First Day of School, 2018

Good evening!
Today I finished my seventh "first day of school" as a high school teacher. It was exhausting but for the first time I still have my voice at the end of the day! I'm trying to focus on the positives of this school year:

• The math team in general and the Algebra 1 team in specific are awesome
• No, seriously, I'm so blessed to be working with people who are not only coworkers but also friends!
• I have ONE prep
• This is my third year teaching Algebra 1 so I feel pretty good about it. I don't have to stay up late figuring out what the crud to do the next day.

First day of school photo!

To help with accountability, the big buzzword this year at THS, I'm posting my two goals for the school year here.

Goal 1 - Take care of myself. I definitely have a tendency to want everything to be just so and I end up sacrificing my health and well being. It is not a healthy habit.

Goal 2 - Classroom Management. Freshman have a certain notoriety. I really want to stick to my discipline procedures. I like to give the students extra chances but it ends up causing a mess with students complaining that another student got a warning when the other student didn't and such.

I think I'm off to a good start. It's just after 10pm and I am ready to go to bed which means I'm at least taking care of myself when it comes to my sleep schedule!

Oh, before I go, you all should definitely watch this video that John Green posted back in 2012. I showed it to my students this year and I think it's just awesome.

-Clare G. S.

Finding My Niche Part 2

Please read "Finding My Niche Part 1" here before reading this post.

I left you at the end of 2017 and the end of my first school year as a math teacher. That summer was very relaxed. A large part of it was spent playing PokemonGo which had come out the previous summer. In a nut shell, PokemonGo is an Augmented Reality (AR) game that you play on your phone. It requires you to physically move around in order to find Pokemon to catch. You can also go to "gyms" to get supplies or battle other Pokemon. These gyms are interesting places around town like historical markers, places of worship, murals, etc. Through this game my husband and I met a lot of people that I don't think we would have met anywhere else. It was really easy to talk to other Pokemon players because I knew that they wouldn't make fun of me. I mean, come on. We are all in our late 20's or older (often much older!) and we are playing a game that is aimed toward children and people who want a hefty dose of nostalgia. We are nerds. We are proud of our nerdiness. I still was afraid to actually take that step and invite people to our house for dinner but I at least now had people I call my friends.

My husband and I also went on a roadtrip from Texas to California with a nice stop in southern Arizona to visit family. I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to see my parents, my oldest sister, and some of my niblings (niblings is a more fun way to say nieces and nephews). I would definitely describe it as Furiously Happy.*

My husband and I did the tourist thing in Tombstone.

I didn't think to take photos with my family! Ah! But I did
catch this cute one of my sister and my niece.

We stopped to see London Bridge. Did you know that it's in Arizona‽

We both loved Sequoia National Park

Matthew hugged a redwood to ask forgiveness
for killing his brethren for school copies

Mid-hike at Sequoia National Park

Honestly, this is probably my favorite photo of me and my husband. It really shows our personalities. :D

At the end of the summer I learned about Bell County Comic Con through my PokemonGo friends. I had never been to any convention so I decided to volunteer to see if this would be something I liked. It was chaotic (it was the first Bell County Comic Con) but I loved it! I decided that weekend that I would definitely volunteer the next year.

The new school year started and I was so excited to teach Pre-Calculus along with Algebra I. I knew it would be difficult to teach Pre-Cal since our team was all new to the subject but I was ready for that change. That school year had some big problems but it was definitely better than the year before. I made a conscious effort to get to know some of my co-workers and by the end of the year I had more friends! Again, I was afraid to invite them to my house because I worried that it would never be clean enough but now I had people who I saw on a regular basis and felt like I could be 100% me around. I even got to watch some of the World Cup with them!

At the beginning of this summer I learned about a program that my insurance covers called AbleTo. It's basically therapy over the phone. Since it was at no cost to me and I knew that I wanted improve myself I decided to give it a try. Oh my gosh, y'all. . . I'm so glad I tried it out! My therapist was fantastic. He gave me some great ideas on how to better handle anxiety and stress. I also had a personal coach who helped me actually invite two new friends (I met them through PokemonGo) to my house! AHHHHH! It's kind of funny because we had to reschedule and we ended up at their house but the point is that I finally pushed my comfort zone and I could not be happier that I did! Matthew and I went to their house, ate pizza, played Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, and had a blast! (Hi, Jo and Liz!)

Then it came time for the 2nd year of Bell County Comic Con. This time Matthew decided to join me in volunteering. Well, we volunteered enough that we became part of the staff. We didn't get paid but we were trusted with more responsibility. Guess what a great side-effect of being part of the staff was? I made more friends! I know that I sound like a little kid but really, I cannot stress how big this has been for me. I have people that I get stupid happy to see and give them big ol' hugs.

