3 pounds? ! ? ! How on earth did you forget to mention THAT?!
I'm thinking that my problem isn't fear of success... I'm thinking that
I'm too damn lazy. When I get the chance I will look at Chapter 4...
maybe even mention all this to Dip....AND I greatly appreciate your
insight and expertise! (you know...all those A's and all! ) I hope
I wasn't too hard on you..... I'm not feeling nearly as ummm UP this
evening....BUT I'm not in the kitchen!
Robyn, you are so good for me. That is how many times you made me laugh at your posting. At the end of each sentence, I let out a giggle. You reeeeeeeally crack me up. And no, you weren't hard on me. I hope you don't mind me trying to shrink your head with only a bachelor's degree!
Okay, it wasn't a rainy day, but it may as well have been.
1. My aide called out sick.
2. I got a new student prone to tantrums.
3. The Stupidintendent came for a visit with the director of early childhood in tow.
4. I've got one **** of a backache from trying to teach my DD how to do a back bend. Don't ask.
5. It was Monday.
I'm not really as cranky as I sound. I'm a little PMSing and my back is killing me. When the Stupidintendent came, I was at lunch, so I didn't have to be observed. It could have been worse.
Wow the weekend went by so fast! Where did it go? I was not ready for the alarm to go off this morning. Oh well, I still got up and did a 4 mile walking video before I got ready for work. So I was very well motivated for my students this morning. I think they just wished that I would shut up and leave them alone when I am in such a good mood, especially on a Monday. LOL.
Summer congrats on losing the 3 pounds last week. Way to go! I don't know if I lost anything last week. We didn't have our TOPS meeting due to the weather. I don't trust my scales at home sometimes. I will find out tomorrow how I did for 2 weeks. I am hoping to have a loss.
Robyn I think it might be the winter blues. I felt for two weeks like what you were feeling. What got me out of my lazy *** mode, was seeing a picture of myself at the end of December that my best friend took of me in workout clothes. God, it was really awful! I decided to kick my *** and get moving again. So we are in this together! We can and will reach our goal weight this year. Ya gotta move it to lose it! is my new motto.
Everyone have a great Tuesday! Keep up the good work ladies!
I am feeling a bit better now. I still feel frustrated and a little depressed, but I am hanging in there. I had a long talk with hubbie last night and told him how I've been feeling. He was surprised, but very comforting. He said he's worried about me. Trying to get into losing some weight has not been easy. I feel so much stress right now that it is soooo difficult. I am so happy for all of you who have lost. I never weigh myself, but I've noticed that some things are not as tight. Saturday I took Ashley to Disney on Ice (Princesses) and the seat did not feel as tight as it did last year. I was actually comfortable. I'll keep going and eventually I'll be able to wear some of the things in my closet. (I have so many things that I haven't been able to wear for so long that it will be like having a closet full of new clothes).
Weather here is turning quite cold; not by Eastern standards, but cold nonetheless. Supposed to be only 55 tomorrow and Wednesday.
This information was in the paper last weekend. I thought everyone might be interested. It's the AYP requirements of the NCLB Act.
• Federal standards require entire districts to improve AIMS (the state-mandated test.)reading and math scores, a state test taken in third, fifth and eighth grades and in high school. The feds also measure the districts on attendance and graduation rates. But here's the sticking point: The feds require district students in eight separate student groups to meet the standards. The groups include five ethnic groups: African-American, White, Latino, Asian and Native American. The other three groups are students learning English, students living in poverty and special-education students.
• If any of these groups, in any grade, are lagging in test scores, attendance or high school graduation rates, the entire district fails to make Adequate Yearly Progress.
So, in Mesa, eighth-grade English language learners didn't score high enough on the eighth-grade AIMS math test to keep the district from failing. Paradise Valley testing director Roger Freeman said they're also struggling to improve eighth-grade AIMS scores.
"It does help us identify some of our weakest and strongest areas so we can target them," Freeman said.
