One of Those Days

Today was one of those days. You know the days that you feel rotten from the moment you get up in the morning and nothing goes right and you end up crying in the bathroom in the middle of the day? (Or is that just me???) I felt like I was getting on to my kids all day long and they weren't learning anything from me. I had this thought that scared me a lot: maybe I'm not meant to do this. I think this thought pops up for most people from time to time (regardless of your career) and don't worry, I'm not quitting. But it's just scary to go through five years and two degrees and then dive into the middle of the career you chose and feel like you're drowning.

I'm going to get some sleep and some perspective and I know that tomorrow will be better. Today's bright spot came from my TLC (who is like a mentor throughout institute). It was corps member appreciation day and she had one of these made for each of us:

It's a 2 sided frame with one of my students on the left (with a blue face for privacy reasons!)
and our motto on the right. It says "I love Ms. Douberly when she teaches us hard math!"

This, along with a really sweet email from the parent of one of my fourth grader's that I printed out and a painting that the student mailed me at Institute really helped me refocus.

This email really touched me.
You have no idea how a small comment or gesture can impact someone!

I have an "inspiration box" at home that is chock-full of drawings, letters, emails, cards, messages from supervisors, etc. that are encouraging and loving. One of our professors encouraged us to make an inspiration box for days like this. She also guaranteed there would be days like this, so at least that's encouraging. I just wish I had that box now! These will hold me over for now =]

A Spirit of Justice

Well, I made it! I'm in Memphis now and have already finished two full days of Institute! I had a really good drive here with all good weather and no car trouble. I also got really into the new Jodi Picoult book I downloaded on Audible and am now wishing I had it in book form so I can see what happens next!

You're the only TEN I SEE [wink wink]

Sunday was dominated by driving from Atlanta to the University of Memphis and then moving alllllll my junk up to my dorm and unpacking. Lets just say I don't pack light ;) Then dinner downstairs and an early bedtime. Yesterday, though, we heard some really great talks from our executive director and then from some Memphis experts! The opening talk was so inspiring as it focused on the spirit of social justice. Our director talked about how as a teacher in an inner-city school, you stare injustice in the face every day. One of my favorite quotes from a speaker was "I'm a teacher because I'm an activist" and that we need to be relentless as we answer this lifelong calling, regardless of if that means in the classroom as a teacher or doing something else.

My new home =]

That's when it dawned on me that TFA is so much more than teaching, it is answering the call to social justice that I have had since my time in Gainesville. This is such a passion for me and I consider myself lucky to be answering it through doing something I love to do- teach.

University of Memphis Tigers
Ain't nothin' like a Gator though...

So yesterday and today were long days- breakfast at 7am and then coming back to my dorm around 8pm. BUT, I've gotten to hear some really inspirational people, meet my small group of 10, go visit the area of Memphis I'm teaching next year (and this summer), talk with some people in the community about what they want to see in their children's teachers, and learn more about what I've signed up for. I'm optimistic and excited to see what happens over the next seven weeks!

PS: today was the last day of school for my babies and I already miss them terribly =[ HOWEVER, I am very much enjoying the "fan mail" I've received since giving out my email address! Shout out to St. Johns county kids enjoying the beginning of summer!

A Word About Discipline

Hi friends =] So I've been teaching all day since last Monday and oh my goodness, it is exhausting. I feel like I'm juggling five chainsaws all day long. I have ACTUALLY FORGOTTEN TO EAT. If you know me, you know that is very unusual. I usually plan my day around when I get to eat- true story.

One of the biggest things I've noticed is about discipline and behavior management. It's pretty easy to keep 22 kids in line for an hour long lesson every once in awhile, but having them all day is a whole 'nother story! The "Spring Fever" they've got doesn't help matters, either.

