Elsewhere!

Quick update: If you just can't get enough of my writing I have wonderful news. I'm blogging for my K-3 Literacy class this semester. It's much different than the writing I do here (academic, coherent, etc.). I discuss articles, books and podcasts about reading and literacy techniques for younger elementary school students. That blog also doesn't include any identifying info (the course requires that we stay anonymous on the web since we're students) which means I'd appreciate if you didn't comment there with a list of everything you know about me. Here's the link.

I do have a couple non-school related posts in the works including a completely out of control list of things we'd like to do to this house while we live here and details about an adventure I had yesterday involving dissecting an old set of curtains for throw pillow fabric! Stay tuned! 

It's Not Like Riding a Bike

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I am dangerously close to finishing my first semester of graduate school. It has been fantastic for the most part. I've loved being in class, talking to smart people who are interested in the same things that interest me. I haven't even minded the majority of the reading. But now, now it is the end of the semester. This is the season of final papers, take-home exams, sloppy ponytails, sweats and lots of caffeine.

To be perfectly honest, I'm getting off easy. My final assignments consisted of writing a children's book for my science class (awesome), showing up for the literacy class (can do!), writing a paper for our diversity class (in progress), and doing a take-home final for math (all progressing). So, I enter finals week with only a couple things left to turn in, both of which are mostly completed.

It has not been pretty getting here. Navigating campus, going to classes, staying up late, all of these things came easy to me. I figured I hadn't been out of college long enough for it to be rough going back. But then the paper writing and the test taking happened. I suddenly had to recall information I'd learned months ago, format a paper and citations (???) all while Boyfriend, the professional student, acts like these things are innate human features.

This is my long-winded way of saying if you've recently discovered that you used to be awesome at painting/running/fly-fishing/underwater basket weaving but you're suddenly sub-par, hang in there. I'm with you. You brush up on your basket weaving while I figure out how to properly cite journal articles again. We'll meet up and compare notes.

There's No Magic Like Children's Books

To quote Kathleen Kelly from the Nora Ephron classic, You've Got Mail: "The books you read as a child become part of you in a way that no other reading in the rest of your life does." One of the many benefits of my Master's program is the excuse to read great kids' books. I've been reminded of books I loved as a kid and been exposed to a long list of new greats.

As I'm sure a lot of you were, I was a voracious reader as a kid. My all-time favorite is Harriet the Spy. I really, really wanted to be Harriet M. Welsch when I was ten years old. Unfortunately, my neighborhood was quite boring. I still love a good composition notebook, though.

This is what a hero looks like.
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If I had to choose an author whose work was consistently awesome I'd go with E.L. Koningsburg without hesitation because: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Escaped adolescence without reading this one? Get thee to the library! Or Amazon, whatever. Should you know a nerdy child at any time in your life, immediately hand them a copy of The View from Saturday and stand back; your work here is done.

I want to go to there. Also, pencil sketches, amiright?
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These, of course, can all be described as one of the greatest kid terms of all time: "chapter books." You remember when you graduated from those flimsy little readers to chapter books, don't you? It was marvelous. You'd passed up the beautiful illustrations of picture books and entered the children's book void. Then, behold! Chapter books!

Life-altering chapter books aside, picture books are their own kind of magical. An easy way to find wonderful picture books is to hit up the list of Caldecott winners. The Caldecott award, in case you're not a children's literature nerd, is an award given for illustrations in literature. Some of my favorite past winners include Make Way for Ducklings, Where the Wild Things Are, and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was written by William Steig, who wrote some of the greatest picture books. He's responsible for Amos and Boris as well as a personal favorite from my childhood, Doctor DeSoto (yes, that's the story of the fox who's a dentist).

Go forth with your library card! Relive your childhood! Be the favorite relative this holiday season! Read!

Two Full-time Graduate Students

For the first time since we started dating, Boyfriend and I are both full-time students. He's a year and a half into a PhD program and I started working on my Master's this semester. Here's what to watch out for if you find yourself similarly afflicted:

We've both stopped doing the little household stuff. I find that being on campus all day and still having homework to do at night is more draining that having a 9-to-5 job that I could forget as soon as I was driving home. Result: mounds of laundry, a sink full of dirty dishes, general grossness.

We have similar schedules. For instance, neither he or I have classes on Fridays. Lunchtime study date? Ok! Running errands at 10am on a Monday? Doable. It's nice to take advantage of the random free time we both have.

