Year Three

Well, when I lock up room 327 at the end of the day, my third year of teaching will officially be in the books. Which is exciting, but also, how did that happen? How am I at this point? In many ways, I feel like a mom who has to make what feels like 10,000 game time decisions every single day. I've given out more band-aids than is probably reasonable for an English class. Is fighting the cell phone battle worth it today? Should I give this kid a hard time for not bringing a pencil? And not telling me about it until we are 25 minutes into class? And then other days I'm the one updating my friends as to what all the cool kids are saying these days. One of my favorite memories of the year is when a student told me I was being extra. That's when I knew I was doing my job. Though I will never let go of on fleek, I think it's safe to say that this year was lit.

Anyway, I'm still finding it hard to believe that it's really the end of May, and that yesterday I waved my third group of freshman out the door. The end of the year is always a little bittersweet because, while I absolutely welcome the break, I'm also going to miss the ~120 students I watched grow and (somewhat) mature for the last 180 days. I became invested in their lives, and they in mine. For instance, they knew my Monday afternoon routine of running five miles through the surrounding neighborhood because I had club volleyball practice on Mondays and didn't see the point in going home just to get caught in traffic driving to Memorial. And I knew all about spring football and Russian class and the movies I told them I would go see but undoubtedly never would, so I wasn't too mad when they spoiled the ending. 

And now they're sophomores and I hope they know how much they mean to me. That I find so much joy in seeing how far they have come from the awkward, shy, nervous students they were on the first day of school, to the still slightly awkward, but more confident and relaxed students they are now. Sometimes maybe too confident and relaxed - to the point of making me want to pull all of my hairs out, but not a day went by that they didn’t put a smile on my face. And I’m proud of who they are as people as well as who they are as students. I’m proud of the way they engaged with the texts we explored this year – some of them for the first time in their lives. I’m honored that they chose to share their stories with me, because their stories are powerful and they absolutely matter, and I’m thankful for the way they let me learn along with them. So many times this year I found myself saying, “I don’t know, but let’s figure it out together.” It was empowering for all of us. They saw me being vulnerable and realized that they’re not expected to know everything right off the bat. They realized that it’s okay to try and fail, as long as they’re learning from these mistakes and trying again. They saw that getting outside of their comfort zones is a good thing - in fact, it's where the magic happens. And they loved being able to show and explain to the teacher how to do something. Which, I won’t lie, wasn’t always easy for me. But once I let go of the idea that all of the control had to rest solely in my hands, I realized how much more authentic the learning was.

And I think when I look back on my third year of teaching, that’s what I’m most proud of. I’m proud of the authentic learning that took place in my classroom. Of course, I still focused on the objectives that would be covered on the STAAR test, because in the grand scheme of things, many of those skills really are important. But I also tried to do things that would help them build skills they will likely use in the future. Research and analysis and learning how to go back and dive deep into a text. We learned how to compose emails – what not to do: have an email address that looks anything like rockinbrunette32@yahoo.com – we connected the texts we were reading to events that were happening in the world around us, and we even dabbled in the very new-to-me world of coding. It is truly a different language, but it absolutely amazed me as to how quickly so many of my students picked up the skill. And yes, it is kind of cool to say that my students were coding in my class, but what was even cooler to me was that when I took a step back, I watched my students go back into a particular scene in the text, and I listened to each group analyze the characters in Romeo and Juliet so that their virtual reality recreations really matched up to what was happening in the play.

I didn’t always know how something was going to turn out, and yes, some of my attempts were total flops. But on most occasions, my students blew my expectations totally out of the water. They owned their learning and they took pride in their work. It is my greatest hope that they saw value in what they were doing, and that maybe it was hard at first, but it was so much more meaningful than halfheartedly completing a go-through-the-motions worksheet.

It’s crazy to think about where I was in my first year, and how far I’ve come as I wrap up my third. While I’ve still got so much to learn, I owe so much of my transformation to the incredible people I’ve got around me. From my English 1 PLC to the English department to technology gurus to administrators to teachers and clerks all over the building, so many of them have helped me in one way or another and I’m grateful for every single one of them.

