TCTELA

 Obviously I never posted this weekend. I was very fortunate to get to attend the TCTELA virtual conference, which began on Friday and ran through noon on Sunday. Between conference sessions and grading and planning, I didn't have much time or energy to do anything else.

I am grateful to work with a principal who values teacher education. The school paid for me to attend NCTE and TAGT last fall because I was presenting at both of them. When TCTELA was announced, our department was asked who wanted to attend. I replied that I would like to attend, but since I had already been to two other conferences, I was totally ok with not. As it worked out, there were enough spaces that I could do it. 

Really, it was a great conference. Nothing was completely new or earth-shattering, but there were some great ideas about how to teach things, and many of the speakers helped me remember why I love what I do. The theme of the conference was all about joy. The organizers did a wonderful job of bringing that theme to light.

I have pages of notes and a long list of books from this weekend. I'm definitely grateful for the opportunity I had to attend!

I really do have the best coworkers

 I am continually thankful that I work where I do. I am so lucky to have really great coworkers who make even the hardest days better. Especially this year, I'm really grateful that my team all has lunch at the same time. We meet every day to decompress; it's been a huge uplift in my day. I'm also grateful for the amazing teachers on my hallway. Because we teach different subjects, we share lots of students. It is so helpful to get a different perspective on students! 

In this year where connecting with everyone is difficult, I am so glad to get daily interaction with great people who have the same purpose and problems that I do!

The Hill We Climb If Only We Dare

 Today was inauguration day, so we have a new president. I will admit that I haven't always paid attention to previous inaugurations; usually the changing of presidents is a passing event. But after all the unrest and nastiness of the past few months, today was a breath of relief.

I was teaching for the beginning of the ceremonies but turned it on for the last 20 minutes or so. I was enthralled by Amanda Gorman's poetry recitation, and I can't wait to share it with my students next week. I went back to read Biden's inaugural address later this afternoon. I hope that his presidency carries forward the accepting and uniting tone that he used today.

I'll end tonight with more words from Amanda Gorman:

"And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

We lay down our arms

so we can reach out our arms

to one another"

I hope we can focus more on similarities rather than differences in the year to come!

So long, Sandspike

 About 4 years ago, Emily decided that she wanted a pet lizard. (We have so many allergies in the family that pets like cats and dogs are just not feasible.) So she researched and considered and saved her money, and eventually Sandspike the bearded dragon lizard joined the family. He was just a little thing when he arrived, about the length of my index finger.

Over the last few years, he has grown into a pancake of a lazy lizard. Originally, all the kids were contributing to his care, but everyone except Emily lost interest and opted out. As Emily has gotten busier, he has been a little neglected sometimes. 

We started talking recently about selling or giving away the lizard, especially since Emily will leave for college before we know it. We had some work done on the heating/cooling system last week, and the technician mentioned that his neighbor loves reptiles. One thing led to another, and Emily decided to sell the lizard to the guy.

So they came tonight to pick up Sandspike. It was a little bittersweet, but he's off to a good home. I'm thankful that Emily had the maturity to know when it was time to say goodbye.

Popo Party and Sunday Sleep

 I totally forgot to post anything last night. We had Popo's birthday party dinner last night. I thought about writing, but then somehow never did. Anyway, it was fun to spend an evening with family and friends. Sorensons were able to come this time, and having the little kids at the party always adds a different dimension to the party. 

Today was a pretty quiet Sunday. I accidentally took a two-hour nap this afternoon, which I definitely needed. We had Zoom church, and this evening we listened to a fireside with Brad Wilcox, 2nd counselor in the general Young Men's presidency. He was talking specifically to the youth, but it was a great message for everyone about faith and perseverance in difficult times. I was grateful for a Sunday to rest. And I'm even more grateful that tomorrow is a holiday!

Pizza night!

 It sounds silly, but I am really grateful for pizza. Especially on Fridays. Especially when the week has been really long and tiring. Especially with my funny family all sitting around the table together.

We eat pizza pretty much every Friday night. It's easy and it makes everyone happy. I don't remember when we started doing that, but it has been a thing for so long that everyone choruses "pizza night" whenever Friday is mentioned. So, pizza. Definitely grateful for pizza!

