My family had a fun 4th of July celebration together at Lake Carl Blackwell. It was weird being back there after having been away for a few months! The whole weekend in Stillwater led me to realize just how much I miss the town that was my home for 2 years! Even more than I miss the town itself, I miss my friends who still live there. Thankfully, Thomas and I were able to meet up with a couple of our friends at Finnegan's...it was great to chat and catch up! Our festivities were pretty great, minus the fact that OSU owns that lake, and they don't allow fireworks on the property. That meant that all of our fireworks watching was limited to what we could see from the clear spots along the shoreline. This was slightly disappointing since I love that party of this holiday so much, but such is life! We still had a great time, even if it was incredibly hot outside!!
Not long after returning from our excursion, I decided that it was high time for me to acquire the keys to my classroom. I was successful in this quest, and I'm so excited!!
In other relevant/exciting teaching news, I had a nice lunch with my new co-workers last week! I really enjoyed meeting everyone again in that context! I loved being able to talk candidly without the pressures of school bogging us down! One of the biggest things I enjoyed was having the opportunity to talk at length with a co-worker who is in her 2nd year of teaching. She gave me lots of wonderful insight, support, advice, and hints. I sincerely hope that she and I can become good friends! There's nothing like having another young face to make you feel more at ease! Having the wisdom of veteran teachers is great, but sometimes it can be daunting to seek their opinions, which makes having a younger peer a huge relief! On the whole, I'm still excited about this coming year and all that I'm about to experience...even if it'll be one of the must chaotic things I've ever pursued!!!
Another interesting thing happened the other day: for the first time in many years, I received a hand-written later from a dear friend of mine! I loved it so much! I always enjoy hearing from friends, but there's something extra special about someone taking the time to write a note and send it to you. Yes, I do believe letter-writing should make a comeback..I'm old-school like that :) I sent my reply yesterday...here's hoping we'll continue this trend!
For the last few months, the tub in my bathroom has been dripping. After some time of it dripping, my mom got the idea to put a cup beneath the faucet to catch the water. To our surprise, the cup filled up much quicker than we anticipated! A 16-ounce cup was overflowing by the end of the day...if that's not an eye-opener, than I'm not sure what is. After we started catching the water, we decided to use it for various things, like washing our hands. That amount of water was more than enough to finish that job. This continued for a few weeks, but when we left for the 4th of July, Mom decided to place a small plastic tub beneath the faucet that should accommodate the drip. When we came back, the tub was full. Because I was in desperate need of a shower, I decided to see just how far the water in the tub would go. It was just enough for me to wash my hair completely. That really opened my eyes to how much water was being wasted by a seemingly insignificant faucet drip! I've washed my hair multiple times like this over the past week. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but this helped me to realize that I can/should do a better job to conserve water whenever possible. As a society, we don't recognize the importance of clean, potable water and often pour it down the drain without a second thought. We could do so much more! (Today, a plumber came out to replace a corroded gasket from the faucet...a by-product of using mineral-rich well water...crisis averted!)
On a related note, I had a great talk with my cousin Evan a couple weeks ago. We talked about his aspirations to pursue his passion of landscaping and his overall goals. He told me that one of his biggest goals was to build a home in the side of a hill that utilizes geothermal climate control, has solar panels, runoff water barrels, a packed garden, and many other qualities to make it a sustainable living environment, where he could live "off the grid", so to speak. He talked about how people don't respect the earth and treat it like a big trashcan. Quite the observant nineteen-year-old, if you ask me. I'm really proud of him and his aspirations...he inspires me in many ways! Okay, off my soapbox now!
One of our friends from church has an apricot tree and called my mom just before the 4th, telling her that she had an abundance of apricots that needed a home. Because we enjoy fresh fruit, she brought home a large bag of apricots. After letting them ripen for a few days, Mom commissioned me to make an apricot pie. As you likely know by now, I LOVE baking and trying new things. Also, when it comes to pie, I have become a bit of a pie snob as of late. I have grown to enjoy making my own fillings from fresh or frozen fruits, as opposed to using canned fillings. (I still utilize them, but when I can, I REALLY like making my own!) I found this awesome recipe! Alas, I didn't snap a picture of my pie, but I can assure you it was delicious! The only change I would make for the next go round would be to add a little bit more sugar...those apricots were a bit tart! It was still a huge hit with my parents and Thomas :)
Ah yes, Thomas. How is he doing, you ask? Well, he is chugging along and continuing to work at the grain elevator. That job has been quite the experience for him, in many ways, but it has also been a good learning experience for him. I'm not going to lie, I have LOVED having him right down the road from me/with me all summer! This has really spoiled me and will, undoubtedly, be a tough transition once school starts and he heads back to Stillwater for his senior year. I mean, we'll see each other most every weekend once school starts back up, but it'll still be a big transition for us. Let's not dwell on that too much, or else it'll rob us of the joy of the present!