I’ve said this before and I’ll likely say it again, but I’ve got a job where I don’t dread Mondays. I know it's in my job description to teach them, but each year they teach me so much more than I could ever dream. And that has made all the difference.

I feel like I grew as a teacher, and I witnessed each one of my students grow as learners. And of course, my learning (and hopefully theirs) doesn’t end with the school year. My mind is already churning with all that I can do to make the next school year even better for my students. And while I’ll probably tackle quite a few of them this summer, there’s a reason teachers have this break. There’s definitely time for a little bit of rest and relaxation. I’m excited to start in on the stack of books that has been collecting dust these past few months, to work on my weird tan lines, to eat lunch with people my own age every now and then, and to keep on running full speed ahead. And I mean that on a couple of different levels. Have a fantastic long weekend!

The Blog

Happy Sunday, guys! I’ve only got a short post for you today, but let me just give you a quick Saturday update. First and foremost, a workout. I was up late (later than usual) on Friday night, as Sarah and I met up to F I N A L L Y do a Christmas and birthday gift exchange, and, more importantly, catch up on the past month or so since we've seen one another. You would think that living in the same city would lend itself to regular hangouts, and normally it does, but school - on both of our ends - has just been crazy lately. But we braved the crazy Houston weather and ended up sitting and chatting over burgers at Ruggles Green for about three hours. Sunshine on a very cloudy day.

So, I let myself sleep in a little bit this morning, finally getting out of bed around 9:45am. I ate a light breakfast of cuties and a mini Luna bar, and then headed out the door to squeeze in a swim at the MAC. It was relatively uneventful, aside from the fact that I got there (and even snagged my own lane!) and realized that I had left my goggles at home. Shout out to the lost and found bin for saving me on that front.

After my workout and a  quick shower, I made my way over to City Centre – Seasons 52, to be specific – to celebrate the bridal shower of my setter half, Hayley. Remember when she got engaged? Well, she’s going to be a married lady in just 83 days. #macandchurch.

After an enjoyable afternoon, filled with delicious food and great friends, I headed home to get in a little bit of work, before making my way up to school. School? On a Saturday? Yes, it is true. But this time it wasn’t anything school work-related. I had agreed to chaperone Bellaire’s Sadie Hawkins Dance, and though I was cringing at the memories of my own high school dances, and how silly we all must have looked to our chaperones, I had a great time chatting with some of the other teachers and principals. As a student, I always found it funny when I saw my teachers outside of school. Now, I find it funny seeing students outside of school. How the tables have turned.

All dressed up for Prom (which I secretly hope I get to chaperone)

And speaking of seeing teachers outside of school, I ran into one of my all-time favorite former teachers at Randall's on my way home from school - Mrs. Watson. Though we were on the block schedule at Stratford, I was lucky enough to see her every day, as I had her for both government and psychology. I loved chatting with her (and meeting her husband), and she assured me that she is a faithful reader of fitnessandfroyo. Because I know she'll be reading this - Hi, Mrs. Watson! You really were one of my favs, and I hope I can one day have the impact on some of my students that you had on me.

Now, without further ado, here's your weekly dosage of Survey Sunday!

1.  How did you come up with your blog name? 

What got me into the blogging game was my constant reading of healthy living blogs that focused on both quality workouts and healthy recipes. But with a little bit of pleasure thrown into the mix. I knew I wanted my blog to be much of the same, and for a couple years I was absolutely obsessed with frozen yogurt – eating it at least twice a week – so a combination of fitness and froyo seemed like the perfect choice.

2. What is your favorite thing about blogging? 

I have two favorite things about blogging. Okay, maybe three. One, I love getting my thoughts down on paper (or Web browser), and the chance to work through some of the many thoughts that cloud my mind. I also love that it’s something I can look back on at any time, and remember some of my most favorite and random memories. From time to time I reread through different posts, and I laugh at some of the things that made a fitnessandfroyo appearance. I am just glad that my photos have gotten a *little* bit better from when I started. And lastly, I love the reaction that I get out of other people. Call me self-absorbed, but when people tell me that they love my blog or they resonated with a certain post, or even that they read my blog, those comments go straight to the heart. They bring a (pleased and embarrassed) smile to my face every single time, and maybe my blog isn’t the most enlightening or deep or useful, but hey, if even one person is reading what I write, then I’ll keep trucking along.

