What I am leaving behind today are my husband, my son, and my daughter.  The three most important people in my life, but also the most consuming and demanding people in my life.   They jockey constantly for my time and attention, to the point I am exhausted.  So today, I leave them behind.

I am leaving behind dishes in the sink, laundry that needs washed, a garden that needs weeded, and floors that need mopped.  I am leaving behind the never ending list of “things to do” that never seems to be completed no matter how hard I try.  So today, I’m leaving them behind.

I am leaving behind the friends who are too needy, the boss who is too demanding, and the mother who overwhelms me.  I am leaving behind their petty, self-centered demands that leave me feeling used and unappreciated.  So today, I’m leaving them behind.

I am leaving behind the guilt that I feel for leaving my family, my chores, and my responsibilities.  I am leaving behind the stress and demand of the people and things I love, the things I allow to suck me dry, leaving me feeling empty, exhausted, and withered.

Today I am leaving behind the woman I have become; the wife, mother, teacher, worker.  I am leaving her behind in search of pieces of the girl I once used to be.  The girl, who wrote, dreamed, dared to be herself.  So today, I am leaving them all behind to find myself.

5. Collaborating with other content areas on projects and assignments in my Science classroom.

4.Integration of the I Search Paper in my Science Classroom.  I love this paper genre because I think it will mean more to the students that a paper about a topic I chose for them.

3.Keeping a Class Journal.  I want to create a daily journal that records happenings, feelings, etc. about each days happenings in my classroom.

2.Reflective writing will become a common staple in my classroom.  Not only will the students write reflectively about what they have learned, but I will write reflectively about my teaching.

1.  Journaling will become a part of my life.  I want to journal every day because it is such a good, natural release for me.  Once again I will say it, “Writing is better than therapy.”

My family collects pets like some people collect pieces of art or even baseball cards.  Before my family left on our last family vacation, we were the proud owners of one Australian shepherd dog, two shih-tzu dogs, one 8 week-old part shih-tzu puppy, five cats, a tank of fish, and one frog.  One of our shih-tzu’s, Buddy, was missing at the time.  He had escaped our fenced in back yard about three weeks earlier and had never been found.  There was a huge thunderstorm the afternoon he escaped, and we thought maybe this scared and confused him and he couldn’t find his way home.

During our absence, our long-time friend, baby-sitter, and pet/house sitter, Shelley, was in charge of caring for our pets and home.  We love Shelley, but she has a tendency of freaking out over things when she is left responsible for our house.  She has a history of crazy things happening to her while baby/pet/house sitting for us.

It was no surprise to my husband and me that we had numerous messages on our phone the day we were returning back to port and finally had phone service again.  In fact, with no seriousness in mind, we both laughed and rolled our eyes before calling her back.  Little did we know that this was to be only the beginning of a crazy story for us.

Upon phoning home, Shelley told us she had found Buddy.  We had already accepted the fact that he was probably never coming home before we left for vacation.  We were surprised at Shelley’s news; but of course, there was more to the story.

Our neighbor Dianne had seen an ad in the newspaper that someone had found a lost shih-tzu and immediately thought of Buddy.  She called Shelley and told her she should call the number and see if it was our dog.  Being the good pet-sitter, Shelley did as she was told.  She called the number, visited the house, and claimed the lost dog as our Buddy-boy.  She took him home where he seemed very excited to see our other dogs and cats.

A couple of days later “Buddy” escaped again.  Once again a huge monsoon-like thunderstorm blew in and our “Buddy” was lost again.  Except this time he was found on our neighbor’s porch.  The little dog was covered in mud, shivering, and sick.  Shelley said that when she wrapped a towel around him to carry him home he was so fevered she could feel intense heat through the towel.

The next morning the little fellow was so sick.  He was vomiting, coughing, fevered, and had diarrhea.  The poor little fellow looked as if he was dying.  Our pet sitter was beside herself.  What should she do?  She consulted the neighbors’, her father, and finally, my father-in-law.  All those consulted agreed the dog was in horrid shape and needed to go to the vet.  The responsible pet sitter was on the phone calling every vet she could find in the phone book to see who could see “Buddy” the fastest, all the time worrying that my “thrifty” husband would kill her.

After talking to Shelley on the phone that Saturday morning, we were astounded.  Our poor Buddy!  He was in serious condition.  The vet was so concerned about his fever and dehydration (he wouldn’t eat or drink) that he insisted on keeping him for the weekend.  We were in shock, and we decided we were not telling the kids.  Shelley was scared the bill would be enormous.  The vet was keeping him all weekend on an IV until Monday. 

Finally, Monday morning arrived.  My husband drove to the vet to check out our poor Buddy-boy.  The little fellow was so weak.  He kept leaning against my husband; he could hardly stand up.  The vet discussed his condition, and fear there could be some liver damage because his enzyme levels were so high.  He showed my husband the x-rays they had taken and pointed out the imbedded dog identification chip. 

