Karen and Darren Visit!

Having Karen and Darren come to visit was probably one of the most fun weekends Nick and I have had since we moved. The weather was great and it was the first true fall weather we had down here. By that I mean it was the first day where it was enjoyable to be outside and you could actually breath air and not water!

On Friday, we went to one of our favorite restaurants on Lake Norman called The Rusty Rudder. Think great, fried everything with ridiculously sugary drinks on the water. The view is amazing and the only thing more fun that the place itself is the people watching you experience. We had entirely too much food and the table was just as full as we were ;)

Saturday morning Karen tried barre for the first time with me at my favorite barre studio in Meyers Park. Of course, we had to pop over to the little boutiques across the street afterwards. We ended up finding the most amazing make up and beauty store, Woo!, that I can actually be in because it's completely unscented. This is a major win for someone who cannot be by the make up counters in the mall without getting an instant migraine. I went back a few days later for a makeup consultation thanks to a wonderful surprise by Karen.

The afternoon was spent relaxing, chatting, and of course, more shopping with Karen! We then came home to get ourselves together for our amazing dinner at Fork! restaurant. Fork! is built into an old house. The house blends in so well with the rest of the street that if you didn't know what you were looking for, you would probably pass it before you saw the actual sign for the restaurant. Now, we've had some great food since we moved down here, but Fork! is by far my favorite spot so far. It's amazing New York/DC standard food with the Charlotte price tag. Again, great drinks, entirely too much food, and even the table felt full by the end of the meal.

Of course, all weekends with family and friends visiting includes food and good times, but Karen and Darren's visit was especially exciting because they were the first family members to come visit who had never been to Charlotte before. It was so great to show them around and show them our new place and neighborhood. Even better was when they loved it as much as we do. It's a great feeling! As we continue to get visitors, I'm looking forward to seeing their reactions to our new digs and hopefully for a quick return to visit again.

Best,

Becky

Twenty Days

It's been twenty days since my last post. TWENTY. That's a long time for someone who made it a goal to write 2-3 times a week when I started this. However, when I started this, I had not yet started school and did not have any kind of realistic expectations about how my life would be in the first month of school

It is now October. For first year teachers, well, teachers in general, this means that we are moving out of the crazy period that is the beginning of the year. Now, this doesn't mean I have made it "out of the woods" yet, but it does mean that I am about two weeks away from the end of the first quarter. With that comes parent-teacher conferences (yikes!) and first quarter grades. 

There is a lot that has happened in the last twenty days. For one, Nick and I went back to DC for our engagement photos (to be shared later!) Aunt Karen and Uncle Darren came to Charlotte, and Lisa and Brooke paid us a visit as well! It was a fun twenty days, but within that was a lot of stress and struggle.

After one particularly long day at school, I was trying to relax with a bath when I had this huge panic that on top of all of the other things in life I felt behind on, I had not posted on the blog in over a week. A WEEK. How would all of my readers (ok, seriously, it's just my family and closest friends) ever know what was going on in my life? How would I look back this time next year and remember what was going on? It sounds just as ridiculous as it was. I was sending myself into a tizzy over something that was really not a big deal.

That was one of the many times that I had to put on the brakes in the last two weeks. With the first month of school being, well, the first month of school, and being a first year teacher, I had a lot of "breaking point" moments. I am not a crier at all, but there was a lot of crying in the last twenty days. There was a lot of doubting if what I was doing was the right thing. A lot of doubting that I was a good teacher. A lot of doubting that I was making the right choices for my students, myself, and for me and Nick.

Then I realized I was doing just fine. It was only in the past week, but I really stopped and realized that I am doing the best I can, my kids are learning, Nick and I are happy, and that I am truly inhibiting myself in my excess worry. We're talking a lot of lost sleep, wasted hours worrying, and manic mornings and days that turned into exhaustion in the afternoon. Is it worth all of the stress over the things I can't control. Definitely not. Am I still constantly learning and focusing on what I can control? Absolutely. 