FYI: Mesa District is the largest district in the state. They have over 60 elementary school, I don't know how many middle schools, and 6 high schools. Amazing that only one group of kids in one grade kept the entire district from making AYP.
Hi Ladies,
Hope everyone had a great day! I had a very trying day at work. One of my student's hates me. He sent a note to my principal saying how mean and rude I was to everyone in my class. That is how my day started, by being called into my principal's office to read this note. So I had a little chat with the young man and asked why he hated me. He told me because I make him work extra hard and he does not like that. Plus I am in charge and he doesn't like people telling him what he is to do. Have you ever had to try and reason with an MH student before? It was very hard to get my point across to the young man that I am preparing him for getting a job in the near future. Got that take care of. Then my severely autistic student decides to throw a full-blown fit. He ususally just cry's, screams and pounds on the walls, desks and filing cabinets. Not today he decided to throw in a few head butts to the other students. So I had my principal in my room trying to help out. He just decided to send the young man home. So I was really glad to see his dad show up at the door. The rest of the day went very well. In fact, the student that hates me offer to do anything I wanted him to do for me. He kept checking up on me during his recess. He would go to the gym awhile and come back to the room to see how I was and if I needed anything. So I am hoping this behavior continues with him. Enough about school.
Great news! I lost 3/4 of a pound. I was happy with this news. So since last April,I have lost 17 pounds so far. I only have about another 82 1/4 pounds and I will be at my goal weight. This is the sixth week in a row that I have lost something. I am happy that I finally am on a losing streak and not a gaining streak.
Well I hope everyone is doing great and staying warm. I can not wait until Spring. Then a couple of my friends and I can start walking together again outside.
Well I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!
Congrats to Summer and Kar--Great news on the losses!!
Cal, I hope you're feeling better, how is your grandmother? When you are going through a stressful time I personally believe that you should just concentrate on taking care of yourself the best you can, and not add any more on to an already crowded plate (pardon the analogy!). There will be time enough to focus on staying on program later, when there aren't so many external worries going on. Thanks for the article on NCLB. That's exactly what I see happening in our district, and our school will likely be one of the ones to hold the district back. We are title one, a high percentage of economically disadvantaged, a high racial/ethnic mix. I don't understand it, we have excellent teachers, at least to me they seem great. Motivated and caring, really going the extra mile to teach the kids. But so many of our kids just don't get it. Kids in 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade who can't read. Not read above level or on level but can't read--period. And the number of kids in 4th and 5th who check out books way way way below what you would expect their reading levels to be, what's up with that? Is is ability or laziness, they don't want to challenge themselves in the least? It's worrisome, this testing business. This year we are being held to the 'no pass, no pass' standard and it isn't looking good for us in math or reading. Our principal talked to us earlier this year about the Adequate Yearly Progress thing, I think it's the topic of another meeting coming up soon. The tension at school is very high, feeling the pressure. And the kids, well, being kept indoors from all the rain and wet grounds for 2 weeks isn't helping their behaviors any. I was thinking to myself today that I can't remember ever working so hard for so little, satisfaction, money, anything except frustration, that I have in spades!!
My good news, down one pound. Finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Robyn I spent the last month tearing my hair out asking myself so many of the same questions you are asking yourself. Why can't I do this, when I know I can do because I did it before? The only answer I came up with was that, for me, getting back on track is and always will be harder than getting on track to begin with. It has something to do with the guilt and self loathing I feel at having undone all the hard work that made me successful before, so I let that hold me back. And to comfort myself, I eat another cookie! I know I will struggle with this for the rest of my life. I can only hope that at I have learned to stop falling all the way off the wagon, and maybe learned to at least keep on foot on the rung. I wasn't truly on program over the holidays, but I didn't blow it entirely, either. I gained 5 pounds, of the 25 I'd worked so hard to lose since June. What held me back from getting all the way back on program like I know I need to be was the self pitying "think where I'd be if I hadn't stopped" thinking. And it is sickening to think, but it's also self defeating. So I made myself STOP. Sometimes I had to actually say, out loud, "Stop It!" Just like I have to sometimes tell myself to get the heck away from the candy jar and drink my water. Hey whatever works, right?
