For the love of cats . . . or a chicken?

I was not a huge cat fan until we rescued these two little weirdos. They never cease to make us laugh . . .

Here is Aster conversing with two turtle doves on the telephone wire:



He really DOES NOT know how to "meow" like a normal cat.

Does he sound like a chicken to you?

Life at the Trail - Part 2

I've been fairly busy since the beginning of Second Semester. I have found that it's far easier to begin work after spending some time off. I spent a lot of time over break reflecting on where I needed to spend the majority of my time. Things are going quite smoothly now, and my class numbers aren't too overwhelming which helps me really focus in on my students one on one. I've had a number of students who have come a long way -- thank goodness! It's so fulfilling and gratifying to see your work pay off for these students, even if it's in a small way. Some of the highlights have been:

- Our Wii! - Through a grant our District Nurse wrote, we now have a Wii in my PE class! We have been playing and exercising to the games we have, and have already seen some amazing changes come about from my students. We have about 9 titles we're playing now, and due to the ingenious programming on them, and a little crafty modifications to the exercises, I hope to see a lot more changes come about.

- E-books, Audiobooks, and more! - Schools face a huge debt when it comes to the integration of technology into classrooms. This isn't new. But, when you introduce students to a technology-based curriculum, and give them time to experiment, the lights really, really start to shine. I have been slowly sharing my ideas on practical uses of technology tools to both paras, teachers, and students and am already seeing some very cool things happening. For example: It turns out, that if students have something cool to read on a computer, like an e-book or audiobook, they really take to it. I have a few kids who've already shown improvements because they can now listen to books. Before, they had to depend on shaky reading skills to make an attempt at reading, and often get frustrated by it. Well, if you hop down to the local library, check a good audio book out for them, and let them listen to it... Whole new things come about. It's very, very cool.

- Grad School - I had a great semester last year, and am looking forward to pushing harder on grad school this semester. I am taking two classes: Strategies for Students with Mild/Moderate Disabilities and Consultation and Collaboration. Right now, it's too early to judge their effectiveness, but the discussions I have with other classmates have been very educational and enjoyable and are a big reason why I decided to do online classwork.

Well, that wraps it up for now. I hope you all are doing well!

Family Christmas 2009

This year we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the following weekend by ourselves. We had plans to drive down for the Bartel Chirstmas on Saturday but the massive amounts of snow prevented that! It was nice to be forced to stay inside. We played games, folded origami, cooked together, and watched movies. All in all a great holiday.

Christmas Eve Night . . . the snow is piling up.



Bam. Over a foot of snow! DJ helped several people who got their cars stuck on our street all throughout Christmas day, what a kind hubby I have!





Isn't he handsome?



A huge drift against the back of the house. It came up to the office window, approx. 3 feet!



The dogs LOVED the snow. I took this photo after they ran around the yard sticking their heads in it!



See how the snow is all trampled? See how cute they are with their ears flipped back?



Origami Wreaths!



We made wreaths out of old Christmas wrapping paper. We now have enough to decorate our big tree next year :).



The Next Week . . .

New Years week we went to Newton for my family's Christmas and the Quiring Christmas. It was great to see Elissa and Dustin for a week straight (and my parents too of course)! Dan and Anne got to play/chase/fight with their cousin Snickers. I was a little concerned about our cats because it was the first time they'd been left alone for more than two nights, but they did really well.

We also managed to squeeze in visits to the Grandma's at Bethesda and to DJ's family in Halstead. We do wish we could have spent another week in Newton for more time with everyone, alas we had to get back to "real life".

Here are some photos from the week:

We played LOTS of Settlers of Catan.





Much time was spent in the kitchen, Mom did most of it but Elissa and I enjoyed helping!

Pretzel Turtles



Mashed Potato Twists- They don't look very good but they tasted good!



The Christmas Table, laid out with Mom's beautiful Fostoria.



Cooking. Please ignore my hair, I don't know what was going on with it that evening.