Grumpiness vs. Gratitude

I had a conversation with a friend and coworker yesterday about annoyance. This school year has been one annoyance after another. Every day, I get to school and try to have a good attitude, and then there's.... something. And then I'm annoyed. 

I'm really tired of being annoyed all the time. But more than ever this year, it seems like there are so many things out of our control and just out of control. 

But this year, I'm trying to focus on gratitude. So, in spite of being annoyed and grumpy and exhausted, I'm going to try to change my attitude.

And I am grateful. I'm grateful to have a job that I really love, even when it's tough. I'm grateful for coworkers who are amazing and supportive. I will continue to strive to focus on those things!

Conferences: Student and Professional

 Today I had my second round of student conferences on Zoom. I really have enjoyed meeting with students individually, even though it is quick. Somehow, it makes things seem more normal this year.

Another part of my day was spent working on proposals for the NCTE conference. They were originally due tomorrow, but I was extremely grateful to find out today that they extended the deadline to next week! Even with the extension, I'm hoping to get these proposals finished up before the end of the week, so I can check that off my list.

Manic Monday

 Today was a long and very tiring day. I don't even know why, but I was ready to be done before 7th period, and then I had to teach two more classes! Needless to say, I was really glad to come home this afternoon.

We had Family Home Evening tonight. I'm grateful for these times that we can be together as a family and study scriptures together. All the kids have gotten to the point where they can prepare a lesson, and it's great to hear their perspectives on different topics. 

Sunday Evening

 I can't believe that it's Sunday night already. Weekends always go way too fast during the school year. I am thankful for the work I could get done this weekend, though. I think I'm about ready for the week. This week should be a little calmer. My students are working on a project all week, which always gives me some time to work a little during the day. Meanwhile, the second week back should be better than the first!

Family Zoom

 I realized this morning that I forgot to post yesterday. I was so exhausted that I didn't even think about it. Yesterday, I spent most of the day being grateful that it was Friday. At the end of the day, I was grateful to come home and eat pizza with my family.

Today was a mostly relaxing Saturday. I did work on some stuff for school, but it's nice to be at home and on my own timeline. This evening, we had a Zoom with Grandma Jan and Popo's family. We've been doing Zooms with the family about once a month since the pandemic began. It's been fun to see everyone and keep in touch with that side of the family. As weird as last year was, I've been grateful for technology and time that allow us to grow closer to family.

Almost the weekend!

 Wow, it has been a long week, and it's only Thursday!

The first week back after a break is always long, and this has definitely not been an exception. Add in the political unrest in the country, and I am definitely looking forward to the weekend.

Today I had reading conferences with about 30 of my students. I am grateful for books. I love reading (of course), and I'm grateful for the instant connection that books can give me with my students. We had some great conversations today about what they were reading, what they wanted to read, and the types of books they enjoy. 

Heart broken

 Today will live in infamy in US history. 

I really don't even know what to say about today's events.

A sitting president encouraged mobs to storm the US Capitol building.

Those same mobs broke windows and vandalized that building.

That same president used social media to encourage those mobs to continue what they were doing.

These things don't even seem possible, let alone real. The last time the Capitol building was breached was in 1814. By the British. During the War of 1812.

And today it was invaded by people claiming to be patriots and "true" Americans. 

My heart hurts and my mind is overwhelmed by the implications of all of this.

My posts this year are supposed to be about gratitude. So I guess today, in spite of everything that has happened, I am grateful for good people. I am grateful for those who work to make change in our world. I am grateful for those who see the error in what happened today and will try to prevent it from happening again. 

A Comedy of Errors

 Today was one of those days.

Last night, my phone installed updates, and apparently, something turned off my recurring alarm for the morning. So this morning started with me waking up about an hour later than I planned to. This wasn't a humongous issue, as I leave myself lots of extra time so I don't have to rush in the morning, but it did mean that I felt behind from the time I woke up.

As I came out from the shower, Jonathan came in saying that his Canvas courses hadn't updated, so he couldn't access any of the information he needed to complete his classes today. We tried a few things while I was still running around trying to get ready, but nothing was working. I called tech support and got a full voicemail, which led us to believe that his problem was probably one a lot of people were having. So we called the high school and got confirmation that, sure enough, something hadn't updated correctly and lots of students were having issues. 

