Missing everything....

Note: This post was written in August. As I was at the start of my student teaching, I was even too busy to find a picture and post this. What's missing here (gloss, graphics) says more than even the words I wrote...


I miss reading....for fun - not for information

I miss writing....babbling away with my keys clicking

I miss my brain.  It used to be mine, but I donated it to the education department this year.

I miss sitting out back in the shade watching my boys play.

I miss biking, hiking, and fishing.

So many things I need an entire 'nother summer to catch up on.

Just a few days of summer left and I will be reaching the final hurdle in becoming a teacher - student teaching.  I keep wondering how I will manage. Will I be good? Will I flop and have that big "growing" experience?

I just keep thinking that soon my life will be mine again - all mine.

I will read for fun - out back in the shade while the kids jump on the trampoline.  I will transition from retail supervisor to substitute and tutor until I get that golden contract.

I think I need to make a paper chain and tear off a link each day until graduation. Maybe place a stack of books under it that I'm going to dive into .....

Where she went....

     If you are a long-time follower, you may remember this post : Just Jump . I had decided to take a leap and get a degree. I intended to become a children's librarian.  To my surprise, one does not just become a librarian, one must level-up from a teaching degree.
     Here I am, four and a half years later......

Finally!!!

     Even though I needed to take the time to read all those textbooks and write all those papers, I miss, miss, miss my fiction!!!  I am looking forward to reading and writing for fun!  For now, I'm reading some quick, fun YA reads during this busy holiday time:

. January will be all about NOT sleeping.... 

  I've been saving this one. I just read the caption on Goodreads that says it's "The Shining #2". Nope, no sleeping happening during that read!

Merry Christmas everyone!   And GOOOOO BOBCATS!!!!

On creativity in education

 

   A funny thing happened after I posted about not having a chance to write creatively under the guidance of our professors. Sure, I know all about the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, editing and rewriting, but what about character development? And plot? How am I supposed to teach students to love writing if all they do is write facts? Sure, I'm well prepared to teach them to really examine other people's work, but that's like expecting them to love vegetables when all I ever serve is cake.  
     So, I found myself face to face with the Dean of Education at an awards ceremony.  After she gave us our pins, she kept asking over and over if we have any burning questions for her. Everyone was so quiet and the conversation was spotty, so the fourth time she brought it up I finally asked her, "Where's the creative writing in our program?" I told her I need something more than just my own experience (which is nil) in writing to teach kids to write well. If they learn to love writing, they will love reading even more.
     As expected, she brought up the new guidelines for education which are heavy on the facts. Then she surprised me by saying she really didn't know why creative writing instruction was skipped over and that she would bring it up to the faculty. So there you have it. I'm not just full of hot air, I actually did something about it. I didn't solve my own problem, but maybe, just maybe, some future students in Bozeman will be taught by experts how it's done.

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I'm still here! What have I been up to???

Well, so much of this........

Or in my case, cooking and helping with their homework....

This would be a welcome from
Phi Kappa Phi Honor society
for  making the top
10%  of MSU Seniors!

That this happened.......

That would be a congrats from the Pres
for a 4.0 semester

                   And this...........

















     And a nomination for an award for Excellence in the Dept. of Education at the college.

     Half of my boys are nearly men and I am savoring the two younger boys' elementary years. We are all about snowboarding, Duck Dynasty, 4X4's and Minecraft now.

What does all this mean??  My life is FULL, FULL, FULL!  But it's all good!

    And the blog? In case you are wondering if I went by the wayside....I have not.  Just this morning I was having my coffee and "a Stumble" (Stumble.com) and read this amazing article written by John Scalzi, a seasoned writer, to teenager/future published writers (I sat that because all people can be writers- just some get paid!). He was giving advice about all the things he did when he was young that helped him even though at the time they seemed lame.  It was like a letter to himself as a teen. It made me really miss my blogging time. 

     So, what do I do with my one class-free/homework-infused day while my kids are away? I work on my blog layout.....ALL....DAY..... It was not funny - I've been through two internet providers and any blogger knows you have to use your PAID internet email to log into Blogger (or so it has been this way and I was mid-change). What happens? I get nuttin'. I mean no blog, just my sign in on Google. I panicked! All those years of blogging and I get BLANK?  I kept trying combinations of sign-ins while my heart was pounding thinking all was lost.

     And then it happened!  My temporary layout popped up and I got in.  Do you think I was productive after that?  Well, nope! I spent the next few hours trying to find a good, free layout. I'm still looking so feel free to suggest. I even started looking at some that come with a price because I just really need this to fit me like my best pair of flats. 


