Well, this weekend was another exciting one! Friday night was my first official movie night, and I was up against the Valentine's Day dance, yikes! But I made out well, ten kids showed up to watch Memoirs of a Geisha, luckily most of them were girls. I didn't think about it much, but it really is a chic flick, isn't it? This Friday is The Last Samurai. We'll see how that goes over.
Saturday and Sunday were spent at Haverford College outside Philadelphia for the Indoor Conference meet. I was pretty excited for my kids because they had a shot at second, but a little nervous too in case it's my fault that they flop. Which, ok, I know, it isn't really my fault but that's how I'd feel and it kind of would be.
Luckily for them, and for me, they didn't! The girls took third, although I know they were disappointed to lose second to Johns Hopkins by 1/2 a point, they did do really well. It came down to the 4x4 no less, but who can complain when they knocked seven seconds off their previous time!? All the girls had been making awesome contributions throughout the whole meet, so we were just a little short. They did awesome! Can you tell I'm proud of them? Without going into each event and athlete, I just want to say that they are all growing on me so much. I've really come to just love being with them and eagerly watching their progress. I work with great kids. Oh, and I shouldn't forget the boys team. I think they're great too. They took fourth and also had some amazing performances. They're hooked on teasing me about the "positive thing" right now, but I just hate to listen to them be so negative sometimes, hopefully they'll internalize it in the long run, and I'm ok with seeing more smiles all around, whatever the reason. Some were, by the way, because of the origami bunnies that I handed out. Most of my girls got notes with their "quick like a bunny" folded in Muhlenberg colors, but I just gave out bunnies to the boys. I'm sure they got a kick out it! Even if it was a little break from their nerves or to make fun of how lame I am, it was time well spent folding all those things. I think now I could do it in my sleep. Matt tried to help; he made one. :)
I have a picture from Sunday, which kind of shows the living conditions and why these kids grow to be so close. It also represents what a full day can do to them, then add another full day on top of that. I'll get that up tomorrow.
PS -Thank goodness for two hour delays, or I don't know that I'd have made it to school Monday morning!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
From Princeton to Duke!
Intrigued? Yep, we had another wonderful weekend! Although, we did worry a little about the snow, since we seemed to be getting a week off! Matt and I both got out early on Tuesday (he two hours earlier than I) and no school Wednesday (which made for a great Valentine's day) or Thursday (hence my previous blog entry), but I did have inservice on Friday. So then Saturday I had a meet at Princeton! Our kids are doing great and they're getting ready for the big Conference meet at Haverford next weekend. But more about that next weekend, I'll be crying or celebrating, I guess.
Anyway, Saturday before the meet started, my friend Matt from Japan met me for coffee and we got to chat for a while. He's doing great presenting to People to People about his trip. He's also getting ready to travel with them this summer. I lugged my 500+ picture album with me to share. It's cool to be staying in touch!
Ok, back to the rest of the weekend! Matt's cousin gave us tickets to the Duke vs. Georgia Tech game on Sunday! He goes there but was out of town for a frisbee golf tournament. Off we went! We left Princeton, where Matt's older cousin went, to head to the Philly airport and headed to Durham! After checking into our hotel, we made our way out to the James Joyce, a great little establishment where everyone talked about the game.
Sunday we were so excited we got up, got breakfast to go, and headed right back to campus; we even made it to church! The security guards were really nice, they let us park right in the church driveway, maybe it was the Ohio plates on our rental car.
We walked around campus and took a nice break shopping in the bookstore. We had to get some real Duke gear!
Finally, it was time to head to the game, we just had to find it first! Brad, my head coach at Muhlenberg had told us it might be hard to find because Cameron Indoor looks just like a dorm. Being tourists, without a map, we opted to ask the security guard who had been so nice the first time. Well, he was just as nice, after he finished laughing at us. Who comes to Duke without knowing where the Stadium is? Once we got to the end of the quad, the line of students gave the rest away. We had found it!