A couple of my boys were having trouble controlling themselves and were unfocused and giggly during lessons. I love these kids and KNOW they want to behave for me, they just need help refocusing. So I talked with the student having the most difficulty and since he and I bonded very quickly over Gator football, I came up with a little idea. Since Tim Tebow is such a fantastic leader and makes constant good choices, we called good leadership or good focus moments "Tebow Moments". Whenever I catch this student doing a great job, I just walk by and softly say "Tebow Moment". He absolutely loves it!

Today, he had a really great day and was so so proud of his "Tebow Day". I'm just glad that he's using his leadership abilities for good! Thanks for the inspiration, Tim ;)

Love is in the Air

Happy Valentine's Day, friends! I love love love celebrating holidays with my babies. They are always so excited about every little thing that we "adults" often overlook. It's so fun to dress up and do holiday themed activities and then [drumroll] EXCHANGE VALENTINES AND EAT CANDY!!! If I had a nickel for every time today someone said "When are we gonna do valentines??" I would be able to afford a treadmill to burn off all the chocolate they gave me. See?

My collection of chocolate- so spoiled!

Tulips! They just took over our desk! 

Each of the students brought in decorated shoeboxes and had a BLAST walking around the room and passing out their valentines. Then they spent another half hour reading every last note (and sampling the treats). One of the boys made homemade cards with personal messages to every child. It was so stinkin' sweet I about died.

So what did the kids get from me? Funny you should ask! I found a fantastic blog post through Pinterest about candy-free valentines and gave them glow-stick bracelets! It led me to this blog, which had printables already set up for you. All I had to do was buy glow-stick bracelets (15 for $1 at Target!) and cardstock to print out my valentines. Then I cut them up and signed each one. Boom! Quick and cheap, but my kiddos loved them!! 

Love how easy this is 

I "accidently" snapped like 6 glow-sticks while attaching the bracelet connectors.
Party time in the living room!

Done!

Confession: This was just me practicing how to use my timer on my new camera.
Good news: it works!

So that was my Valentine's Day! After seminar with my supervisor and fellow interns, I'm changing into sweatpants and ordering chinese with my momma while we watch girly tv. This is how Valentine's Day SHOULD be, ladies and gentlemen.

I Spend My Day with Nine-Year-Olds

Ok, to be fair, some of them are ten ;) But seriously, I spend my day with nine-year-olds and they say the best things! I just wanted to take a minute and share a couple things I've heard this week (and it's only Tuesday!)

Today, one of my girls was showing me the back of her book, which was an informational book about some famous person. It was listing other books in the series and she said, "Ms. Douberly, who's N-S-Y-N-C?" and I said "NYSNC??" and she was like "Uh ya. Who's that?" I just died a little inside. Then I said "Well, do you know Justin Timberlake? It was a boy band with him when I was your age." But you guys. It was so sad. Not ONE child in the vicinity knew who NYSNC was. Like didn't even recognize the name as something. Sad day.

Sorry I let you down, fellas

Then on a sweet note, the kids were reading about inherited traits yesterday and one of my boys got really excited and said "Ms. Douberly, did you know that if you have one parent that's African-American and one that's Caucasian, you get to kinda look like both?!" Haha I just said "Yup" and he was clearly disappointed at my lack of enthusiasm because he continued "I mean, you get BOTH. You get traits of BOTH races. Isn't that cool??" It really is fun to see them learn things that most people already know and be so excited about it. You forget sometimes how little they are and then they remind you. Also, this led to a conversation on Mariah Carey. I'm reppin' 90s pop this week apparently.

He only recognized her from American Idol. *facepalm*

Finally, today we were messing with the SmartBoard after we hadn't used it in awhile. The kids came in as we were playing with some programs and were curious if we were gonna use it this week. I said we might and one of my boys goes "Well it could definitely lead to some exciting learning opportunities!" Careful, your gifted is showing ;) I love them!

Hope your week has been as fun as mine's been! Also, my Gator's are playing my mentor teacher's Wildcats tonight, so here's hoping I get bragging rights tomorrow! Go Gata!

