AMDG

In more modern language I would title this post #blessed

Today was a much better day. Before I can get to today, I have to talk about yesterday. Tuesday wasn't that great of a day. No, there was no fight but I still had students talking over me, making odd noises, etc for all of that one class period. I tried a tactic I have seen used by other teachers where we all go in the hall and then file back in the classroom with absolutely no talking. If they talk, we try again. We probably spent 10 or 15 minutes doing that. They failed to enter the classroom in silence each time. I was frustrated beyond belief. My last period of the day has been a bit challenging simply because I have 33 students and only 31 chairs (that includes my stool!). I e-mailed our principal in charge of discipline so that we could meet and talk about what I should do next.

Last night I talked to my husband and the only solution we could think of was to give the students one warning in class. If they keep acting up it would have to be a referral. I have changed seats, talked to the students one-on-one, and called home. I have used all of my options. My meeting today with the AP (assistant principal) arrived to the same conclusion.

Today went much more smoothly. I had a few students acting up so I took them out into the hallway for a short chat and made sure they understood that if I had to address their behavior again today that I would send them directly to the principal. Each student said he understood. Each student chose to act up again so they were sent to the office. Once the few who were causing a majority of the distractions were gone class was better. There was still some talking, poking other students, etc but I was able to teach and do small re-directions.

Here's where I have to bring in God. During my talk with my husband last night I told him that part of the reason I felt so horrible is because I have been praying to God everyday usually multiple times per day. I was asking for patience, for the Holy Spirit to guide me, and for the Holy Spirit to guide my students. I was feeling like God was just ignoring me because nothing was changing. Today, I have to admit that I was foolish and that God was there all along. He kept me calm and level headed and I made it through today with His help. I titled this post AMDG (Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam) because all thanks and glory belong to God. It made me think of that song I sang at Catholic camp as a kid: Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory! :)

Health

I'm still not going on walks around the neighborhood but it's mostly because I honestly think I walk more than a mile each day at school. I need to find my old pedometer to see if this is true. My husband and I have been better about eating at home even though many of our meals are frozen. It's still cheaper and at least a little better than eating out. At school I rarely have time to eat more than just my sandwich and a granola bar or two. I end up really hungry by dinner time but the weight is just dropping off now! (The scale says I'm down another pound) I'm realizing that I have been eating way more than my body needed. I was eating until I was full when really I ought to eat until I'm no longer hungry. It sounds like a small difference but I think it's an important one. I have little down time or a chance to be bored so I'm not filling that time with food. Any down time I earn is mostly used to chat with my husband and read.

Oh yeah, this is going to sound really random but I have other good news: my toe nail grew back! I accidentally ripped off most of one of them at the beginning of July but it is 100% fine now. 

Now that I've grossed you out, I think it's time to go. ;)

-Clare G. S.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today was pretty darn awful. I don't feel like writing but I want to give an update so I'm doing bullet points today.

• We left the house nearly 20 minutes late. I hate being late. This meant I didn't have time to finish all my copies, etc.
• The dogs got tangled in their leads 3 times before we even left the house. (They are on a trolley system because we are missing a large chunk of our fence. That's a whole 'nother story)
• The dogs knocked over the water just as I was about to leave so I had to go refill their water. (Small annoyance, I know)
• There was a physical fight in one of my classes. I've never had a physical fight in my classroom.
• Because of the above some of my co-workers saw me cry with frustration during PLC (meeting with our teams and/or department)
• The usual student interruptions from talking and such.
• A student complaining so much about having to take notes that I had to talk to him outside because I couldn't continue my lesson.
• They added a new student to my largest class so I now have 34 students and only 28 desks. (Nutshell explanation: we had many more student enroll this year than projected. We need to hire more teachers)
• Gene Wilder died.

My husband pointed out that I did everything I could to try to prevent the fight from happening and that it had nothing to do with me nor my class. Still, I feel crappy about it. It took so long to get my class back on task afterward. They are already a "lively" group and this just killed the class period.

