for a higher position in January I'd like to consider it. Now of course you don't just walk into management and she didn't actually offer me anything so I'm not just assuming I'm going to walk in one day and be the boss. No of course not, I'm not that naive. But after thinking about it a little, I think it'd be better to say "I'm the Director" than to say "I'm the substitute teacher".

Moving On and On and On

Once again I find myself in the midst of a... I don't know if I should necessarily say a career transition because I'm transitioning back to my position as a building substitute at the same school I was working at before. But I just seem to constantly find myself changing jobs. My current job is as lead teacher of a toddler classroom... aka my dream job if it paid more. My boss really wants to keep me on but I refer you back to the "if it paid more" comment.

I love both of my jobs and I find myself searching for a way to keep them both but I can recall a year and a few months ago and working 3 jobs being very overwhelmed. I also recall trying to work and go to grad school, Knowing how that felt and trying to add a second job where I'd basically be doing 12 hour days and then trying to come home and do homework. It doesn't sound good. Plus there are several other factors.

1. I imagine that if I stay on and only work in the afternoon at the daycare, that I couldn't remain lead teacher and keep my classroom or my pay which means I'd be making even LESS than the not enough I'm already making.
2. I'm taking a huge pay cut at my subbing job as well. We lost the grant our school had so we no longer have an extended school day so we are going to be paid less.
3. They've decided to start insuring building subs and I recently lost my old insurance but... that's another chunk of my paycheck.
4. It's my final semester of grad school and I really don't wanna fuck it up.

I also am being considered for covering a maternity leave for a first grade teacher in my school. I'm very excited about the prospect

1. I love that teacher
2. I know most of last year's kindergartners/this year's first graders and I'm excited to be their teacher even for a bit
3. I'm nervous as heck about being in charge again but the experience will prepare me for having my own classroom which is a goal of mine that is quickly approaching.

Teachers aka Improv Artists

For beach week my intended cooking activity was going to be "beach in a cup".

What's beach in a cup you say?

Well I'm glad you asked.

Beach in a cup is when you use blue jello to replicate an ocean in a cup, then crumble some yellow cookies on top to simulate your "beach". To up the cuteness of the craft you can add a piece of fruit roll up to be your beach towel and lay a teddy gram on top as your sunbather. And the pièce de résistance... a small drink umbrella to be your beach umbrella.

Cute right?

Totes, it's adorable. So there's only so much "cooking" you can do with a 10 two-year-olds in a room, all of whom are eager to participate and crowding around the table. Start at the jello, usually something that you do with boiling water. Am I giving two-year-olds boiling water? No. So I let the kids pour the jello mix into the bowl, then take turns pouring cold water in the bowl. After that they took turns stirring the jello. I vigorously stirred it after that, but I just could not get the jello to dissolve enough. I hoped for the best, spooned it into separate cups and put it in the fridge overnight.

Fast forward to the next day.

I checked the jello in the fridge expecting jello but just checking as a formality...

Total. freaking. liquid.

So I'm looking around like... bro -__-

My boss tells me to leave it until nap time and if it hasn't set by then then to freeze it... I'm like if it didn't set overnight it isn't gunna be set in the next 4 hours.

So they put it in the freezer for me.

Here comes the improv

Now my beach in a cup jellos are going to be jello pops with cookies on the side... as if the kids will care.

But fast forward to snack time and the jello isnt all the way frozen yet either!

This jello is causing far too many f#@&ing problems in my life.

So I'm like Hey, I can still save this. Since it's in a slushie state they can eat it with a spoon I can still go with the original plan.

So we crumble the cookies and lay the teddy gram on top and voila.

My point is, teachers think quickly on their feet.

No Pictures Please!

At my new job they're very strict about us not having our cell phones out. Since I've been working in my field I've actually tried hard to abide by the rules and not get into trouble at work, versus when I worked in the grocery store and I didn't give a f..... you know.

A year ago when I started this blog I was taking pictures almost everyday  of the various crafts and projects we did... with my phone. It makes me sad to not be able to show everyone the cute ideas I come up with... or "borrow" from others, and the work that my kiddos do.

I'm going to try to take pictures of our bulletin board at the end of every week if I can but no guarantees. For now I guess we'll have to settle for me describing their beautiful artwork for you.

Turning the Corner

A few weeks ago I started a new job where I'm a Lead Teacher in a toddler classroom again and I am sooooo happy.

I haven't posted in a while because I had a few other things I wanted to post about but didnt because of some personal issues that conflicted with my work and my schooling.

Anyway I'm going to skip those posts or maybe post them later.

I love being a toddler teacher like there is no tomorrow. My kids are the perfect age for me, 2's who are almost 3. They're still little and cuddly but they're old enough to talk and have some self sufficiency.

The small things make me feel like I'm really making a difference. For example, my school does a different theme every week, this week was farmer's market week. I had been trying to teach the children things about the farmer's market. What it is, what we get there, who works there, where the food comes from etc. During snack time we had carrots, I looked at the table and said "Oh we have carrots, where can we buy carrots from?" and one little boy actually said "At the farmer's market!"