Hope everyone has a lovely Humpday. Since I'm not sleeping (with DH away) I'm just counting down the hours till the weekend.
story
Well, remember my crappy Monday? Today sucked too.
1. My aide called out sick...again.
2. My supervisor did a surprise visit (inspection).
3. My back is still killing me.
4. I got my period today...I have horrible pain because of my endometriosis.
5. I had to clear up some conflicts between my some of my parents and my aide who called out sick today.
6. I have tons of work to do with the kids in the next seven days because of an upcoming visit of 80 big wigs and continue to be interrupted by meetings and "surprise visits."
Hey ya'll......
I typed a NiCE (well not really!) long FuNnY (it was! ) reply and some how LOST it....
I don't have the UMPFFFF to re do it tonight! I'm PoOoOPed!
This week is KILLING me!
I go to a conference tomorrow...."Disciplining the Difficult Young Child"!
I'll be back and TELL you all exactly WHAT to do and HOW to solve your
discipline problems after the conference!
Would you believe my aide was out again today?! She came back from maternity leave on November 17th. Because of snow days and vacations, we have only had 42 days of school since then. Out of those 42 days, she has been absent from school for 8 days! She has been out almost 1 day a week since she returned! Meanwhile, I've had 5 sick days out of almost 100 days of school, and I'm the one whose sick time usage is being scrutinized by the asst. stupidintendent. (Not to mention that I have a doctor's note for every absense.)
Okay, enough of that.
We had a so-called half day. I don't believe dismissing 90 minutes earlier than usual should be called a half day. Anyway, we had a 50 minute meeting and were then released to work in our rooms in preparation for the 80 visitors from all over the country. I used the time to clean out my closet. I tossed a lot of stuff I thought I needed. I also tossed a bunch of baby gifts and teacher gifts my aide received last June on the last day of school. She is too lazy to take them home. After numerous reminders to her to take her things home, I grabbed a dumpster from the custodian and went NUTS throwing away her crap! It felt really good.
I could have probably used my time more wisely, but getting rid of clutter felt really cathartic.
Supposedly we are going to be hit with yet another snowstorm tonite, turning into an ice storm tomorrow, and eventually becoming rain by tomorrow night. Then it will get cold again and freeze over. As much as I hate the cold, at least when it snows, it doesn't thaw and freeze. Now that we are experiencing a "heat wave" with temperatures in the 30's, we will have to deal with ice. I hate ice. It is so dangerous. I can drive in snow, but nobody can drive on ice.
If we have another snow day tomorrow, I will check in during the day. Otherwise, see ya tomorrow night.
Morning Ladies,
I tried twice last night to post and my computer would just go off line for me. So I am hoping that the third time is the charm and this works. Got woke up this morning at 5:15 to the phone ringing. We are under a 2 hour delay due to all the rain we got yesterday. I just hope that by the time we get out of school today it is not freezing rain or changing into to snow. I would must rather be safely at home when all that mess starts.
Sounds like everyone had one of those weeks. Just think ladies, the weekend is here. We can all kick back and relax a little bit.
Story congrats on your weight loss. You just need to remember to take it one day at a time and you will get back on the wagon. Once you are fully on the wagon, you would let yourself fall off again. I have faith in you. You can and will do it.
Summer sounds like you had a little burst of spring cleaning going on yesterday. Why is there going to be 80 visitors from all over the country coming to your school?
Robyn hang in there the weekend is coming and you can take it easy. Everyone at my school was saying how it has been a really long week. Everytime you turned around someone was going off to a meeting or meetings at the county board office. I just guess it is that time of the year.
Cal I am thinking about you. I hope you are doing okay with all the extra stress in your life right now. I keep saying my prayers for you and your family during this stressful time in your lives.
Well I better go and get ready to go into work. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Try to get some rest and enjoy yourselves.