Happy Stuff

Because, darn it, I've got to look at the bright side.

• A student who would not stop talking (I moved his seat, talked to his parent/guardian, talked to him one-on-one) was a little better today.
• A student told my husband that I'm a very kind person.
• One of my co-workers (I called her K in a previous post) gave me a big hug after the whole fight ordeal.
• All of the parents I have talked to have been very level headed and want to help their students succeed.
• I let myself have a Dr Pepper and it was good.
• See below for my health update. It's really good!

I haven't been working out much because school has taken over. I couldn't walk my planned 2 miles on Saturday because my butt was sore. I forgot how much I walk during the day when I have class! I only walked 1 mile last week but I walked 2 miles on Sunday. Here are the numbers:

• Weight: -6 lbs
• Bust: 0"
• Band: -1"
• Waist: -2.5"
• Hips: -.5"

I have to run off. There is plenty of paperwork that I really need to do. If you are the praying type, I could really use some prayers. Thanks!

-Clare G. S.

End of the week

Or when you don't want yourself/your husband to starve to death

Well, I have made it through my first week of school as an Algebra teacher. It was not an easy week. I would say over 90% of my students are just fabulous. That <10% is tough. Today I almost had a physical fight break out in one class. I was definitely saved by the bell because it rang just when things were getting really bad. I'd rather not focus on the negative so let's talk about some positive topics.

First, it may help to know my team a bit. Our leader is K. She has been teaching for a couple of decades. In fact, she taught our lead teacher when our lead teacher was in high school! (I don't understand this because K does not look like she is old enough for that to be possible.) The other Algebra I teacher is O. She is new to the district but not new to teaching. She came from an, uh, interesting district. It sounds like the admin there were completely clueless.

Today we were chatting while picking up some supplies and we all agreed on something: it is really nice to work with each other. You see, I think that I can work with just about any reasonable person and maybe even a few unreasonable people. What's really nice about this year is that I actually enjoy working with K and O. (Side note: I just realized that I could totally call them OK. Can I call them OK? Haha.) We all agreed that it makes our day much easier when we get along well with our teammates. It's good to have one part of my day that I know won't be stressful because I'm working with good people.

Speaking of school, I realized that I have a lot of digital paperwork that I need to do because our school changed how we deal with those minor problems that tend to grow into big problems (using phones in class, talking back, purposefully bothering other students, etc). Hopefully I will get better at doing that daily instead of once a week.

My only other news is that I've only walked one mile this week. :( Trying to get back into the swing of things was hectic so I decided to not go on my morning walks so that I could get a little more sleep. My plan is to walk at least two miles tomorrow morning. I would really like to then do a two mile walk in the evening but I think that may be unwise. Oh yeah, I was a little bad. I had my first soda in about three weeks. I'm not too upset because I used to have a soda a day so one in three weeks is a HUGE improvement. :)

Until next time!
-Clare G. S.

New subject, new students

The only problem is that I feel like the one on the right

Yesterday was our first day of school with the students and my first day teaching Algebra! Overall, I think it went well. So far I work well with the other two teachers who teach Algebra 1. The first day of school went exceptionally well until after lunch. I then had a class with about six students who wanted to talk and disrupt class the entire time. I took each student to the hallway in turn to discuss how they were starting the year. Today I changed their seats so that they were separated. That got four of the students to change their behavior. I now just have two who would rather socialize than work. I have a couple more strategies to see if we can get them on the right path. I'm hopeful but very tired!

Tomorrow is when I really start to hit the math concepts so I'm a bit nervous. I talked to my team and have some great tips. You see, I know how to do this math but I'm not sure I know the best way to teach it. One of my teammates showed me how to explain solving polynomial equations with just four steps. That's much simpler than how I would have done it! I'm incredibly grateful for their help and I keep telling them so.