Stressful, busy times are now the same for both of us. Midterms? Finals? Those take over both of us, now. I used to be able to shut the door to our guest room/office knowing Boyfriend would be working until the wee hours and go about my evening. These days you'll find us side by side on the couch, computers in laps, bags under eyes.

We're both actively working toward something. I have cut back significantly on freak outs regarding my meaningless job and wasted potential (Yes, I have been a real peach to live with at times). We still take turns being overwhelmed but there's structure, a purpose. I like it.

I'm glad this will not be our situation for more than a couple years. Two stressed out grad students with no one else in the house to keep us in check can get ugly. That and I cannot wait to have my own classroom. Speaking of which, my math lesson looms ever closer. I'm pretty excited.

P.S. Kindergartners are the best people to talk to about Halloween. Seriously.

I taught my first lesson. It didn't go well.

This is going to be a no picture post because it's about kiddos I teach, just an FYI.

In my program we have what is called early field experience our first two semesters. What this means is that we spend a day or two per week in a real classroom observing and helping a real teacher. They want us to know what we're getting ourselves into as soon as possible. This semester I am in a kindergarten classroom.

On Tuesday I taught my first lesson. It was a science lesson on sinking and floating. It's kindergarten so the content was pretty basic. I wanted my students to understand that some things sink and other things float. I also wanted them to compare and contrast the objects we tested. What do all the objects that sunk have in common? What about the ones that floated? I brought in a bunch of things for them to test: an acorn, a leaf, a crayon, a rubber band, a house key, etc.

Everything started off fine. We talked about what it meant for things to sink or float. I went through the items we would be testing and had them guess what each item would do when we dropped it in the water and then it was time to test! This is when things started to get ugly. See, I did not anticipate just how excited kindergartners could get about buoyancy. The first time an object did what they had predicted they cheered. They cheered like they'd just won the World Series (Go Sox, by the way!). So each time they tested something they'd go crazy and I (with the help of my very patient, very experienced classroom teacher/mentor) had to bring them back to a manageable level. Oy. I have a thing or two to learn about classroom management, yet.

Next up is my math lesson: shapes. I teach that lesson in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Radio Silence

Wow! So, I blinked my eyes and lost two months. This summer has been crazy! I have a weak excuse for my complete lack of blog presence. Summer camp is exhausting. That's my excuse.

I worked at a camp for kids with Autism this summer. We started at 8 every morning and by the afternoon I'd be spent. Nine-year-old boys have a never ending supply of energy which they seem to use primarily for yelling, flailing and coming up with reasons why your choice of game is disappointing. It was a great experience though. I learned a lot about myself and about the area where I live. With camp, I got to go on some great day trips. Not only did I get very familiar with the community pool (way packed with groups like ours on Fridays), the splash pad (so many swim diapers) and a variety of area parks but I also got to go the the Indianapolis Children's Museum (awesome and huge) Brown County State Park (beautiful wilderness just outside town) and Kid Commons in painfully charming Columbus, Indiana. But alas, the summer of awkward tan lines has come to a close.

And a whole new adventure has taken its place! Graduate school!

Yep, I started working toward my Master's of Education last week. I'm in four classes and in a few weeks I will be shadowing in an elementary school classroom. The really scary thing is that in two years I will be a teacher. Yikes! But I'm so excited. It's taken me a while to figure out what I actually wanted to do with my life but I've figured it out and I'm actively trying to get there. That's a pretty good feeling.

So, what's coming up this fall, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Boyfriend and I are moving so there will most likely be some new house posts, agony of packing and relocating posts and hopefully a few look-at-the-awesome-project-we-didn't-screw-up posts.

It's good to be back. I will do what I can to post again before November. Happy Almost Fall!

Warm Fuzzies

I have posts in the works about real things I promise but I've really only been able to think about a couple things lately. Indulge me, won't you.

First and most exciting, I was recently accepted to a Master's degree program! Beginning this fall I will be working toward my teaching certification and Master's in Elementary Education which means in just a few years I'll be able to have a classroom all my own! I'm so grateful for my current job as a teaching assistant because it has provided not only invaluable experience but relationships with teachers who gave me great letters of recommendation. Thanks, guys!

Next, it's finally Spring in Indiana! Like many people, my mood is so very affected by the weather so sunny days, warm weather and green grass makes me more pleasant to be around. We turned our heat off and opened the windows. No more heavy piles of blankets on the bed. Life is good. Spring and Summer also bring with them one chore I never really dread- mowing the lawn. I have always found mowing the lawn very therapeutic whether it's riding circles around my parents large backyard or walking rows across our little postage stamp, the mowing, it soothes me.

