So tired.

I sit trying to type out assignments for the students tomorrow, and I am distracted by my cat and dog sprawled out on the living room floor asleep. If only I could sleep like them! I'm going to have to start taking naps.

This is going to be a long stretch for the teachers in this area because we don't have a day off until spring break (also the weekend of my bridal shower--wow), which is April 22nd. It's going to seem very, very long.

So far it's Monday night of this week, and I'm already exhausted!

Job Possibility.. already??

Yup.

Justin got a call today from a principal that (already) wants him as his new math/physics teacher in a county about an hour and a half from our dream area. That's not too shabby. Who knows--maybe we'd love the new area--it would be an adventure. We think we know where we want to live.. but who knows if we would really love it as much as we think? I would be where both of our families live, and that would be great, but maybe starting out farther away is better in the beginning. It would just be something to hope for when our children get older. Again, though, maybe we'll love the new area! :)

J goes to visit the school this Thursday or Friday--wish him luck! I'm already looking into real estate... crazy!

Are you sure?

Has it truly been an entire week without a post? That is highly unlikely but true! This week has been wild. It seemed like I had something to do every day after school that would last a couple of hours, whether it be staying with a student, discussing wedding ring details with a jeweler, going to the gym, or having dinner with a friend.

It was a pretty good week at school. The students were working with me as I tried to talk over this cold I've had for days (add to the list above: going to the doctor). I never get medicine for colds, but this became more than a cold when I started coughing and hacking, so I got an antibiotic to help get rid of it.

My wedding ring is now safely at Dana's house awaiting June. Justin and I went to the jeweler and had them make a new ring out of the ring I already had. They used the diamonds to create a tension set (though the diamonds are very small--so you can't tell as much as the larger diamonds) wedding band to go with my ring. We're ordering Justin's ring soon. It's going to be a beautiful woven-metal ring.

I've had dinner a couple of times this week. The first time was when I went with Ginny for a girls night. It's always nice to catch up with the old roomie. Seems like we have a lot going on these days, but that's what makes getting together fun. The second time was last night when we had a seafood night out with Laurie. Good times! We started with a frozen, fruity beverage and ended with dessert (with everything in between!). It was so good, and we had a great time laughing and talking about our weekend.

The largest event from this week began on Friday and ended Saturday evening: job interviews. J had originally signed up for a job fair about four hours away (close to where we want to live), so he was schedule for eight interviews. I went with him because I signed up as a walk-in which meant that I had to go table to table and see if they had any openings. Sure enough, I was able to snatch five interviews right away. To my surprise, however, many of them had no English positions opening up for next year. Even more surprising? There were a couple of schools desperate for a Physics/math teacher. All of the interviews went fairly well. It was so exhausting! By the end of the day, we could barely drive home. We decided to take advantage of the trip and drive through one of the areas that Justin is likely to get a job. Turns out it wasn't very pretty, which made me feel a little negative about the whole..moving thing. However, it is close enough to an area we would be okay living in that it was worth it. I'm hoping to get closer, though, to our families and friends. The area yesterday (even if we live in a good area) would be almost an hour drive for both of us--and we would be going in the opposite direction. I got a very positive reaction for a middle school opening in my hometown. We'll see! I wouldn't mind teaching middle school if it could get me into the location of choice. I could always work back up to high school.

Overall, I don't even want to think about all of these things. It's easy to enjoy it when you just assume you can get into the area of choice, but yesterday opened our eyes to the lack of job openings. Our dream may not happen right away. My biggest concern is that we would move somewhere to find jobs...get used to the area (and comfortable) and stay there to raise a family. I am determined to get even closer than an hour and a half to my family by the time we have kids. This is probably because I lived 12 hours from my grandparents and family my whole life.We'll see what happens I guess...

So far today I have cleaned the kitchen some, made some dog treats, and organized some laundry. Now I sit to enjoy my coffee and write. I realize that Sundays might become one of my better days now that it's getting warm. It really is beautiful to relax, clean, and plan--all with the windows wide open and the fresh air rolling in. It feels SO much better than a Sunday with freezing temperatures and no bird songs. Enjoy your day :)

Magical

I hate losing things!