Along with a new subject, I am teaching a new demographic of students: freshmen! Whenever someone hears this they say something to the effect of "Oh my gosh, God bless you." In my experience, freshmen aren't really that different from sophomores. I'm more worried about having students with special needs & accommodations and probably not for the reason you are thinking. To follow state and federal laws, I must be certain that I am giving the students the accommodations they need and to give that consistently. I've created a spreadsheet to keep track of what they need because there is such a variety! I had no clue that these lists were so specific. Accommodations can include behavior (seated near the teacher, encourage class participation, private conferences, reminders of the class rules, etc) and academics (note outlines, extra time, oral administration, etc). I'm hoping that doing these things will quickly become a habit.

The only other thing that is worrying me about work right now is my class size. That is completely normal for the beginning of the year as the counselors work out schedules. Unfortunately I currently have 28 student desks (with chairs attached) in my classroom but I have one class with 32 students. I have a table I use for absent folders, turn-in boxes, etc that is currently my overflow area. I have lucked out because I only have two chairs for that desk but I've had enough students be absent that everyone has had a place to sit everyday. I'm hoping this is fixed soon because I like to have a seating chart and that's very difficult when there aren't enough seats.

On a very different note, I have solved a mystery. Last year my husband never finished the lunches I packed and I felt a little hurt about this because it takes some extra time to pack them. He always said he never had time to finish the lunch and I couldn't understand why. Last year I happened to have conference during the lunch period. That meant I could easily take my time during lunch since it blended with my conference. This year I have a class directly before and after lunch. I've found that those 30 minutes really aren't enough. The first six minutes are spent helping in the hallway during passing period. The next few minutes are spent taking a bathroom break, responding to urgent e-mails, and just sitting and breathing. The next thing I know I have 15 minutes to eat and prepare for my next class! Yesterday and today I had a sandwich and a yogurt. I've tried to have a snack during conference but I haven't yet found the time to do it.

Speaking of food, I've got to leave my blogging here for today. I really need to work on dinner. I'm a bit sad because I'm missing the first church choir rehearsal of the season because my throat is so sore but at least I don't have to bolt down my food.

¡Hasta luego!
-Clare G. S.

On Anxiety

For those of you who don't know, I have GAD (General Anxiety Disorder). It basically means that I can get anxiety about anything. My no. 1 cause of anxiety is feeling like I can't accomplish everything I need to do on-time. Being a teacher, this can be a problem because I have to learn to prioritize what admin wants me to do. It often just isn't possible to do everything they ask. However, I feel awful when I don't do everything that is asked of me. There are lots of other things that trigger anxiety for me: doctors (especially my psychiatrist, ironically enough), crowded grocery stores, pets being unruly, etc.

Today my anxiety hit pretty hard. It was about 6pm and I was working in my classroom. The room looked pretty good so I was working on catching up on paper work. I hadn't finished my lesson plan for the week (that was due at 8am today, ugh) and I needed to edit my intro slide show since I'm teaching a new subject. It then hit me that ohmygosh I'm teaching a completely different subject! I've been teaching Spanish for four years and I'm switching to Algebra. Algebra! What if I totally messed up and told my students something incorrect? What if I forgot all of the terminology? What if the freshman are just as rowdy as everyone says they are? What if I can't handle having students with special needs in my class? I was freaking out. I sat for a moment and tried to focus on my breathing. It was helping but I could feel myself still on that edge so I went to talk to my husband.

Let me first say, I thank God daily for my husband. He knows exactly how to help me through my anxiety. So, I showed up in his classroom where he was working (we work at the same school) and said I needed a hug. He gave me a hug and asked what was wrong. That's when I started that gross hiccuping-crying. It wasn't pretty. I tried to explain my feelings and not get myself more worked up at the same time. He helped me focus on breathing. He pointed out all the stuff I don't have to worry about tomorrow: I have my syllabus printed, I have very good classroom management, I have a veteran teacher next door who also teaches Algebra 1 and can help if I need it. He reminded me that it's ok to mess up in front of the students. He reminded me that I will have an inclusion teacher to help with my students with special needs. I had made it through 4 first days of school as a teacher and survived them all; I will survive tomorrow.