I know this time of year is not as delightful for everyone as it is for me, though. As I write this Boyfriend is spending the umpteenth hour with his computer finishing papers for this semester's classes. I hear only the occasional sigh or grunt. Yes, those moments make me wonder what I just got myself into. I think we're both in need of a fun summer. 

Pandora just gets me

One of my Pandora stations was killing it during my snow day housecleaning session on Wednesday (A once a in a lifetime event, you can be sure). Pandora scored my adolescence with frightening accuracy. So, if you're a kid of the 1990's, a teenager of the early aught's, prepare thyself.

Here is, I swear, the actual playlist I got:

The Wallflowers- One Headlight
Third Eye Blind- Never Let You Go
Jimmy Eat World- The Middle
Eve 6- Inside Out
Blink 182- What's My Age Again
Nine Days- Absolutely
Vertical Horizon- Everything You Want

I could immediately picture the living room of my childhood home- Ikea shelves packed with thift store books, square, grey Macintosh on the huge desk, Mom vacuuming the oriental rug while Jacob Dylan shot moody daggers out of his VH1 music video. Then, I was 15 in the Rotary Youth Camp kitchen with Megan, shouting song lyrics with all the suburban angst I could muster. It was an interesting afternoon. Here is, in case you needed a laugh, what my awkward, angst-y self looked like then:

I've cropped out friends so as not to expose their high school selves  without permission.

So, in case you were on the fence about whether technology is taking over, I'm here to tell you Pandora is my therapist.

In completely unrelated news, I have a desk! For the last few years I've just been commandeering the dining table. It's not that we use the dining table all that often (read: ever) for actual dining but it certainly isn't ideal to have notebooks, bills, pens and the like strewn everywhere waiting for the next gust of wind. My much more suitable solution is complements of a coworker who was nice enough not only to give me the desk for free but bring it to our place! Three cheers for rock star coworkers! Here is my new setup:

Of course, this moment documents the tidiest this area will ever be.

This very blog post is up on my computer in that photo. Woah, meta.

This and That

There is no structure or theme to this post. I have no deep insight, just some random things rolling around in my head.

First, another submission to Exceptionally Awesome People of Exceptional Awesomeness! I read about this on Friday on Cup of Jo, one my very favorite daily reads. You may already know about it as it occurred in October. Window washers dressed as super heroes brightened a morning for patients at a children's hospital. The article explains that the window washing company spent several hundred dollars on good quality costumes all in the name of making kids smile. Hooray for a business with a fabulous sense of humor!

Next, I'd like to set a goal for myself. I want to take more pictures. I have a phone with a pretty decent camera so there's really no excuse. I forgot or feel self-conscious or wait for a perfect moment that never comes. The result is a lot of memories with no mementos. Don't misunderstand me though, I have no interest in becoming a life-documenter. I harbor no delusions that you care what my dinner looks like, how I'm fixing my hair in the morning or think my dog is half as adorable as I do. I think though, it would be nice to have evidence of the cute moments in life. There are very few photos of Boyfriend and I together despite our three and a half year relationship. I have to get over the sense that I'm intruding. How long does it take to snap a picture? Thirty seconds at the most? So, hold me to it. Demand more interesting posts!

Finally, this week holds some fun! Valentine's Day is on Thursday and while Boyfriend and I went out this past weekend for our celebrating (Oliver Winery tasting room for wine flights and dessert. Amazing!) one of the perks of working at an elementary school is the cheesy holiday parties. So, on Thursday I'll be swapping cheap cardboard cards-I bought Scooby Doo valentines and they come with temporary tattoos-and eating various red and pink forms of processed sugar. But wait there's more! One of my best friend since practically the beginning of time (read: middle school) will be here on Friday! There will be much silliness and eating and wonderful. 

No really, I love my job.

As the title indicates I am one lucky girl. I love my job. Not blogging- hard to believe this revolutionary (albeit sporadic) blog doesn't pay the bills, huh? The concept of loving one's job has been a hard sell for me. I spent a couple years after college at random retail jobs- working weekends, folding and refolding sweaters and being treated not so much like a person but as a means to an end. Oy. I don't miss it.

These days I am an elementary school teaching assistant- with hopes of starting grad school this fall to become a teacher. For now, I help kiddos with sounding out words, fractions, telling time and following directions without completely melting down.

