CRTs

All year I have labored diligently in preparing my students for one test. One test that defines my success as a teacher. One test that ranks a child on the scale of intelligence. One test on which the fate of the universe rests (or if not the universe then at least our school's "no child left behind" status.) The CRTs. And today, we finished! My whole class is done. I thought I would be flooded with relief. I thought I would be happy. But for some reason I don't feel the exuberance that I expected. I'm not sure why. Oh wait...maybe it's because as I watched my students answering the questions on their computers I saw things like this.

Problem: 3 x 7 x 0 x 2 =
Answer: 42
My Thoughts: ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MULTIPLY SOMETHING BY ZERO?????

Problem: What is the area of a square that has sides of 24 inches?
Answer: 24 square inches
My Thoughts: ARE YOU SERIOUS? WE REVIEWED AREA SEVEN THOUSAND TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!

And my favorite was seeing kids who didn't even bother to work the problems out at all. I mean, it's on a computer right so it's probably some kind of game where you select random answers and see how fast you can finish. Yeah right [Billy]! I bet you finished those 70 problems in ten minutes!! (Name changed to protect the guilty...)

I'm so grateful that "the man" decided this test is the perfect indicator of how successful teachers are. Well at least they can't fire me for the horrible scores that are going to be attached to my permanent record. Only thirteen more days left until retirement...

Integers

I am not feeling particularly grateful for anything today. My students are out of control, my belly is itchy, I have to pee every five minutes, and I'm so tired that I was ready for bed two hours ago. (Current time: 8:09 PM) But, despite all of the things I have to whine about, I realized today that I have a lot to be grateful for. So instead of my usual pessimistic post, I am going to tell about all the great things in my life right now. First, I am married to the greatest person in the world. He listens to me whine, lets me buy pet rats, cooks dinner, does dishes, does laundry, and rubs my back any time I need him to. Second, we get to have a baby! Even though being pregnant isn't as awesome as I thought, I am so excited and grateful that this baby is going to come into our family. I'm grateful that I have a stable job. I am also grateful that I only have 6 weeks until I get to retire so I can hang out with the little person in my belly full time. I'm grateful that Jared is graduating and willing to work hard to support our family. I'm grateful that both Jared and I have amazing families. They love us, feed us delicious food, and give us good advice. Our kids are definitely going to be spoiled in the grandparent department. I'm excited that my little brother comes home from his mission in three days! I'm grateful that I have the gospel and am sealed to my family forever. I'm grateful for good friends who are so positive and help me remember to be grateful for what I have. Wow, that's a lot of gratitude. But the crazy thing is that it doesn't even scratch the surface of the blessings in my life. Writing it all down makes the itchy belly, shrinking bladder, and rotten fifth graders seem pretty insignificant. And to end this post...here is a picture of my big fat belly (that I am very grateful for.)

Baby Madeo

No we didn't find out if it's a boy or girl. Everyone seems to be very concerned about this...except for us. But, good news: It has 2 arms, 2 legs, a heart, kidneys, a brain, a spine and bones, an umbilical cord, 10 toes, 10 fingers, and it was moving around like crazy. So no we do not know if it has ovaries or a penis. But I'm pretty excited to know about the other stuff it has! Only 19 1/2 more weeks till we get to meet him/her!

I will never eat pizza again.

My first experience with heart burn...what a blessing. Now I understand why there are so many Tums commercials. My husband got out of bed to go purchase some while I sit at home and feel sorry for my esophagus. That's love.

On a more positive note...

I think I felt a baby moving in my stomach yesterday. That was a pretty weird but amazing feeling. And I get an ultrasound on Tuesday. I'm already 16 weeks and I can't believe how fast it's flying by! I'm so grateful that we are being blessed with this baby. Thinking about him/her gets me through the hard weeks of teaching. Only 24 more weeks to go! P.S. We have decided not to find out the sex. Everyone seems shocked about our decision. Is that really so crazy?

Hell Week

I could not have possibly had one more thing to do this week. My final project was due for the lame class I'm being forced to take. So Tuesday I had to make sure that was finished and go straight from school to class. Wednesday and Thursday I had parent teacher conferences until 7:00. Science fair had to be done this week. (Science Fair is a whole blog entry itself...like a whole other dimension of hell. LUCKILY my whole family came and helped me one day. Bless them!) Also the District Writing Assessment had to be completed during the week. On top of this we had assemblies, short days, and various other things interrupting our already overscheduled days. During this time I am expected to still be teaching 9 hours worth of material in the less than 6 that I am given, plus teaching these kids to be good citizens, stop them from bringing knives to school, and get them to quit talking while I'm trying to teach math. Oh and did I mention that I only have 2 months left until CRT testing and probably 6 months worth of material to cover? At least it's Friday. We do have Monday and Tuesday off. Normally I would be happy about the long weekend if I wasn't so worried about the time I'm missing out on that I could be teaching line graphs and integers. I'm tired. Happy Valentine's Day!

Fat Pants

Time again for my bi-monthly blog entry. I'm normally better at blogging but I just haven't felt so hot for the last couple months. I've been really tired, bloated, nauseous, dizzy, lost my appetite (yeah-believe it!), and suddenly I can't button up my pants. Turns out it's a baby. He or she will be making his/her debut on August 4, 2009. I have been hesitant to blog this exciting news due to my paranoia and belief in jinxes. But now that I have passed the three month mark, I feel more comfortable in sharing my news. Most of you probably already know because I couldn't contain my excitement, despite the eminent threat of "the jinx." But I am now officially coming out of the maternity closet to the blogging world. Only six months and (hopefully only) 25 more pounds to go! P.S. Can I wear sweat pants to school?