Friday, April 6, 2012

Book Club Idea!

This has been on my mind for a little while now. I knew it was something I really wanted to do, but I was worried that with not very many followers, I would struggle to get enough people involved to make it work and last. However, I thought I would go ahead and explain what I would like to try, and then I will see how many people are interested, and if some of my wonderful followers would be willing to post something about it on their blog to possibly get more people involved.



Anyway, here is how it will work:
I would make a new blog in order to run the book club. It would just be a place where y'all could check in and see where we were in the current book, what we would be reading after that,  and have discussions after we are done reading. We might do some questionnaires about the books, just to see what y'all liked best and didn't like. Those you would be able to post on your blog, or you could make a blog just for the book club. However you would want to do it!

In order to pick the books we would read, I would post a few lists and you could choose your top two favorites. The list that got the most votes would be the one we would do. We could decide as a group how long we want to take on each book since people will have different schedules and what not. 

Anyway, it's really just an idea that I would really like to try out. So, if you think you would be interested in taking a part in the reading club, please just leave a comment letting me know, along with your blog or some way for me to get in touch with you.

Also, if you are a follower or just super awesome, and you would be willing to post about this and link your followers to my site that would be amazing!

-Tiffany

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

My day was crazy...

Today had so many ups and downs, it was literally like being on a roller coaster. Ironically enough, that was just what I needed to have something to write about on here. Turns out craziness makes my life much more interesting than it usually is!



You see, it actually all began yesterday. I was making copies in the morning for my lesson today, since we like to make them a day in advance and Mr. Taylor, the principal, was walking by and then back tracked to come talk to me. He had received and email from one of the services managers (or whatever her catchy title is) saying that she wanted to set up an interview for me. Since this is the district I really want to work in, I was super excited! Naturally, I had to wait to call until the end of the day to call, and then she was gone for the day. It just so happened that she had emailed my mentor teacher too, so this morning when I got there, she allowed me to quickly call back.

Wait for it...

I have my first job interview next Monday! I am so thrilled to be interviewing for the school district that I really want to teach in. I am hoping all goes well.

Naturally, at that point the day was going pretty well. I was excited about my interview, and was sure that the day could not go wrong, despite having to do one of my observations during second period. Turned out my supervisor loved my lesson, and the whole thing was a piece of cake; she had nothing negative to say. The rest of the day seemed to be going alright, slow, but normal.

Then fifth period rolled around. It is our team conferencing time, so we had a parent meeting that did not last too long, which was nice. Then we went back to hang out in my mentor teacher's room, like we usually do. I had Mrs. Koerner at the beginning of the semester, so she and I have gotten really close, and we talk a lot during that time. We were all chatting, watching a funny youtube video and then all the sudden...what?

The tornado sirens start going off. Not the ones inside the building, but the ones around outside the school. Since we did not have kids in the rooms at the time, and had no idea about the weather, we were very surprised to hear it. Everything was crazy from there. Weather was bad all around us, and we weren't sure what was going on. We watched the radars online, and they said they would keep us updated from the central office. At 1:30 we got the kids back again, assumed everything was alright. They were going crazy, but that was not unusual.

Then at 1:45 they make the announcement, we had to get all of the kids in the hallway and in the right position in case we were to get any tornadoes or anything. We get them in the hallway, and spend the next hour or so trying to keep them quiet as some of them joked around, others cried out of fear, and they constantly asked us when the storm would be over (clearly sixth graders believe we are all weather people). By the time we were going back to the classroom, we hoped that would be the end of the bad weather.

Not quite.

About five minutes before school was to end there was another announcement; any of the kids who walked home or rode the bus were not allowed to leave the building. They could only leave if they knew their ride was there. We listened as they all complained about being stuck at school after hours, like we were thrilled about it. We had about sixty kids between our four classes left, spread out in our different classrooms. Then we are told a tornado has touched down close by, so we must go to an interior classroom, and we all end up in the science classroom across the hall with our science teacher and her kids. Sixty kids in one classroom, with five teachers. A mess!

One-by-one they made announcements, only calling the students to leave when their parents were there to pick them up. The bell rings at 3:25 everyday, but at this point it was well passed 3:45, and just getting later. It was 4:10 before the buses finally arrived and were able to take the kids home. After that, we only had a few left. By the time we only had a five students left, they moved them all to the cafeteria and we teachers were finally able to leave. While we were there until about 4:30, thirty minutes longer than usual, we did earn a jeans day for tomorrow for everything we had to deal with!

So, that is the craziness of my day. I hope anyone else that is from Texas is safe and well.