There was a lot that happened in the last twenty days. A lot of it was great, most of it was clouded by unnecessary stress. No one actually cares that I didn't post in the last twenty days. At least not the people who actually read this blog ;) In the next twenty, there will be a lot less stress and a lot more deliberate focus on what is happening now. Stay with me, the posts will come more consistently again soon.

Best,

Becky

How Do You Walk from East to West?

Tonight was my first night of high holiday services in Charlotte! A few weeks ago, Nick and I checked out Kol Tikvah of Lake Norman. We immediately loved the welcoming community, the fantastic rabbi, and the atmosphere of the small synagogue. 

With a small synagogue in space and size comes a need for the larger community during the high holidays. Tonight, services were held at Davidson College (think March Madness Davidson) and it was really cool to see the greater Lake Norman community at services. It was even cooler when I was asked if I was a Davidson student by the lovely gentleman who handed me my ticket!

I feel very lucky to have met Rabbi Shields. He is welcoming, young, and has the kind of personality you would hope to have in rabbi. He is originally from Chappaqua (whoo Westchester!) is a URJ Camp person, and has the personality of Ben Stiller's character in Keeping the Faith. Tonight he was giving his sermon and he told the story of a rabbi who asked his class the question of, "How do you get from the East to the West?"

The students had all sorts of responses: 

Pack a bag and walk all the way to the other side of the country!

Walk 1,000 miles!

Fly!

And the list goes on.

So what's the answer? How do you travel from East to West?

You take a step in the opposite direction, and turn.

That response got me thinking. One of my most unforgiving traits is that I get ahead of myself. I think about an end goal and I don't always stop to think about the simplest steps I can take first. Sometimes I think about the simple steps, but skip them underestimating their value. I then further proceed to get myself crazy thinking that the end goal is too large and frenzy myself trying to get it accomplished quickly. It ultimately ends in exhaustion, frustration, and sometimes crying. 

The most recent example of these mis-steps has been my approach to organization. For some reason, I have had a really difficult time organizing tasks I need to complete for school. I have been a few steps behind everyone else because I was missing small things here and there.  I have also had several early morning panics because I was remembering things I forgot to do the night before. Nick, ever the voice of reason, pointed out that I wasn't making lists like I used to of all of the tasks and estimated amounts of time I would need to complete them.

It really was that simple. I know my end goal at school is delivering high-quality instruction and making my students feel safe and competent in their abilities. This is a HUGE task! There are tons of steps in between that lead to that end goal; truly too many to not write down. 

The first step to the goal is task analysis; something I used to do all the time. When I decided that I could simply skip this step, wrongly assuming I would simply remember all of my small tasks, I fell short. Now I'm back to list making and I've been more "on top of it" than ever.

It's so important that as we get busy and become focused on our big goals that we never neglect to remember those small steps. You can walk from East to West. It just starts with a change in perspective and one simple step.

Best,

Becky

Are you teaching barre?

The short answer is, no. The real answer is more than that.

For those of you who don't know, barre is one of my favorite way to work out. It is a full body work out that uses small, isometric movements to lift and tone your arms, core, legs, and glutes. It is non-impact, completely safe for you knees and back, and no matter how many classes you go to, it never gets easier! You do not have to be graceful or a ballerina. HA we know I'm none of those things! You also don't need to be skinny (still not me), have a diamond ring the size of the moon, or any of the other stereotypes you heard about barre. It's just a good time. 

I was so excited to have the opportunity to become a certified barre instructor at barre. [d] studio in Charlottesville, VA. The studio owner, Hanna, worked for a long time at my local barre studio in Arlington and when she opened her own studio in C'ville and offered training, I knew I had to do it. I am so glad that I did.

Through the training I not only learned how to teach others, but I became much more aware of my own body while taking class. Now classes are much harder for me because I am now doing every move correctly. It's awesome and is the worst at the same time.

