Moving to a NEW LOCATION

Image from http://andyriga.files.wordpress.com/

So I have decided to move my blog to sarajaeger.blogspot.com. Don't worry, things will look eerily similar. I created this blog account two and a half years ago with my maiden name and I want my blog to be connected to my current Google account, you know, just in case anyone wants to publish me- they can now have access to the right email account and profile.

Don't fret, I will link this site to my new blog, for nostalgia and such. I imagine many of you like to peruse past posts in your free time.

So change your google reader subscription; you don't want to miss any of my most recent adventures and musings!

Don't be afraid to add yourself as a follower of my new blog. While following a blog sounds like a commitment, it really just means you get a cool little picture on my sidebar as one of my most faithful readers!

In Honor of My Husband

I baked (well, placed on an oven sheet) Grands biscuits tonight to eat with my chicken noodle soup. It made me think of my sweet husband. When we were dating, we used to make a can of eight and make a meal out of them. We've long since moved on from these biscuit dinners but having them tonight took me back to those yummy moments. We'd make them late at night, back when the earliest thing we had to get up for was a 9:00 AM class, and sit on the couch and walk back and forth to the kitchen to grab "just one more." I do wish he was here to eat a biscuit or two with me. He's in Atlanta, a.k.a. "Hot-lanta," for a medical rotation. He's been gone three weeks now. I'm missing him like crazy.

Oh, and I refrained from eating all eight biscuits tonight. In case you were wondering.

Not trying to make excuses, but...

Dearest Elliptical Machine,

I know we've been distant this week. I had full intention of spending lots of quality time with you, three times this week, actually, and I have yet to make good on my promises. In the past I know I've intentionally avoided you, grumbled in your presence and been a real pill when we've been together. But now that life is totally taking over I wish we could have our thirty minutes of peace together. I'd read my latest kid novel and half watch the TV in your room. We'd both leave our time feeling accomplished and purposeful. May I please take a rain check? This time my absence is not personal, only circumstantial. I hope you understand.

Yours,

Sara

Just Call Me Miss Social

Squeal! Sixth grade social was today. Socials at our school consist of lots of running around, oodles of screaming, and cookies. Yes, cookies. You would have thought these children had never had a cookie before the way they swarmed that refreshment table. I feared a riot would break out any minute once students got their hand stamped and then realized they were doomed to wait in the mile long line for their cookies and soda. I wanted to tell them, "It's not worth it, go dance, have fun. You're losing 20 minutes of social for Hydrox cookies (read: knock off Oreos)!"

Once their bellies were full of soda and cookies the real fun began. In the cafeteria we had music blaring and these students know how to rock. I think that's what I love about early sixth grade. They don't know to be self-conscious, they're 100% kid and they dance their little hearts out. Beanpole legs were flying, hips were gyrating and kids were really getting into Poker Face.

At times I wondered if it was okay that I was silently laughing at students as the behaved with reckless abandon. But I wasn't really laughing at them in the mean girl kind of way, I was appreciating what it was like to be someone who didn't worry all the time about how they appear, whether they look stupid or some one's going to get wrong idea. I wish I practiced that kind of freedom in my own life.

So while there is no getting around how funny the Thriller moves were or the pocket of students who resigned to do the robot the entire hour and a half, I love that they did. By the spring social that freedom will be gone. In it's place will be whispered comments, hurtful laughter, and groups divided. But for today, they are young, they love to laugh and dance and they don't care who's watching.

dispelling myths and changing lives

and yes, I had to Google the word "dispelling" is it two "s"s or is it two "l"s???

So I'm teaching reading intervention during ac lab and I have this small group of four boys. They love to ask irrelevant questions to keep from doing their reading and are the kings of distraction. They're pretty cute though and such sweet young men so I end up enjoying their company rather than feeling exahsted my the amount of times I have to ask them sit down, focus, or get back to work.

Two of the boys are refugees, only here for a year at the most; one from Rwanda and one from Nigeria. They are so funny. There is a spirit about them. They smile real big and ask tons of questions and I am taken my their curiosity and sense of humor. That and they think I am hilarious which helps their case. So today, when we couldn't get our tape players to work for our fluency assignment, Luke asks me about King Kong. Handsen quickly jumps in and starts describing the mammoth-like gorilla. With all sincerity, Luke turns to me and says, "Mrs. Jaeger, is King Kong real?" I laugh at the thought of this and tell him no.

At this point Handsen begins to adimantly argue that indeed King Kong does exist and is real. We Goggle pictures of King Kong and I even show them in Wikipedia that King Kong is fictional. Of course the next request is that we Google all kinds of different monkeys. I figured, what the heck, my lesson was shot due to lack of working batteries, lso why not dispel a few myths.