Come on, how can you not love TMNT-Rex? 

I think I have finally found my niche. I still love my friends who now live all over Texas, all over the US, and even some who live all over the world. But now I also have friends who live around the corner. It's such a wonderful feeling. My next goal: taking photos with my friends. Again, it sounds silly but I feel so awkward saying "Let's take a selfie!" So to all my friends, I love taking photos with you! I might be too shy to suggest it but I'm never afraid to say yes to a photo op! :D

Before I go, a big shout out to Stephanie and all of my sister's friends in Austin! Y'all always made me feel like your friend and not just your friend's little sister. I expected you to be cordial to me but I did not expect such love from all of you.

With hugs and joy,
-Clare G. S.

P.S. - More good news! One of my friends from college is now teaching math at the same school where I teach math! We don't teach the same subjects but it's so nice to see him on a regular basis again. :D


*Go buy Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. The only reason it's not my favorite book is because, I mean, Harry Potter. Do I need to say more?

Finding My Niche Part 1

Hello from your favorite sporadic blogger! To start this story that I want to tell, I have to go back about 8 years. Back in 2012 I was no longer in school and I started teaching. I was fortunate that my boyfriend, who is now my husband, was also a high school teacher. However, we worked in schools about 30 minutes away from each other. I started that job without knowing any of my new coworkers. Matthew was incredibly supportive and there is no way I would have survived that first school year without him and my family. Their support did not erase what I realized was happening much too quickly: I was losing my friends.

I want to be clear that I wasn't losing friends because we were fighting or because either party was purposefully turning away from the other. It was just little problems that compounded: I was working more than 50 hours per week, after work I was too tired to socialize (especially since I'm an introvert!), many of my friends had moved away since they were no longer in college but I was in the same college town, I did not realize how hard it was to make friends now that I was no longer a student, etc. I had never experienced friendship just "drifting apart" and I was desperate to cling on to the friends I already had but, at the same time, I had no clue how to do that when they were physically so far from me.

As for making new friends, I think that if the people in my department had been different my story may have been different. The German teachers were wonderful but they were near retirement and I was just beginning my career. The French teacher was very warm but I was honestly intimidated by her ability to easily juggle four preps (not including the advanced classes!) when I was drowning with just three. How do you even approach someone who so completely has her shit together‽ With one exception, I felt like an outsider with the other Spanish teachers. They all were very bubbly and relaxed around each other. They immediately could tease each other and have fun but I was afraid that if I joined in on playful banter that I would accidentally insult someone and I didn't want to risk annoying my coworkers. There were other little comments made here and there that I don't think they meant to be hurtful but made sensitive me feel unwelcome. I just never felt like I fit in.

Me feeding an alpaca during my IB Spanish training. Unfortunately, the training was another experience where I didn't fit in.

After four years of feeling like I was constantly treading water in my career, I decided to switch to teaching math. It seemed like the time to jump ship because second language acquisition was moving toward proficiency-based assessment and away from the strict grammar rules that most of us learned. I 100% believe that proficiency-based is the better way to teach and to learn but, in my heart, I am a grammarian. I had the choice to completely re-write my curricula or I could change to another subject that I love. I made the leap of faith and started teaching Algebra I in 2016.

Immediately I felt like I actually fit in with the math team. Their way of thinking about teaching was very analytical, like mine. I again struggled to make friends with anyone because I was adjusting to teaching a new subject and because I was not at all prepared to deal with the discipline issues I encountered with the 9th graders. It did not help that when I talked to most of the administrators, I felt like they did not give me constructive feedback or realistic solutions to my classroom management problems. By the end of September I was so anxious about my afternoon classes that I physically could not eat lunch. I lost weight and everyone congratulated me on it. I wanted to scream at them explaining the reason for my weight loss but instead I smiled and thanked them.  I did not even realize that before the new calendar year I had fallen into a deep depression.

I will not go into the horror that is depression. I will simply say that it is by the grace of God that I found my way out. I was hanging on by a thread and They* pulled me up by that thread. To remind myself that these bouts of depression were temporary and not an end, I got a tattoo on my wrist.

For me, the semicolon is a reminder that nothing in life is a full-stop. Depression is just a longer pause but I will continue and push on.

I'm going to do something terrible to you. I'm going to end this post here. Part 1 is the first half of the story where I am lost and frightened. I'll soon post Part 2. In it I finally get to see the sunrise.

Remember, "Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night." -Leia Organa.

-Clare G. S.