I'm feeling much better now. Tomorrow still looks scary but I know I'll make it through.
------------------
I almost forgot to update my physical health stuff! I met my goal last week of walking 5 miles. :D It feels pretty darn good. Today's walk was a mess due to my dog spotting two cats and another dog walking in front of us.

• Weight: -1 lbs
• Bust: 0
• Band: -1"
• Waist: -2"
• Hips: -.5"

All the numbers are less than or equal to 0 so I'm happy! I'll tell y'all Wednesday how the first two days of school go. :)

-Clare G. S.

Be True to Your School

Over the summer there was a negative article published about my school district in our local paper. I don't often read the paper so I don't know exactly what it said but we received an e-mail from our superintendent that explained the circumstances. Since then more people than usual have been asking my opinion of our district when they find out where I work. I'll tell you what I tell them.

I truly enjoy where I work. This will be my 5th year teaching anywhere and my 5th year teaching at this particular high school. That means that I don't have any personal experiences with any other district against which to compare my current district. My husband is in a different boat. He worked for what I'll call "district A" for 5 years before coming to our current district. From my personal experiences and from seeing what happened with my husband years ago I am not only thankful that I work where I do but I'm proud.

You see, every school and every district has problems and there is such a wide variety of what those problems can be: lack of community/parent/admin support, old buildings, not enough money for basic supplies, drugs/sex/alcohol, poor pay for teachers, poor healthcare options, unruly students, unruly co-workers, etc. The list can go on and on. You know what problems I personally have with my district? I don't always agree with their decisions. I sometimes feel that my budget is too small or isn't flexible enough. There have been a few co-workers who rubbed me the wrong way. In the past I had too many preps for me to handle. That's it. Those problems are so tiny! I am never going to agree with every decision made. I don't work for a rich district so of course money feels tight. I can be as pleasant as the day is long but that doesn't mean I will be friends with everyone. I now have only one prep so that problem is solved. I truly do not understand why some people in our community think poorly of our district when they have no first-hand experience. They should come to my class! Yes there are days where I am frustrated but my co-workers support me, my students make me smile, and admin has my back. How many teachers can say that?

Recent Happenings
Yesterday was some more professional development and time to work in our teams and rooms. I saw this great TED talk about how we view stress affects how we react to it. I also got a refresher on brain development which explains (but does not excuse!) the behavior of teenagers.

Today we had all day to work in our rooms, meet in our teams, work on lesson plans, etc. My husband had a bad day but out of respect for his privacy (he doesn't like posting much on the internet) I won't go into it. It's tough hearing about his bad day but not being able to do much to help. :( I worked mostly on getting my room together. I'm really excited for what I did to one of my cork boards! It's filled with graduation announcements, thank you notes, and drawings from my former students. I have it right next to my desk as a reminder of why I do what I do.

I've got to run because my husband is trying to fix our leaking roof. I definitely don't want him going up and down a ladder without me to hold it!
-Clare G. S.

The falling wall

There have been a few adventures in my life in the past few days. Let's start with yesterday

     We had our district conference as I mentioned in my previous post. Well, in my last session of the morning (around 11:40am) the lights suddenly went out! We waited a couple of minutes to see if they would come back on but they didn't. I decided to find my husband and have lunch since no electricity = no hot food very quickly. We grabbed some food from the cafeteria and headed back to his room to eat since it's on a corner and has multiple windows. When we arrived at his room we saw exactly what happened.
     A little backstory first: There are electrical wires & poles that go through the edge of our parking lot. The wires hang oddly low; I would say about 10 ft. from the ground. There have been a couple of times when the soda truck for the vending machines has tried to turn around and has pulled one of the wires down. It results in one wing of the school losing electricity. Well, it seems that one of the vendors had a truck that tried to turn around but it yanked on nearly all of the electric wires. Now we have really low hanging wires but at least the school has electricity back.

