New Direction

This summer is looking promising, especially compared to last summer, which involved a lot of working for school that did not involve monetary compensation of any sort.

I considered getting a job for the summer.  The thought of having another income while still getting paid by school was really enticing.  But then Spring semester happened, and I'm just barely hobbling along to the end of the semester--the burnout is hitting me hard for this year.  On top of that, the precarious position all teachers in Texas have found ourselves this year has been a stressful struggle.  Texas lawmakers are dumbasses.  At any rate, the uncertainty about my job status came during a time in which I was already considering a career shift, perhaps a change altogether.  The thing I enjoy most about my job is creating well-designed, research-based materials for my students.  And I've basically designed two textbooks this year.  When I stop and think about it, it's absurd.

Anyway, I've been considering a shift to textbook development/design because I have the skill set, the education, and the creative knowhow/ability to do it and do it well.  The only issue is getting a little more relevant experience to make that shift.  Thus, I am taking a vector graphics class this summer, and probably going to take a graphic design basics class in the fall.  I took that stuff as an undergrad as part of my art minor, but it has been a while, and now the information would have more relevance to my life, rather than just being random classwork.  I'm super excited about it all!  I'll share some of my work here as I go along this summer.  There are two major textbook companies here in town, and several small educational companies that create online learning programs.

Additionally, last year I had planned that I would make and sell lots of fun stuff on Etsy...and then reality hit and dissolved those plans.  So I'm renewing it and will be preparing a shop-full of items and opening the store at some point this summer.  Definite updates will be posted later, as well as sneak peeks of items to come!

And one last fun thing for you: I started playing the ukulele earlier this year!  Isn't she lovely???

I am in love with this instrument!  I've had a guitar for a number of years, and I couldn't really get into it, but I can't put the ukulele down!  I have a good little routine of songs at this point, adding to it everyday. Perhaps I'll share some with you this summer ;)

feather-brained!

My favorite book is Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.  Magical realism is by far my favorite literary device, and this book is just overflowing with it.  I recently started reading it again.

My favorite character in this book is a parrot that talks as a human would--he is clever and witty, and truly is a central character.  If I were a character in a book, I'd want to be him.  So I researched parrots, and what I found made me smile!  This is actually one of my long-time favorites:

 By Clarence Edward Zuelch. I really liked the nondescript face/beak of the pastel by Zuelch; I've noticed in other photos and artworks of parrots that the beak and eyes always seem to turn out menacing and grotesque.  It's no judgment of the artist, but parrots don't have faces that are easy to paint.  It seems leaving them nondescript is the only way for them not to look strange or cartoony.

I love this painting (that I can't seem to find an artist name for other than the one in the link, kristen byers? can't seem to tell if that's just the person who blogged about it).  It's electric!  Exploding with energy, I just can't stop looking at it.  There is so much movement in the lines.

One more.  This one is adorable, but not cutesy--with the parrot all fuzzled and nestled in its own feathers (artist  Nkolika Anyabolu):

I just love it when animals do adorable things without meaning to.  It's something humans find more challenging (the unintentional part, that is).  Well, and humans are generally less fuzzy than animals, which automatically means animals win.

So I hope you enjoyed these random parrots!  They are great works of art!

Helloooo again...

It has definitely been a while.  Second year of teaching has far surpassed first year of teaching in stress overload.  I really set the bar high for myself this year, and I've been teaching a new class, so it has been kicking my butt for 10 months.  Nevertheless, I am seeing that light at the end of this tunnel, and baby it looks good!

Anyway, due to my workload, many of my "projects" since August have been creating materials for my classroom that are, frankly, not something I should really be doing for this salary.  The time, thought, etc., that has gone into them just was a bit overboard.  For that reason, I am officially going to try to go the route of textbook development/design, which will still involve me teaching for a few more years.  I'm going to start with some graphic design classes this summer (it has been quite a while since my last one), and perhaps some type of editing.  I have the education background, and I've been essentially developing my own curriculum--in some cases for lack of organization of the existing curriculum, in others because the textbook materials are not based on current research.  So there!  I'm extremely excited about getting back in some art classes!  Considering a ceramics class too :)

I have, of course, found some time for projects along the way this year.  Jeff and I moved in December to a much more awesome abode, which left a bit more space for a few new pieces of furniture.  I rarely buy new furniture, so here is the stereo/record cabinet we bought:

We got it for dirt cheap at a thrift store.  Someone had removed the old stereo--though we're not sure if they wanted the stereo itself and not the cabinet or wanted to put a different stereo inside it.  It was strange.  Anyway, we were very happy with the situation because we had a vintage stereo/turntable/speakers that had no home.  It was a surprisingly difficult project (they really used to make furniture well!), but it turned out amazingly well:

We are quite pleased with it!