3. What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can’t live without? 

I love writing. It sounds silly, but in high school I thought I hated writing. Probably because I saw it as a means of passing a state or national test, and it all seemed so formulaic to me. And literary analysis is not my favorite genre of writing. Though once I actually learned how to do it in college, I disliked it a little less. But now, writing is one of the most therapeutic things I can do. And the fact that so many people enjoy reading what I write? I love that someone can possibly take something away from the nonsense that I put into this blog.

Not my favorite type of writing

4. Facebook or Twitter? and why?

Twitter, for sure. People are sassy, insightful, funny, and sentimental, all in 140 characters or less.

5. If one celeb read your blog who would you want it to be? 

What a question! Can it be a blog celeb? Because I think we all know the answer to that question – Peanut Butter Fingers. She is the blogger who inspired me to start my own blog, and though I can only dream of becoming as much of a success as she is, to have her take a look at my blog would be a dream.

6. What is something you want people to know about your blog?

I hope you guys know that it means the world to me and more when y’all read this blog. And while this blog certainly leans toward the light-hearted side, your support on some of the more serious posts is also something that means more to me than I can put into words. This little blog is me in my entirety, and it’s also something that I hope to (one day in the far, far future) turn into a career of some sort. When I was younger, I wanted to grow up and write a book. But I think I like the direction my passion for writing has taken.

And that's all I've got for y'all. I'm thinking of turning this Sunday into one that is both relaxing and productive. There's going to be no school work happening over here!

Lenten Season

We've (almost) made it over the hump! This week has seemed to go by fast for me, but my to-do list just seems to keep on getting longer. I cross one thing off and then add three more. I fell slightly behind, or I just feel a little behind, with my trip to Austin this past weekend, as I did very little school work while I was there. And I don't regret that, but I have felt like I'm playing a game of catch-up. And tonight we have "Cardinal Kickoff," in which incoming freshman will come and see what Bellaire is all about. I'll be holding down the volleyball booth, and hopefully recruiting some dynamite freshmen to don the Cardinal red.

Because it wouldn't make sense for me to go home and then turn around and come right back, I am staying up at school, with the intention of getting some work done. Organizing my desk, anyone? And because I didn't want to have to shower and re-ready myself, I woke up bright and early this morning to get in a swim before school. I have found that the key to getting a lane to myself is getting to the gym right when it opens at 5am, or meandering on up there around 7:30pm - after all of the youth aquatic fitness and aerobics classes have ended. And for some reason waking up at 4:40am to swim is a whole lot easier than getting up at 4:40am to run. Especially when it's a crisp 40 degrees outside. Which, if I'm being honest, is pretty ideal running weather, but a dark 40 degrees feels much colder than a sunny 40 degrees. So while yesterday's after-school sunshine-y run was a dream come true, this morning's frost? Not so much.

Lent

It's that time of year again - the time when we pick something to give up in honor of the Lenten season. If you celebrate Easter, that is. And, even if you don't, people often use this time to give up something that has become sort of like an addiction to them. Now, I'm not Catholic, but I have always tried (and usually failed) to give up something for Lent. Usually food. My Granny always, always, always gave up chocolate, and I always tried to follow suit. Chocolate, sweets, frozen yogurt - I successfully completed that one, surprisingly enough - and last year I told myself that I would journal every day of Lent. Yeah, right. One year some of my WyldLife teammates and I said we would read through the New Testament in 40 days. Again, I fell off track. Maybe some give up using foul language, as I know I could certainly watch my mouth while sitting in Houston traffic, turning off technology for a couple of hours a day (we all know I could benefit from that one), or some other bad habit that will help turn us back to Jesus. While those last few are a little bit closer to what the Lenten season is all about - preparing our hearts for Easter and experiencing the want, sacrifice, and temptation that Jesus experienced in the wilderness - I don't think it matters what you decide to give up or do for Lent, rather why you decide to give up or do something.