Did I mention that it had been raining?

Today we mostly met with our departments and teams. We also talked about our LMS (Learner Management System). An LMS is software for creating and sending electronic assignments and such. Think of Facebook but for a school. When my husband and I came home for lunch we looked outside at our backyard. You see, we live on a hill and have started construction on a large retaining wall made of big blocks of limestone. Each block weighs about 1.5 tons. Construction had to be paused a couple of weeks ago for a couple of reasons I'd rather not go into. When it was paused, the workers had dug out near the base of the wall to work on the drainage system. Unfortunately they did not re-bury the base of the wall. Because it has been raining for at least 5 days, the wall is now starting to tilt. This is a big problem. If those blocks fall then the filler stones behind it are going to fall out. I have no clue how we would put the stones and the blocks back. We have contacted the construction crew and hopefully they will be able to solve this problem because the rain isn't due to stop for another week.

This is where construction halted. The bottom row of blocks was originally half buried.

The good news is that I am getting along well with my new team at school. The teachers who taught Algebra I last year saved everything! That means I have lots of resources, a pacing calendar, etc. I am very thankful for all of the work they did!

-Clare G. S.

P.S. - I walked in the rain today because I was determined to get at least a little exercise. YAY!

Mish Mash

So much is happening right now that it is hard to organize it all. Let's do some sections, shall we? Feel free to skip the sections that don't interest you. :)

Home

Ooooh. Big, shiny new A/C unit!

We've had a fair amount of rain in the last week. One night I heard a dripping on the ceiling. Well, it looks like a vent in our roof was not properly sealed and since we had a new A/C system put in that leak now hits the ceiling of a closet (it was the A/C closet). My husband cut a hole out of the (very damp) drywall of the ceiling of the closet and we have a bucket under it. That wasn't too much fun.

Car
Yesterday my husband and I went to the school to get some work done since classes begin in just over a week. Well, on our way there a pick-up truck decided to make a left turn into our lane. I don't know how he didn't see us but he nearly ran us over. Luckily I had quick reflexes and swerved into the other lane and hit my horn. Our vehicles barely missed each other. I'm so glad there was no one in that lane because I didn't have time to check! The guy drove on. I had to pull off the road because it shook me up pretty bad. I've been in a few car accidents and I just don't do well with them.

School

Window cover I made for hard lock downs

The cover rolls up. Thanks, Velcro!

I'm in a new classroom this year so I started setting it up last Thursday. Things are moving along. Unfortunately the previous teacher didn't do anything about the students writing on the wall so I have some *ahem* interesting drawings and language that needs to be painted over. I erased what was done in pencil. My biggest problem was my closet. I have this awesome, big built-in closet with a lock. The problem is that it was locked and no one knew where the key was. Today someone in our custodial staff got a new key for me! Yay!

Health
I didn't take my walk Saturday. :( It had rained a lot and, honestly, I wanted to sleep in just one last time before I go back to work. I walked on Sunday! I also took my measurements. Remember, these numbers are compared to my starting point.

• Weight: -.8
• Bust: 0
• Band: 0
• Waist: -1"
• Hips: -.5"

No real results yet since 1) my changes are small 2) weight naturally fluctuates some and 3) measuring myself is hard! I'm also trying to make a conscious effort to drink more water. I recently saw a video of a kidney stone being removed. I don't know why the heck I watched it but OH MY GOSH, that is motivation to drink water!

Looking Ahead
Tomorrow I am co-presenting with my husband and a co-worker at our professional development. I'm hoping it goes well! The rest of this week is in-service. :(

That's all for now, folks! See ya Wednesday!
-Clare G. S.

