Chillin’

Ellie had three teeth break through (two molars included) this last week, and I got to experience a new teething side effect:  diarrhea!  Therefore, we were a lot more housebound than normal, since she was needing frequent diaper changes.  Poor E!  Poor me!  One of the side effects of diarrhea, other than insane diaper rash, is the temporary loss of lactose tolerance, which exacerbates the problem.  By Thursday, E was seeming back to normal, so I gave her a cup of milk, and she rewarded us with the return of the D.  In Target.  After half of my shopping was done.  Therefore, I had a choice.  Should I abandon the cart (and have to possibly start over in my shopping which would risk an irritated baby) to change her, or should I just let her have “spa time” and wait for Trav to meet me?  I waited and smelled.  I bought a bunch of pedialyte and white grape juice for E, and she was on a sugar rush this weekend.  To top off my trip, I managed to break a bottle of wine in the checkout lane by catching it on the handle of my shopping bag (we use reusable bags to reduce our trash and prevent paying a bag tax).  That was kind of embarrassing. 

I was super productive on Friday, since I was mostly housebound.  I vacuumed, did the dishes, fixed my printer by myself, watered the plants, cleaned the bathroom, and put away all clean laundry.  I have also been in high gear with researching World History curriculum for the upcoming year.  I have a bunch of books  ordered from the Library of Congress (Trav is a member), and I spent too much money on Amazon for resources.  On Sat, we all went to the National Museum of the American Indian. They have a toddler-friendly play area, and E had fun. Sunday, I took advantage of some alone time, and met up with a former coworker/friend for brunch.   Today, I have already vacuumed and watered the plants.  Once E goes down for a nap, I will mop the floors and I am hoping to do some kitchen projects like making toddy (cold-brew coffee), Travis’ spicy pickles, etc.  My plan is to make one more stop at my new school to work on the room this week, and pick up some stuff to start developing my syllabi for my classes.  My M-i-L will be out for a hot second on Thursday, so that day will be fun with everyone, and I would like to take E to Trav’s work one last time.  Yes last time, because this is my last week as a SAHM. 

Next Thursday, I will be a working mom yet again.  E will be getting her babysitter back.

My goals for improving my profession this year:

• Stay on top of grading and data DAILY.  My hope is to spend every afternoon grading my students’ work and putting it into the gradebook.  Over the years, I begun to struggle with this not because of the amount, but the different amount of assignments and preps I was dealing with.  With less to plan and prep, I should have more time to be an efficient teacher.
• Give regular, meaningful homework.  Now that I am teaching a different population of student, I would like to start exploring and developing a “flipped classroom” where the reading and notetaking is done at home, and the HOT and critical thinking skills are done in the classroom.  I doubt I will be able to have an effective “flipped classroom” in one year, but I can start by experimenting with it.
• Take two PD classes for my licensure renewal.  I think I will look around for a Soc St class and a SpEd class to take for my renewal which is coming up in a year for one of my licenses.  I think an online class will be the way to go.
• Maintain a clean classroom.  This shouldn’t be as hard, since students will no longer be eating breakfast and lunch in the room (no more fridge, microwave, and hot sauce in my room!), and I will try to integrate organizational skills into the classroom routine since I will be teaching students that will probably have goals such as them in their IEPs.