I know I'm guilty of giving up sweets because maybe it will help me shed a couple of pounds. Does it ever? No. Instead, it makes me irritable when my friends are enjoying that delicious cup of frozen yogurt and I'm eating carrots. Besides, what's a day without chocolate, anyway? This year, instead of giving something up, because I have found that doesn't really turn my heart back to Jesus, I'm going to take a little bit of time each day to write down either what was great about that day, what I'm thankful for, or a combination of the two. Every day is not going to be great, that is for sure, but there is something great to be found in each day. And I can't take any credit for that thought! One of my fellow UTeach grads has started a blog, that I absolutely love reading each morning, in which she is writing down one thing that she is thankful for every day for a year. What a difference it can make to look back on a day and reflect on the good that happened! Even if you have to dig a little deeper for it. Especially if you have to dig a little deeper for it.

I also want to commit one new piece of scripture to memory each week, and maybe make it a verse that I'm not already familiar with. There is no love without sacrifice, and though I'm not technically "sacrificing" anything, except maybe a few minutes spent wasted on Facebook, my hope is that I can celebrate and rejoice in the good news that I am made new each day by a gracious and loving God.

Coach Kelli

Well, here we are at the end of another week, and I yet again neglected this little blog. It was one L O N G and F U L L, but very fun, week. I'll fill you guys in on as much as possible, so let's start with volleyball. Tryouts began bright and early Monday morning, with a 7am arrival time for the coaches. Bellaire isn't just right up the road the way Stratford was, but it is really easy for me to just hop on the Westpark Tollway in order to get over there.

We started out with lots of paperwork - getting the girls checked in and making sure they had both an updated physical and insurance before giving them a number and four safety pins, as that was how we would be posting who made the volleyball program. I was responsible for about 40 freshmen, which was a bit overwhelming, but come 3:00pm I knew who I wanted on my team.

We posted the list of who made the program right around 3:15pm, and I can tell you right now that that is going to be the very worst part of coaching. It's not that the girls who didn't make it weren't good, it's just that you can't field 90 players on three teams. And when you think about it, we're lucky to have so many good players who want to be a part of the Bellaire Volleyball program. It keeps it competitive for everyone, and we can choose from some of the best in the city.

I have 16 on my team, which is a lot, but I know that each one of them will vie for playing time, especially after watching them in the scrimmages on Friday and Saturday. I always loved the scrimmages when I was a player - four to six 25-30 minute games that just allow the girls to play. No referees, no keeping score, and everybody gets ample playing time. I am on the hunt to find a setter, and I threw about six different players in at setter, just to see how they reacted to the position. I find myself being especially hard on the setters, or at least focusing on them the most, and that can probably be credited to the fact that I heard a majority of these comments repeated over and over and over again to me when I played. Square up, don't release too early, release all the way to the net - who would have thought I would one day be repeating these things to my own players?

Ms. Tomlinson

On Thursday, I received the keys to my classroom! I attended as much as I could of a new teacher orientation in between practices, where we were introduced to many importance faces within Bellaire, were given parking passes (apparently parking is the number one complaint from teachers about Bellaire), and lastly, the keys to my very own classroom. I was relieved to learn that I would in fact have my own classroom, because in a school as big as Bellaire, some teachers are bound to be floating, meaning they float around the school and teach out of a new classroom each period. It requires a little extra organization, that I probably do have, in all honesty, but I don't even know what that organization would look like, and I'm looking forward to decorating my classroom. Come on, what first year teacher isn't looking forward to doing that?

I had about ten minutes before I needed to be at practice, but I just had to see my room, so I ran around the school trying to find it, found it, and started dreaming up different classroom setups. I could have up to 40 (!!!) students in my classroom at one time (fingers crossed that isn't the case), so I'll be working with quite a few desks. And Bellaire is an old school, so these are the old-timey desks. I'm still thinking of how I can arrange them into groups!