And also, we found ourselves in need of a hutch of some sort to store all the dishes/barware we got for wedding gifts (2 years ago, yikes), so we found a delightful piece with an undesirable paint job at a different thrift store just days later.  We had to sand it:

Added some much-needed wood glue:

Then a few coats of semi-gloss black, and here she is (not a great quality photo, unfortunately):

That's all for now.  I hope to update more often now that school is about to end for a little while.

Babies are Fun to Make Stuff for

A friend of mine had a baby, so I made a little gift for him.  First, a card of congratulations for mom and pop:

And for the wee man, a delightful little owl bib.  I want to make a punny owl joke here, but I'm going to resist.  They're all over-the-top.

How sweet is that kid???

Not ready for a mini-me yet, but I do want all of my friends to have kids so I can make cute stuff for them.  Why do babies look so adorable in animal-inspired anything?

New Goals

I'm currently working on a few new goals:

1. Crafting - I plan to "open" my Etsy shop as soon as I can, and I have a goal of making at least $500 in the next year by selling hand-made items.  I will post when the store is officially open.
2. Fitness - I'm currently working to lose some weight (already 5 pounds down!) and stay a bit more healthy--possibly even run a half-marathon in November.  Would say "definitely" instead of "possibly," but I am having some foot pain that is not good.
3. Finances - We're saving money this year for a house. I do not look forward to the lean budget, but if it means we can do whatever we want to our place and it add value to our own property instead of someone else's, I can handle it for a year.
4. Teaching - I want to have the first 6-weeks term planned, created, and copied before school starts.  For both classes I'm teaching.  Ambitious, but possible.  And so worth it.

That's all.  Sort of.

I just have to say, also, I find it amazing how mothers know everything.  I love and hate it at the same time.  My mother is great, and I appreciate when she surprises me with wisdom about things I never knew life would throw at me.  I'm a lucky daughter.

Becoming a Better Teacher

I recently went to the AVID Summer Institute in Dallas.  AVID is (as most things I've encountered since moving to Texas) an acronym, and it stands for "Advancement Via Individual Determination."  It's a great program for those middle-of-the road students who, with adequate support, could be A or B students.  This year marks the 30th year of the program, and it is an achievement worth celebrating.

I must say, in learning more about AVID, I wasn't surprised by any of the activities, really.  I even knew of the research they stemmed from and could see that in how they were structured.  I do, however, think AVID is one of the best systems I've seen for disseminating effective, research-based activities and systems to the population of practicing teachers.  One issue I've noticed, specifically in the field of foreign language education, is the gulf between the body of researchers and those who are actually doing the teaching in our schools.  AVID has expanded to have specific "strands" for subject areas; you learn with other teachers of your subject how to implement AVID strategies in your classroom (i.e., teaching note-taking, levels of questioning, and utilizing graphic organizers, etc.).  Essentially, I spent 4 hours a day for a week with other foreign language teachers learning about these activities and even practicing them as a group.  And what an experience it was to network and discuss with other educators.

I'll be teaching Spanish I again next year, but adding Spanish II to the mix.  I look forward to the coming school year, but I must say I'm getting a little tense about having activities and such ready for the start of term.  As of about July 20, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in my classroom preparing things.  I just have to move and pass a certification test between now and then.  Wonderful.

on completing a year of marriage

Jeff and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and it was a wonderful day. We took a long hike with our dog,

...spent the afternoon watching a movie and napping, made dinner together (spicy crawfish alfredo with asparagus; also, the top layer of our cake froze well and was delicious!),

...and then got out paper and glue sticks and made each other cards for our paper anniversary. It was delightful, and I wouldn't change a thing about it!

Despite all the horror stories about the first year of marriage, we have both thoroughly enjoyed this year. In many senses we realize that it has been the hardest for us--I've been in my first year of teaching (whew!) and Jeff has been finishing up a second degree, so our income hasn't been stellar, but we've really pulled together and found ways to enjoy life on the cheap. Having a dog has actually helped us in that regard, oddly enough.  Here's a picture from a recent camping trip...

