Skip to main content

My Social Life Begins


YIKES! I am living life and not taking the time to write. It has been over a week and so much has happened. I have been working with one of my colleagues, a first year teacher. Mr. Wilson. A man who shares the same teaching philosophy that I do. We discuss the students and what is happening in our classrooms. We plan together. And, most importantly, we have fun together. It is hard to believe he is Sean’s age and has begun his professional career. Sean continues his journey through college.

I think we make other teachers nervous. Take that back, I am pretty sure we do. We are teaching literary concepts through music, poetry, videos, hands-on activities, cooperative learning, and a variety of other ways that are not typically seen in a North Carolina school preparing students for the EOG. We are showing them concepts in ways students can relate to them in their world. Mostly through music. Slowly, we will move on to short stories and novels. However, until we do, I think there are going to be some teachers a bit freaked out.

In the classes that we are referring to, it is apparent that what has been done in the past has not been working. Many of these students have not passed the test and have had to go to waiver. I would like to avoid the waiver system if at all possible. Not only are we teaching out of the box, we are also preparing portfolios with the students to keep them a bit more accountable of what they are doing.  All in all, a positive step I believe.

And the fun Mr. Wilson and I have?  Getting together on the weekends to plan is only a small part of it. Somehow last week, I found myself part of a DJ crew for an upcoming dance. Mr. Wilson (Craig), the life skills teacher (Tracie), and myself will be DJ’ing an upcoming dance. Because we do not believe it would be any fun just being ourselves for this dance, we are all taking on different musical personas. I will be the rock star complete with leather pants, platform boots, and a painted face. Craig is gracing us a C-Dub the rapper, while Tracie will be bringing it as a punk rocker. The best part of planning the event was our evening out – costumes and dinner.

The fun continues at the adult spelling bee this Thursday night. Craig and I will be joined by two other teachers. The music theme continues. Tracie is not able to join us. Instead, we will enjoy the company of beach music and a little bit of country.  The rounding out of my time here continues beyond the social scene. I have joined a gym.

Life continues to be good….

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 2, 2010 at 11:44 AM

    Mandie GO girl Go. You are doing what you know best. Hopefully the rest of the staff will sit up and take notice. Glad you have found another who teaches the same as you. Love you and miss you. Love Marguerite

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Easter Lesson

I decided that this break I was going to stay home and spend the week doing things I have not done or haven't done in awhile. It all began Thursday night with Ballroom Dancing, which will continue on Monday and Thursday with lessons. Saturday, I bought a couple of new outfits. Today brought both something I hadn't done in awhile and something new. Today, I went to church which was pretty cool in itself. I went with someone I just met the day before. (I am sure that is no surprise to any of you who know me.) We made plans to meet up at church. It was different from any church I had been in before. The chairs were set up "in the round." There was no piano or organ to accompany our singing. People were in and out throughout the 90 minute service. No surprise, the place was packed. The service was your typical protestant service, minus the organ, of course. It had been awhile since my friend had been to church. Many in the congregation flocked to him at the end to gi...
Post a Comment
Read more

WABDR: Section 1

Section 1  We end at the beginning  Does it feel like this trip will never end? Epic adventures tend to last a bit longer than just an average one. So….on with our tale.  We got our bikes all packed up and continued over White Pass. The first time we went over it, it was a cloudy day. Thus, the visibility of the mountains was not much. I was expecting the same on our return trip to Packwood. Therefore, it took my breath away when I saw the mountain off in the distance for the first time. The beauty was so overwhelming, I teared up.    I continued to watch the mountain until I could see it no more. Soon we were in Packwood. Back where we started. After a quick breakfast at the local coffee shop, we were on our way. I may have taken a few minutes to ride the big bike first… Not too long though, because someone was ready to get moving.  Jennifer had some friends that were camping at Walupt Lake, which is right on the trail for Sectio...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Christmas Ache

Christmas. For many it is a joyful day filled with family and good food, for others it is a struggle to get through the day.  Yesterday was my final Christmas waking up in an empty house. I don't want to do it again. The 50 plus years of waking up super early to either sneak to the tree and open my stocking or hear my kids do the same has made the silence of Christmas morning unbearable. The last four years, I have been waking up to an empty house. I had invites this year from every member of my family. I declined them for a variety of reasons, which do not matter in this piece of writing. What matters is today I talked to people who also struggled through Christmas day.  When alone, one can get caught up in one's feelings and think they are the only one going through whatever it is. In this case, being alone on Christmas. The ache inside begins. The tears flow. It doesn't help that the Hallmark channel is playing the formulaic Christmas movies. You know the one. It ...
Post a Comment
Read more