....especially my debit card. I remember seeing my hands placing it somewhere unsafe, thinking to myself, "that's a bad spot, but I really don't want to just leave it in my coat pocket." The last place I used it was Starbucks... 5 days ago! Where has the time gone? I usually spend money in that amount of time, but I guess since there was so little on it, I wasn't too concerned with using it. Now I'm on the major hunt because I leave on Friday to have some family and friend time at my other home. I'm also going to be grading papers tonight.. as fast as I can. The students have been asking about them since the second day I had them in my hands (I mean really?? Do they know how long it can take?) However, I admit to pushing them off far too long. I'm going to try to get through 3/4 of them tonight, if not all of them.

Tomorrow night needs to be spent packing and spending time with my loves before I head out :) Have a great Thursday!

My 11th Grade Study Guide

English 11 Study Guide


I am not promising that I will only include the items on this list or not include items that are not on this list; however, I am more than willing to help you with studying most of the items that will be on your test. Good luck!

Major authors to know:

Arthur Miller: The Crucible

Anne Bradstreet: “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Upon the Burning of Our House”

Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

William Bradford: “Of Plymouth Plantation”

Puritans

o Style: very plain, black white or grey, simple

o Religion: Christian, Protestant

o Banned activities: horse racing, gathering without permission, dancing, singing…

o Types of churches: plain, no elaborate decoration

o They wanted to reform the Anglican church

o “city upon a hill” and a “New Jerusalem”

o Did not believe in religious tolerance

o Corporate righteousness

o Pilgrims were okay with separating from England, Puritans didn’t want to

o Puritans did not make peace with the Native Americans, Pilgrims did

o Believed in witches and spirits, very superstitious

Salem Witch Trials

o A group of girls in a Puritan village began blaming others for being witches and having the devil in them. The Puritans, since they were superstitious, believed them. Many were hanged before it was discovered that they were using the system for others’ gain.

Poetry Terms

o Alliteration

o Rhyme Scheme

o Assonance

o Consonance

o Symbolism

o Metaphor

o imagery

o Extended Metaphor

o Personification

o Hyperbole

o Archaic Language

o Inverted Syntax

Vocabulary

o Colony

o Colonist

o Chronicle

o Self-rule

o Parliament

o Import/export

o Ethos/pathos/logos

o Appease

o Abhors

o Benevolent

I may give you quotations from any of our works in literature that you will have to identify and explain the context. In other words, be familiar with all of our texts and be ready to figure out where a quotation is coming from, who wrote it, and what it means in the text.

Important Characters to Know from The Crucible:

o Rev. Parris and Rev. Hale

o Betty

o Abigail

o John and Elizabeth Proctor

o Mary Warren

o Tituba

o Ruth

*** Make sure you know their relationships to each other

Be able to give an example of any of the following Human Frailties in The Crucible:

o Lust

o Pride

o Greed

o Revenge

o Ignorance

o Self-indulgence

o Dishonestly

Know the following Propaganda Techniques and be prepared to give an example:

o Bandwagon

o Testimonial

o Transfer

o Repetition

o Plain Folk

o Otherness

o Mass marketing of a sub culture

o Collective memories

o Humanizing technology

o Strong women



Blarg

I haven't had the best of days, and I can't really pin-point why. I'm in over my head with papers that need to be graded, and I'm trying to make plans for school tomorrow. Sometimes I get in a zone where I think and work slowly, and I'm in that zone now. Part of it is simply the pressure from the students for class to be as interesting as possible because they're seniors, and they want it to be a party. Another reason is that I've had a cold, and that just puts a fog over my brain. Overall, I'm just working day by day for this week to be over. I'm traveling on Friday on my own to see family and friends and to work on some things. I'm very, very excited. It seems like the week is going by so slowly because it knows I'm yearning for that road trip! Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better... until then, hope you all had a great weekend, and I hope you have a great Wednesday.

Love Day #2 = Friends

 

Saturday = Love Day #1

 Breakfast: Toad-in-the-Hole (made by J)

 Late-night dinner: Chicken Parmesan (made by J)

 What a handsome man (however blurry!)

Yummm.

I told you I would take pictures, and I did! We also went to the gnome movie (hardly funny at all, not recommended), got J some new clothes at the mall, and went for a drive this morning to explore a few things. Overall, it was a good day.

