Goodbye, Blogger!!! If you are interested in following me, please send an email to (removed) I will forward you the new link. . . . if I think I don't know you! LOL.

It's getting hot in here .. . .

I am furious with Miss CF. She gave my blog address to her mother. HER MOTHER! I’ve told her several times this blog is supposed to be anonymous. Her innocent response, “well, you put it on the internet for the whole world to see?” I explained to her that my readers don’t know me, they sure can’t TELL on me! They don’t know where I live or where I work. She said, “But it’s on the net.” We will never agree on this; my blog is private. She was one of the only real life people who knows who I am. Where I am. Before she told her mother, I’d never seen a hit on my sitemeter from my “urban city.” Some folks even thought I was from New York. Now, I’ve seen four or five hits. I’m furious! Miss CF, this is NOT stuff you can share with your mother. Now, Mrs. CF, if you are reading this you know who Miss CF is in real life. You can fuss at her for all of the crazy things she's said. I’m boiling over this one. I might have to get a new blog and this time, NO one in real life will know that I’m writing it.. I don’t like “being discovered.”

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On the other end of blogging, Joel helped me with the graphic. I'm still trying to make it work in blogger . . .It's soooo me.. . Everyone give Joel a virtual pat on the back for helping me! He's AWESOME . . .and ladies, HE'S SINGLE!

TT #5: Sincere Apologies with Comments

I want to apologize to all of you for my delay in blogging (reading and comment on your stuff) this week I realized I was very behind when my bloglines reflected that I had 61 posts to read. I guess I’ve been enjoying my vacation and I haven’t posted as many comments as I normally do and I haven’t responded to many of you who have commented on my blog. So, here are my apologies & responses in one big swoop. (After writing it I realized, it is also a shameless post of blogs I LOVE to read. I guess I'm hoping that you will discover them & enjoy them as much as I do!)

Responses and thoughts that should havegone out a LONG time ago. To Everone. Thank you to EVERY ONE who gave me well wishes on my Blogiversary. It made me feel good. I’m glad that you are enjoying my site. To School Teacher. Thank you for starting another important dialogue with your blog post on the Supreme Court recent decision. I try not to engage in political discussions on this blog, but I do talk about race. But something about this teacher’s post on the supreme court's ruling struck a cord with me. I have left a LONG response. Engage in this dialogue. It is SO very worth it! I think it will help everyone think about where we are at in this country. To Frum Teacher--Thank you showing me that a lot of things are universal in teaching. I didn’t realize that the educators in Europe experience the same things we do. P.S. Take one thing at a time—don’t make too many goals b/c you want to be successful at something. Classroom management was something I struggled a lot with my first year. So that’s all I concentrated on my 2nd year, I don’t think it was a bad trade off. To Frum Teacher--part 2. The US is a good example of a democracy, but unfortunately there are still racial tensions from 200 years of slavery and 50 years of Jim Crow. It is not all over the country, I personally believe that exists mostly in the South. I think the reason is still here is the economic/class disparity among folks living in the South. Please don’t stop teaching about what a great democracy we have here, it is just that we still have things we need to work on To Mrs. BlueBird. Thank you for the recommendation on Zike’s book. I tried to get it locally but didn’t find it at the teacher supply store. I will be ordering one or two of her things. I think this will help with my essay writing. I could have them write paragraphs from these things. I saw some samples of foldables at other websites—this a great strategy I’ll be incorporating this year. YOU ROCK!!!! To Betsy. Thank You, you gave me so much information! I went to the resource center at the local university and found a book about writing research papers that 11th graders in our district use. The problem I think that will be an issue is simple paragraph writing. I’ve got to start from there. I’m worried about it. But I’m going to keep looking. I remembered reading Native Son when I was in high school and I remembered how much I loved it. When I looked at in the bookstore, I was thinking about using the abridged version. I don’t know that they will give me access to my students reading scores. If they do, I will have to look them up individually, they are not kept in any type of computer system where teachers can just have access to them. I never thought much about short stories. GREAT IDEA. Now, I’ve got to get to library to find some. I might do that instead of Native Son. To Betsy part 2. I hate our district’s motto, (I can’t put it on here, b/c if I did everyone would know where I worked). We are supposed to being our kids a college prep education. The idea is that the education we give them should prepare all students for college whether they want to go or not. I like that every student is "supposed" to be getting a great education, but I hate that we don’t promote other alternatives. Not everyone is college material. However, it is all we seem to talk about. And you can get a decent / good job with vocational schools. My hair stylist makes more money than I do. To Eric—Thanks for pushing me in a new blogging direction. A friend helped me come up with that title. I was telling her that blogging is like therapy. . .and that I was playing with Therapy for A Third Year Teacher. And I guess, in her mind, she saw me laying on someone’s couch. . . lol, telling all my business. Although, I’m giving you a hard time, I’m glad that I’m moving up in the teaching world. LOL. To Bethany—I’m soooo sorry I didn’t get to read your post b/c you lost it. I have gotten to the point where I type most of my stuff in word and then cut and paste it. Do you have a blog? I would love to add it to the list of ones I read daily. To Joel--Thanks for keeping me company on aim from time to time. I think that you are organization king. I've learned a few things that will help keep my desk from looking like "who did it and what for" in the next academic year. To City Teacher and Third Grade Teacher--Teachers hoard stuff b/c we like stuff. We are afraid that we won't get anymore of whatever it is. Or, we might use it again. Or, if we throw it away, we might have to buy a new one. We like stuff--Plain and Simple. To Leesepea--Thank you for reminding me how blessed I am. Your AC situation definitely makes me appreciate that my thermostat is set at 68. To America. I am not the most patriotic person, as you will see below. But A Belated Happy Independence Day to you. I Am 52% American Most times I am proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes me cringe Still, I know there's no place better suited to be my home. I love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from me! How American Are You? Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Thirteen Favorite Movies by Eric 2. Thirteen Places In America I Have Been To by Toni (Leave your link in the comments & I'll post it here) Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

One year ago, today . . . .