Teacher Humor

Wow, it's February! Which means we're bustin out the heart patterned tablecloths and getting ready for Valentines Day and FCAT Writes. They're both outlined on my calendar with a big heart. Just kidding. Kinda. Anyways, instead of going to a super bowl party (not gonna apologize for being lame), I'll be staying in and quilting tonight and wanted to share a little teacher humor with you, seeing as how we're all so test crazy right now!

As I hope most of you realize, teaching is hard. It's exhausting and teachers don't get enough credit for everything they put up with. Which is why it's important to have a good sense of humor! This post is dedicated to a handful of websites that make me laugh really hard when I have bad days. Hope they make you laugh too! =]

Fake it till ya make it baby

Remember that "Hey Girl" tumblr for Ryan Gosling-loving-feminists? Well this is for Ryan Gosling-loving-teachers. It's basically what every teacher wants to hear with a picture of a cute guy. I mean if that's not motivation, I don't know what is.

So great. The Gos just gets me, ya know?

I found this through one of the girls in my cohort (shout-out to cohort 76!) and it's a webseries about teachers. It's hilarious. I watched all 14 episodes in one sitting and they. totally. nailed. it. Here's my favorite:


"Just because you leave a shoe at his apartment doesn't mean you can show up whenever you want"

I've talked about it before, but New Girl is my JAM. I wish Jess (Zooey Deschanel) was still a school teacher, but there's still plenty of quality teacher jokes and the whole show just kills me. Between that and The Mindy Project, I feel like my life is adequately represented in sitcom form.

Don't forget Pinterest for teacher humor galore.

Silence means someone's feeling guilty...

Remember to laugh today!

Flying Solo (and other adventures)

Hello everybody! Hope you've had a great week so far, I sure have! I got a great compliment yesterday that every morning I have a big smile on my face and am super cheerful. That was really nice to hear because I love the environment at my school and it felt good to hear that I help add to it! Snaps for loving where you work =]

Today was a big day for us- the 100th day of school! Can you BELIEVE it?! It was so cute, all the kinders and firsties dressed up as 100 year olds, so there were tiny old people all over the school today in their little bow ties and hair curlers. PRECIOUS!

Yesterday, though, was an big day for ME, as my mentor teacher had to call in with a migraine and I was flying solo! I've taught for half a day alone before and I've taught with a sub for a whole day, but this was my first full day all on my own. Oh baby. But let me tell you, it went so well!!

I had already planned a math lesson for the day so CHECK got that covered! We did a review of equivalent fractions and how to reduce. Then, we played Bingo! Each of the bingo cards had a fraction like 5/15 and then I called out the reduced fraction, like 1/3. You could have heard a pin drop in that room, the kids were focusing so hard. No complaints here ;)

I found it here

Then we did some expository writing to a prompt (a post on that later haha), some FCAT reading practice, some vocabulary, and some work on the computer. Just a basic day, but I was all alone. So weird!

In job-related news, I've been working on all my TFA: Memphis requirements lately. Some things were small, like sending in a picture, joining the social network stuff, listening in to a webinar, and taking some surveys. Yesterday, though, I spent the whole afternoon updating my resume and applying to KIPP: Memphis and TeachMemphis to find out where I'll actually be teaching next year! Basically, you apply now and then interview during Institute over the summer for your actual placement. I was really excited to see that they want us to apply to KIPP, though. I still remember watching a video in my first ProTeach class about the charter school and being in awe. The idea of being a teacher there is crazy to me! Here's a little snippet about the school:



Ok, be honest, did you cry? I'm not that emotional of a person (hah!) but the kids at the end saying "I'm going to college" just made me lose it. So that's what's been going on with me! Still lots of unknowns about next year, but isn't it kinda exciting not knowing what's gonna happen next??