*Side note: I prefer to refer to God as "They". My friend, Antonia, first put the idea into my head and helped me realize that it is so perfect since we believe in the Holy Trinity. Saying "He" feels like I am limiting who God is!

Edited to add: I looked back at my posts from the 2016-2017 school year. I apologize for lying to y'all on here. I wrote that I was eating less and walking more in order to lose weight. Those are true statements in a way but I was trying to fool both myself and you. I was eating less because I physically could not eat. I wanted to believe that it was due to my trying to be healthier but that's a fantasy.

Also, I forgot to mention that another reason why my depression hit so hard that school year was due to my house being TP'ed and egged multiple times. You can go back and read about that here.

The Perfect Class Period

I officially had the perfect class period. It was brief but it was glorious.

Here's the set-up: I am in a group from my school that is doing blended learning. Blended learning means that some of the learning is in a traditional classroom and some of it has online aspects. Specifically, I am trying what is called the in-flip model. That means that my students watch a video of the lecture in class and then start the practice. (What they don't finish of the practice becomes homework) The reason I like this so much is that students who are absent aren't really missing the lecture and students who want to review a topic can easily hear the entire lecture again or even pause it and re-watch certain parts of it.

Our technology department asked those of us in this blended group to give them a time they could come by to see our blended classroom. (Side note: the two people who lead our technology department are awesome and I feel 100% comfortable around them so this was a really easy request for me) I told them that 2nd period on Thursday would be ideal. I have a really great Algebra I class at that time. So Thursday rolls around and between first and second period I see our tech people . . . along with our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction! One of the tech people pulls me aside and tells me that he dropped by and she said that she hoped it was ok that he was going to observe my classroom. Well, it made me a little nervous but, eh, what's one more person? Second period has about 25 students in there so I had room for a few more people.

So class starts and my observers were kind enough to give me a few minutes to start class before they came in. My class were superstars! They were focused and on-task. When asked questions, they answered honestly and their answers were great! The three observers got to see how a student who was absent the previous day was able to easily catch up on his work. Another student said that he really liked the video lessons because he could go at his own pace. So this was all happening while I was walking around helping with technical problems, answering questions, etc. Then I noticed someone who was not doing the notes. I walked over and realized that it was the assistant principal of curriculum and instruction! I said hello to her and thought, "Oh goodness, that another person watching me. Ok, uh, at least it's an administrator with whom I have a very good relationship." Not ten minutes later I noticed that I had another visitor! It was the executive director of secondary education. So at this point I had five adults (other than myself) in my classroom ranging from my co-workers all the way to one-step from the superintendent. I was sweating bullets.

Then I had a moment where I really shone: I saw on my computer (via an awesome website called EdPuzzle) that a majority of my students were getting a comprehension question wrong from the video. I thought "Oh no. This is a major concept. I need to clarify this before we have a whole class of confused students" So I got all of my students' attention and pointed out what the correct answer was and why. Then the students went back to their individual work. One of the tech people asked me if I knew that I needed to address that topic because of the previous night's homework. I pointed out that it was actually from real-time data and I think she really liked that. :)

All of this is to say that thanks to my awesome students and the support of my wonderful family (especially my husband) and the admin team at my school, I feel like I am really stepping-up my game as a teacher. I also have classes (and let's be honest, whole school days) where I feel that I'm totally lost but I think those days are growing fewer. Here's to always moving forward!

-Clare G. S.

Bonus for reading this whole thing: a video of me from just before the school year started:

So many students!

That's my blog slung over the shoulder. 

A new school year has started. I'm teaching two classes of Algebra 1 and four classes of Pre-Calculus. The problem that has arisen is that I have 173 students. For those of you who are not teachers, let me put it this way: in my past five years teaching I have never had more than 140 students. I usually have 115 to 130 students. This is like teaching another class period. Also, I am used to having my conference period in the middle of the day but now it's the last period of the day.

These two big changes mean that my systems of organization don't work anymore. I can't pile things on my desk and then sort them during my conference & again at the end of the day. I can't do lunch tutorials because this introvert very much needs those 30 minutes of quiet time. Trying to keep track of 173 tests is more complicated. I'm revamping everything.

In a moment I'm going to go to the school to set up my new system for passing back papers, to sort my copies from the first unit of Algebra and Pre-Calculus, and to generally unclutter things. Hopefully this will give me time tomorrow to grade and input grades. I am avoiding doing hand grading so I am taking a page from my husband's book and having students submit their work via a Google Form. Then I have an add-on called Flubaroo that automatically grades it for me. This is saving me literally hours on the weekend. This won't work for tests and quizzes but those are rare enough that it shouldn't be a problem to grade those by hand.

I hope that all of you out there are doing well!

-Clare G. S.