We look forward to our second year of marriage, which we also know will have its own joys and challenges.  Jeff will begin his PhD in Physics at UT in the fall, and I will be teaching both Spanish I and Spanish II.  We're hoping to save enough money in just one year to be able to buy a house and stop throwing away money on rent; between Jeff's income from being a student (science is where the money's at) and me not having to pay my Alternate Certification Program obscene monthly payments, our budget will be just right to save to buy a nice place, hopefully.  Keep your fingers crossed ;)

School Fun

Teaching has some pretty awesome perks, a few of which you'll never find a match for in other fields. My favorite of these is most certainly student doodles. I recall spending an entire class period doodling at times, simply because it actually helped me focus. I even told some of my teachers that because I was afraid they would think I was rude. I have started taking pictures of my students' doodles, and at this point I have accumulated quite a collection...

The Mutant looking octopus :[

The elaborate...anime warrior-ess?

A collection of lyrics:

An elaborate athlete:

A reference to the mustache I sometimes wear while I greet students in the hallway between classes:

And my personal favorite that I would love to have made into a T-shirt, the I ♥ Spanish Octopus:

Awesome.

Saturday Project - New Deluxe Doggie Bed

My dog has a terrible habit of chewing his bedding, which Jeff and I have found impossible to break--mainly because he never does it at night, but rather only when we are gone during the day. We typically leave him a treat-and-peanut-butter-filled Kong and several toys in his crate when we leave, but his go-to is his bedding, for some reason.

We started by buying him reasonably-priced ($30-$40) doggie beds, and it became a trend that we would come home (sometime after a short trip to the grocery store) to find Tanner nestled in a pile of fluff, a deflated fabric shell shoved to the side. After he chewed through 4 beds, we decided to get him a couple of pillows and a comforter from the thrift store--all for the low price of $10. ...And of these three items, one died for each of the three consecutive days following their arrival to maison du Tanner. We finally bought one last bed and were only putting it in his crate during the night, which we decided was our best solution to the problem. We continued that way for a few weeks successfully...until Jeff forgot to take the bed out one day. Without fail, it was destroyed when we returned.

Because I am my mother's child, I saved the batting from each of Tanner's casualties, and we've had about 6 garbage bags of batting stuffed into our guest room closet for quite a while. For my Saturday Project, yesterday I broke down and made a bed for Tanner out of some scrap fabric and 3 bags of the old batting:

He wasn't sure about it at first because it is extremely thick and fluffy; I think he was afraid he would fall off :) But he got settled in before long...
And it fits perfectly in his crate! Problem solved! Hurray for Saturday projects!

So far Tanner has slept happily on it for one night...although there was a button missing this morning...who knows where we'll find it. And hopefully I won't have to replace all of them. We'll see how this goes.

Minor update

I never have time to do anything but teach/grade/plan anymore (I find myself frequently asking, "Is it thanksgiving yet?"), so I will offer an enumerated list as my update.

1. Teaching is still awesome. Went to the Texas Foreign Language Association fall conference last week and got a nice break from being in the classroom, as well as some great ideas for when I got back. I have already used some of them.

2. I want an iPhone. My Verizon contract isn't up for another 6 months. *frown*

3. Jeff's grad school applications are coming along. He took the GRE and made an obscenely high score. Yes, I am a linguist and he outdid my score on the verbal section, and yes, I am completely okay with that. He finds out his Physics GRE scores this weekend. Our collective fingers are crossed.

Christmas crafty projects to come later. Being a teacher in a lean economy means extra creativity at holiday time.

Okay. There's probably more. But that's the end. Deal with it.

Hello hello

It has been a while since I posted anything on here, mostly because I've been going at a breakneck pace since school started. Even though I've worked 12 hours in one day on more than one occasion, I must say...

I love teaching high school.

High schoolers are nuts. Think about it, they have exponentially more hormones and energy than they know what to do with, and we're asking them to sit in a classroom for 90 minutes with 25--28 of their peers (who are also nuts) and chill out while they learn. Ha! Right. I teach Spanish I, so in addition to having the normal craziness of high schoolers, I have a lot of students who are there only to fulfill their language requirement, not necessarily because they are dying to learn Spanish. And I have a lot of freshmen/sophomores. Essentially, calling the range of maturity and motivation in my classes broad is an understatement.