I'm Baaaaaaack

Please tell me you read the title of this post in a sing-song voice. Because that's the way it was intended ;) Well world, I'm back! Did ya miss me? You did? Aw shucks. Well a LOT has happened in the last month. We had our two week winter break (hooray!), celebrated Christmas and New Years (double hooray!), I turned 23 (what?) and I accepted an offer to teach in Memphis for the next two years with Teach For America (hooray!). So, like I said, A LOT HAPPENED. And I'm not even mentioning Les Miserables coming out, which was, um, life changing. Picture tiiiiiiime (also in sing-song voice)

Jess, Matt, me and my mom on Christmas Eve

My dad, Matt, Jess and me on Christmas Day
(notice I'm always shoved in the front)

Sweet puppies! Sabre and Sadie on Christmas

This pretty much sums up my Christmas- lots of family time and puppy time =] And then it was Les Mis time. If you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT.

The key is to see it with people equally obsessed ;)

Then came my birthday, which I celebrated multiple days in a row with multiple groups of people. It's birthmonth, people, I do what I want. When we went back to school, I had a surprise for me! A giant chocolate cake and 22 precious handmade birthday cards. They are SO sweet and remind why I do what I do. Also, those kids gorged themselves on cake like they'd never seen chocolate before in their lives. It was terrifying.

If you can't read it, the top right card says:
Dear Ms. Douberly, First of all you are the best intern ever. You are very nice and kindhearted. I hope you had a great birthday with lots of cake. Have a marvelous school year. PS: Boo Gators!

And the sweet child's hope came true. I had a great birthday with lots of cake. THEN, I came home and found out I was accepted to TFA: Memphis to teach elementary school! What a whirlwind.

Eeeeeek!

After thinking about it a lot (Atlanta was the only city I imagined being accepted to), praying a lot, and talking with friends that live in Memphis and TFA staff people, I decided to take the leap! A verse that came to mind and really encouraged me was Deuteronomy 31:8 "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." A guaranteed job, the TFA network, perks of Americorps, and a built-in community in a brand new city sound very appealing as a new teacher! I'm so excited to start this new adventure in my life =] I'll be going up there for Induction and Institute (training) at the beginning of June and I'll have my own classroom this fall.

Ok so now you're updated. Haha hope your last month has been as wonderful as mine's been! Enjoy your long weekend =]

Election Day 2012

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep this weekend- I know I did! It really threw me off this morning, though, because I kept thinking I was late with the sun being up already. No complaints here, though!

So for all of you who have been living under a rock, tomorrow is Election Day 2012. It's such a great opportunity to teach our students about democracy and how an election works and we have been doing some fun things building up to tomorrow. One really great website we've been using is actually a website made by a school. Check it out! They have a lot of really great resources and we used the quiz as a fill in the blank for the kids to do while we went through the powerpoint of how a president is elected.

Pop quiz: who are these men?

I also liked the link they had to the Scholastic website about the election. They have so many activities and lots of information! This would be a great thing for the kids to explore.

Can you SEE the potential?!

We talked a lot about the electoral college. This website is EXCELLENT to look back at previous elections. You can see all the way back to 1789- ha! It's neat though to see how close each election was. We also gave each student a couple of electoral college maps to color in for what the polls are saying now and one to color in Tuesday night as the votes roll in! I'm going to join in the fun ;)

This website is too much fun to play with!

It's so demanding: COLOR ME IN!!

Finally, a great activity to integrate reading has been doing research on the candidates. We gave each student a one page biography on President Obama and a one page biography on Governor Romney. The kids had to read each and highlight examples of the 7 Habits (being proactive, thinking win-win, putting first things first, etc) that show leadership. Don't you just love integrating subjects?!

We will be wearing red, white, and blue and anxiously awaiting the results tomorrow! I will also be showing off my "I Voted" sticker (hooray for early voting) and hope you'll do the same!! Happy Election Day, friends =]

It's the Little Things

Ever have one of those days where everything strikes you as funny?? Today was one of those days and my sweet little fourth graders and I were laughing all day! Here are some fun anecdotes to get you laughing too:

I was at recess and a student needed to go inside for something. As we were walking in, we passed a group of four girls standing in a circle. Each of them held a lizard in one hand and had their other hand up in a pledge as they said (in unison!):

"As a member of the Lizard Club, I solemnly swear to never speak of this to any living being."