Tomorrow: Colin comes into town & tons of grading/lesson plans!

Happy Love Weekend

http://www.laurenfleishman.com/photos/loveeverafter/index.html#

Please look at this website. It is so sweet.

What are you all doing for Love Day? Honestly, I don't have any idea what J and I are doing, but it might involve going to see a movie, or enjoying the weekend relaxing together on the couch. On the actually day, however, J's uncle is taking us out for a great dinner at a local seafood restaurant. We haven't seen him in ages--it should be great! Have fun--I'll try to take pictures! You should, too.

The Life of a Cat

New Look (again)

I will probably go back to my old background soon enough, but for now, I'm sticking with the beautiful grains of wood. There's something about wood that makes me feel like I'm part of nature, and it reminds me of some of my favorite things: bon fires, trees, barns, hardwood floors, textures, life, docks, being rustic, etc. My dream home is a log cabin, so that also falls into this category. If I don't get my log cabin, I'm going to try to have wood beams on my ceiling, or maybe some rustic wood floors.

What do you think? Do you miss my other, more colorful background? 

I just can't decide which one suits me best.

Happy Friday, everyone. I'm going to try to take some pictures this weekend to share with you.

For now, here's one of our engagement pictures (with a rustic barn -- how fitting!)

5 Things

I had my students write a paper about the five things in life they have learned thus far. After reading a few of them, I realized how hard it must be to pinpoint those things in such a short amount of time. I feel like I've learned a lot in my life so far, but my answers are different from theirs. It's not that they're completely different, but for instance, I wouldn't say "don't do drugs" simply because I'm past the point of my life that I would feel pressure from others to do so. Instead, I might say, "don't let your life be lead by something other than yourself" -- such as work, relationships, kids at school, parents, etc.

Here are the five things - okay, so I combined a couple - I have come up with that I have learned so far (subject to change, and in no particular order) --

1. Think for yourself and don't worry about what other people think. There are too many times that other people try to think for you. They try to tell you who you are or where you belong. Stop listening to them, and listen to yourself. You are the only one that really knows what's going on. Don't worry about what other people think. This is a biggy for me. I used to always worry about what other people thought about me. It was a consistent thought in my mind from elementary school through part of college. Somewhere along the line, I just decided to stop worrying. I am me.

2. Do not work hard for relationships that aren't worth it, and keep your standards high. This sounds a bit harsh, but it's true. There have been friendships or relationships in my past that I held on to just so that I wouldn't be left lonely. The truth is, they never were good relationships for me; they were more harmful than anything. Listen to yourself, and rid your life of people that only make things harder. It's not a selfish thing to do; you deserve to do it! If anyone takes you for granted or treats you poorly, consider them unimportant in your life. Keep your standards high. This is for everything, but mostly for the opposite sex. Bad experiences taught me to value myself always. My mom used to tell me that I was a "prize." I had a hard time taking that kind of compliment, but it's true, and it's true for you. Each person is a prize for someone else. It's just a matter of finding that other person. Don't lower your standards and marry the first person that gives you attention. Don't give that guy a second date that puts you down (even just a little). Give yourself credit, and be picky. Love will happen. Friendship will happen. If you wait, it will happen in just the right ways!

3. Let go of regrets and just relax. Try not to have regrets; you learn from everything you do, and that knowledge will help you in the future. When you learn to let go, you can relax. Give yourself time each day for yourself--at least as long as you can! Value the sweet time you have with your pets or friends or lover--even if it's only for a few hours. Treasure everyone around you for what they are worth--and that's a lot. Be thankful for the time on earth we have to build relationships and spend time together, feeding each other with happiness and relaxation.

4. Get a pet. I don't care what kind; get a companion. It is worth the time and effort put into them, and you will find that they have unconditional love. They always greet you, and they are by your side no matter what you have done during the day to deserve otherwise. They get you outside in the fresh air when you normally wouldn't go; they teach you to give love and care when you otherwise wouldn't feel the need to; they remind you that there are so many beautiful creatures on the earth that deserve praise just like we do. They will always be your biggest fan. No matter what.