But finding a way to make it work is challenging, and I'm always up for a good challenge. My goal for this year is that the ~180 students I teach leave my class prepared for Spanish II--and that their education will not reflect that I am a first year teacher. So far, I have learned quickly and constantly, things like having "sponge" activities ready for when 2nd period inevitably finishes the lesson 15 minutes before all my other classes. Or how much note-taking the kids can take before they zone out. And how much they don't enjoy note-taking in general.

I would have to say the most important lesson I have learned in the classroom is to keep it fun. Especially with the variation of motivation among my students, this is vital. But not only for the sake of their learning, but for the sake of my sanity. When my students have fun, I have fun and giggle with them. When I have more fun, I love my job even more. Friday we played a game with vocabulary, and I actually overheard a student say, "This is the most fun game I have ever played in a class before." My day was made by that comment, and I left school Friday energized, despite my lack of rest. Note-taking and grammar are inevitable parts of learning a language, but there has to be something to keep the kids interested. And it will work for some of them more than others, but it will give them a positive view of your class for the effort. And it will let you have fun with them, which is a great way to build a relationship with students.

I'm a rookie, but learning. I love being a teacher. Just watch out when I have on my sombrero...

Wow

I had forgotten what real life was like. --And I don't just quite yet know it either, but I have lately started to feel the relief that it is about to start again. I have had a love/hate relationship with grad school for the past two years, mostly because I have tried to squeeze far too much into too little time. But today I received the email that my graduation application had been approved. And I'm writing the conclusion to the thesis I've been working on all summer. As of August 17, I will officially be a Master of the Arts, as awarded by one of the top-10 graduate programs in education in the country. Thank you, Texas, for a rigorous education.

On top of the relief of finishing a demanding chapter of my academic career, I was offered (and accepted) my first teaching job last week. I am a high school Spanish teacher, and I am flooded with all the excitement and terror that go along with that. I am thrilled by the opportunity to teach. And from what I hear, Cedar Park High School is a great place to work. Jeff bought me roses and we went to The Alamo Drafthouse (our favorite date spot) to watch a movie to celebrate the occasion. We met up with our good friends Christina and Geoff for additional merry-making.

Oh, and I finally legally changed my name today (added my new last name, moved my old one to the middle, effectively giving me four names and the longest name in history), and I will be getting my first out-of-home-state license made tomorrow.

Aaaaand Tanner graduated from puppy school last week.

Isn't he great?

So there. Life is grand.

On the DIY Wedding

As I have blogged about before, I recently (May 30) got married, and we got the photos from the photographer yesterday. He took some great shots of some of the decorations that we made ourselves, so I thought I might share some of the things I learned through planning our wedding.

We had our wedding in my grandmother's yard, overlooking the bayou in Moss Point, MS. For that reason, we had a lot of work to do ourselves in preparing things. We also took on other tasks ourselves to save money and personalize them more.

Tip #1 - Order your own flowers. You can save a lot of money ordering them through Costco or Sam's, and they were beautifully fresh and on time, two important factors.

Tip #2 - Personalize everything. The more like you the wedding is, the more fun people will have; after all, they are there because they love you. If the wedding reflects you in every detail, everyone will feel at ease to relax and celebrate.

Tip #3 - Let your attendants be themselves. Along with the personalization theme, I asked my bridesmaids to choose a black dress that they would feel beautiful in (it was cocktail hour, so it didn't look overly morbid). I gave them matching black jellies and simple rhinestone jewelry to unify their attire, and they looked great. Plus, they ended up being "stuck" with a new little black dress (can't have too many of those) instead of something they didn't really like.

Tip #4 - Consider your guests. True, it's your day, but that doesn't mean your guests have to be uncomfortable or bored. For example, we knew it would be warm, so we gave our guests raffia fans. We ordered them from an online vendor and added personalized ribbons. We (ahem, I) also hand-wrote the thank-you tags on the favor baggies to let our guests know we were really glad they were there.

Another way to consider your guests: your music. I know you don't typically listen to the same music as your grandmother or that weird cousin from Kentucky, but there is a lot of music that is commonly-known and -loved among social circles like the family and friends who will be at your wedding. If you actually want your guests to dance, you have to give them the right music to do so, whatever that may be. For our family it was Oldies/Motown and Classic Rock; we rented a sound system and used iTunes to create a playlist and just let it run (money saver!). And I can't tell you how many compliments we got from our guests about the "great" music. If you have a DJ, you can give him/her a specific playlist.

Tip #5 - Relax. Two ways: plan down time, and have a relaxed attitude.