We took in all the sights and sounds, the history plaques, and a great view of the game! It was as great as I expected! The kids were jumping like crazy, Duke won, but it was a close and interesting game. No need for a nail biter, but I'm pretty sure the people around us might have really lost it had that been the case! It turns out, unbeknownst to us, that it was Coach K's 700th career victory! After the game ended they roped off the students, but no one left, then the team and Kryyzewski's family walked onto the court with him. He gave a speech about how great everything is about his job, from the athletes to the students, and thanking his family. I was pretty excited by all the fanfare!
Did I mention that Matt must have been enjoying the game too? Yeah, he liked it a lot! Although, he had professed to not like Duke before we went, so I think the afternoon must have won him over. He did wear his new Duke hat all day! (And he has already finished reading Beyond Basketball: Coach K's Keywords for Success, his airport purchase!)
After the game we got directions to Chapel Hill, since it's so close, why not take a look, right? The temperature had dropped too much to walk around but we did some driving around and grabbed some lunch. The UNC Women's team had just played so we couln't help but take the final picture to capture the sentiments of our neighboring lunchers reactions to my shirt! The very southern girls literally gasped at us for attending the Duke game, after their mother mistakenly asked how to get back to the interstate.
We finished the night with drinks and dinner in Durham. My friend, Ryan, who coaches track down there met up with us. He offered that we could come back for a game next year, and with it being such an easy trip, we just might take him up on that! Go Duke! Special thanks to Jeffrey and the Smiths for giving us the tickets!
Anyway, Saturday before the meet started, my friend Matt from Japan met me for coffee and we got to chat for a while. He's doing great presenting to People to People about his trip. He's also getting ready to travel with them this summer. I lugged my 500+ picture album with me to share. It's cool to be staying in touch!
Ok, back to the rest of the weekend! Matt's cousin gave us tickets to the Duke vs. Georgia Tech game on Sunday! He goes there but was out of town for a frisbee golf tournament. Off we went! We left Princeton, where Matt's older cousin went, to head to the Philly airport and headed to Durham! After checking into our hotel, we made our way out to the James Joyce, a great little establishment where everyone talked about the game.
Sunday we were so excited we got up, got breakfast to go, and headed right back to campus; we even made it to church! The security guards were really nice, they let us park right in the church driveway, maybe it was the Ohio plates on our rental car.
We walked around campus and took a nice break shopping in the bookstore. We had to get some real Duke gear!
Finally, it was time to head to the game, we just had to find it first! Brad, my head coach at Muhlenberg had told us it might be hard to find because Cameron Indoor looks just like a dorm. Being tourists, without a map, we opted to ask the security guard who had been so nice the first time. Well, he was just as nice, after he finished laughing at us. Who comes to Duke without knowing where the Stadium is? Once we got to the end of the quad, the line of students gave the rest away. We had found it!
We took in all the sights and sounds, the history plaques, and a great view of the game! It was as great as I expected! The kids were jumping like crazy, Duke won, but it was a close and interesting game. No need for a nail biter, but I'm pretty sure the people around us might have really lost it had that been the case! It turns out, unbeknownst to us, that it was Coach K's 700th career victory! After the game ended they roped off the students, but no one left, then the team and Kryyzewski's family walked onto the court with him. He gave a speech about how great everything is about his job, from the athletes to the students, and thanking his family. I was pretty excited by all the fanfare!
Did I mention that Matt must have been enjoying the game too? Yeah, he liked it a lot! Although, he had professed to not like Duke before we went, so I think the afternoon must have won him over. He did wear his new Duke hat all day! (And he has already finished reading Beyond Basketball: Coach K's Keywords for Success, his airport purchase!)
After the game we got directions to Chapel Hill, since it's so close, why not take a look, right? The temperature had dropped too much to walk around but we did some driving around and grabbed some lunch. The UNC Women's team had just played so we couln't help but take the final picture to capture the sentiments of our neighboring lunchers reactions to my shirt! The very southern girls literally gasped at us for attending the Duke game, after their mother mistakenly asked how to get back to the interstate.
We finished the night with drinks and dinner in Durham. My friend, Ryan, who coaches track down there met up with us. He offered that we could come back for a game next year, and with it being such an easy trip, we just might take him up on that! Go Duke! Special thanks to Jeffrey and the Smiths for giving us the tickets!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
My Next School Endeavor
Bear with me, while I try to explain this. Yes, I have taken on another wonderful role at work...