Support

First of all, I should mention that I don't plan on writing here daily. I know myself and it's just not going to happen. I think starting next week I will try to update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Now, let's talk about support. I am incredibly blessed to have found the most amazing husband. He is really my best friend and I think we work together really well. He has the tendency to jump into things head first and I am much more cautious and like to plan out everything beforehand. We usually find a middle ground. When it comes to this "healthier life" I took a page out of his book and just jumped into it. I was shopping for *ahem* undergarments when I realized how unhappy I was with my appearance. It kind of hits hard when you realize a plus-size store doesn't stock much in your size of underwear. I decided in that dressing room that I would do something to be healthier.

I went home and told him my plan: no sodas, a mile walk everyday, etc. He said that it sounded good. I asked him if he wanted me to wake him up the next morning to go for my first walk. (Side note: we are both teachers so this was a big request. Waking up at 6:30am during summer break is a little insane) He ended up missing that first walk because he has major allergy issues and going outside would not be helpful. However, he has gone on many of the walks with me. He is my rock and I can lean on him whenever I need to do so.

What has really surprised me is the support I have received from my family and friends. I've already had positive comments here and on Instagram. One friend texted me telling me about a cookbook she loves that has helped her lose a few pounds. One of my sisters texted to let me know about a free app that will keep count of calories burned, distance walked, etc. Another friend suggested I look into buying a FitBit. It's awesome that even though I don't live very close to most of my friends and family members I still have their support.

I know that at some point I'm going to want to stop but I'm hoping you all will remind me how important it is to stick to this. I feel amazing after I complete my walks. It's such a great way to start the day! My health is much more important than grading another paper or watching another episode of Doctor Who. So, when that day comes I'm looking to YOU to tell me to come back and read this. No, I won't die if I stop. But how great will it feel when I can say "Man, I used to get winded walking a mile. That's just a warm-up now!" Here's to being a better me. :D

-Clare G. S.

A healthier life

After the 1st workout!

After having to buy clothes in size XXL and realizing that I weighed over 220 lbs (I'm only 5' 8"), I've decided to get healthier. I figure the best way to do this is to make small, realistic changes. Here's my plan:

• No more sodas. Sparkling water is ok.
• When eating fast food, I'm no longer making my combo larger.
• When eating out, I find a healthier option. (Ex: Instead of a cheeseburger I'm getting a grilled chicken sandwich)
• Walk 1 mile per day.

I'm hoping to add to this list later. I started one week ago and I'm doing pretty well. I'm keeping a spreadsheet with my numbers: miles walked, sit ups, weight, etc. I record my exercise everyday and my weight and other measurements every week. Here's how things are looking after one week:

• Weight: -3.2 lbs
• Bust: 0
• Band: 0
• Waist: -2"
• Hips: 0

I’m not posting the actual numbers because, honestly, I’m pretty embarrassed. Instead I’m going to post comparisons to my starting measurements. As you can see above I’m already down a few pounds and I’ve lost a little bit in my waist. I’m debating whether I want to post photos. I think after I have some more obvious results that I will post a before-and-after set of photos.
-Clare G. S.

P.S. - Thanks to PokemonGo for giving me some motivation. My real motivation is to avoid health issues and to fit better into my clothes but I won't see that for months. PokemonGo has given me a very immediate reward. :)

Introduction

Introduction

Hello there! I'm starting a new blog mostly for accountability. I'm trying to be healthier so this is where I will post updates on that journey. I'm also hoping to put some updates about my new job: teaching algebra! I've taught Spanish levels 3-5 at the high school level for the past 4 years. This will be my first year teaching math of any kind.

What you should know about me:

• Name: Clare
• Age: late 20's
• Married
• Pets: 2 macaws, 2 dogs, lots of cichlids (fish)
• Location: Texas, USA
• Religion: Episcopalian (former Roman Catholic)
• Education: BA in Spanish with a minor in Mathematics

 I'm sure some of you will want to know why this blog is called "Life of Phi". It's a play on a book I love, Life of Pi. My favorite irrational number is phi, aka the golden ratio. I figure the title reflects my love of math and reading.

I think that's a decent introduction. ¡Hasta luego!

Clare G. S.