Well I don't even know where to begin with why I have not blogged since April of last year. It's not that I have a lack of knowledge or content to share, but I life just got that busy for me with three boys and all their various sports and activities, along with my involvement on the Leadership Council of our local union and as a board member of my school district's Educational Foundation. 2016 came and went with only two posts from me and that's just how it went.
I'm not making any promises for 2017 and I won't start the year pressuring myself with unrealistic expectations of blogging, but you have to start somewhere and I think Currently posts were always the easiest for me to do so that's how I will start the new year.
Listening: I have been listening to Christmas music for the past month and I have to say I just love it. I'm cutting myself off now that it's officially 2017, but I have been listening to the two XM radio stations and when they stopped playing Christmas music I resorted to my Andy Williams Christmas station on Pandora. When not listening to Christmas music I am watching one of the 8 zillion Christmas movies I DVRd this holiday season. Hallmark you are killing me by adding 17 new movies, while I have to watch all my old favorites. I think at one point the DVR was down to 11% available thanks to my Christmas movie hoarding. I'm still watching movies today. I know, I need an intervention.
Loving: Christmas Break. Although I feel it's a short one this year, due to how the holidays fall, I have soaked up every single minute of relaxation, productivity around the house, and fun with family and friends. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my parents and oldest brother and then celebrated Christmas Day with my other two brothers' families. I relish the time I get to spend with my family.
Thinking: How blessed I feel to have a job I love (despite the politics and nonsense I have to deal with). I have great kids again this year with great families and I adore my coworkers who make me laugh during lunch every single day. We definitely keep each other sane, despite all the insanity these days in education.
Wanting: I'm wanting everyone to be healthy. My dad had a knee replacement last week so he is recovering from that. My oldest seems to have a cough he can't shake, my youngest missed the last two days before break due to a fever and now has a cough that's lingering. I had a cough for the past few months and finally got a chest x-ray the Friday before Christmas only to find out I had pneumonia. I took an 5 day antibiotic and am now on Advair, but the dry cough is still lingering. My teaching bestie is having surgery this week and will be out for several weeks. I hope she has a very easy recovery and don't know how I will survive all those weeks without her. We are so in sync with our teaching beliefs and styles so I will miss her lots.
Needing: The only thing I need to do is figure out when to finish my Christmas Break organizing projects I planned on tackling, but seem to have neglected (I blame you Hallmark Channel). I had high hopes of organizing several closets and the pantry and start back on Tuesday so we will see what happens.
2017: For the New Year I want to focus on health and all its aspects. Physical, emotional/mental, professional, relationship, financial. All of the above. I want make sure my time spent is in line with my beliefs.
Here are a few photos from December that I want to share with all of you:
Thanks for stopping by and for your patience during my long hiatus. I hope to have some new content to share with all of you in 2017. I'm still loving my workshop model for math instruction. I've been making lots of anchor charts this year so look for some upcoming posts about them. I just finished a coaching cycle before break and we focused on conferring with students. I really enjoyed the coaching cycle and will try to find time to write up some ideas for improving how I confer with my math students. Feel free to comment on anything you are interested in seeing for new content.
I'm not making any promises for 2017 and I won't start the year pressuring myself with unrealistic expectations of blogging, but you have to start somewhere and I think Currently posts were always the easiest for me to do so that's how I will start the new year.
Listening: I have been listening to Christmas music for the past month and I have to say I just love it. I'm cutting myself off now that it's officially 2017, but I have been listening to the two XM radio stations and when they stopped playing Christmas music I resorted to my Andy Williams Christmas station on Pandora. When not listening to Christmas music I am watching one of the 8 zillion Christmas movies I DVRd this holiday season. Hallmark you are killing me by adding 17 new movies, while I have to watch all my old favorites. I think at one point the DVR was down to 11% available thanks to my Christmas movie hoarding. I'm still watching movies today. I know, I need an intervention.
Loving: Christmas Break. Although I feel it's a short one this year, due to how the holidays fall, I have soaked up every single minute of relaxation, productivity around the house, and fun with family and friends. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my parents and oldest brother and then celebrated Christmas Day with my other two brothers' families. I relish the time I get to spend with my family.
Thinking: How blessed I feel to have a job I love (despite the politics and nonsense I have to deal with). I have great kids again this year with great families and I adore my coworkers who make me laugh during lunch every single day. We definitely keep each other sane, despite all the insanity these days in education.
Wanting: I'm wanting everyone to be healthy. My dad had a knee replacement last week so he is recovering from that. My oldest seems to have a cough he can't shake, my youngest missed the last two days before break due to a fever and now has a cough that's lingering. I had a cough for the past few months and finally got a chest x-ray the Friday before Christmas only to find out I had pneumonia. I took an 5 day antibiotic and am now on Advair, but the dry cough is still lingering. My teaching bestie is having surgery this week and will be out for several weeks. I hope she has a very easy recovery and don't know how I will survive all those weeks without her. We are so in sync with our teaching beliefs and styles so I will miss her lots.
Needing: The only thing I need to do is figure out when to finish my Christmas Break organizing projects I planned on tackling, but seem to have neglected (I blame you Hallmark Channel). I had high hopes of organizing several closets and the pantry and start back on Tuesday so we will see what happens.
2017: For the New Year I want to focus on health and all its aspects. Physical, emotional/mental, professional, relationship, financial. All of the above. I want make sure my time spent is in line with my beliefs.
Here are a few photos from December that I want to share with all of you:
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| My December Bulletin Board |
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| I was very spoiled again by my students. |
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| I've been sipping Peppermint Mochas this break thanks to my students' generosity. |
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| Our Christmas Eve Eve celebration. |
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| Christmas Eve boys in bow ties. |
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| Our Christmas card this year. I know it's a bit fuzzy on here, but I wanted to share it. |
I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your blog! I returned to teaching this year (after a 15 year hiatus and three daughters) and am in a seventh grade math classroom. I taught a little math before, but oh how things have changed! Needless to say, throwing my science brain back into a math classroom with a full mom/coaching schedule has been overwhelming, and I cannot count the times your blog/resources/interactive notebook pages/teaching strategies have bailed me out. Trying to grasp new content, new strategies, and new learning styles would have been 10,000 times more difficult without your professional input. My favorite part of teaching is collaborating with other awesome teachers and I'm so thankful for you. Just wanted wanted you to know! Cheers to a healthy 2017!
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