Back to the original question: Am I teaching barre? No, I'm not. Barre studios are very picky about your training. Most studios have their own "unique" philosophy and technique. In reality, they are very small changes. On the other hand, I recognize that it's a business and that studios make money training people on their program. I found out quickly that if I wanted to teach, I needed to do so through a gym or a community center.

When I first moved to Charlotte, Nick found a women's gym just down the street from our apartment. Not only was the gym beautiful, but they were hiring fitness instructors. I was thrilled. After talking to one of the owners, I was given a two week pass to get used to the gym, try some classes, and meet the clients. He said he would reach out in another week to schedule a time to do a demo class. I went to a barre class, a yoga class, a cross-fit style class, and went once to just use the elliptical. 

I really did not like it. At all.

I tried really hard to like it. The clientele were fantastic. Most of the staff were friendly. The classes were terrible. In the barre class, I found myself doing my own thing because the instructor was asking us to do things that were unsafe for your spine and the class in general was just ineffective. I was disappointed to say the least. The other classes were OK, but nothing to write home about. I never heard back from the man who interviewed me and I never reached out.

At first, I was disappointed. I was upset that I spent a lot of time, money, and travel to get a certification I could only use in a limited number of locations. Then I thought about all I gained from being trained by Hanna at barre.[d]. I not only improved my own barre work out, but I learned to love it even more than I had previously. I met a group of women who are all roughly my age that I can look forward to seeing when Nick and I visit Charlottesville. More importantly, I did something really nice for myself.  Above all else, I thought that was most important and what made the whole experience worthwhile.

Maybe one day I will be able to teach. But for now, I'm not teaching barre.

Best,

Becky

The First Two-Weeks of School Tipping Point and Recovery

The last two weeks were an adjustment to say the very least. I spent the summer waking up around 8AM and have been up by 5:30 every day for three weeks. I went from having roughly ten students I worked with in a small group to having 21 students to manage all at once, all day long. Going from a private school that focused more on creativity and feelings to a school that is extremely data and standards driven has also been a different experience. I am thrilled with where I am, but the little things were sneaking up on me.

I hit a breaking point on Wednesday. I never truly lost it, but I was pretty close to losing it. It was the third morning in a row that I woke up in a panic around 3:30AM. Why this panic? Well, my SMART Board takes up 80% of my usable white board space and the computer that hooks up to it hadn't worked properly since before school started. That meant every morning I gambled: Will I be able to teach effectively today? EVERYONE uses their SMART Board for EVERYTHING. 

I know what you're thinking: "Is it really that big of a deal?" Well, that's just the thing.

In retrospect, it's really not a big deal. On top of the other general stress of the first two weeks of school, this was one of those bigger things that put on top of the tower of beginning of year assessments, learning a new school, learning new state testing procedures, organizing supplies, and making sure my kids knew how to function in my room, it was just about enough to tip me over the edge.

Until three things happened simultaneously around 7:40AM.

1. A student started projectile vomiting on the floor.

2. As student was was vomiting, a student is telling me his dad is picking him up early and he's not riding the bus. He has no note from home to give to the transportation coordinator. 3. A student knocks their table's supply caddy onto the floor

Inhale, exhale

I got the student to the office. The second student's dad later received my voicemail and made sure my student had a note about his transportation change. About six students jumped on the supply caddy to clean up. Then instruction and regular activity ensued as normal.

We, I should say I, made it through the day. The saving grace of the school day was when the technology specialist from downtown showed up and fixed the computer that is linked to the SMART Board. I wasn't convinced it was fixed, but I also didn't stick around a second longer than I needed to at the end of that day. I booked it home. 

Immediately upon arrival home, I went to the Irish bar around the corner with Nick and drank one more glass of wine than I should have on a school night. Nick, ever the patience listener and voice of reason, listened to me ramble and vent and assured me that everything would be ok. I didn't believe that everything at school would be fine the next day, but for the moment, I felt better.

