teach.run.pray.

Step right up! Push yourself to do something new at least once each quarter. Challenge yourself to do it bigger each time. Dig deep for that inner creativity and let your personality shine through your teaching. When you step it up so will your students. Two weeks ago, I had to make sure my students were going to be prepared for an upcoming unit assessment on point of view, perspective, author's word choice, tone, and mood. I taught the unit over four weeks and dug deep for creative ways to build a foundation while integrating and intertwining all the standards I had taught so far. My heart is so happy when previously taught standards naturally spiral with currently teaching ones. My heart is also happy when students remember grade level academic vocabulary...but that's a whole other blog. Anyway, back to getting students ready for this unit assessment. I'm always trying to find ways to keep kids engaged, motivated, and having fun (especially so, when a long holiday bre

It's the second quarter of the school year, and I'm still loving what I'm doing. Some days, I feel like I have to hide how much I love my job because I don't want to annoy others who may not be loving it as much as me. Don't get me wrong, the days are long and it's really hard work, but I'm excited to wake up and go to work each day, and for me, this is a major change. This time last year, I was determined to find another career-to leave teaching and never look back. I'm so grateful I didn't. On Halloween, I decided on a Dia de Los Muertos room transformation. I was excited about the transformation but nervous about the activities. Several of my students have lost parents and loved ones. The last thing I wanted to do was upset them or make them feel sad. However, I also knew celebrating life could be therapeutic and several of my students are Mexican, so I thought it would be an opportunity for all of my students to learn about their classmates'

Over the past few days, my husband and I have been talking about the hurry everyone seems to be in and the impact it's having on our community - in our world. People are impatient on the road and pass me in a tizzy even when I'm going 20 miles over the speed limit. People don't stop to let pedestrians cross the street as often. People don't let shoppers with fewer items than them go ahead in the check out line as often. People don't stop to smile at a homeless person on the street. People don't look each other in the face while waiting at a doctor's office. People are always busy with their phones or busy complaining how long something is taking or busy complaining about how something isn't going their way or busy getting kids to ten different events in one afternoon. Our American world has gotten so busy that we've let the busy distract us from really living. How necessary is all this busy? How much is the busy distracting us from one another a