A New Adventure

Tomorrow is the day my new adventure begins. I am going to be a Library Media Specialist/Elementary Spanish Teacher this year. It is a brand new position for me. I am looking forward to all the new and exciting experiences that await me. I would like to think of myself as a bookpusher. Bookpusher - one who discovers appropriate, interesting and engaging books for each reader who comes her way. I also get to interest students in learning a new language.

With the start of a new year, I am going to make some new habits. I am going to get myself organized the night before. This will enable me to enjoy my mornings more. I am going to exercise in the morning. This will help me to wake up and get my day started on the right foot. I am going to be more deliberate about my weekends. This will help me to actively combat stress.

What are some new things that you are doing this year? New habits? How do you get to know your readers?

Nonfiction Monday

Nature's Fireworks: A Book About Lightning by Josepha Sherman

During the next storm this fall, see if you can identify the types of lightning in the sky. This book is a great way to teach what lightning is. It talks about the different types of lightning and illustrates what they look like. Thunder is explained in the book. The dangers of lightning are mentioned, as well. At the end of the book it gives some ideas of where to learn more. You can even make your own lightning by doing the experiment at the end of the book.

Running

I have been running since December. The lovely thing is that I have gone down two sizes. My original goal was to go down one more size but I had to readjust it to two. I recently discovered a fun site called Map My Run. I like the site because you can map your runs and keep track of them. You can also join challenges. I joined the Asics challenge to run 100 miles in a month. I started on the first of August. The best thing about the challenge is that you can win prizes. I think you can also map your bike rides and keep track of other types of workouts that you do. Check it out!

Kentucky Days

So, have you ever visited another part of the U.S. and felt like you were in a different country? My brother and I drove from Minnesota to Kentucky yesterday. It was a fourteen hour drive. At one point we stopped to eat and it was just very different. It reminded me of when lived in Georgia for three months when I was in third grade. Many time when we would be out somewhere others would be quiet when we talked. I remember distinctly one time when we were at the pharmacy I said something to my mom and the rest of the people got quiet. If one part of our country can be different from another, can you imagine being a student from another country in one of our classrooms?

Memoir Monday - Called to Teach

When I was young, I wanted to be a lawyer (they made the big bucks and I was good at arguing), a mom (what little girl doesn't), an astronaut (it is still a dream of mine to go to space camp some day) and a teacher (Thank you, Mrs. Soltow). As I went off to college, I would have to say that teaching won out. I began the program and took the dreaded Teaching 101 (I hated retaking that miserable class in my M.A. program). At our school the text was So, You Think You Can Teach. During that class, we had to do a clinical experience. I was so excited! My first time getting to be in a class. I met a teacher that didn't seem to want to have me there. I didn't really get to experience what a classroom was like. At the end of the experience, I got to interview this teacher. She basically told me that she did not like teaching. She had taught for the last twenty years and it was the only thing she could do. She completed the interview by advising me not to teach. I took her advice and decided to become a psychologist and promptly changed my major.

After graduating, my first principal recruited me to be one of her paraprofessionals. My response was negative. I was going to be a psychologist. She eventually hooked me by asking me which grad program I was in. When I couldn't answer her and had no idea where to even begin, she responded by saying that I could do this while I was deciding and applying for school. She made perfect sense. It wasn't an easy year. The job of a paraprofessional is hard and demanding. I have to say that it made me very aware of how hard they work. At the end of that year, she asked me to teach for her the following year. I jumped at the chance to have my own classroom. I taught prekindergarten on a variance for 8 years after that.

After teaching a few years, I went back to pursue my M.A. in Education to get my licensure. Teaching full-time and going to school was not easy. Last May I finished the program and graduated. This past year I subbed for three local districts and did two long-term sub positions. I am so glad that is over. This spring I signed a contract for a Library Media/Spanish position for the school that I taught prekindergarten for.

I can't imagine being not being a teacher. If you are in the job hunt right now, don't give up! Finding the place for you make take some time but it is well worth it!

First Day of Class Questionnaire

I am thinking about doing some type of a questionnaire for the first day of library. I thought this would be a good way to get to know my readers.

Questions I am going to include:
What is your favorite book? Who is your favorite author? What type of books to you like? What is the last book you read? About how many books did you read over the summer? What would you like to learn about? What do you enjoy? What are you interested in?

What do you do to get to know your learners?

This Fall

I am going to be doing something different this fall. I have taken a position as a Library Media Specialist. My schedule will rotate weekly between teaching research skills and Spanish. It will definitely be a change but I am looking forward to it!