New Years and New Me

Holly Jolly Christmas

This time of year is my favorite. Although I prefer the crafts and Santa visits in the younger grades, it is also fun to see the holiday cheer in the faces of every middle schooler and teacher. Or maybe that is just the excitement of two weeks off from school. Either way I had a great time with the students leading up to Christmas this year.

This year I made every teacher in the seventh grade a paper flower that represents the subject they teach.

I used old thrifted text books (and a map) and found a tutorial. They were pretty easy, cheap and seemed to be a big hit with the teachers.

I also made a Mrs. Claus dress for the school secretary using a thrifted red dress, furry scarf and a frilly white skirt. It turned out a lot better than expected and she looked so cute in it.

I would have loved to wear this for the last day before break but I think my outfit was pretty cute too. And check out the coolest present ever I got from my best friend. It will forever grace my desk as the best name plate in history.

So overall I had a great holiday and I hope everyone else has just as fun. Can't wait to get back to school after a nice break.

Staying Positive

Now that the excitement of getting back to school is over and the weather has changed to grey skies all day long, it starts becoming harder to stay upbeat. The worst thing you can give a student in a  “I don’t want to be here” funk is a negative teacher. This is something I have found myself struggling with myself the last week or so because I was taken from my favorite time of the day and put in a tough situation. I am trying to remedy my reaction because I know this new boy I work with could really use some positive influences, so here is my teacher checklist on How to Stay Positive.

Make your room a happy place to be

Not just for the kids but for yourself. Bright colors, comfy chairs, organized desk. The better the atmosphere the better the attitude. I even like to dress cheery because I feel it forces me to play the part. You can’t look too mopey when you are wearing neon pink of a sweater with a poodle on it.

Try to avoid the teacher’s lounge

The teacher’s lounge can be a great place to visit with other staff members and share ideas but it is mostly used as a place where Negative Nancys and Debbie Downers go to vent. Although it seems helpful, venting can cause you to project negative ideas of students on to others, look bad to other people, and continue the downward spiral.

After Work Activities

Find something that you enjoy doing and that gives you some fun time with adults. I take zumba and yoga classes right at my school. Yoga is really relaxing and zumba is just plain fun! I also got a small part in a community theater play.

Make Mondays fun days

Pack your favorite lunch or save your favorite show for Mondays. Getting yourself excited for mondays makes starting the week off a lot more fun.

Save the happy moments

Keep a box or binder full of pictures and notes you got from students and their parents that remind you why you love this job so much.

Don’t let mistakes get to you

I am working hard at this. Students and other teachers will criticize at times but your biggest critic is you. Mistakes happen. Don’t dwell on them, fix them and move on.

Tomorrow is a new day!

Take a breath, get a good night sleep, and try again tomorrow.

All Hallows Read!!!

These last two months at school has given me the opportunity to work in the high school library. Because of this I have started helping with the book displays in the front. Because I am a big Neil Gaiman fan I went with a All Hallow's Read theme, trying to get the students to give or at least recommend a scary book to a friend.

I made the poster with tea, paint, sharpies and even fire to try and get a spooky effects. The idea came from a poster from the movie Coraline based on Neil Gaiman's perfectly creepy children's book.

 Don't Forget to give a scary book this Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I have wanted to dress up as Ms. Frizzle for Halloween every year I have been in a school and I felt this year with the addition of Liz to my stuffed book character collection. 

Ms. Frizzle is a fashion hero of mine. I really wish more teachers matched their clothes to the lessons they were teaching. Ms. Frizzle's outfit of choice is usually a shirt dress with a full skirt bottom. I wanted to go with the "outer space" outfit Ms. Frizzle so I needed a dark blue or purple. I looked at thrift stores for months trying to find the perfect dress but could not find one that works. Finally I found one an ugly pink color which I dyed purple. This left random dark patches and an all out bad dye job. However, this was fine for my "space" look so if you want to dye your dress too you don't have to worry. If you can't find a dress that works you can always just work with a dark colored button down and long circle skirt.

Although just adding random stars and planets looks just as good I wanted to try and recreate a solar system on my dress. I used a paint pen to draw half circles starting at the bottom and moving outward.

I used dots of white and glow in the dark puffy paint to add stars, an asteroid belt and swirled the paint to make galaxies. This took quite a while and the big globs took a while to dry.

While I waited for the paint to dry I cut out planets from felt. I hot glued pieces on top if needed such as Saturn's rings and the land on earth. I did not make Pluto (every 90s kid who loved this costume just gasped) but I did made earrings to represent Pluto and Ceres.  

I finished by badly hand sewing the planets to their designated paint line. I didn't mind the uneven stitches too much. I thought it made it look kitschy and handmade. I wore a polo underneath the dress to make the color and added accessories like galaxy tights, my planet earrings, heals that I tied felt stars to and my Liz of course. I used my own curled and teased red hair at school (like the above photo) but finding a big curly red wig works just as well, if not better.

