I am who I am

As I get older, the idea of "I am who I am" should get easier to accepts. For me it is not.  I find myself second guessing what I am saying, wearing, my personality, and my weight.

I don't feel that most others are not going to accept me for me.  

I guess this comes from my lack of confidence. This is a goal of mine.  I am working on being myself and developing that confidence I see all around me. 

Forgetting what I do.....

 Sometimes I forget I am a special education teacher. 

If you don't know. Being a special education teacher sometimes puts you in a different category, even from others teachers. I still do the same things general education do.  I grade papers, plan lessons, communicate with parents, create a bridge from school to home, form relationships with each of my students, and so much more.  Special education teachers develop a different set of skills, we fine tune certain characteristics for the students we work with daily.  

When asked what I do I simply say, "I am a teacher."  I dislike the reaction I get when I answer the next question. "What do you teach?"  I really want to say "People/Kids", but if you know me, you know I would never say this. I always end up telling them "Special Education". This is when everyone says something along the lines of "you must have patience", " bless you", " my so and so teaches special education".  

The reason I don't like these comments is I don't believe I am any different than any other teacher.  A colleague put it perfectly when she said, "It's not a death sentence." 

This post went a different route once I started writing. I originally planned to talk about how excited I am to go listens to Temple Grandin speak and my colleagues didn't know her.  This was a realization that maybe I am a little different. ;) 

"Ready to Test Now"

I really do work with an amazingly talented group of people!  Today the students got to see a different side of many of their teachers.  One of my colleagues wrote new lyrics to a popular song to create an ISTEP video. 

In no way do I have this talent. I was lucky to stay behind the scenes and video a good portion of the video. My colleague did all the editing.  She really is talented!  

Get ready for a good time and watch our video. 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rq4VtVWyDY

Daydreaming

Oh summer, how I miss you!  After a long, busy, stressful, COLD day, I find myself daydreaming about SUMMER. 

I thought I would share some of my daydreams. 

       Lazy days at the lake.

        The fun of playing in the mud. This was after they cleaned theirselves. 

     Picnics

    Days at the Zoo

Last but not least.......

           The temperature 

Waiting by the phone

As I grew up, I was grandpa's favorite granddaughter. We won't talk about all of my cousins being boys. From this I had a great relationship with my grandpa. I never cared that the true reason I was his favorite was because there were no other girls. I have loved every chance I get to spend with him. 

Now that I have my own children, I have hoped they would be able to have the relationship I have with Grandpa. This past month, my mom took my youngest, K, to visit grandpa at his Florida house. While there K and Grandpa, they created an amazing bond.  They got to do all kinds of activities together.  Grandpa even began to ride in the backseat with his "Buddy" rather in the front to have a conversation with his daughter.  Grandpa took the time to teach, K, all kinds of fun things.  

Ever since K and mom got home, we have started getting a nightly phone call from Grandpa. He will politely ask how everyone is doing, then move on to his nightly conversation with his favorite two year old. 

This has become a part of our nightly routine.  Now K will get upset if he hasn't gotten his call for the day. 

Unproductive

Have you ever had one of those days where you have a long list of items to get done, but just don't feeling like doing a thing?  

Today was one of those days.  

I woke up knowing I needed to clean the house, pay bills, create a document for our homeowners association, cook three meals, prepare meals for the week, do laundry, make school lunches, plan for the week, create a binder for my new student teacher, and so much more. 

Well, what I actually got done was cleaning the house, prepared two meals, planned for the week, took a two hour nap, played with the boys, read my book, did some laundry, cleaned three hours of TV off the DVR, read to the boys, shopped online, and relaxed. 

The only things on my to do list that got completed were because my amazing husband and helpful little Q. 

Here's hoping this week will be more productive. 

Books, Books, Books

This school year, the language arts teachers, decided to challenge the students to read 40 books by the end of the school year.  Since the kids are working on this challenge, I am as well.  

The 40 Book Challenge has been an interesting journey.  I am a reader.  My husband has said that, "if there was an Olympic event made for you, it would be reading."  In the beginning of the challenge, I had trouble keeping up or staying on track. Then something happened when I was off work for break then all our lovely snow days, I have picked up that reading love that escaped me at the beginning of the school year. 

This book love leaves me empty once I finish a book.  Currently, I am on the search for another book. I am about done with my current book and have almost completed my To Read list. 

I thoughts would include a few books I have read recently.