After we walked by, I just said "Hmm" and my sweet student said with a completely straight face, "Well that was disturbing!" haha I love how honest they are this age! We had the giggles for a bit after that! I'm gonna keep an eye on the growing coven happening on the playground though, don't you worry.

Run lizards, run for your lives.

This week was Red Ribbon Week at our school, in celebration of being drug-free. Do you remember doing this every year in elementary school?? Well today we all wore red and one of the students on the afternoon announcements told us why:

"Everyone wore red today to remember to celebrate a life of free drugs" Wait, what?? Free drugs? THAT'S what red ribbon week is all about?? 

Or is he happy he has free drugs??

Haha I got a kick out of that one, but it went WOOSH right over the kids' heads.

So that was my funny day. Hope your day was just as fun!!

Back in the Classroom

People. I'm back in the classroom. I'm waking up at 6 again. Woohoo! Believe it or not, it's actually really nice to be back in an energetic classroom full of life and positivity and watch kids try and succeed.

To recap the week, I went to my new school Tuesday afternoon to meet with my supervisor, mentor teacher, and principal and I just loved getting to talk about new ideas and how they are applying them to the school. They have a big focus on research and being a reflective teacher. I went home with a stack of books and the challenge to start reading!

Starting with Love & Logic! More on that soon...

I started Wednesday and spent the last three days watching my fantastic mentor teacher, getting to know my sweet kids, and chatting with my friendly coworkers (including another intern next door!) Some of the highlights this week include:

• Watching the kids write their own reader's theater for the Greek story of Demeter and Persephone and then act it out
• Doing the Cupid Shuffle to "get the wiggles out"
• Being asked every Gator question imaginable: Do you know any Gator athletes? Have you met Albert and Alberta? Are you going to the LSU game? 
• Receiving homemade "welcome to the classroom" cards 
• Answering questions about math during recess because they were so curious about it

How super sweet is this?

To sum it up: I'm in love. Also, bookmark this new page. Cus' now we're snapping for fourth grade!! Keep up people! Time's flying!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

When I posted on Monday, I thought I would be back in the classroom by Wednesday, tops. Well, it is now Thursday night and I will not be seeing the inside of a classroom until Monday at best. While many of you would be jumping for a week off (and don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed the down time), I have spent the week checking my email every five minutes, doing course work that isn't due for weeks, explaining to my professor why I won't be able to post about trying something new this week, and racking my brain thinking about what I should have done different in my last placement and questioning whether I did the right thing in leaving early.

Well, after worrying and worrying, I finally came to my senses and went to the Lord with it. I did a little quiet time and scripture reading and, hey, what do you know, look what just happens to be one of the verses I read:

"I wait for The Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for The Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning" - Psalm 130:5-6

A verse about waiting. And of course, once I finally gave all the control over to God and stopped worrying, I woke up to an email saying that a school in Ponte Vedra will take me for the semester, maybe the year =]  They want to put me in 4th grade Gifted, which I'm very excited about! One reason my supervisor thought my last placement wasn't a good fit was because she thought I'd do better in upper elementary, so boom, let's do it. May have to rename the blog..... I'll keep ya updated ;]

Changes/An Ode to Morning Meeting

I've been slacking! I'm sorry it's been almost two weeks since my last post, but things have been crazy lately! To start with, I have some news: Thursday was my last day with my mentor teacher at my previous school. From the beginning of the semester, it was clear that we had very different styles, but I met with my UF supervisor and had her come to the classroom and observe. We talked about it and it was decided that (with such different styles), I would benefit from being in a different classroom, possibly in a higher grade. This was a difficult decision to make, especially since I'm only 5 weeks into the school year. Right now, I'm still waiting to hear where I'll be next. I'm hoping St. Johns county will have another placement for me, but you never know. As soon as I know where I'll be, I'll share it here!