I've also recently been introduced to the following youtube video thanks to my students. I'm not sure how my life could have went on without this one.

Llama Song - Trust me, it's worth clicking on.

Julie and Julia

I love that this movie is about an ordinary person who takes a risk, starts a blog, and "finds herself" while channeling her inner writer. In some small ways I can identify. When I started this blog two years ago (my goodness, that's a long time) I had no idea that it would turn into a hobby and a powerful tool for developing as a writer. In fact, it wasn't until I joined my writing group that I actually started to consider myself a writer.

Now as a teacher of writing, I think the blog is one of the greatest tools available to developing writers. I click "publish post" and instantly my work has an audience. Perhaps an audience of five, but an audience none the less! With a blog, anyone can have a voice and share their writing with the world. More and more, writers are getting paid to write their blogs and these little web worlds are beginning to change the face of journalism (for the good or the bad, you decide).

I was reminded of myself multiple times throughout the film (which I fittingly watched with my writing group). Julie realizes that the Julie/Julia project had made her very self-absorbed, worried that her readers could not get along without her regular posts. The egocentricity of a blog is true. Every time I post on this site my writing revolves around me, my thoughts and my conviction that someone would care what I made for dinner, did throughout the day, or thought about the latest episode of Real Housewives.

The sheer joy Julie expresses the first time she receives a comment on her blog is dead on. When I finally realized people read this thing I became so much more motivated to write. Chris showed me once how to check my readers; there were people reading from all over the world! By no means am I the hottest thing in the blogosphere, but I'm realizing that people read even if they don't follow or comment. This is exciting. In fact, it feeds the ego centrism (see above paragraph).

Glad I saw the film, makes me think about where this little blog is taking me. Maybe it is purely recreational. But maybe, someday, it could lead to more. My husband says I must cut out posts like this before I could ever make it big.

Because I Care: Installment #1

Dear students,

I've recently made an observation. You, as a whole, seem to have a hard time listening. Perhaps you are hearing impaired but I am guessing that it is more an issue of selective listening than anything. Because I care about your overall well-being and it's my job to ensure your future success I am going to help you overcome this unbecoming habit you have developed.

While at first my efforts might seem mean or insensitive, I am confident that you will thank me later for taking this approach with you. From here on out, I will only give directions once. I will always provide the needed information in more formats than just my verbal direction. Perhaps the information will be in the work I give you, the smart board, or at your tables. When you raise your hand, and I know you will, and ask a question about something I've already given instruction for, I will encourage you to use your resources. I'm not shutting you down, but instead, giving you an opportunity to be a problem solver, divergent thinker and an independent learner. Receive this brush off with love as I intend it. Because I care and I know you all have it in you to solve problems for yourself, I will not sell you short by doing the work for you or repeating information that you can find elsewhere.

In addition to teaching you to problem solve, I will also reinforce the principle of listening closely and attending in class. This is a skill that will serve you well in high school and beyond. Good listeners make wonderful spouses, excellent bosses and sympathetic friends.

I fully expect that many of you will someday write personal notes of thanks as you discover just how helpful it is to listen to directions the first time. As I read your notes of gratitude I will smile and remember how frustrated you felt when I responded to your repetitive questions with: "I'm sorry, I already answered that question, use your resources." While you hate it now, I'm certain you will be appreciative later.

You're welcome in advance,

Mrs. J.

When I grow up...

I really want to be:

- a wedding photographer
- a house flipper
- a stationary designer/calligrapher
- an event planner
- a graphic designer

Inspired

Just give me a paint brush and some painter's tape. Photos taken from younghouselove.com, my new favorite website.

a dose of reality

Image: http://nomnomworld.wordpress.com/When I wear high heels I feel young. I get this sense that I'm just this little kid playing dress up in her mother's clothes. I can feel the awkward movement of my body as I attempt to maintain balance and instead of feeling confident and mature, I end up feeling like a fraud.

I wore my new high heels to our Back to School Night. I even had a skirt on- pulling out all the stops for the new set of parents. When I stood in front of a room full of smiling parents and shared my vision for the year I couldn't help but feel terribly small. Not in a bad way. But it was a reminder that I, in a lot of ways, have no idea what I am doing.

I go to work each day and hundreds of people look to me as the authority. Parents come to me in moments of frustration and want advice on parenting. Students seek me out as their personal reference on all things. My words are like gold to my naive and trusting students. Shouldn't your teacher have all the answers? After all, she is the teacher.