And not only did I get a classroom, but I got a classroom with a window. And you can't ask for much more than that. And the reason I even mention this is because my own high school is known for its lack of windows. And that's even after they added in windows the year it was rebuilt. A room with a view? I'll take it!

Royer's Pie Haven

Do y'all remember my Summer 2014 Bucket List? Well, as it turns out, I can still cross things off even when I'm not in Austin. I was out in Katy for my scrimmages yesterday, which cuts off about 30 minutes of the drive to Austin. I was going to just head up to Austin after the scrimmages and spend Saturday and Sunday with Dylan, but I had a couple of things going on Saturday night, and he had something going on this afternoon, so me driving to Austin didn't make much sense. We compromised, though, and decided to meet halfway for lunch. We started driving at the same time, and found ourselves in La Grange.

We enjoyed lunch together at The Back Porch BBQ, agreeing that one of the best things about Texas is that you can drive around any small town and find a great hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint. The Back Porch certainly didn't disappoint, but we made sure to save room for one slice of pie apiece. Dylan mentioned that we were really close to Round Top, so naturally we knew we were going to have to go to the original Royer's Pie Haven - the one that inspired the Royer's on Guadalupe in Austin. We never made it over to the one six blocks away from where I lived (and two away from where I worked everyday), but we did make it to the one in Round Top. Go figure.

Royer's Pie Haven was absolutely precious, as was the little town of Round Top itself, and the pie was just delicious. I was in the clear because both their peach and cherry flavors are vegan, so obviously I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity. I used to think I wasn't a pie person, but one bite of peach pie later and I was converted. It was so fresh and so warm, and absolutely worth the hour and a half drive. Not that the company had anything to do with it.

I can already tell you that I will surely be returning to Royer's Pie Haven, and if you ever find yourself antique shopping in the little town, I would recommend that you do the same!

Stay tuned for another post - this a quick one featuring a 20-minute treadmill workout I squeezed into a very full day this past week. It's been a while since I've shared a workout with you guys!

Eight Fears

After a chaotic day that began at 5:45am, and didn't end until close to 11pm, I am more than ready for a low-key day today. Luckily, all that I've had to do at work is scan a bunch of old pictures onto the computer for SRD's new website, so I've been able to do that while still taking some time to just aimlessly surf the web (and blog, of course).

As for yesterday, phew, what a day! I left Austin around 12:30pm, and I was making great time to Houston on a beautiful day. 

I was just about 45 minutes from home when I noticed that my air conditioning wasn't doing its job as efficiently as it was just a minute ago. I also started smelling a smell that I didn't think was normal for a car, so I will admit that I panicked a bit when I called my mom to tell her about my air conditioning. She told me to stop by the house so that we could switch cars - I could take her car up to Bellaire for my meeting, and she would take my car to the shop to get checked out. I knew I was making good time, so I decided to stop at a recent favorite restaurant - Salata - to pick up a quick late lunch.

I scarfed it down during my ten minutes spent at home, before getting in my mom's car to head to Bellaire for a 4:15pm meeting. As per usual, I was early for the meeting, but it allowed me some time to get gas, and to just stop and catch my breath. You guys know how I feel about tardiness, so it's much better that I was on the early side. I found the room right away, and talked with some of the teachers who were in my interview with me. 

The main goal of this meeting was just to get to know one another and briefly talk about the upcoming year before summer really gets going. I was jealous to hear about all of the fun and exciting trips many of my team members will be embarking upon, but, it's hard to complain about a summer in Austin! Anyway, we started out with introductions and icebreakers, and I quickly realized just how little experience I have compared to everyone else on my team. It overwhelmed me a little bit to think about how much there is for me to learn, but, my mom was quick to remind me that everyone has to start somewhere, and nothing good ever comes without a little bit (or a lot) of hard work. And, I know that my teammates will do whatever they can to help me. In fact, they are one of the reasons I wanted to be at Bellaire so badly. I really felt like I connected with the teachers in my interview, and because Bellaire is very big on team planning and collaboration, I knew that would have to be a deciding factor. So, though I do not yet know exactly what I will be teaching (Academic, College Prep, Reading, or Pre-AP), I know that my team will be available to help with whatever questions may pop up.