I left Jon emailing his teachers to get the Zoom information he needed for his classes. I opened the door to the van to put my bags in the back, and there was a little frog sitting on the door pillar. In trying to get him to jump out (I had visions of him landing on my face while I was driving), he jumped over my hand and into the van. Jay helped me chase him down and get him out of the car so I could finally leave for work.

School started off normally enough for the first day back with students. We got through first and second period. After the second period bell, the fire alarm went off. I have an online class third period, so I quickly sent a message to my third period students and then evacuated the building with everyone else. We all knew that something wasn't right, because a scheduled fire drill wouldn't be happening at that time. About 20 minutes later, the building was cleared, I got onto Zoom, and amazingly all my students still came for class. We had to rush through class because of the missed time, but we made it through.

The final "well ok" moment came after lunch. I had several things to print, and the printer on my hallway was out of ink. I sent everything to the main printer down the hall, which worked because some of it needed to be dropped off in the office anyway. I clicked through about a dozen things I was sending and then got a message that there was a jam in the printer. I walked all the way to the print room, and discovered that none of my pages had printed. And the printer wouldn't clear the jam. 

All in all, nothing that happened today was a huge disaster, but it all did make for a long day. Meanwhile, I am grateful that today is done, we had a great family dinner, and tomorrow is a new day!

Work day

 As a teacher, I am always grateful for days at school that I get to work on things that I need to. Today was the first day back after break, and I was fortunate to have most of the day to plan and think and prepare for students to return tomorrow. I didn't get everything done that I planned to, but I did get a lot done. I'm looking forward to seeing my students tomorrow!

Amazing technology

 I'm thankful for technology, especially recently. I was thinking about this today-- when I was in college 25 or so years ago, long-distance phone calls were expensive. So expensive, in fact, that I only called home once a week. A few years later, I got my first cell phone, which came with limited minutes that were also expensive. My husband and I spent several years only making calls after 7 pm, because that was when the cell minutes became free. Fast forward to today, when I clicked one link and was able to talk to my sister in Philadelphia, my brother in Florida, and my parents and other sister who live about 20 minutes away. And not only could we talk, but we could see each other. I find that amazing. And a great blessing during this time when so many connections have been severed.

Family Game Day

 I am really thankful for days that we get to be together as a family and have fun together. Today we had game day to try out the new games we got for Christmas. We ended up playing 5 games out of 7; the other 2 will have to wait for another day.

We started the day with Exploding Kittens. 

I definitely think this will become a family favorite! It's designed for only 5 players max, so we did a little creative adjustment to make it work for all 6 of us. Jon ended up winning this one with some creative strategy at the end.

Once all the kittens had exploded, we moved on to Nope!

I really liked this very creative game. It's pretty easy to learn, but it definitely took some strategy to win. We realized about halfway through that we may have been misplaying in one aspect, so we'll try it differently the next time!

Next up was Cha-Ching.

This was a little wild, but most of us enjoyed it. Benjamin wasn't really a fan-- he couldn't get his numbers figured out. I like that it involves some math, so we were sneaking in some learning along with the gameplay. Bad math ended up with some funny moments, including one that led to Jay crying because he was laughing so hard.

I think this would be fun to play for an adult game night. You're supposed to play multiple rounds to get to 1000 points, but we gave up after about 3 because the younger players were losing interest. 

After a lunch break, we tried Perpetual Commotion.

Of all of the games we played today, this had the worst directions. Fortunately, there was a QR code that took us to a video that helped us get started. The name of this one is definitely accurate--cards were flying everywhere! Again, the younger players weren't as thrilled with this one, but I think it could be a lot of fun for a group of teens or adults. We didn't even attempt to score it (again, the directions were overly complicated), but we just played until we ran out of cards. 

Abby and Ben opted out of the last game of the day, Suspicion. 

This one is a lot like Clue, but with several twists and a little more complication. It took us a little while to figure it out, but we really liked it once we did. This would be another one that would be great for a grown-up game night.

We had a fun day and enjoyed spending some time together before school starts again next week. We're looking forward to playing these again sometime soon!

A year of gratitude

 One of my goals for 2021 is to do more writing, and another is to focus on gratitude more. Combining those two means that I plan to write a short gratitude entry here every day for the year. 

Today I am grateful for breaks. It has been so nice to be home and not have a schedule for the last two weeks. Today we had movie day, so we watched a bunch of movies and just enjoyed being together.