Some of the other great costumes this year

Frida Kahlo

Alpha Wolf

Under a Rest

Maroon 5

Full of Spirit

October is one of my favorite months in middle school because we have two weeks of themed outfits. This years spirit week was a little uninspired but I still had fun.

TWIN TUESDAY
(I went as a seventh grade boy I work with. Ran into some trouble with the Mohawk)

WACKY WEDNESDAY

(This one wasn't far off from what I normally wear)

AMERICAN THURSDAY

(Little Rosie the Riveter so I could throw in some history when students asked about it)

PURPLE AND GOLD DAY

(and of course we have to show the school colors some love. Plus I had an excuse to wear my square dancing skirt)

Night Owl Problems

I have never been an early bird. I tried to keep my college classes toward the afternoon and for several years I worked overnight shifts, rarely in bed before 5am. Because of my late night nature, I can be quite the beast when my alarm goes off.

Over 43 schools in the United States have moved their starting times back due to research that shows the majority of teens are sleep deprived. However, the secondary school I work for at this time is not one of them and therefore I must also live by the lovely Benjamin Franklin's “Early to bed and early to rise...” mentality.

This is my list of how to beat my morning blues and try to turn this night owl into an early bird.

Night Before

Pack your lunch

Night before packing gives you more time to put together a healthy and well balanced lunch and not just throwing stuff together.

Set out the outfit you will wear tomorrow

Along with shoes, jewelry and even clean undergarments. Your bag should also be packed with what you will need for the day. This just helps me not spend all morning starring into my closet, blurry eyed.

Warm bath or shower

Maybe you are someone who uses a shower to wake their body up, but I know I could sleep in the shower if I had the chance. Use it to relax your body and wash away a busy day.

This is also a good opportunity to start getting your hair styled. I pin-curl or braid my hair and let it dry while I sleep or blow dry and straighten my bangs before bed.

Go to bed early

I would like to be asleep by 11 so I try to be in bed at 10:30. Giving your body time to settle in. My big issue is keeping electronics off and away from my bed.

I also sometimes use melatonin, sleepy time tea, relaxing ocean sounds or even sleep hypnosis videos if I am still having trouble sleeping.

Morning

Keep your alarm away

It is so easy for me to hit the snooze button on my alarm. Just one little push and it is back to my dreams. Moving the alarm far enough from my bed that I actually have to get up to turn it off takes away that easiness and gets me moving. Make sure it is loud enough though.

Put on music that moves you

I play the same Pandora stations in the morning that I use to workout. Hard to be cranky with Shaggy's “Mr. Boombastic” playing in the background.

Make your bed

I hate making my bed but when I started forcing myself to do it I was a lot less likely to get back in it. A made bed also makes your whole room and your life in general look a lot more put together.

Hair/Makeup

This is probably something most females do daily anyway but it is new to me. I try to keep the same basic easy makeup each day. It just makes you look more awake. Hair on the other hand is different. I know most teachers keep a basic, easy hair style but I try to work as many creative, pin worthy styles as I can into my hair. It takes more time than my simple brush and spray process but I think it

Morning Yoga

Stretching is a great way to fully wake up your body and relieve stress. Also, yoga makes you feel trendy and cool.

Bunnyyoga.com

Breakfast

A healthy, energy packed breakfast is very important for a long day of work. Try to find something easy and that you like the taste of. You don't want to be choking down steal cut oatmeal just for the benefits. It also helps to sit down at the table to eat so you don't feel rushed. If you are rushed however, make sure to have something to take with you that you can easily eat in the car or when you have a break and try to give yourself more time the next day.

I purposely left out coffee because I am not a fan of the taste and caffeine is not my friend. I do understand that coffee is the fuel that keeps most teachers going so continue to enjoy. I will stick with my tea.

First Day of School

A couple weeks ago school started and I had my first experience as a member of staff in a school on the first day. Last year I started as an aide in October and before that schools never seemed to need a substitute until a week or so into the year. But this was my true first day. I was pretty nervous even though I knew things wouldn't be much different from the year before. I got my photo taken for an ID. I got a key, a mailbox, even my own desk but not a class of my own.
I am sadly, a teacher with no class.
I plan to keep my journey here of hopefully getting the job I want and the ideas and thoughts I have along the way.
Thank you,
Ms. Hill

Here is a little about me as an educator:
I have my Childhood Education Degree with a concentration in English.
I work as a one on one aide with a high school student on the spectrum.
I substitute teach all grades and subjects when I am not working as an aide and work at a daycare with birth-school age children during breaks.
I teach Jr Church every Sunday morning.
I love teaching.
I have yet to find a teaching job.