There are no pictures of me because I took all the pictures (as usual). I wish I had gotten pics of all the presents but I didn't, so here's just a few:

DJ got some outdoor extension cords.



We gave Snickers a new laser. He likes it. Alot.



Mmmmmm . . . new bones.



Dog snuggling.



Anne was pretty pooped.



Snickers is pretty.



Elissa and Dustin got some new serving dishes that match their wedding dishes.



Mom got a much needed new Stir-Crazy popcorn popper.



Dad got some K-State gear.



Dan got an indestructible fetch toy. So far he has chewed off the yellow fabric. We're hoping he can't destroy the rest of it . . .



Our dogs just love their grandparents. Dan sat on dad and slept for quite a while, he even started snoring. So cute.



Mom made a "Snickers" pillow for Elissa and Dustin.



My embroidery handiwork.



I made them a lap quilt for their first Christmas as a married couple :). After looking at this picture I realized how tall you are Dustin, I'm not sure it will cover your toes!



We had a very merry Christmas and we are already looking forward to next year. It can be a bit of a challenge to try and make it to see all our family, but we are glad we got to see most everyone. We feel very blessed to have such great families! Happy New Year!

Life at Santa Fe Trail High School - Part 1

It has been some time since I last wrote on the blog about my first year teaching experiences, and I think it's time for an update! I've had a lot of interesting experiences this year, and I have to say that I have been having a very good year. While there are a lot of reasons for this, a few stand out.

1) Three Lakes Educational Coop, the district I work for, has proven to be a good district to work for. I have enjoyed my fellow colleagues who work there as they have been very helpful this year in keeping me up to speed on the various requirements my students call for. Their support has really helped me stay calm about all the ins and outs of being an Interrelated Teacher, and I feel that my job could be a lot harder if it weren't for them.

2) Part of being a new teacher is attending multiple New Staff Orientation inservices. Currently, we are working on a book by Fred Jones Ph.D., a clinical pshychologist called Tools for Teaching. This book has been an amazing resource for me and how I approach each day, and here's why. They are simple. There is no need to remember a whole bunch of steps or overly practice the techniques--in fact, most often the only things you need to do is to stay calm and in many cases, when students are being obnoxious, say nothing and calmly but blankly (think Queen Victoria) look them between the eyes and watch them back to work. It's taken some practice, but I have found that it works very well for me. Here's his website for more info. http://www.fredjones.com. I will see what I can do about putting some excerpts from his videos/book on my school wiki, in the upcoming "Teacher's Lounge" page.

One of my main concerns coming into this year was whether or not Santa Fe Trail would be receptive to using technology in the classroom. Overall, my concern has been laid to rest. I have really had an amazing time with my kids, teaching them how to use various components of technology from making their own videos from scratch on sites like goanimate.com to showing them how to do advanced editing functions on Microsoft Office, to making their own website with wix.com. My students have really enjoyed doing these things, and it has helped me be at ease about doing things differently. I can actually tell that they are learning by using the information to create things that are completely unique and interesting. These are the kinds of things that make history relevant and interesting to kids, because they get to control how it looks, and they get to see firsthand, why the things that happen in history are important. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I have also been asked to join both the Santa Fe Trail District and the Three Lakes Educational Cooperative's Technology Committee, and have enjoyed demonstrating technology and it's applications to the classroom to folks who really take an interest in these things. Being accepted as part of these committees is no small thing in my opinion because it shows that at least the two districts are receptive to new and brighter ways of doing things. Also, it will be interesting to see what kind of changes we will be able to facilitate for the two districts in the next few years.

Finally, I have just completed my first semester of grad school at Emporia State University. It went by really fast, and spring semester starts before you know it. It will be interesting to see how things go. I am taking two courses next semester and then I'll be full-time during the summer. If you are curious about how their distance education grad program works, feel free to let me know. The ESU website is really well laid out so any questions you have can be found either through the grad program link or by searching for it in the search bar.

Well, that's all for now. Happy Holidays!