Onto more fun things! Before I left, I got to try doing a morning meeting with my students two days in a row. For those unfamiliar with morning meeting, it's basically composed of 4 things: a greeting, share time, a game, and news/announcements. They're done every morning (hence the name morning meeting) and usually last 20-30 minutes. It's such a great way to build classroom community and teach vital social skills!

In our classroom meeting, we started with a simple greeting. Everyone stood in a circle and the first person walked up to someone else and said "Good morning, [name]", then the person responded "Good morning, [name]", then they high fived and switched places and the first person sat down. The second person then approached someone else and repeated the process. They kept going until everyone was sitting and everyone had been greeted. We focused on eye contact, appropriate distance from someone, and speaking at the right volume. Some things have to be taught!

We did a quick-share next, with each student getting 10 seconds to share something. On Monday, they shared what they did over the weekend and on Tuesday, they said what their favorite place to go was and why. I counted down 10 seconds on my fingers and when I got to 0, that person was done! Even my quiet kids had something to say and the kids had a chance to share with me, which is hard to find time for during a busy day.

Then, I went through the daily schedule and what we were doing in each subject, as well as which special they were going to (art, music, etc.) and any other updates they needed to know.

Finally, we did a fun activity: a listening activity with a coloring worksheet. I only said the instructions 3 times and they were things like "Color three leaves green and two brown". The activity can be education or just plain fun. Ours was a mix. This wrapped up the morning meeting and we got on with our day!

Overall, I noticed my kids had such great attitudes. They loved getting to share with me and each other, and they loved greeting each other. I heard less questions throughout the day about the schedule and they kept asking if they could do this every morning. I would definitely try to fit a morning meeting into your schedule if possible!! What do you think? Do you do a morning meeting?

Patriot's Day

As all of you know, today is September 11th. For all of us "adults" (I use the term loosely) that date will never have the same meaning as it did before 2001, but for the 7 and 8 year olds in my class, it's just another day. They were still years from being born on that tragic day and they don't have "I remember where I was..." stories to tell. The issue for today was: How do we address the importance of the day without scaring the children or oversharing beyond what parents find appropriate. What was even more difficult was the fact that none of the other second grade teachers were doing anything special for the day and my mentor teacher was out of town to greet her son-in-law returning from Afghanistan! So after some searching, I found a nice idea that was simple, but to the point. We made cards for police officers and firefighters thanking them for their service!

The kids came in with this prompt on the board:
     Good Morning! Today is September 11th, Patriot's Day. Please make a card for a police officer or a firefighter thanking them for keeping us safe.

They could choose a piece of red, white, or blue construction paper and use their crayons. I also had a list of words on the board for spelling reasons and to give kids an idea of what to write:

• Thank you
• Brave
• Protecting
• People
• Courage
• Hero

Some of the cards were really sweet! Here's one to a police officer:

"America need's you officer's"

Notice she drew ALL 50 STARS on that American flag. Dedication right there.

"thank you for all the things you do to protect us"

You can tell she worked hard on getting it just right! Here's one for a firefighter:

"Thank you" with a crown? and some stars

"Dear firerfiter's. You are the best. Do you now about the fire by the animel shelter?" And then a place for an answer, of course. I had to warn her that she may not get an answer...

So now I have the issue of how to give these heartwarming cards to police officers and firefighters... I may give the police ones to my dad (a police officer in Jacksonville) to give to rookies, and then swing by a fire station to drop off the firefighter ones. Any better ideas??

So that's how we remembered the victims of 9/11: celebrating the heros of our nation. I wish I had more time to plan a lesson, because I'm thinking of so much more stuff I could have done. But that's a start! How did your school remember today?