I so love this job that regularly gets me sneezed on, coughed at and stepped on. I mediate bickering, attend to paper cuts and I wash crayon and glue out of dress pants. I wake up hours before Boyfriend and think about struggling students long after I'm home. I'm planning to take on student loans to pursue a career notorious for it's small paycheck.

But, when was the last time you walked into a room and several small but enthusiastic voices announced your arrival? Sure, they can't quite pronounce my last name, that's part of what makes it great. Random waist-high hugs are a regular thing in my line of work and in five short months I've become completely addicted to seeing that moment when a student "gets it".

It used to be when someone told me "I couldn't imagine doing anything else", I assumed they were exaggerating- they couldn't actually feel that way about their job. A job is something you tolerate in order to do the things you actually like. Apparently it doesn't have to be. Yes, I've been sure some days that my head would actually explode. Yes, I wrestle with the idea that I've chosen a stereotypically "female" career. Does that mean I can't be a feminist? Am I bowing to social pressure? Nope. I just really enjoy helping these small, messy people figure things out.

It may have taken me until almost 26 years old but I know what I want to be when I grow up. 

How do I know if I'm a screw up or not?

Lately, I feel a little bit Jekyll and Hyde. On one hand I really feel like I'm getting my act together what with having a job I like and actively applying to graduate school and whatnot. On the other hand though, I am a twenty-five-year-old studying for the Praxis. This is the standardized test for prospective teachers, most often taken at the end of your undergraduate studies. I am soooo not looking forward to taking that test in a few weeks with what I assume will be a room full of cute, confident, newly twenty-two-year olds with perfect hair.

I'll rush in still dressed from work, having been up since 6am, boyfriend and pup at home wondering why their dinner isn't making itself. I jest, Boyfriend is a better and more frequent cook than I. Arley? I will never live up to her standards of care. Anyone looking for a full-time belly rubbing gig? It doesn't pay and your client has dog breath. Takers? No? If you change your mind you know where to find me.

So, my week will be full of relearning geometry formulas and the proper use of semi-colons. There's a Halloween costume that needs finishing, too. Boyfriend and I are part of a group costume with his cohort at school. We're all going as different characters from Pac-Man. I'm going as a strawberry and Boyfriend is going to be one of the ghosts despite my suggestion that he be a big, white dot. What? It's a great idea! Whatever.

Halloween plans? Long lists of unpleasant things to accomplish? Needy dog at home?

Have you seen this? A series is born.

I'd like to take this moment to tell you about something I hope to make into a series right here. I'm calling it Exceptionally Awesome Kids of Exceptional Awesomeness. It's a working title.

This project combines so many things that I love- kids caring about a global issue, food and travel.
I can't even remember how I happened upon this blog initially but I continue to be impressed (or amused, or moved to tears, or fascinated) by it's content. Never Seconds is a food blog of sorts started by a girl with help from her dad. She took pictures of her lunches to bring attention to the reality of school lunches- sometimes too small, sometimes not very healthy, sometimes quite good. This evolved into featuring school lunches from around the world all while raising money for charity. If you're interested in cool things kids do, real food from the farthest flung places or simply a great project check it out.


The wonderful people at Never Seconds haven't a clue who I am. These options are my own.

What am I doing?

Are you curious what I do all day-besides, of course sporadically post to my blog? Interested or not I've decided to tell you. I am a teaching assistant at an elementary school. This is the first step in my grand plan to get my Master's degree in Education and become Super Teacher- complete with special powers like mischief-destroying stare and hilarious story time voice!

photo credit

Yeah, sort of like that.

Aaaaaanyway, I spend my days bouncing around to different classrooms where there are children who have been identified "special needs". At my school that means primarily behavior and attention problems. Sometimes I work just with the identified children in a small group and other times I work with a variety of kids, allowing the classroom teacher to give more individualized attention across the board. I work in kindergarten through third grade classrooms leading math and reading groups, assisting with special projects or simply helping students stay on tasks during independent assignments.

I love my job. Before moving to Indiana I worked in a retail store and while there were aspects of the job I enjoyed, it was stressful and completely unfulfilling. Working in classrooms is, for me, ideal. Yes, it's stressful and sometimes I wonder if I've ever done anything helpful. I have to get up crazy-early, there's no coffee shop in the lobby or even around the block, kids sneeze on me and say bratty things, ask me questions and don't listen to the answer. But more often than not I am on the front lines of a battlefield fighting for a cause I believe in with my whole heart.

You'll be hearing more about my adventures in elementary school, I'm certain. Stay tuned!