“Wait!” my husband interrupted.  “Did you say a chip?  I don’t think our dog has a chip.” 

“Maybe the store or breeder where you bought him put it in?”  The vet suggested.

“Can you get the owner’s info from the chip?” 

“Yes, just give us a minute.”

While the vet’s office looked into getting the contact information for the chip, my husband hurriedly called me.  “Beth, does Buddy have a chip?”

“What? No of course he doesn’t have a chip,” I answered. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes I’m sure,” I said. “Why?” 

“This dog has a chip,” he explained. “They showed it to me on the x-ray.” 

Five hundred dollars later my husband brought home a sick dog that wasn’t ours.  He wasn’t our Buddy-boy.  He did look an awful lot like Buddy but he wasn’t our Buddy.  The info from the chip company gave us his name, his owner’s name, and a few contact numbers (none of which worked).  We Googled the owner’s name, sent her an email message. When she responded we told her the story, but we never heard from her again.  I guess she didn’t want her dog back.

Secretly, I am glad Gizmo’s owner didn’t claim him.  I like Gizmo.  He is such a well behaved dog, and he is spoiled too.  He is healthy now, no permanent damages.  We love him and love having him as a member of our family.  We never did find Buddy, but Gizmo has become good company for Daisy now that her puppy is living with his new family.  We now own one less puppy, but now we are looking for homes for the three kittens our female cat gave birth to while we were away.  Does anyone want an adorable kitten?

I think that using a blog in my classroom would be a fabulous learning tool.  It frightens me a little because middle school kids can be very mean and cruel.  However, I hope that someday I will feel knowledgable and comfortable enough to try this with one of my classes.  I also think it would be a great way for me to communicate with my students.  Blogging could be part of my effort to conserve resources, to Go Green, in my classrooom.  Hmm…I like that thought.

The e-Portfolio is an interesting addition to my blog.  Since this blog is all about our writing, I think it is a very appropriate way to showcase certain pieces.  I am not sure how I would use my e-Portfolio on a professional level unless I used it to showcase writing pieces if I was seeking employment or even a publisher.  To me that seems like a far from my reach dream, but maybe someday I will want to pusue that avenue.

Using an e-portfolio in the English classroom would be fabulous!  Feedback would be quicker, students would get a sense of publishing their work, and it would conserve resources.  (I’m into this Green thing right now).  I can think of a million ways to use it in English.  I am sure if I thought about it for a while I could come up with a way to use it in science too.  Ooo, I know!  Maybe students could use e-Portfolio as part of their science fair project.  Now that is an interesting idea.

Here lies Mr. Meenie;

His name says it all, he was MEAN!

He made all of his math students miserable.

He ridiculed and laughed at our mistakes.

He made me think I was bad at math, when it was

He that was a bad math teacher.

His micey eyes and menacing mustache I will always remember when I think of math.

When I became a teacher he said, “YOU! Became a teacher!?”

I wish I would have said, “Yeah, I knew I would do a better job than you.”

13 Rules for New Teachers

This past school year I had my first experience acting as a Praxis II mentor.  The experience was wonderful for me.  It was my first time teaming up with a new teacher and helping them through the dreaded first year of teaching.  My mentee and I grew very close, becoming really good friends. 

Throughout the year, there were many times when I thought to myself, I wish I would’ve had someone to talk to my first year, or I wish I would’ve had someone to tell me about this or that.  My own first year was a very lonely, frustrating experience.  I have often wondered what ever possessed me to keep teaching after that first year. 

With both experiences in mind, I have come up with a set of New Teacher Rules to guide a new or first year teacher through their new position.  This is my advice for a new teacher:

1. Accept what you cannot change.  There will be days that are pure chaos because of unannounced schedule changes, pep rallies, assemblies, or whatever the administration wants to throw your way.   You cannot do anything to change this and you are better off just letting it go.
2. You will not like every student you have in class.  No matter how hard you try, there will eventually be a student you cannot and do not like.  The thing to remember is to not let them or anyone else know that you don’t like them.  You don’t have to like them, but you need to be fair to them.  Remember, that child is someone’s little boy or girl, and you wouldn’t want one of your children’s teachers treating your child badly.
3. No two classes will ever be alike.  Classes are made up of unique individuals that are combined with other unique individuals.  Like a chemical formula, adding or removing just one will change the entire mixture.  Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is a bad thing.  Keep in mind that due to this unique chemistry, what works in the form of discipline or classroom management with one class may not be effective in another class.
4. Take it one day at a time.  Do not stress over next week or next month.  The first year is a challenge that you must face one day at a time.  If you concentrate on the day you are facing, it makes the task seem a lot less daunting.  In the back of your mind your motto should be “Fake it till I make it.”  No one will ever know.
5. Don’t stress out over your lesson plans.  Yes, write plans; they are important.  They are your guide.  Your plans are there to keep you on track and outline what you need to cover.  However, don’t be afraid to edit or even completely deviate from the plan.  Even the best teachers change their minds.  There have been days when my plans didn’t work and I had to make a change; I’ve even changed my plans for every period.  Recognizing that something isn’t working and making adjustments is what good teachers do.
6. Be yourself, Trust yourself.  A good teacher feels comfortable in his/her classroom and can be him/herself.  Self-confidence will reflect in your teaching.  When I quit worrying about what others were thinking about my teaching, when I closed the door and taught the kids the way I thought they should be taught, that is when I became a better teacher.  No one is better at being you than you.
7. Let yourself off the hook.  It is okay not to be perfect, none of us are perfect.  In fact, sometimes it is better to not be perfect.  Imperfection shows that there is room to grow, to improve.  It is good for our students see us learning and making mistakes.  It shows that we too continue to grow, to improve, to strive for more.  What a great way to model for our students.   Trust that as you are growing, your students are growing too.  That is all that really matters.  Remember, revision is a way of life.  We learn from our mistakes and make changes.  Our students need to learn to do the same.
8. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  You do not know everything about how your new building works; no one expects you to know everything.  Sometimes, however, we forget you don’t know.  So ask us!  Don’t feel dumb or silly, just ask.  Most of us remember what it was like to be new and will be kind and tell you whatever you ask us.  Sometimes we just forget to share what we already know.
9. Get to know your students.  Spend time with them, talk to them, listen to them, get to know who they are.  Knowing your students is key to teaching your students.  Learn their likes and dislikes.  Find out what is happening in their world.  These are the things they are focused on, what they worry about.  They cannot concentrate on a math problem or scientific theory when they are worried about other “stuff” in their lives.

10.  Keep a journal of your first year.  Keeping a journal is a great way to record what happened each day, your thoughts, and your feelings.  It is good to have a way to vent, think, and plan.  It also can come in handy as a reference point if you ever need to document behaviors of students (good and bad).  Be faithful in your journaling, do it every day.  The journal is just for you, so be honest.  It will not help you if you only write the sunny, happy thoughts.  Also, be sure to keep your journal in a safe place away from the eyes of curious children.

11.  Remember they are just kids.  There are times when it is easy to forget that they are just kids.  Kids make mistakes, kids goof off, kids are not perfect.  Try to remember what you felt like when you were their age.  Also, remember that these kids sometimes come with bigger problems than we ever experienced ourselves as a kid.

12.  Don’t assume your students know or were already taught something.  Just like you, they do not necessarily know everything.  When I first started teaching, I thought my students knew how to take notes.  Why would I think this?  Had anyone ever taught them how to take notes?  Probably not.  There are times we have to teach things in our classroom that are not listed in our standards and benchmarks.  That doesn’t make them less important, it just makes them something someone assumed they would learn.

13.  Let go of yesterday.  When you leave the building at the end of the day, let go of all the troubles and horrors of a bad day.  Dwelling on it only makes you feel worse, and most of the time the student you had conflict with has already forgotten it.  Don’t lose sleep over it; they won’t.

Where am I going?

Of this I am never quite sure.

It does seem like I am always going.

There are very few moments or days when I am not going somewhere.

Work, home, practice, picking up the kids. . .

Library, grocery store, Wal-Mart,

Pick up food, Church, the Mall,

School, ball game, back home again. . .

This cycle of my life spent driving in my car seems never ending.

Talking and texting on my phone, zipping through a drive-thru, and, of course, the gas station!

Multi-tasking is my specialty.

Playing referee, going crazy, singing, practicing spelling words,

Doing homework, laughing, talking, day-dreaming. . .

Parking the car and wondering . . .  “How did I get here?”

Beth Wireman

July 2009

In order to improve my own skills, I think I would like to attempt to make a few videos to use in class.  Maybe I could film a demonstration of an experiement I would like them to see but don’t have enough time for them to do themselves, or create picture stories of things we have done in class to share with other classes or parents. 

On a personal note, I think it might be fun to make some digital stories to share with my relatives that live far away.  My grandparents, the kids grandparents, etc.  I think it would be a great way to keep them connected to the kids lives and to see them do things as they grow.  Now I just need to motivate myself to do it.  (Iam I may be calling you in a few months to help me make videos for Christmas presents   Wouldn’t that be cool!

I am what I am.

I am a mom who adores her children

            Who loves their laughter and melts from their hugs.

I am what I am.

I am a mom to many who are not mine.

            I listen to their problems and share their laughter and tears.

I am what I am.

I am their favorite teacher, their role model,

            The one who listens but never judges, the one who is their friend.

I am what I am.

I am a coach that pushes and supports her team,

            Who expects much from them and more from myself.

I am what I am.

I am a girl, a teenager, a co-ed, a woman.

            I am strong and emotional, confident and unsure.

I am what I am.

I am a person with hopes, dreams, and fears.

            I am all of these things and I am more.

I am what I am.

Beth Wireman

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   July 2009

Click on the above link to watch my video.