Thanksgiving Week.

It doesn't seem like Thanksgiving week to me. I'm not sure if it is just because I have been so busy, but the time has seriously flown by. I feel like it was just summer time. Anyways, whether I believe it or not, it's already Thanksgiving. I wanted to take a minute to talk about things that I am thankful for, because there are so many.

Jesus. He gave me life, gives me everything I could ever need, and truly loves me.

My husband. My other half. The one who hold me when I cry, tickles me when I need a laugh, supports me in everything, and loves me unconditionally.

My best friend. The one I can count on for anything and everything.

My job. Teaching is so much more than a job, its a passion. My kids fill my heart every day and without a doubt they have changed my life and continue to  each day. My job also provides me with an income that allows me to have enough money for anything that I need and most things that I want. I also have the best coworkers, so blessed.

My family. I have two parents who love me, siblings who I have great relationships with, and extended family who all care about me. We may not all get along, but we come together when we need to and all love each other.

My apartment. As much as I am eager to get into a house, I love our little home together. It's clean, warm, and comfortable.

My friends. I have such a strong group of friends who I know will always have my back and are only a phone call away. We might not see each other often, but there is a depth to our friendships that will always remain.

My church. My husband and I have both been getting more involved in our church and it really is starting to feel like home. I am leading a group of high school girls now and he serves in the worship band. We are meeting more people and I am loving it even more.

I hope all of you are feeling as blessed and thankful as I am this week. Sometimes even when it's hard, it helps to focus on the good, because there is so much good in our lives even through the difficulties. 

Friday Favorites: Stress

This week has been incredibly overwhelming. My teaching partner had a health emergency last week so now I have to run a two person program solo. I think this week was worse than I thought it would be so I'm hoping that next week is easier. Here my favorite things that kept me going through this week.

Carrie! 

I'm obsessed with this cd. I listen to it non-stop in my car. It's hard to pick a favorite because I love them all but I'm going to go with 'Dirty Laundry' and 'Heartbeat'. 

Piglets!

Aren't they the cutest!? A lot of my stress is coming from these little creatures, but how can you not love them at the same time? 

Thanksgiving Break 

Knowing that next week is a 3 day week is giving me some hope and energy to make it through. 

Tylenol Cold

This is the best stuff on the planet. I've been sick all week, on top of this stress and this is the one medication that I take. It makes me at least be able to survive the day. 

My husband. 

I love him so much and he has been such a trooper with me this week. He knows how to handle me when I'm stressed, comfort me when I'm sick, and make me smile no matter what. I love him so much. 

This weekend I have some plans with my best friend and my mom, but other than that I really need to rest. I'm so exhausted and mentally worn out. 

Linking up with my favorites this week with Amanda!

Teaching Tuesday: Grading

Grading is probably one of the hardest things about being a teacher. As a secondary teacher, I have 150 students. If they have an assignment every day, that's a lot of papers! Elementary teachers may have less students, but then they are grading all subjects and possibly way more papers. In order to save myself time (and sanity) here are some tips I use for grading more efficiently:

1. Use one paper for multiple assignments. This allows me to look at multiple days of work at one time. It may be more things to look at but sifting through less papers saves me time. My students have daily entry tasks and they put two weeks worth on one paper before I grade it.

2. Grade for completion, not accuracy. Often times on practice work, I don't grade every question for accuracy. If it is something that they can work on with partners, I mostly look for completion because chances are they could have just asked for the answers or copied it. While I think it is important for them to do practice work, the ones who are truly doing the work are getting the benefit and those who aren't will see that reflected on their assessments.

3. Spread out assessments. When I give tests, I try to make sure all of my classes don't take them on the same day. This is something that is harder when you have less different classes, but it's a lot easier to grade tests for half of my students than all of them. I also like being able to give them their tests back pretty quickly so that they can see how they did while it is fresh in their minds.

4. Have students grade their own (or each others) work. I usually only do this on short vocab quizzes but it helps a ton. I put a key on the white board and have them score it based on that. I make sure when I write these that they are multiple choice, true/false, or fill in the blank so that they are easy and don't have much room for interpretation.

5. Have a fun pen. Grading with a special pen always makes it more fun. :)

I do a pretty good job of not bringing grading home and I plan to try and keep it that way. I spend a long time planning and prepping at home, I don't need one more thing to add to that list. Any other teachers out there have some tips for how they stay on top of, or ahead of, their grading?

Teacher Tuesday: Two Years Down!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow my second year of teaching is over. It feels so much better than the first, I was more confident and a much better teacher. Last year I remember being totally exhausted and worn out and this year I actually still have sone energy! I think some of it might be excitement about it being over, but hey, it's still energy! 

Things that went well...winning Nationals! I still can't believe that was this year, it was a life dream and I accomplished it already. I can't believe it. Next year I look forward to branching out more in FFA and continuing to pursue other competitions and activities. 

I felt like my classroom management improved this year. I did better at drawing the line, saying no, and sticking to it. I'm also not afraid to contact parents to try and get them on my side and get the behavior figured out. 

Things I want to improve on...organizing late work and missing work. I have a folder for students to get papers from but they don't realize that the papers are there most of the time. Even when I direct them there they are like, "where can I find that paper?" #frustrating

I also want to use my classroom website and technology more effectively. I think there are so many cool tools online that I'm not fully taking advantage of. In the same token, I do want to improve on cracking down on cell phones. I just need to say no, and have activities for students when they are finished with work that do not involved being on their phones. 

Teaching is exhausting and stressful, but also so incredibly rewarding. I wouldn't  trade it for anything. 

One more day! This summer is going to be great, probably the best of my life. I'm so ready.