My heart filled with joy. It might seem like a small simple thing but to know that they're actually paying attention and I'm teaching them something is literally my entire life's goal.

The Dilemma

I love my new job but I only intended to be their for the summer and then return to substitute teaching. Everyone at my job is really cool and nice and I feel really appreciated there. They constantly tell me what a good job I'm doing and how they wish I would stay passed the summer and I could possibly move up the ranks in time (although that may have just been a playful conversation). But it's a significant pay cut from subbing. I love subbing and I love being a lead teacher. I hate to make a decision based off money but I have bills to pay and I'm trying to save to have a better life. I hate being in a position in my life where all of my jobs and my living situations are temporary. Hopefully after I graduate I can stop hopping around and just stay in one place.

Check In, Chew Out

I'm really excited this week, I have been asked to be a Check In, Check Out person at the school I work at.

I know. I'll explain.

Check In, Check Out is a program in our building where students who are struggling with behavior meet in the morning with an adult in the building (who isn't their teacher), and discuss some personal behavior goals for the day. Their teachers and special teachers give them points for how well they did on that goal during different points in the day (math, science, special, etc.).

The reason I am excited is because I kind of feel honored that my coworker feel that I would be appropriate to work more closely with a student and work on their behavior.

One of the things her teacher and I have recently noticed is she has some oral sensory needs. She is a second grader and she often has her hands in her mouth, is blowing spit bubbles or chewing on things like pencils but really anything she can get her hands on. Her teacher has been giving her gum and straws to chew which has been helping her to focus more on getting work done but those are more temporary solutions. I was looking around pinterest

aka teacher heaven

and found this website. They sell oral sensory items such as chewers that go on the tops of pencils and "chewlery" which are necklaces and bracelets that are made to be chewed on. They even come in different toughness levels for mild, moderate to severe chewers. I'd like to purchase one for her and see how it works.

I hope that I can do a good job as her Check In, Check Out person. I have been informally working with other students in the building on their behavior so it feels good to be trusted to do it more formally.

Dance, Dance!

Check out my symbaloo page for some fun dance brain breaks. I'll keep updating it with what my students like to dance to!

I love to let my kids get up and move after long stretches of work. Keep the juices flowing to the brain!

Brighter Days

There is a little girl in second grade who sometimes lashes out or just shuts down when she doesn't get her way. The kids at my school are given free breakfast everyday so while she was eating her breakfast the teacher noticed she was also eating other food that was intended for snack later in the day. She went over to her and asked her to put the extra food away for snack later and she flipped out. She clutched the food to her chest and said someone on the bus told her she could eat it for breakfast. (She said a name but I don't know if she was referring to an adult or a child or even an imaginary friend who knows??). Anyway the teacher had to move on to teaching the class. We ignored this student for a while, then she sat under a table nibbling the food and still clutching it. I tried to intervene to no avail. I later tried again. I've been working on the way that I address negative behavior and instead of getting angry and making threats to send them to the principal or the AP or lunch detention or whatever, I'm trying to turn a negative into a positive (I've been doing yoga). So I got down to her level and in a calm quiet voice I asked her to tell me what she was upset about. She repeated the story about someone on the bus telling her she could eat the food for breakfast. I reminded her that 'whoever' may have said that but at school her teacher is in charge and she had the choice to either throw her food away or put it away for snack. I reminded her that she could show me that she is ready for third grade and be a leader and make a better decision. She stayed stubborn for about another minute but then got up and let me help her clean up her snack and throw away her breakfast garbage. The main reason I'm telling this story is because later she held her hand out to me and I didn't know what she was doing. She said "It's a high five" I said ok and high fived her then she said "It's to thank you for helping me." My heart filled up with pride and joy in her and myself. For a child to let someone help them when they're upset and then acknowledge them for helping them overcome that challenge? That's a huge accomplishment for her as a person and me as a teacher.

What I Like About You

When I was applying to college a few years ago you know how they ask you about your whole life and your extracurricular activities. At the time I felt like I had a hard time coming up with a lot of things but being back around children who are involved in activities and discovering their talents reminds me of all of the things I have done in my life when I was younger and talents I have explored.

• I used to double dutch
• I used to be an awesome hula hooper
• I was involved in African dancing
• I used to be in chorus (but I knew I could not sing and left eventually)
• I was in band from 4th grade through high school graduation (the flute is my first love) I accomplished a lot with the flute because I was good at it and loved it but unfortunately since I didn't want to make it my career I didn't have time for it after high school
• I played the piano since 7th grade and it is absolutely my second love, the same situation happened with me not playing after high school, well I guess that's not 100% true. I may have let it slip at my job that I play and I've been asked to play the chorus accompaniment for my kiddies at the school I work at, Also I have a song I used to play for NYSSMA tattoo'd around my leg so yea... there's that
• I was on the step team in high school. Loved it

My point is being a teacher can make one be reflective in many ways. :)