Life's Whirlwind Adventures

This year has been a rollercoaster of new things. We moved into a new classroom, my team of paraprofessionals doubled in size and some extra changes were made and then undone in the first month of the school year.  To say it's been tumultuous, would be an understatement. Over the summer I was in the classroom doing set up and moving things around, setting it up so it was ready to go for the start of the school year and getting my own person stuff ready as well. (see teachers do work over the summer) My classroom is two rooms now, both are used as teaching areas but one area we've set up as a chill room. It has a lego table, puzzle table, a bean bag crash mat, a time out room (this is a room in a room that has a physio table and things to help with person needs of students) It also has a lot of twinkle lights to set a mood in the room of calm and relaxing. The other room is more tech focused.  We have computers and chromebooks and ipads and that is where the most teaching...

Would you believe that I currently have one of my dream jobs as my 9-5, Monday to Friday jobs?  Well I do! I went to school to become a teacher, and I wanted to become a teacher so I could help kids discover their passions and full potential.  Guess what I do? I teach students that have some disabilities when compared to the "normal" "mainstream" student, but I get to teach them how to work with in their abilities and how to chase after their dreams!! BEST! JOB! EVER! In our classroom we don't have a curriculum to follow, which is both a blessing and a stressor.  But we do get to participate and change our teaching to that of the students interests.  It's amazing watching them grow, mature and find their confidence! I wouldn't want to be teaching anything else!

 Hi welcome to my life's commotion! Things are always busy and life is always happening!  I'm late, I'm late but not really, here is what a typical day in my house looks like. 5:50 Alarm goes off, reach for phone check out the social media  (this is something I am hoping to eliminate but it is still happening) 6:15 get out of bed and head to the bathroom. This is where I wash up, do my hair, do my make up and get dressed. 6:30 leave bathroom mid getting ready to wake up Lil Man so he can go have his breakfast and start getting ready. 6:35 return to bathroom to finish getting ready. 6:45 head downstairs to make my Arbonne Smoothie.  Right now it's a Vanilla Chia Smoothie and it's delicious! 6:50 wake up Prince T if he isn't already awake, get him some breakfast that he won't eat but at least I provide it. \/O\/ 7:15 say good bye to Husband as he leaves for work, finish getting boys ready to go. 7:30-7:45 head out the door to go drop off Prince T ...

 I work with two very different groups of kids, but I am fond of each of them for different reasons. One reason I love working with these kids is that they always keep me on my toes.  The first group each student is vastly different but they find small joys in places where I have forgotten to look.  They often need more help navigating the social regulations of society, but more often than not they are more accepting of each other's differences. A lot could be learned by watching them accept people for who they are and not what they can do. This group of kids will often scare other teachers because they "don't know what to do with them", but that for me is thinking too globally, get to know them, form a relationship with them and you will see that what you need to do isn't really all that different than what you are already doing. The second group gives me faith that not all millenials are lazy.  This group is hard working and has a lot of drive to get...

I am beyond excited to announce that I will be a full time, continuing contract teacher starting in August!! It's been a long road, but I've finally found that teaching assignment that was made for me!! So here is to many more years of working with kids that need the most assistance but fill your heart so much with every triumph and smile!! I'm beyond blessed to have these students in my life!!

So I am new to being a Leadership Advisor at my school, and it's been an interesting experience. We've definitely had some rocky roads along the way but all in all it's a growing experience and I think next year it's going to be even better, but I will never forget the lessons I have learned. The most recent lesson I have learned is that things that look easy and that people say are easy aren't actually that easy. You look at lipdub videos online, here are a few that are really good. They look simple, and in reality shooting them is probably the easiest part, because its a single take video, there's no editing and splicing and stuff, so once the video is taken all you have to do is put the sound on it and it's a go, what you don't see though, that's where it gets choppy. Organizing a big group of at least a hundred people is problematic.  We had a leadership class that was about half of this number so you think each person brings one or ...