But I'm 25. I've been doing this for two years. While I'm apt to think I do, I don't have all the answers. Every day I am baffled. Every day I have moments where I am overwhelmed. I make decisions all day, hoping that my conclusions will lead to student success, positive results, or at the very least, nothing too destructive.

It's when I wear my heels that I am humbled. Reminded that everyday I play dress up and pretend but really it's not pretend; I am the adult, I am in charge.

Terrifying, right?

Without Further Adieu

meet Mr. and Mrs. Webel...

This weekend was immensely fun. On top of Megan's wedding, my best friend, Kristen, was in from Uganda (which is in Africa, which is a continent, thank you very much) and we spent oodles of time together eating and visiting. It was one of the best Labor day weekends a girl could ask for. I love my friends. I felt like I was back in college mode this weekend where you hang out late and sit around all day talking about whatever comes to mind. I miss that. A lot.

despair

...over typos that I miss until it's too late.

Lovin' the Long Weekend

My plans include:

• rehearsal dinner tonight


• best friend's wedding tomorrow


• lunch with friends Sunday


• crafting (I've got a vision brewing) Sunday


• taking an afternoon walk with my bestie, Carly


• sleeping in on Monday

Pictures to come. Love the above paper pack from Three Potato Four- think of what you could make with those!

What are you doing for the long weekend?

ramblings

Wrote a post earlier but had to delete it because I sounded like a whiny old hag.

This is take two, minus the whiny old hag.

Just met with my writing group. I love them. I love that time together. They are fellow teachers of mine and they really push me to pursue what I love, writing. I shared a pretty sappy piece of writing tonight and they were really kind about it. I don't normally do sappy. I'm the girl who writes the sarcastic, dry pieces. Needless to say, I felt more exposed with the poem I shared than usual.

Makes me wonder why it's easy for me to be funny but really hard for me to get serious-at least when it comes to my writing. I think I need to go there more rather than hiding behind my cynical sense of humor.

Don't worry, I'll maintain business as usual for my blog readers but I do think I need to explore a new dimension of my writing.

In less important news: I am all caught up on Real Housewives of Atlanta. I fell behind but then got my priorities straighten out and I'm back on track. Rest easy.

a day in the life

5:15 hit the snooze button
5:17 get up because I can't hold it anymore
5:25 get up for real on second alarm
5:30 shower
5:35 kill cricket, curse crickets living in my utility closet
6:15 enjoy a cup of coffee, read for a few minutes, sporadically adding to my day's to do list
6:50 leave the house, balance coffee in one hand, trash bag in another and massive bag of school books on shoulder
7:03 arrive at classroom, turn on music, let it wash over me while I prepare for the day
7:15 realize I forgot copies for the lesson that day
7:17 make copies and rush back to prepare
8:00 teach, teach, teach
9:30 walk students to encore, intend to work but really check google reader
10:15 meet with teaching team, spend more time than necessary discussing things we cannot change, establish that we need to add a bathroom break after 4th hour
11:00 teach, teach, teach
11:55 eat tasty, preservative packed lunch
12:25 teach, teach, teach
3:15 meeting after school, talk to some of my favorite people at school, add about 5 new things to my to do list
5:15 change into workout clothes
5:30 secretly curse the one elliptical machine that is ALWAYS taken when I get to the work out facility, jump on treadmill instead
6:00 debate over leftovers to reheat
6:15 eat, while checking gmail
7:00 work, work, work
8:45 watch a Dexter, fall asleep on the couch
9:45 read until my eyes close

Whew!

give 'em the ole razzle dazzle

Today was my first day of school. All in all, it was a super successful day- quite hectic at moments and there were a few student tears, but overall, we survived and everyone made it to the bus in time; an accomplishment in and of itself.

It's tradition to take a first day of school picture, one I hope we carry on with our children.

happy as a clam

... just talked to bonnie, who is in korea (seriously, be impressed with modern technology connecting us across continents) and my heart feels good

watching dexter while i send email and breaking in my new crocodile pumps (thanks, target $24.99)

reading mechanically inclined, a book about the teaching of grammar and learning a ton (this post is not representative of my new knowledge due to the absence of punctuation and capitalization)

listening to the peaceful hum of the washing machine, loving the fact that in two short hours my laundry will be clean and put away for the week

thinking happy thoughts, not sad ones, about the thought of starting a new school year monday morning- if you would have taken my emotional temperature a week ago, i would not have had such a positive outlook

dreaming up what i can paint white to make it look like a million bucks (see earlier post and be amazed)

Completely Inspired to Buy Some Junk

And do this. Check out more on White Berry Reinvented.