So, pop by and drop my a comment - I miss everyone and I need something to get me through my last semester of classes!

Leah







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Here it is - The Story of Solutions

I'm a week late with this, but here it is - Annie Leonard's 9 minute follow up to The Story of Stuff

The Story of Solutions

What I really like about Annie Leonard is that instead of pointing a finger at factories or governments, she's helping us take a closer look at our daily choices. It's not really about Walmart bags......

What changes have you made recently? Do you reuse things that make people think you are weird?  I remember being told I needed to buy some Tupperware when I was eating lunch out of a "repurposed" cottage cheese container.... That was ten years ago - does that make me a hipster? Reusing containers before it was cool???????

A sneak peak at the Story of Solutions....

Full 8 minute movie coming Oct 1st!!



Join Annie's community HERE or copy/paste this URL:   http://act.storyofstuff.org/page/s/growing-solutions

What do you know about "stuff"?

     One thing's for sure in Bozeman, people embrace sustainability. That's a big word for not adding or taking from the earth, just borrowing what's replaceable. Or another way to describe it is nurturing plants because they give us oxygen, or living off the grid, or solar energy panels to heat water.  So often lately I see more and more projects being tested out. People drive around in a corn oil powered bus and d eliver vegetables from their garden. Or bike a load of compost somewhere. Even this week, I had to giggle when suddenly a guy dropped out of a tree by the road with an armload of apples. I even see the students at school picking crab apples. 
     So, what motivates them? What would make you climb a tree to get a apple by the road you are biking on rather than drive your car to the store, put one in a plastic bag, and have that bag put into a shopping bag for you to take back to your car?? It's movies like this one. I've been wanting to share it for awhile. In October there will be another one called The Story of Solutions.  It's such a relief to know we can think about solutions and not just the problem.

Will you think of this video next time you are shopping?

I did it!! Make that 90+2

Remember this??? School Dayz - Bring it on!

    I just verified my transcript and it's official - I'm a Senior!!!
WOOHOOO!
        No matter how long you

are in college, the university only considers you a senior when you reach 90 credits. I thought I was at 89 credits after my study abroad, but I forgot the extra course in teaching grammar put me over the top at 92!!!!

     Two more semesters of courses, a brief in-class observation course and a semester of student teaching and I will be graduating!!!! I will have done everything necessary to get out of the customer service rut - I will be hire-able!!

When you achieve what you thought was impossible

     That moment - you know you all have them - when you do something you were just sure was going to be an epic-fail.  I had a huge hurdle I thought was going to be my downfall this semester and it turned out to be one of those moments.

     It wasn't a paper, a presentation, or even a major exam; it was the handwriting sample.

     What? Me afraid of a little ol' handwriting sample?  Can't an adult even write her ABC's legibly? Sheesh!

     There's more to it than that for me. I struggled in school with it and even asked my English teacher for help because my French teacher was putting big fat D'Nealian F's on my papers for sloppiness. I tried so many ways to change, but it always ended up looking like I was writing a prescription.

     This time, I tried something different. After all, I'm going to be a teacher - it's do or die. I practiced again, only this time I treated it like I was drawing. I treated it as copying a cartoon or sketch - verrrrry slowly - and it worked!

Have you ever had to change your approach to a challenge? What works for you?

Heloooo Hastings!

So, I've been lamenting the closing of Borders Book Store for a year now. Finally, one of the boys told me about  his trip to Hastings when he was away at Grandma's. Finding ourselves in a time crunch and in desperate need of books for one of the middle boys, we decided to brave the decrepit shopping center Hastings is in. 


Can I say , WOW! Coffee shop, no crowds, tons of space for the family to spread out and all those novelties to keep the boys busy while I hang out in the teen/paranormal section. The only drawback is lack of the newest releases, but that can be dealt with.


They the best surprise of all: The Discount Membership for Educators/Education majors SWEEET! 25% off  books baby!

Not only that, you can pretty much put this kinda stuff on in there and the employees are likely to join you ........












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This, That, and the Other thing....

I can't take it! I miss the blog-o-sphere!  I'm dying to share what I learned about creativity - but, not until I can do it justice. And - I'm dying to catch up on every one's blogs.

      I barely survived finals with a horrible virus and jumped into summer courses (this is me taking a two hour final in a silent room of 30 students..."sniff, sniff, sniff, crinkle~crinkle tissue packet, cough-cough.......sniff, sniff, sniff, crinkle~crinkle...." , but hey, I got an A- in my first of two "teaching math" courses and it's like learning another language...."explain in words and drawings to a fourth grader how many 2/3 sticks of butter are in 6/5 sticks" Um, yep - that weird.

