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Showing posts from September, 2016

pray. - Yellowstone Part Two: Weightless

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It has been awhile since I blogged about our Yellowstone trip from June. The first blog only covered our first day! So, I thought it was about time to share day two of the trip, because it was magical. Geysers were the theme of day two. Our first stop was Artists Paint Pots. It's a short walk on an easy, flat trail. Once you get to the Artist Paintpots, it's crystal clear how it got it's name. It's just geyser after geyser of brilliant color. In my mind, I envisioned God dipping his paintbrush into the "paint pots" and creating all the beauty we were surrounded by. Pictures and words cannot describe the scene. It was our first geyser experience, and it was breathtaking. The mud pots here were also very cool. They looked like a soothing hot tub of clay but smelled like a deadly fart.  On our walk back to the car, we met a family of three. They were admiring the silhouette of the mountains in North Yellowstone. From the trail was a perfect view of Mt. Washbu

pray. - Creativity Workshop: Hobby, Job, Career, Vocation

Write down all the things you do on a daily basis.  Weekdays Teach, teach, teach Exercise Spend time with Matt and our dogs Go to dinner with friends/spend time with friends Read Write Take online behavior classes Write resumes Weekends Long run Saturdays/Races Clean Hike Weekend trips whenever possible Read Write Yard work Eat Go to the farmers market & out to breakfast House improvement projects Spend time with Matt and our dogs Arbonne Take online behavior classes What are more activities you wish you could do more of that may not be on your existing list? Volunteer work Travel Hike more and write more Rock climb Categorize your lists into: Hobby, Job, Career, Vocation Hobby Job Career Vocation Run Hike Spend time with family/friends Read Travel Yard work Self improvement classes Clean Teach Writing resumes Arbonne Teach Volunteer work/advocating for other's rights Writing Is it feasible to move

teach. pray. - Elizabeth Gilbert's Creativity Workshop: Curiosity Cat Scan

Last week, I signed up for Liz Gilbert's Creativity Workshop. Each section of the workshop assigns different writing tasks. The objective of the course is to guide the student toward their own creativity and the courage to act on it. Students are encouraged to share links to their writing on Padlet. As I was scanning padlet earlier today, I saw hundreds of participants from all over the world. It was inspiring to see so many people searching for their own way to express their own creativity. It was uplifting to see I am not alone in this lust for living creatively and meaningfully.  I labeled this post with teach, because I believe being a teacher (and human) that my learning should never stop. The more I learn the more knowledge I have to share not only with my students but to others in all crannies of life. I labeled it pray, because I've been praying for the courage to chase my dreams and dance with them.  After much debate with myself, I decided I would post each assign

teach. - Inclusion+Showbie=AHMAZING!

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This school year, I'm providing full inclusion services for grades 2-5. For the past 2 years, I've provided pull out services for reading and inclusion services for math. Prior to that, I provided 3 years of full inclusion services at a different school in a different district. So, I've gotten my feet wet over the years. Luckily for me, my current school is a one-to-one school, so all of our students have access to their own iPad in the classroom. If you're a special education teacher, more specifically a resource teacher, you'll understand when I say caseloads can get crazy sometimes. You begin wondering what the state's definition of small group is. In my case, I have 30 minutes for reading with each grade level. My smallest reading group in grades 3-5 is around 8 students, and their reading levels are a wide range. So, how do I do it? How do I serve these kids in 30 minutes and give them the most with the little time we have? TECHNOLOGY!!  In this blog p