Planned fun: We planned plenty of activities for our wedding party because we knew we would be needing their help finishing up the wedding and wanted to provide lots of fun times to show our thanks. We had a joint couples party in lieu of a bachelor/bachelorette party and went together with all of our attendants for a night out; we hired a party bus to cart us around from place to place and simply had fun together. The guys all went canoeing the day before the wedding while the ladies enjoyed a sunny brunch. Luckily, my parents have a pool at their home, so we also spent after hours swimming and chatting pool-side.

Attitude: I'm not unwilling to allow plans to change, and I found that flexibility helped the preparations for the wedding move more smoothly. Things are going to go wrong; expect it so you don't go nuts when it happens. Just say, "It's fine," and rest assured that it really is. Our photographer (the wonderful Joey Miller of Memphis-based Interrobang Photo) told me that out of all the weddings he had been to, ours was the most relaxed he had ever seen. That's what we were going for. As blessed of a once-in-a-lifetime event as a wedding is, it is also a celebration, so have fun and everyone else will, too.

There you go, my list of recommendations.

That's all!

Good things come to those who wait

Jeff has had this oversized King Kong poster forever, and we haven't been able to find a frame that would fit it for cheaper than $150. We thought that was an absurd amount of money to pay to frame a poster, so we decided to wait and try to come up with a solution on our own.

Well, in a recent thrift store trip, I saw this interesting doctor's-office-esque print...

I painted the frame, cleaned up the plexiglass, and voilà! It's perfect!

Good things come to those who wait.

Fascinating

From Mantle-Bromley (1992), Preparing Students for Meaningful Culture Learning:

Guioria [1972] and his colleagues have examined subjects' language egos, studying the relationship between subjects' sensitivity to cues in interpersonal situations (empathic capacity) and their ability to reproduce a foreign language. They found the degree of subjects' authentic pronunciation (which is psychologically the most difficult language behavior to manipulate) was significantly related to their empathy. Language ego, the personal egoistic nature of language learning, play such a part in each student's ability to take on new behaviors that it determines, in part, whether a student will succeed in the language class. (121)

Date-iversary

Last Thursday was the anniversary of my first date with my [new] husband, Jeff. He decided it was a proper occasion for flowers:

...and delicious dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date, Thai Noodle House:

Afterward, we took a walk and enjoyed...the stifling heat of Texas. We like being married so far :)

Healthcare and how individuals can help

Something you may already know about healthcare, but is good to read, here.  And another article about how to cut your own costs here.

If you don't want to read it (lazybones), at least read this:

Doctors are afraid of being sued. Does that contribute to excessive treatment?

Fear of malpractice suits is universal among physicians. It's sometimes a legitimate reason to order tests, and it's sometimes an excuse.

How can a patient keep from being subjected to all these needless tests and procedures?

You should go to your doctor with an attitude of healthy skepticism. And don't be afraid to ask questions. Do I really need this CAT scan? Do I really need to go to a specialist? If you don't feel as if you've gotten adequate answers from your doctor, go to another doctor.

Medicare is soon going to bust the U.S. budget. Could the changes you are talking about prevent that?

If you reduced expected spending growth in Medicare by one percentage point per year below where it is now, you would save over $1 trillion over the next 15 years. Medicare goes from the red to being in the black.

Could the cost savings be enough to enable us to insure everyone?

If we fixed the way we deliver care so that doctors are rewarded for providing good care at low cost, we could afford it. We have an incredible opportunity to make American medicine the envy of the world, and cover everybody. 

Laughing With

This is the video of the song "Laughing With" by one of my favorite female musicians, Regina Spektor.  She just released this new album last week.  What do you think of the lyrics? (Read them here)

A Weekend Project

Last week I found two matching milk glass lamps at the thrift store (I wish I had taken this picture before I got rid of the lampshades; they were absurd and ruffly):

So I took the lamps apart, cleaned all the pieces...

...painted all the metal and plastic pieces...

...replaced the wiring, bought some nice lampshades, put it all back together, and came out with a set of lovely, one-of-a-kind lamps to add to our humble abode:

Between the cost of the lamps, new wiring, and lampshades, they ended up costing ~$20 each. Hurray for great Goodwill finds and weekend projects!

A cost-saving tip I learned during this project: check in the electrical supplies of the hardware store for pieces like the actual light socket. I found the plug/wire in the lighting department, and the sockets there were about $2 more than they were in the electrical department.