     And talk about naive! I signed up for summer courses when my advisor explained that the math option for teaching is ONLY 10 extra credits on top of the electives I can use and I can graduate on time if I take them over the summer. Okay, I agree and get home to register online and find out two of the three are on campus - only one online. THEN my husband mentions that the kids will not be on summer break until three weeks into my classes and we have to scramble to cover those crazy hours in the morning between sunrise and school bus.


     And I had not thought of the concept that a 6 week course is not just a 6 week course - it's a 16 week course crammed into 6 weeks which includes 3 hour lectures three times a week and suggested study times for Statistics are 20 hours a week. In other words - How many 16 weeks of statistics are in 6 weeks? And what's my probability of actually studying 20 hours a week for 6 weeks? Any guesses?  


The good news is week one is almost behind me - YAAAAYYYY!


And completely off the subject but bizarre happening last night - lightning struck so close to my house that the smoke detectors went off twice and the strike was so loud my ears were ringing!


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Klaatu barada nikto

Finals are here and it feels a lot like this.........

Leaving the world as you know it

And everything in your life stands still until you take those  all-encompassing, comprehensive finals

And just for fun:

at least Helen didn't run a way screaming, and trip!

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As soon as finals are over, I've got some really cool stuff to share -we'll talk about creativity: where it comes from and where it goes.....

We're sorry, we seem to be experiencing technical difficulties.......

Pray for me until finals are over!

Transition-Smansition!

Wrapping up summer was much harder this year. The boys just didn't want it to end. Possibly because the last part of the summer was their most fun-filled. Camping in Idaho with cousins, running all over MT with me and my mom, Hot Springs, Tubing down the river. Next year we will have to do all that in July so we can slowly work our way from being freebirds of summer to students again.

So far the score is 2/2. Youngest and oldest liking school and middle boys hating it. One has been sick,missing three days and refusing to do make-up work. My older middle son's teacher called to see how things were going. I hated to tell her the truth but that's why she called - I told her he wasn't enthused at all, but that he did like her reading class better than the one they moved him to. She moved him back to her class, progress was made but still, I hated to lay that on her.

I can't believe what a shock it's been to everyone to get back to the books. Including me! I have a stack of fabulous fiction novels I got for my birthday-teasing me that they are bursting with entertainment should I ever be caught up with school work......

How do you and your kids make the transition?

How to make your 6th grader go to school.......

.....with a little help from big brother and his defensive lineman skills.

 

and someone is really going to miss them.....

Wow, it really is quiet in here, what to do, what to do?  Maybe I can make a dent in my summer reading list before my classes start........What are all you parents doing today while your kids return to school?

If I can't have......

Then I'll take the next best thing.....

and enjoy God's gift to student/mommies - the semester ending one month before the kids are out of school! YAAAAAY

Stagefright - who me?

     How is it that I can be completely at ease with my classmates discussing Socrates and other deep thinkers, calmly lead the class in a trivia game that focuses on our five books we studied together, but change the subject to my faith and suddenly I have a case of the nerves? I just don't get it. I have plenty of public speaking experience. I have shared my faith with them from the beginning of the semester. I don't start out that way in my presentation but suddenly I find my voice a bit shaky, palms sweaty and hands start to shake. I have no reason for it. I was less nervous completing the challenge for the presentation than telling them about it. 
      I like my classmates, I trust them, and I can discuss deep, difficult topics easily with them. I noticed it's whenever my faith comes up and I'm leading discussion that I get the jitters. It doesn't make sense. I have been leading classes at church for years although I managed to do it alone or with an helper - no pressure there. It's almost a subliminal fear. I don't even feel a hint of fear before or even in the beginning.

     For my presentation, I chose to challenge myself to teach the kids at church with a mentor present and ask for an evaluation. I measured my success on if I went through with it, if the kids learned, and if the mentor said I did a good job. I completed it and was excited to share with my class at school. Here I am telling them about it and all my fears crept up on me again. To try to stifle the jitters halfway through my presentation, I told the group that even thinking about my challenge was making me nervous. I mentioned it later to a classmate, but she said it was a good presentation.

So how do I combat this new subliminal fear that's trying to scare me out of talking about my faith? Is this one of those strongholds that the devil is putting on me because I'm getting braver in sharing?

Takin' One For The Team.....

