Teaching with kids, living on coffee

  Things have been crazy around out here.  I switched districts and found an AMAZING team and found my home.  I also moved and had my mother-in-law and sister-in-law move in with us as well.  Adjustments over the last school year have been mainly positive consisting from my running one half in August of last year to having to having done my 3rd of this year in June.  I have at least two more planned and goals on improving my times and health.  The school year was tough overall and a larger part of it was due to a lack of accountability, yet my team bonded and strengthened throughout the year.  The struggles this year have had me seeking solace in my house and my books as a way to handle the stress and pressure of the constantly performing required from being an educator.  Winter break had me not leaving my house A LOT, and I will honestly say that the first couple of days after the school year was over I holed up and avoided people.  I have set a goal for book reading this year, thanks

      The first of January 2022 has brought several life changes for me.  I stopped drinking soda which is a HUGE switch for me.  Plus I switched to a plant based diet (eating as little meat as possible) and I have made the promise to my health both mental and physical.  I have a lot of health issues prominent on both sides of my family and my father died young due to his unwillingness to change his dietary habits.  I am now 40 and I no longer want to subject my body or my family to the risks of poor dietary habits.  Im about two or three weeks into this change and I feel better.  Its not just food that I have changed as well.  My mental health is better due to my listening to a full body relaxation meditation as I am going to sleep.  I am hoping to get into a routine or checklist to also incorporate a morning meditation as well and possibly some yoga.  Moving around more is also a goal.  All of this so far has not been too difficult to achieve and I have honestly felt better and more

      As I sit here typing this I have just inhaled a cheese stick (first thing I have eaten today) and I am waiting on the PBJ that my little one has asked for repeatedly while her nails are drying.  Since its Winter Break, things should be relaxed right?! Wrong, I feel more pressured then ever to get everything done and organized before I go back to work.  There are presents to wrap and send out, plus I have to finish wrapping the presents for under our tree.  And all of the other things that are waiting daily to be taken care of ... WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF BEING A TEACHER MOM.     So my body has started to quietly tell me that I need to balance.  Balance is hard for everyone right? I mean there wouldnt be so many people screaming about balance if it were easy right?! I have kind of ignored all that screaming and relaxed every once in a while, except now my body is no longer quietly demanding it is SCREAMING from the tops of the mountains out here in Colorado that I need to balance a

 There are few things that truly drag out time, any sort of painful experience such as labor halts the actual slow passes of time as the minutes, hours, and breaths before teachers and students go on a break.  I am convinced that it is an actual level of Hell, and teachers are doing penance for some grievance in a past life.  I am showing movies this week while allowing my students to work on a short story assignment and even with the laid back attitude in class, I am struggling to hold my temper and counting down til break.  I honestly enjoy these kids and what I teach but maybe its that we all want to get out of here just as badly as the other does but ugh! We are all on edge.  I ordered Christmas presents for my nieces and nephews to arrive before Christmas but the rest of my family will need to wait because I honestly dont know when I will be able to get to the Post Office, and I still need the time to make several of the gifts to send to my family.       I have several lists for t

       As I am typing this dealing with a loooooonngggg week  in December, I am still happy and like where I am. Teaching 7th grade English at a charter school that focuses on Classical education approach, I am happy and enjoy my students even when dealing with the frustrations typical of teaching.  This year has still been hard thanks in part to Covid and also there has been restructuring with administration and teachers.  That part of it has been the most stressful and yet I find myself considering things I would do with certain changes,  any one who know me knows I am a planner.  The best part is I have shared some of my ideas and others think my ideas are a good as well.  This is once again inspiring my to plan and get ideas ... I am now thinking of trying to help work on curriculum  for the school.  Going around to the teachers and sort of set up a curriculum guide slash pacing plan.  Also look for other solutions to implement what the underlying goal is for the students to learn.

       The dreaded interview process.... (excuse me while I go scream my lungs out).  I have high anxiety and and struggle when things are not in my control so the fact that I do not have a position locked down next year is a cause for hyperventilating for me.  I have had three interviews this week and I am hoping that I will hear something back from them. I also applied to several places that I have not heard back from yet either and that is also a source of anxiety for me as well.  I suffer from a lack of self confidence and that definitely comes across in my interviews.  So many times I have been on the verge of panic attacks because my nerves get the better of me.  My first interview of the week was in this manner.  Ironically it was at the school I had been teaching at so that should have given me less anxiety right? Wrong.  I wanted to prove myself, I prepared over the weekend, but I got thrown from my comfort zone  before the interview and then it went downhill from there.  I ki