5. Treat others the way you would want to be treated, and make the best of each day. First of all, you need to treat others with respect just as you deserve respect from others. Give people compliments any chance you get; I assure you, it will make their day better, and it will show your care. Smile and laugh at any situation you can. If you're reading The Crucible with twenty-five eleventh graders, and you reach the part about John Proctor sweating "like a stallion," just laugh with them. It's all you can do. If you fart in public, joke about it! I promise you that the little moments you feel like you need to control fall out of place, sometimes it's better. If you've had a terrible day, try to find something good about it, or make it better. If you're sore from the gym, take a hot shower to soothe your muscles. If you feel hurt and frustrated from work, allow yourself to cry for a bit. Overall, life situations can be really terrible, and it is how you react to them that matters. This is something Justin has taught me in our relationship. You can basically give credit to him for this piece of advice because he has already successfully helped me.

Maybe I'll think of more, or expand on these later, but I feel satisfied for now :)

You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands.  Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.  ~John Updike

I Love Mondays Like This

This Monday has been great. I woke up in a good mood (probably because J got up early also.. it always softens the blow), and had a very successful work day. The kids were great overall. I am becoming the Queen of Reading Aloud, let me tell you! :)

I admit to feeling slightly unprepared as I begin the work week. I spent most of my day at a bridal show (which I didn't enjoy at all--unfortunately, I'm not the typical bride they try to advertise to), so I didn't do a lot of school work like I usually do on Sundays. I am now working to plan for tomorrow, knowing that I'm beginning new lessons in both classes. So far, here's what I have--I need to go to bed!

12th grade:
1. Journal: What is the most alone you have ever been? Physically or mentally? How did it feel?
2. Grammar work
3. Block one (finish Beowulf)
    A) Introduce the Exeter Book
    B) Take notes on information
    C) Read "The Seafarer" and "The Wanderer" and "The Wife's Lament"

    D) Compare and contrast the three poems
    E) Write a poem about isolation
11th Grade:
1. Journal: Have you ever been accused of something you didn't do? How did you try to get yourself out of it?
2. Grammar sentences
3. Play "Witch Hunt" by Rush as a Hook
4. Play The Crucible trailor
5. Play McCarthy documentary
6. Introduce play
7. Read play

Feelin' the Love

My Friday went incredibly well. The kids and I had a good day at school! I made plans to hang out with an old friend of mine for dinner and coffee, and it was so worth it. We had such a good time. After meeting for a great, yummy meal at olive garden, we went to the mall for a bit to walk, and we ended up at B&N for wedding books and coffee. We were together for a little over five hours and talked the entire time. It was so great to catch up, and it was wonderful to feel the friendship that is still there after at least a year of not seeing her. She offered to be my "wedding coordinator." Even though I didn't even know what that was at first, I'm accepting her offer of helping me do anything needed on the wedding day to help me and others worry less. What I appreciated so much about the offer was just how willing she was to help me. It's like we never had time apart. She wants to make my special day as easy and special as possible..and it's overwhelmingly nice of her. I'm not good with realizing people actually want to hear about my wedding or want to help. Most of the time, I assume that I'm inconveniencing people to, let's say, help with the guest list, or read a poem during the ceremony. What I've come to realize is that people really want to help and people are happy for me. I should realize because of the overwhelming responses of happiness on my website that clearly showed the acceptance from everyone of the engagement. I thank Megan and all others who are helping with the day, and I don't know what I would do without them. It is so special to know that I have friends who love me, and I love them. Life really is all about the love. <3

I am so tired. I stayed up way too late. I'm going to be paying to it today. I keep thinking it's Friday when it's actually Thursday, and I hate when I do that. The good news is that once I'm done with today, it really is Friday, and I can sleep in as long as I want on Saturday. That is such a prize at the end of the week.

This is one of the most beautiful, exhilarating performances I've seen in a long time. If it moves you, it will move you to tears.

My second block started calling me "Pam" today because they say I look and talk like Pam from The Office. It cracked me up. I'm going to take it as a compliment and not think about how they could have meant it in a bad way. They were all smiling happily though..they thought it was cool. However, it's funny how I took my glasses off and suddenly didn't look like her anymore. I'm not sure they even know what they're talking about! :D