Message in a Bottle

You started singing in Sting's voice when you read that, huh?

(Photo source: http://goldrush021.tumblr.com/page/6)

I'm A Geek and That's OK

So my glasses got smashed during my little spill on Friday and I was lucky enough to snag an eye exam today. I typically find any visit to a specialist exciting (here comes the geek part).
As soon as the doctor begins looking in my eyes, I want to be able to see what he's seeing. When I put my mangled face on the machine that pops a puff of air in your eyeball , I want to ask, "What's that for?" When the questions of "Which is better, one or two?" arise, I want to ask, "What does that mean about my little baby blues?"
Of course, I don't bother the doctor, the last people you want to piss off are your doctors and waiters. But it reminds me of the strong sense of curiosity that runs through my veins. I used to think everyone had this - just like when I used to think everyone else in the world also loved to make stuff out of Popsicle sticks and paint them and give them as gifts (never thinking that someone might not WANT a gift made out of sticks - but not everyone has questions and wonderments about their surroundings. I believe this might make me a geek, but then I wonder, "What are all those other people doing all day?"
(See, it never stops,)

Things that make you go hmmmm....

A few things to think about...

Will I ever be as fabulous as Brandi?

Why do things like this happen in nature?

I wonder when I'll learn to cook.

Should I join a band?

I didn't blog yesterday...here's why

My face used to look like this...

...and now it looks like this:

All my teacher-friends will understand when I say, "Yesterday, we had a runner."

I've been known to be a bit hard-headed, but apparently the asphalt the child (and then I) tripped on is much harder.
Technically, the only thing that was broken were my only pair of glasses (so I am thankful for that), but in the meantime I look a little like a victum on a domestic violence poster. My husband now gets dirty looks when we walk in public together.

Politics in the Life of a 5 Year Old

Yesterday my students came to school talking about the election. Honestly, I hadn't spent much time on it before election day (things have just been kind of crazy). So when this political conversation was student driven, I was pretty excited.
The kids were saying, "Obama won! Obama won!" So I asked "What does that mean - Obama won?" (Hoping someone would say something like,'He got more votes' or 'He gets to be president again.'
Instead, the first little boy I called upon answered happily, "That means we don't have to go back to Mexico!"

I almost fell out of my chair.

Eric Jensen

Dear Mr. Jensen,
I cannot put your book down. Clearly you've been to my school, listened to folks on my campus and crawled into my head, then wrote exactly what I needed to hear. I just want to gobble up this text in giant spoonfuls. It is changing my perspective - and I love that.
Thank you for writing this book for me and my students!
Natalie

'Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It' by Eric Jensen

Serious need of help...

Two fings (my former teammates know, that means "two things"):
1. Who knows about Promethian Boards? I've been a SmartBoard gal for the last 3 years and now I'm in charge of trying out the Promethian software. Thoughts on that?
2. My better half is driving me to Barnes and Noble as I type, to pick up Eric Jensen's 'Teaching with Poverty in Mind'. I am hard up for some help with my little ones. I can see the way they approach issues, process ideas and voice their thoughts are different than other language learners, others I've worked with that were not in poverty. Lord let me read swiftly and understand deeply!