The next thing we discussed (and the part for which I was most excited) was the reading list. Though I did not always love (okay, nor did I always read) every book that was assigned to me, I always loved the thought of a new year and a new set of books to read. So, I was excited to learn what novels and short stories I would likely be teaching this year. Summer reading will be Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, which is easily one of my favorite trilogies, and some of the other pieces that are pretty much set in stone are The Odyssey, The Pearl, and Romeo and Juliet. With the exception of The Pearl, which I read in middle school, the other two were pieces that I read my freshman year of high school.

The other pieces will be decided upon soon, and I was probably a little bit too excited to take home my very own Teacher's Edition of the Literature textbook.

It was great to officially meet my new team, and I am excited to start thinking and planning for the upcoming year. I am definitely a planner, so it feels great to already have a meeting under my belt. At the very least, I can start reading some of the required texts, and think about how to make them come alive for my future students.

After my meeting, I made a quick trip home to touch base with my parents about my car, which wouldn't be ready until today, so I took my mom's car back to Austin with me last night. My sweet brother is going to meet me halfway between Houston and Austin to exchange cars with me - my family really is the best!

Eight Fears

And now for the third day of the Ten Day You Challenge. It’s ironic that some of my roommates and I were talking about our greatest fears the other night. When asked about my greatest fear, it didn’t take me much time to reply. So, without further ado, here are my eight fears.

Drowning

This one seems a bit ironic, given my love for swimming, but drowning, or more so the possibility of running out of oxygen underwater, is something that has always frightened me. When my parents were looking for houses, my dad said he couldn’t buy a house with a pool because he once woke up from a dream (nightmare?) that I was at the bottom of a pool and he couldn’t get to me. Valid fear, and I will probably be the same way.

Fires

These first two are very generic fears, but I think I have seen one too many Lifetime movies in which someone is simply watching a fire engulf a family member, and because I cannot even imagine what that must feel like, it goes high on my list of fears.

Something happening to a family member

Continuing on with the above fear, something happening to one of my family members is not something I constantly worry about, but it is definitely something that scares me. If I ever can’t get in contact with someone in my immediate family (which is a very rare occurrence), my brain goes into overdrive, immediately coming up with every possible horrible thing that could have happened to them. They just mean so much to me, and I would be so lost without them!

Escalators

Irrational, I know. But I’m still scared that the step will fall through, and that will be the end of me. At the very least, a shoelace could easily get stuck in between one of the steps. Yikes!

Not enjoying the moment I’m in

I’ve talked about this a bit on the blog recently, and it has also come up in conversation, especially with Dylan, because I have this habit of looking into the future instead of enjoying what is right in front of me that very day. I have a lot to look forward to this upcoming fall, but I also want to enjoy these last couple of months with my friends and roommates here in Austin, and not think about how hard it will be to leave and start this new chapter.

Cockroaches

I’m sorry, but I just don’t really understand why cockroaches were put on this Earth. They are disgusting creatures, and I will forever make someone else kill them for me.

Letting opportunities go to waste

One of my biggest fears is the failure to live up to my full potential, and not take advantages of all of the opportunities presented to me. But, at the same time, I don’t want to overload my plate, because I am really bad at saying no to things, because I worry too much about letting other people down. I have recently learned that I can’t please everyone, and that I have to do what is right for me.

One opportunity I'm glad I didn't pass up!

Cramped spaces

I have recently realized that being in a small space with a bunch of other people really stresses me out. I hate not having enough space to feel comfortable, so being stuck in a small space with too many other people sounds like a true nightmare.

Disclaimer: This post was a bit of a downer, and I promise I don’t worry about these things constantly, but as part of the Ten Day You Challenge, I had to share them, of course!

And with that, I'm about to finish up at SRD for the day and head to Gregory for an afternoon swim! See y'all tomorrow with some more Things I'm Loving!