Hi Kar. A group called the Cornerstone Initiative has been working with our school providing funding and in return, we have to follow their philosophy. For the upper grades, it seems to be a great thing. For me, teaching a developmentally appropriate pre-k class, it is a hardship. I am forced to teach academics to children who are not developmentally ready. And since I recently became nationally accredited, my classroom will be one of the "model classrooms." In other words, there will be large groups of people coming into my room to observe my classes and me. I will have to put on a show for them neglecting my students' needs in order to please them. I can't wait until it is over.
Hey ladies! I am so excited. A couple of weeks ago, there was an excellent letter to the editor of The Connecticut Post addressing literacy, parent involvement, and NCLB. I wrote my own letter in response. Today, my letter is in the paper!!! Isn't that cool?! Tee hee hee...
Got nothing else right now.
Oh yeh, yet another snow day. Anymore snow days after today, and it will come out of our April break.
Hi Ladies,
Summer I had see why you can't wait for the visit to be over. I had a long day today. My one student cried for the first two hours of school. My classroom is right next door to the principal's office. He called down and told us to get him in check or he was calling his parents to come get him. This afternoon I had my confernence with my principal over my observation. He gave me three Needs improvements and the rest were all mastered. I was a little upset about the Needs Improvement comments because we had a specialist come in and observe my one student whose behavior is out of control. She told me to make my room into different learning centers. It is a wonderful idea. Just very hard to do when you are giving very little supplies to work with. Plus when you have snow day after snow day, how is one suppose to implement a new project. Plus for the past couple of weeks, my one student has been throwing temper tantrums every day. My aide and I have to body block him from the other students so he does not hurt them. So how am I going to do this project? Wave a magic wand and sprinkle fairy dust on my classroom. Okay enough ranting and raving.
Happy news! DH, I and the kiddies went to hhgregg and ordered our new tv tonight. It is going to be delievered on Monday. So when I come home from work on Monday, I will have a nice tv to watch. No more wondering what color things are on the tv.
Well I need to go to bed. Have to go workout at Curves early in the morning and then we are going shopping tomorrow.
Have a great weekend!
Morning Ladies,
I would have said good morning, but it is not looking that way for me today. I am a little angry with the DH this morning. He told me last night we were going to go shopping with the kids today. So I set the alarm to get up at 7 and go work out this morning. I really did not want to wake up so early on one of my day's off. But if I did not get up early to get my workout in then I would not have gotten one in at all today. I come home to hear him say that we are not going now, because the place we wanted to go through to get a loan for the our furniture is not open today. So I guess the promise to the kids to take them out for lunch is out the window now too. If I would have know this earlier this morning I would not have gotten up so early. At times, it just makes me mad how he doesn't realize that I work really hard at school with my MH students during the week and am exhausted come Friday. I just want to relax on the weekends, but no we have to run run run. Oh well sorry for my little rant session. He just got to stay in a nice warm cozy bed this morning and didn't have to go out in the freezing cold weather and icy roads.
I think I am just going to curl up with a good book today and not do much. I might work on my lesson plans a little bit. But that is all I plan on doing today.
Well I need to go get a shower. Maybe that will improve my bad mood a little bit.
Have a great Saturday!
) I hope 
That is how many times you made me laugh at your posting. At the end of each sentence, I let out a giggle. You reeeeeeeally crack me up. And no, you weren't hard on me. I hope you don't mind me trying to shrink your head with only a bachelor's degree! 
Finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Robyn I spent the last month tearing my hair out asking myself so many of the same questions you are asking yourself. Why can't I do this, when I know I can do because I did it before? The only answer I came up with was that, for me, getting back on track is and always will be harder than getting on track to begin with. It has something to do with the guilt and self loathing I feel at having undone all the hard work that made me successful before, so I let that hold me back. And to comfort myself, I eat another cookie! 
I'm just counting down the hours till the weekend.
really!) long FuNnY 
) reply and some how LOST 
to re do it tonight! I'm PoOoOPed! 
It felt really good. 