Needed this...

School begins Monday. I am excited. I am nervous. At times, I am overwhelmed. Loved these encouraging postcards from BOOOOOOOM! I needed this pick me up. Can't wait to share more about all the ideas swimming through my mind regarding my students and our fresh beginning.

Signs that Blogging is Taking Over Your Life

Is it bad that this morning I thought this might be an interesting blog topic?

We live in a two bedroom, one bath apartment. Usually one bathroom is more than enough for the two of us. This morning though one bathroom just didn't cut it. It made for a funny morning moment and a blogging topic... errr, maybe I'm thinking I should reconsider publishing the details of this.

But in two years of marriage, we've never had a moment of dire emergency like I experienced today.

Drink a Lemon Berry Slush and Furnish My Classroom

Sonic is offering this sweet opportunity for teachers to get resources for their classrooms. I am asking for three bean bag chairs. You can give to my classroom each time you buy a Sonic beverage.

Cozy Book Corners

"My students can't get enough time to read and write! I teach Reading and Language Arts to a wonderful group of sixth graders who are vibrant, young readers and writers. Whether they're reading a book or writing their next novel, my students love the opportunity to get away from their desks and get cozy. I teach students from all different backgrounds including English as a Second Language students and two sections of struggling readers each day.

With our commitment to independent reading and writing time each day, my students look forward to having a chance to find a comfy corner in which to get lost in their book or write in their notebooks. My classroom is an old trailer with a real need for color and comfort. The floors are not that cozy to sit on and students are eager to earn time on the couch that was left by the teacher before me. We could really use more soft spots to work.

There are three bare corners just begging for a bean bag chair to make them the perfect reading and writing spot for my students. These bean bag chairs would get daily use and lots of love and wear from my eager students and would help transform my trailer classroom into the ideal workshop space! This is certainly something that would increase the quality of our work environment and be enjoyed by all!

With your help, we can make sure my students have the perfect place to develop their literacy skills and create meaningful writing to share with the world. All it takes is a little bean bag love! HIDE

---------or---------

---------or---------

To go: $243

Any amount welcome.

My students need 3 cozy bean bag chairs to snuggle up in and get lost in a book. The cost of this proposal is $242, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment."

Share: Email | Facebook | Twitter | More Stats Project Costs Thank-You's + Photos All donors get photos and a thank-you from the teacher. If you give $100+, you'll also get personal thank-you's from the students! Materials Vendor Price # Total Bean Bag Lounger Royal Blue Highsmith $54.60 1 $54.60 Bean Bag Lounger Green Highsmith $54.60 1 $54.60 Bean Bag Lounger Red Highsmith $54.60 1 $54.60 Vendor Shipping Charges $16.38 State Sales Tax $6.93 3rd Party Payment Processing Fee $2.46 Postage / Processing for Donor Thank-You Package $9.00 Project Subtotal $198.57 Optional Donation Towards Operating Costs $43.59 TOTAL PROJECT COST $242.16 Mrs. J.'s Classroom Region: Missouri Project ID: 299825 Share: Email | Facebook | Twitter | More Live Updates Be the first to donate to this project!

Secret Ambition:

to be a wedding photographer. I can't get enough of Todd Pellowe's photographs. He does remarkable work. Even though my wedding ship has sailed, I still love to look at wedding photos and drool a little. If you also share my obsession, check out Style Me Pretty for more wedding related eye candy.

experimenting with basil

Chris and I successfully made our own pesto the other day. It's in an effort to be more healthy. It tasted better than it looked. I paired it with some leftover pork tenderloin from Thursday's cooking adventure. Feel free to be impressed.

Something My Dad Has Always Known:

But, I am a winner! Last week I was so happy (with a twinge of jealousy) for my friend, Krista, who won a fabulous print from Rockstar Diaries and this week I am the proud winner of this Aimee Sicuro print from Rachel at Black Eiffel!

another one bites the dust

Went to one of the most unique weddings ever last night. Our friends, Andy and Lindsey, were married here in Columbia. The couple is about to head to Korea to teach for a year--that's the second couple friend to make the move to Korea!

Andy and Lindsey love art and their friends so they decided to have an art auction during their reception. In a small separate room they had their friend's artwork on display and people could make bids on each piece. All money was put in a "giving" fund for Andy and Lindsey to use to give away over the next year. What a cool, generous concept! They were stunning and the dance party was kickin'. There were plenty of Lady Gaga beats to keep us moving.

Poster explaining the art auction and the intentions for the proceeds. Beautiful typography.
Chris and I looking sultry!

Lindsey and Andy