     So today was one of those parenting conundrum days. Talk about between a rock and a hard place! How in the world could I have worked this out any better? I had a semi-final exam today and a five page paper to turn in. Let's just say I worked pretty hard to prepare. A winter storm blew in with -9 temps and windchills ranging from -20 to  -30. When Wyatt went to bed the night before at 3pm I had a feeling he was not going to school this morning. Okay, so I can't exactly call a sitter for a sick child. Missing both classes today would likely drop my A's to B's because of the high scores riding on them.    I thought about it all night - maybe I could take Wyatt along just to drop off the paper? Could he sit in on my test like Dakota does? Nah, he wasn't well enough. I even had a dream that I lost him in one of the school buildings. It was way too cold and it's a 15 minute walk from my car to the building each way.


*Cue Serious Problem Solvers*

       Well, my husband suggested I keep one of the older boys home to help. So, I pull the mom-card today and had Dustin stay home  as my back-up. (He's old enough to watch a 7 year old). I gave him the opportunity to say no (he hates having make-up work). He said yes, then no, then yes and reasoned that today they were working on a Thanksgiving packet (not critical). So off I went to deliver my paper at 9am in the storm. I got the paper delivered and headed back to check the boys (40 minutes each way) and by then it was a BLIZZARD. I couldn't see when a car or semi would pass me and blow snow up in my windshield and the roads were icy. I made it home but had to talk myself into going back for the exam. I headed back, took the exam, and crept home at a snail's pace to stay on the road. So, yep, today I was a naughty-mommy! I put my education before my son's. Thanks, Dustin for takin' one for the team!  What would you do?

Just jump!



......at least in my imagination I would feel ike this!



It's the funniest feeling - to be told I have to schedule a mid-term grade review with my instructor. I was like, what? Do I need to bring my mom?  Wait a minute - I'm the grown up here. It's just me, my instructor and the truth of how I'm performing in class.  This is the moment my question will be answered, "After twenty years away from school, do I have what it takes to be on equal footing with today's high school graduates?" I assume many adults ask that question over and over, some let it defeat them. All those new freshman have been taught way more than we were in high school. It's just progress. I would hope that my kids will know more when they graduate than I did so I should be happy for them. Of course those feelings of inferiority are still there and I had to just set them aside and act as if I was confident until the semester ended.



 So, if you are thinking about returning to school, listen to what my instructor said and answer the question for yourself - does age take you down a notch in your education? Does life experience account for anything in a formal education setting?

She gave me a 100% on the hardest paper we have so far and said she rarely grades that high and only gave out two like it in her two classes. She said I totally got the book's meaning and assignment of interpreting it. She also said my oral presentation about the impacts on food packaging in our landfill had the best visual element she'd seen in either class. She loved it. My other instructor in Energy and Sustainability, a 3rd year level class, just lists scores and mine was at 94%. Am I saying this to toot my horn? NO! I am sharing this to back up what my friend (who just got her second degree) told me - "Just jump in and it will all come back to you." Even she started out with just one class. So go ahead, fill out that FAFSA - to get your financial aid and apply for school if it's in your dreams. Don't look back and wish you had - you can do it!

Hat's off to me?

Hats are "in".

Hat's are all the rage.

The cat looks great in a hat.

So my question is, "Why do I have to take my hat off in class?"

I mean, is it an exercise in humility for everyone to see my hair looking like I just got out of bed?  Here in Montana, a hat is crucial. On any given day you could be rained on, snowed on, sunburned, or windswept. Not to mention the below-zero temps. 

I decided to look into it. The Bible says in the Old Testament that women should cover their hair and men should not. The reasons were more to prevent other men from lusting after their wife.

Customs and courtesies of the military mandate that everyone take off their hat in the presence of a superior.

When I was a kid, the boys had to remove their hats indoors, but the girls didn't. (although if you tried to keep it on, surely someone would yank it off your head just to get a laugh - up through 12th grade)

I posted before about leaving my hat on in the cafeteria of  my son's intermediate school and the vice principal asking me to remove it.

My classmates in college wear hats in class - male and female alike.

I found one article on the web that discusses hat etiquette: Andy

I don't care about fashion or if people think I look good or bad in a hat. I don't care about what people think about me in public buildings in a hat, but school's a little different. I'd like to know, what's "correct" historically in the US, what's polite to my instructor, what sets a good example.  Have things changed in the 2000's? Even though I feel like I'm being rude, should I just do what I want and  be comfy in my hat whenever I feel like it?

Hat anyone?