A Nice Weekend

It has been a nice family weekend. Even with the 3 hours I spent at school this morning, it has been a nice weekend. I supervised my sophomores at Saturday school today because it desperately needed to be assigned to students who were way behind on their outside reading. It was okay though. I brought Tiana with me, since I wasn't officially working. They clearly miss me, which feels good and makes me look forward to going back. I had fun with them. I made them read pretty much the whole time, but I gave them two "breaks" to come gather around my desk and listen to me do a dramatic reading of a short story. During the first break, I read Langston Hughes "Thank You, M'am." I thought I would never want to read that story again after an LAUSD prescribed unit I had to teach when I was student teaching that made me way over analyze that story with students who so were not interested. But I guess I got over it, because I enjoyed reading it today. In the second break, I read "The Hand" by Guy de Maupassant. Now THAT is a good story. One that makes you get chills and giggles, all at the same time. Many of the kids made great progress in the books that they were reading, and they can all test on the 2 stories I read them, which at least will be something. I love seeing kids get into reading, especially reluctant readers. I'm still crossing my fingers that I can actually get my super awesome book ownership project funded. Only $1312 left to go! It sounds like a lot, but to many people, it's not, so I'm hoping one of those people comes across it and likes it.

Meanwhile, Vinny and Daddy had a nice father son weekend. They went to Lowe's for Vinny's 3rd build and grow workshop. They made a really cute snowman picture frame. Much props to our good friend Katrina for telling us about these workshops. Vinny LOVES them. He wants to wear his Lowe's builder apron all the time. Which reminds me, I need to sew his patches on it before he loses them.

I met up with the boys and my in-laws for lunch, and then went out with my oldest (meaning longest, not age) friend, Janelle. We've been friends since I was 9. That's a long time. I love her to pieces. Our relationship is different than my relationship with other friends for some reason. Like, both of us do go out at night and stuff, but for some reason, not usually with each other. Lately, we do a lot of lunches and coffee dates. She still has a young fun spontaneous life, and I so rarely get to be spontaneous, so that's okay. She's still one of my best friends, because when we sit down to chat, the hours just fly by.

For dinner, we had a quiet family night at home with take-out and redbox. There is this new Italian place in town called "The Boot." Second time we have tried it and we were not disappointed. It is EXCELLENT. The food is fantastic, high quality, and unique. You can tell the pizzas are homemade because the crusts are not perfectly symmetrical. And the prices are by far the best in town. Everything is under $6! Totally not kidding. If you live here and haven't tried it yet, you really, really, really should, even if you live on the other end of town. It is that worth it.

Tiana is going through a growth spurt. She ate constantly today and for long, long stretches. She was eating for like 15 minutes at a time, but today it has been like 30 minutes at a time, and she just doesn't seem full for very long. I read on the LLL website that this is normal, and as empty as my breasts feel, I just gotta keep letting her go at it so that my body realizes she needs more and makes more at each feeding, so it gets better.

Looking forward to next week, even though I have so much to do. Making cupcakes for Thanksgiving and I found some new recipes I am going to experiment with. Possibly a marshmallow creme frosting like a hostess cupcake.

Every day I hear about someone new who reads my blog that I didn't expect. People I know, but never hear from. Because only a handful of people comment, I sort of forget that so many people read it. Sorry it is so hard to comment right on here. I have it set to accept no anonymous posts to avoid spam. I'd like to make my blog just more viewer friendly in general, utilizing the tags and whatnot, but I'm not very good at that stuff. If any savvy bloggers, want to come over some day and teach me, I'd love to learn.

Welcome to My Blog

I have always found that the stuff that happens in my life and in my classroom is rather interesting, and the stories I share when I go out to dinner with my friends often lead to dropped jaws, so I thought, "Hey, I should start a blog about it!" And so I have...

I am a full-time high school teacher at a charter school in the L.A. area. I teach 5 classes of English, one class of theater arts, and one class we call advisory, which is basically a class about helping these teenagers survive and thrive in high school. I absolutely love my job, and I know it is what God created me to do. Nowhere have I found more satisfaction in life than I do in teaching these wonderful kids!

I am also a mom. I have a precious three-year old son named Vinny. He is the light of my life. Although I love my job, I have to admit there are times I just live for weekends and breaks which I get to spend with Vinny. He is incredibly clever and delightfully entertaining.

I have titled my blog "140 kids" because in any given semester I have about 140 students on my roster, and in many ways I feel like they are all "my kids." There is something about the bond between a teacher and her students. It is not exactly like parenthood, but there are many similarities. I have caught myself many times saying something along the lines of "One of my kids ________" or "Oh yeah, my kids really like that..." It's hard not to refer to them as "mine." Sometimes, I think that this is an unfair comparison for me to make, because far more work goes into parenting than goes into teaching. When you are a parent, you get the good, bad, and the ugly, and there is no office to send them down to when things get really bad; however, you really can't be a great teacher unless you care about them as individuals and take some personal responsibility for their learning and overall well-being. In that way, yes, they are all my kids.

In short, I teach 140 mostly minority students in a high-poverty school, while also trying to be a good wife and mom. If you think this will be interesting to read about, then please, follow my blog! I promise never to sell out to shameless product endorsements for money.