I started this blog with the intention of keeping track of my second year of teaching. As I reflect, I started off strong. However, as the school year started, I sort of forgot about this blog. What changed for me was a fellow teacher told me that she found this blog encouraging. I began to post more often with her encouragement. As a result, I found a network of blogging teachers who encouraged, empathized and offered solutions to this novice teacher. This blog and the “friends” I met online have changed my teaching life. Your comments, lesson ideas, suggestions have changed the way that I look at teaching. Teaching is a calling; it is transforming; it is what I do. Thank you for staying and sharing with me. Cheers, to all of you!!!

My Blogiversary Present: I am unveiling my new blog title (Its your fault, Eric)

deleted after I was outed.

Note:
The URL will not change. I may eventually go there, but I don't want to confuse people.

Is this what relaxing is about?

On Tuesday, I . . . .

• Went to school and accomplished nothing. I tried but discouragement set in after only 10 minutes.


• Visited with Miss CF. As I shared my thoughts with her on incentives for successful teachers, she said I was sounding more like a Republican everyday. I’m still not converting! LOL.


• Visited several books stores and teacher stores looking for books on manipulatives. Figured out I’m going to have order what I want online and that stinks b/c it means I have to wait.


• Went the post office, only to find the line hanging out the door. All I could do was get back in my car.


• Took a nap until 8:30 pm which is why I am up at 3:30.


• Went to get a veggie burger from fast food. Decided to order onion rings. Bad idea. Apparently, since I’ve decided to go meatless, I’ve lowered the amount of fat in my diet. I couldn’t eat more than two. Those two little onion rings have spelled disaster for my digestive system. If this is what it will feel like when I start eating meat again, I don’t want it. It’s painful and somewhat disgusting. So now I’m sitting here thinking, I’m really not going to miss all that much this 4th. BTW, Miss CF, did you think I’d last this long? I've surprised you! I refused to give up chocolate. . . You're asking for too much.


• Oh, and Happy Blogiversary to me! I started this blog ONE YEAR AGO, today. I’ll think about a special post for later today.

Gearing Up For Year 3: Goal/Objective Setting

Today I started actively planning and thinking about my Third Year teaching high school. This time last year, I procrastinated, but I was constantly thinking about what I would do differently. For Year Two, I was focused on classroom management. This gives you an idea of what my first year was like. Year One: I “wrote up” at least 3 students EVERY WEEK. It was terrible. The kids were terrible and they knew it. I was awful, too. Therefore, last summer I concentrated on classroom management and discipline. Classroom management & discipline was great for Year Two.

This year (Y3) my focus is on content and teaching strategies. Following the pattern of Frumteacher, I started with setting my goals. As I talked with TeamTeacher this morning, I outlined some of my major goals for this year (World History, mainly):

• Including literacy component to my World History. This means that we are going to try and read several books this year. She set a limit of 3. I would love to do four, so that I can include something from Black History. Right off, I know we will read Escape From Slavery by Francis Bok. We are looking at reading an account of the Holocaust—I picked The Hiding Place. I’m looking for a 3rd Book, I think I would like a fiction book that deals with Islam, possibly Islam and women. . . Any suggestions, all you readers out there?

• Increasing the writing skills of my students. If our district’s motto is to prepare our students for college, as I explained to Team Teacher, we MUST start working with their writing skills before the tenth grade. I want them to be able to write at least a 2 page essay by the end of the year. The problem is our 9th grade English teachers DO NOT focus on this. They do in the honors classes, but not in regular. So, our dilemma/debate/issue is that we have to teach them how to write this type of paper. As we discussed this, we honestly DO NOT know how to this. Again, I am coming to all of my faithful readers, writers & ENGLISH TEACHERS: Is there as website or resource we could use so that we give our children basic instruction on essay writing for our classes? These should be brief lessons. Like 5 or 10 minute lessons, which we could build on weekly AND by the end of the year they should be able to write their own essays.

• I am also looking for strategies/lesson ideas in which the kids get to use their hands more often. My games are always successful in reiterating what we have taught. The kids get to move, chat with each other and usually end up moving their hands. It is rowdy, but it works. I’d like to find more activities (independent or pairs) that cause the children to use their hands or bodies that would help them with retention and comprehension. I want to decrease the amount of time that I spend lecturing. I won’t eliminate it b/c in history it’s just necessary, especially with a mixture of reading levels and abilities in the classroom.

• Finally, I would focus on connecting the present with the past. I want my students to see the relevance of the major events we talk about. I would like them to see how it affects them now. Honestly, I really don’t think that I will get to this in Year 3. But it is a goal.

For African American history the goals are different.

• I will also include a literacy component. We are going to read Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and Native Son by Richard Wright


• They, too, will do A LOT of writing. I won't teach it b/c the class is for 10-12 grade students.

Because its only a semester long class, I can't go beyond this in my planning. But we are definitely looking at race, ethnicity and identity. It will be a challenging year.