And then an amazing thing happened. I woke up right before my 5:30 alarm. Not at 3:30 like I had several days in a row prior. More importantly, I felt better. I felt like I could let go and just let it be what it would be. Walking into school, I felt ready to take on the day and I wasn't going to let the uncontrollable control me anymore.

I walked into the room, turned on the computer, and went to put my stuff down by my desk. When I turned around, my computer had already loaded.

It all works out in the end.

Best,

Becky

Perfect Peaches

My school is a Title I School. What this essentially means is that due to the population of low-income families in our school zone, our school receives funding from the government to provide free/reduced breakfast and lunch to our students. Additionally, we receive additional tutors and resource teachers to ensure our students reach high levels of success. 

At J.H. Gunn, we are lucky to not only have Title I funding, but also an amazing social worker. Mr. Narcisse does everything from home visits to clothing collections to make sure that all of our students are receiving the care they deserve. He works incredibly hard and works quickly to make sure no student goes over looked. For example, this past week I noticed a student wore the same dirty shirt and skirt three days in a row. I sent an email at 7AM and received an envelope for the student at 3PM with information for the family about how he can help with clothing, food, gas, and emotional support assistance. He is our school's hero and a champion for our students.

This past week, Mr. Narcisse worked with Second Harvest Food Bank to deliver bags of peaches for each one of our over 750 students! It was truly amazing to me what a bag of peaches did for some of my kids. Some of them didn't get it, clearly the kids who are doing fine at home. Most of my kids, however, couldn't wait to share the good food with their families. 

I learned a lot in my first week of school, but one of the most important things I re-learned is how fortunate I am to not just have enough food, but to have nutritious food in my home. None of my students are starving, that I know for sure. But you hear in their conversations and in the few students' who bring lunch from home lunch boxes how terrible the food they normally eat is for them. To some, it's just fruit. But to these kids it was a sweet treat that they are so rarely able to afford.I loved seeing the joy in their faces!

Best,

Becky

Week One. It's Done!

This week was the first week of school! I'm not even sure where it went, but I am so glad it's done and it was a great success! Here are some of the major points of each day.

Day One: Paperwork

Paper work. Paperwork I need to do, collecting paperwork, reading paperwork. So. Much. Paperwork. Next year, better management system for the paperwork. The rest of the day was incredible. I have fantastic, respectful, completely manageable kids. I am very lucky.

Day Two: Procedures and Expectations

I spent the first day doing a lot of getting-to-know-you activities. The second day was very heavy on procedures and expectations I have for everything from how they put their backpacks away in the morning to how I expect their science notebooks to be organized. It's tedious both for them and me. Even more paperwork.

Day Three: The Rules

My kids "make up" the classroom rules. I ask them to think about last year and to share the most important rule their teacher had. Those all become the classroom rules. They come up with them so they all need to abide by them. My most important rule: Be Respectful. This applies to themselves, others, materials, and me. It's the hardest rule to follow and the one I crack down on the hardest.

Day Four: Formal Math and Independent Reading

I started doing formal math technically on day three, but we got into the real meat of recovering all of those addition and subtraction strategies they learned last year. The first unit is always a spiral back to what they learned last year and tends to be a strand that we work on all year round. Unlike when we were all in school, you can't forget what you learned because you have to use it all year. We also started independent reading time. We are at fifteen minutes at a time and my goal by January is forty-five. I will be pleased if we get to thirty.

Day Five: What Cleans Pennies Best?

We did our first science experiment on Friday. We were testing to see if rubbing alcohol, vinegar, soap and water, or regular water will clean pennies best. Controls are almost impossible with pennies between dirtiness, wear, etc., so we were all surprised (well, not me) when the "cleanest" pennies were the ones in the soap and water. Monday is a discussion about experimental error and the difficulty with controls. I will find more kid-friendly words for those terms :)

I am thrilled to say this was a successful week. Everyone who reads this knows that last year I was pretty miserable by the end. I'm so happy to say that I love where I work and who I work with. It makes all the difference at the end of the day.

Best,

Becky