Last night in Hays until August…
Tomorrow begins my little bittersweet journey home…with a glorious stop at the Upaya Zen Center where George is livin’. I cannot even begin to express the happiness. Family. Molly. Eli. East-coasters. I am so looking forward to visiting.
Hays, you’ve completely stolen my heart. Jess, Casey, and Sarah, I’m still not ready to say goodbye. See you soon!
My Mountain Lion Clan in our tie-dye, basking in last-day-of-school glory…featuring my arm blocking the ONE student I had to beg to get into the photo.
Love you all, little ones! It has been an incredible year of learning, growing, caring, and cowboy boots!
Where else?
I’m wearing Levi’s, cowboy boots, a tie-dyed tee, a flower in my braided hair, and beaded earrings on this lovely last day of school…It’s not a theme day, I think this is the culmination of a year of Montana teaching!
Class photos and last day festivities to come…
: )
Looking back with a big smile…
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
call to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
― Mary Oliver
I read this to my second graders on Thursday.
We talked about the colors they saw, the feelings they had…I am amazed everyday by the beauty of their gentle minds.
It’s been 5 weeks and they have stolen my heart. Completely. I tell them that everyday, even when they have their Second Grade Slip Ups.
So, Blooming Together, now that our little Hays home has internet, I’ll be catching up on my blogging and sharing. I have so many stories and moments to share that I’ll treasure always. This poem is the best way I can describe the heart and soul in my classroom over the past 5 weeks.
(via bloomingtogether)
August to May.
How far we’ve come.
The field trip today was a great one!
Except I forgot my camera…The ONE day of the school year I didn’t bring it! I think it was meant to be. I was too busy catching kids at the bottom of the water slide, preventing many ice cream disasters, and genuinely having a wonderful time with my class to take pictures.
So, friends and followers, I’ll be off of tumblr for the next two weeks. School ends on Tuesday, and I begin a journey back East in 10 days. There are 2 1/2 days left with my second grade class and a handful of days left with my co-teachers/friends/housemates. Straight up too emotional to blog. There’s much fresh air, Little Rocky life, and end of the school year happiness to enjoy.
Guess where I’m taking my 2nd graders tomorrow!
Disclaimer: I’m not a life guard. Does the mask give that away?
Michelle Maguire is paying $950 a month to park her RV in a farmers’ field two miles out of town – and that’s considered reasonable. Camper parking spots, with no utilities, rent for up to $1,400. Still it’s painful when she considers the farmer is making about $100,000 a year renting out parking spaces, and that she is paying as much to keep her family of four in a 44-ft trailer as she is to hang on to the family home in Montana. Milk is $6 a gallon, a shower at the local truck stop costs $10.
Q: Hi, I'm in grad school working on my elementary ed/masters degree. Then I'll start working on my ESL certification. How did you find yourself working out in Montana? With the way the job market is I may have to look for work outside my state. Is Montana hiring? ;^)
A:
I’m a volunteer teacher through JVC Northwest so I can’t tell you much about Montana schools hiring, but I know a lot of schools like mine on Indian reservations offer teachers housing, and your degree would be pretty welcomed!
Wow.
Wow. My housemates are probably tired of hearing “WOW” as I sit in the living room finishing up report cards.
But truly.
In August, more than half of my second graders could barely read. Many were reading about 3-8 words per minute with accuracy below 10%, and reading unhappily and with much frustration. I cried, I panicked, I talked to many loving, intelligent teachers, and many friends at home listened to every concern I had: “I am not qualified for this. I don’t have the experience”. But then. I taught. And for the past 9 months I have learned that illiteracy is not a problem to solve, but literacy is a lifestyle to grow towards and create an atmosphere for in the classroom. I mean it. I could not have woken up every school day to go “fix kids” and solve problems. Never. But I did wake up every day to read happily, teach enthusiastically, dance around the classroom, take a deep breath when things got tough, get creative, and smile, breathe, and go slowly.
So here I am now. I’ve fixed some problems with band-aids, glue sticks, elbow-grease, and frequent mediation. But my students reading ability is not something I solved, it’s something they’ve learned and I am so proud of them I “could just bust out cryin’” as they’d say. Every one of my students who could not read more than a few words in August has increased their words per minute by five or six times, and with about 90% accuracy. Those numbers impress me, but what is most important to me in their learning is that they are reading happily! They are reading aloud to the class. Reading in silly accents. Performing reader’s theater. Absolutely glorious. Reading is happening! The literacy lifestyle is just booming over here. Wow.
An excellent poster for any classroom or on an art trolley.
Everyday.
(Source: educationcreateshumanimagination)
