A status update

An update on my life.

-I blogged a while back about looking for a new house. We have found one. It is perfect! It has lots of bedrooms and a dedicated office for Christ. AND it has hardwood floors! We are closing in the middle of December and we are hoping to sell our current house before then. Two mortgage payments seems stressful.

-I also blogged a while back about some of my frustrations as a teacher. I feel like I have more students this semester who choose to not care or not put forth effort. Especially in my second block. I also have a student in there who has decided I don't like her (which is not true). This is her second time in Spanish which means that she has seen it all before, and so she thinks she knows it all (which is also not true). She stirs it up and others follow her. Despite talking to her, her coaches, and her mom, she hasn't really let up. She was absent on Friday. It was a nice break. I hope that Chris and I teach Jim that education is important. I also hope we teach him to behave and be obedient. I have many students that do neither.

-Cheerleading. I cheered in middle school, high school, and in college. It was a huge part of my life. I coach basketball cheerleading at the school where I teach. When I was hired, things were not good: girls had quit, cursed at each other and the previous coach. My job was to keep things under control. I did that and have worked hard to try to establish a good reputation within the school. The basketball cheerleaders are totally separate from the competition/football squad. Their coach is a bully and intimidating. When I was first hired, I was told I was not subordinate to her, but despite her knowing that, she treated me as such. And after some tears and a conversation with the athletic director (AD) things got a little better. (Although the same conversation had to be repeated the next season.) Since I've been coaching, I've learned more and more. I learned that my squad was not on the uniform rotation, meaning we were never set to get new uniforms (we got hand-me-downs from the competitive squad). When I approached the AD about it, I was essentially brushed off. I talked to the principal and we got new uniforms. I'm also planning to step it up this year. I am sick of being seen as the red-headed step-child of sports at my school. And this other coach makes it worse. She makes comments to her squads about mine and intimidates her girls to not try-out for me. But no one will come out and tell me because they are afraid of her and the consequences of crossing her. It's frustrating. Sometimes I feel like the only sane one; I just hope all this will come out and people will see her for who/what she is. I also hope the administration, including the AD, will recognize that my girls are excited about cheering and have school spirit, unlike the competitive squad. (Sorry for the rant, but this whole thing is a source of great frustration and annoyance.)

-My son is totally adorable. He is incredibly smart. I love watching him engage with the world around him. His personality is also becoming more visible. Although he's laid back like my husband, he also has a sense of order, like me. He knows that everything has a place and wants to put everything somewhere. My husband took the trash out yesterday and left the trash can lid on the floor. Jim walked over to it and put it back on the can. He also loves to read. I appreciate his love for books and I hope it never diminishes.

-TV shows I'm enjoying: Community, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, Hawaii Five-O, Amazing Race, Project Runway.

I think that's about it. I hope to come back sooner than I did last time.

Sigh

Education has been in the headlines fairly consistently for a long time. People talk about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its ties with standardized testing. People also talk about poorly performing schools and bad teachers. People are outraged that bad teachers have tenure (good ones have it too). Most of the blame regarding the poor state of education in our country is blamed on teachers. And honestly, our hands are tied. We must administer these tests, and therefore must do what we can to make sure our students are prepared for them. However, some students cannot speak or read english, or have a mental disability preventing them from doing as well as other students. And although teachers have been saying these things for a long time, no one listens. And people started listening today because Matt Damon started talking. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that he's on our side, but he's saying exactly what teachers have been. Yet, the public listens to him because he's famous. Sigh. Maybe his words will spur change, because ours haven't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/matt-damons-clear-headed-speech-to-teachers-rally/2011/07/30/gIQAG9Q6jI_blog.html

Soap-box side-note: Part of what is so frustrating about all of this is that everyone has had teachers invest in them and encourage them and challenge them. So why can't people listen to them?

Floating

I've got a lot of posts floating around in my head.

I'd like to write sort of a tribute to the people in my life and the influence they've had on me, both positive and negative.

I'd like to write an update about my life. My son turned a year old this past week. It's crazy to think that he's only been in my life a year. I cannot imagine life without him. He is amazing. I can't wait to think how much more he's going to change in this next year.

I'd also like to write one about my current frustrations in teaching. We are approaching exams and although I have some wonderful students who care about learning, I feel like this semester I have many more who don't. It's frustrating that I prepare lessons and teach and answer questions and some rarely pay attention or take notes. And then we come to where we are now: a few days before finals. Kids start becoming concerned about whether they will pass the class. They learn they have somewhere between a 68-72 and inevitably tell me something like this: "If I do really well on the final, will I pass the class?" And depending on the day or my mood, my response is varied. But the reality is, that although the test is multiple choice, chances are they won't even make a 50. And do you know what's even worse? Many of these kids are very smart, yet they choose to waste their brain power and not pay attention. But they start caring at the very end, when it's (practically) too late. They also blame me. I recognize that they are 15 and (obviously) immature, but that doesn't mean their words don't hurt.

So, apparently, I wrote a blog about my current frustrations in teaching.

Ministry: What it is and what it should be

I am a teacher. Teaching is a part of me. I cannot imagine my life without teaching. I believe that teaching is something God has called me into and that is an area where my gifts lie. I work with 85 students a semester. I spend 90 minutes a day with them. I know what their favorite colors are, what kind of music they like, where they hang out on the weekends. I listen to them when they speak. I offer advice when asked. I make sure they are alright if they seem off. However, what I do is not considered ministry. Not officially, anyway. This is upsetting to me. In many ways I minister to more students in a day than some do in a year (or more) of youth ministry.

Unfortunately, I believe, because teaching is not recognized as ministry, many excellent teachers are going elsewhere because they feel they've been "called into ministry" and teaching isn't considered ministry by the church. I firmly believe that if the church recognized teaching as ministry and encouraged more people to become teachers, the world would quickly become a different place.

My prayer is that the church's definition of ministry will broaden to include those who are doing ministry exactly where they are and where God has called them to be. Then, I also believe, that then the kingdom of God will grow faster and larger than any of us could ever imagine.