A few weeks ago Matt and I went to see Freedom Writers, which I had learned about in the fall at our school inservice. It was fantastic! A lot like Dangerous Minds, a book I read before I started teaching, I enjoyed the concepts of really getting to know my students and becoming someone they could trust and turn to despite any other situations in their lives. I really want my kids to learn to love school, to love learning in new ways, to appreciate education, and to get a better awareness of the real "Real World" outside of MTV, of course.
Soo, my repsonse was to create "Movie Night" for them! I selected 10 movies, which are all relevant to what we read in class at some point during the year, or what they are supposed to be reading in Social Studies. However, there was a problem when I put my list together. Some of the films are rated R, but they are legitimately good movies, like The Last Samurai, Saving Private Ryan, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, even The Patriot . Hmmm, now what?
Well, after some great work with my new Principal and the support of the Assistant Superintendant (the curriculum guy) I got all ten movies ok'd, as long as there's a permission slip! I've been waiting to post this blog, because I didn't know what was going to happen, but it worked, it's all going to happen and I can't wait...
Until the snow! We got out early on Tuesday and I figured we'd be off on Wednesday, too. But we would definitely have school today, right? Wrong. My program was supposed to start tonight; I made cupcakes, I rented Stand and Deliver, I had my list of students ready! I'm so disappointed!
I won't see my students again until Tuesday because of President's Day, which is almost a whole week off, but I look forward to being able to post how next week goes! Guess I'll start eating all those cupcakes!
A few weeks ago Matt and I went to see Freedom Writers, which I had learned about in the fall at our school inservice. It was fantastic! A lot like Dangerous Minds, a book I read before I started teaching, I enjoyed the concepts of really getting to know my students and becoming someone they could trust and turn to despite any other situations in their lives. I really want my kids to learn to love school, to love learning in new ways, to appreciate education, and to get a better awareness of the real "Real World" outside of MTV, of course.
Soo, my repsonse was to create "Movie Night" for them! I selected 10 movies, which are all relevant to what we read in class at some point during the year, or what they are supposed to be reading in Social Studies. However, there was a problem when I put my list together. Some of the films are rated R, but they are legitimately good movies, like The Last Samurai, Saving Private Ryan, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, even The Patriot . Hmmm, now what?
Well, after some great work with my new Principal and the support of the Assistant Superintendant (the curriculum guy) I got all ten movies ok'd, as long as there's a permission slip! I've been waiting to post this blog, because I didn't know what was going to happen, but it worked, it's all going to happen and I can't wait...
Until the snow! We got out early on Tuesday and I figured we'd be off on Wednesday, too. But we would definitely have school today, right? Wrong. My program was supposed to start tonight; I made cupcakes, I rented Stand and Deliver, I had my list of students ready! I'm so disappointed!
I won't see my students again until Tuesday because of President's Day, which is almost a whole week off, but I look forward to being able to post how next week goes! Guess I'll start eating all those cupcakes!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Shoes!
Ok, ladies, here's some news! I tried to contact each of you today about this, it's exciting stuff!
We've got shoes to buy!
They are almost exactly what I was talking about as far as ballet slippers, but better yet, they're mules! Brewster, this may take some practice, sorry!
Check them out at Target.com or head to your nearest Target to purchase them. They're Xhiliration brand, Sasha style, in silver, and ready for this? They're only $12.99! These are flats for the beach portion of the wedding and photos, but you are all more than welcome to wear whatever heels you want for the reception. I'm sure you're feet will be thanking me for the early reprieve!
Since I did buy a pair myself today, I do recommend that if you are a half size, order up or purchase the next whole size.
We've got shoes to buy!
They are almost exactly what I was talking about as far as ballet slippers, but better yet, they're mules! Brewster, this may take some practice, sorry!
Check them out at Target.com or head to your nearest Target to purchase them. They're Xhiliration brand, Sasha style, in silver, and ready for this? They're only $12.99! These are flats for the beach portion of the wedding and photos, but you are all more than welcome to wear whatever heels you want for the reception. I'm sure you're feet will be thanking me for the early reprieve!
Since I did buy a pair myself today, I do recommend that if you are a half size, order up or purchase the next whole size.
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