So what adventures have we been up to lately? Besides lake trips with my family, we made a ladder golf set, which I'm pretty proud of! It was an easy project that used PVC pipe/connections, some rope, and 12 golf balls. We had the majority of the tools and the golf balls on hand already, so that cut a few costs, but all in all, the materials only cost about $40, which isn't bad for a lawn game that'll last (hopefully) for many years! We used a set of plans that we found on this website. Really, we used the plans to give us an idea of a materials list and dimensions. We altered the dimensions a little bit, to give us less waste and a slightly smaller set (we decreased the 2' pieces to 1.5' or 1' sections...I could give you specific dimensions if you were curious). Ultimately, we plan to paint the set (OSU-themed, because, Go Pokes...obviously!), but for now, we're content with the simple set we have! It's provided us with lots of fun and laughs...maybe a few mosquito bites, too. It was fun to build something with Thomas!
As an aside, I should mention the near disaster that occurred post-construction. We used my dad's fancy big shed/power tools to make our set, and it was a typical July morning--humid and HOT. We opened up all of the doors to help keep air moving/provide natural light. As we finished up, we cleaned up our messes and put all of the tools away. The last thing we did was close all of the overhead doors. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the proximity of a 5-gallon bucket to the big door on the east side and it was caught beneath the door. Not a big deal, right? Well, the door went back up, so I moved the bucket and put the door back down, which was great...until I realized that the door stopped closing about 3 inches above the ground. NO!!!!!!!! I was in shock/terrified that I broke the door. Thomas examined it and determined that the pressure of the motor against the bucket bent the iron bar that connects the door to the drive chain. Like a prisoner heading to a death march, I went inside to inform Mom/tell my Dad over the phone, news which I knew wouldn't be well-received. I was nervous because that door easily costs upwards of $5000. Only for the grace of God, Scotty was able to come to my rescue (as usual)! Thankfully, the combine is tall enough/strategically parked so that he could stand on top of it and remove the bent bar and hammer it back straight...ish. I am happy to report that through Scotty's expertise, the door successfully closed! Reason #410 why I'm grateful for this great man my sister married!
Alas, more lesson planning beckons. I feel like sometimes I'm not making the content interesting enough, but at the same time, I'm there to teach not entertain...and it's math. Looking at blogs/Facebook group posts from other math teachers can be inspiring, but it can also be terribly demoralizing...seeing all of these high school math teachers who do so much cool stuff in their classrooms somehow seems unattainable for me. I suppose that stuff comes with time, but at the same time, I feel like other teachers can be a bit "judge-y" about teachers who primarily teach using traditional methods. Ideas for effective apps, ways to get around traditional homework, problem-based lessons for everything under the sun, lessons to make completing the square relevant, reasons why textbooks are awful, reasons why you should use interactive notebooks, methods for formative assessment (besides homework...). It's all overwhelming at times, and sometimes I have to pull myself away from social media and assure myself that it won't be the end of the world if I use the textbook for homework most of the time. It won't be the end of the world if the only technology I use is my SMART Board. Life won't grind to a halt if I teach like a traditional teacher. My students won't freak out if I don't use some publishing software to create cutesy, Pinterest-perfect classroom decor. It'll be okay. I'm my own type of teacher. It'll be okay. It'll be okay. It'll be okay!
Okay, much better now...Pray for me, people!!! I'm SO gonna need it!!!!
On that note, I'll end it here! Have a great week everyone!!! Stay cool in this oppressive heat!
You will need to use every single thing you can think of, or put your hands on, to teach these kids. They are tech minded people, as I'm sure you know. You should use tech as much as you can. That being said: there is that truth about 'putting it in your hands as well as in your head'. I believe that is always true. I remember thinking, when I was in school and taking lots of math, that working through problems was like playing the piano. (I was doing a lot of that at that time too.) Sometimes my brain would skip a beat, or seem to get bogged down, and my hands would know where to go next.
ReplyDeleteYou are teaching the young minds of 2015. Take my word for it: these young people have been raised in these times. I know, numbers stay the same, you can trust them, but people do not. Be courageous; be brave and confident (or they will rip you to shreds emotionally); be happy and helpful. It's math: not life or death. A good thing to remember.