I fear for the state of the next generation.  I am very worried about whether or not they will be able to function in a society that does not embrace change and has rewarded just showing up their entire lives least their egos be hurt. I didn't raise my oldest son that way and I don't plan to raise my younger sons that way.  Where I have maybe neglected my children is in their ability to navigate through different aspects of grown up life.  Things like bill paying, getting loans, building credit, negotiating deals for items such as cars and houses.  I am seeing now that my oldest doesn't know anything about these things and is learning them by being thrown into the fire at 18. Here's the problem though, he was unable to learn any of these things prior to being 18.  You can't get loans or credit before you are 18 but by then you need it to function in society.  Do you know that to buy a cell phone you need credit?  Do you know that most of society ne...

When I am working with my kids I am always trying to ensure that their needs are put first.  The skills and learning my students need are very different to the other students in my class but also different from the general population.  So even if I am teaching a lesson on hygiene for a Job Interview, I am teaching a separate lesson to each student because they are all at different levels. This past week we've been working with hygiene skills.  Now if you ever spend any time around children and teenagers you will know that hygiene skills are not second nature, in fact for some they plain just don't know about them.  I've worked with students who wouldn't know what deodorant was if it came up and bit them, I've also worked with students who think Axe spray will mask all bad smells. These are two sides of the same coin, they are terribly assaulting to anyone around them.  And this has happened in every school, in every grade and every program I have worked in. If...

Whenever you change something in your life the most frequent question you will receive is why?  Why are you selling Arbonne? Why did you leave teaching? Why are you doing that diet? Why aren't you friends anymore? So here are some of my Whys? Why have I decided to sell Arbonne? I have been buying Arbonne for years and I love the skin care and nutrition lines, and no other products have ever come close to comparison for me.  My friend Stacey had been persistently asking me to join for years, but I kept turning her down.  Sometimes I was selling Fifth Avenue Collection (which I still love) and sometimes I just didn't want to do the direct selling.  Direct Selling is not my passion, but I do have a passion for the products, they are amazing.  So after the economic downturn of 2014 I jumped in.  I kept thinking if only I had $500-1000 extra each month we'd get out of debt and then we would be able to really start planning for our future.  So now I am ...

So as many of you know I am a teacher, if you are one of my new readers I am a Teacher in a program for students with mild to moderate cognitive delays and adaptive functioning.  I seriously LOVE my job and I work for an amazing school district with Red Deer Public!  And my kids are AMAZING!! But each year as I work to improve my teaching and programming for the students, so here are five things I will be bringing into my classroom this year!! 1) Zones of Regulation: Since my kids often struggle with regulating their emotions this program is a great way to help them learn self- regulation.  I will talk more in another blog about what exactly the Zones of regulation are and how they work and how we are implementing them into our classroom. 2) Projects, Projects and more projects!!!  Because the focus of our program is to develop life skills our focus isn't solely academic.  It's important that our kids get numeracy and literacy skills that will help them in l...

I've decided that I have a new five year plan... I mean you should always have a new five year plan and to be honest I've never really had a five year plan,  just a wing and a prayer!  And really it's done well for me so far, but I wan to be more organized and really plan out what we are going to do, how we are going to get further ahead. Things aren't great right now, the recession has hit our house and it is a little scary!! I am working at the moment, but my husband is not and there are just no jobs out there.  But this too shall pass and my husband will be working again and we need to be ready with the important goals when that happens. So where do I want to be in the next five years - A permanent teaching contract with Red Deer Public Schools as a Foundations Teacher! -A new home in a new community either in Red Deer or one of the communities within 20 minutes of Red Deer. -A new Mercedes paid for with my Arbonne earnings (RVP here I come) -A lake...

Four and a half years ago I left the teaching field, accidentally and on purpose.  I know that sounds like a weird statement, but I left because I needed something that was more sustainable then subbing and would allow me to not have to carry two jobs, but would give me some flexibility in my time off.  I was working a second job at Parkland CLASS at the time and a supervisor position opened up, since subbing was not going well, this felt like a good decisions so I went for it.  I stopped subbing and took a Monday to Friday job in a group home. Now four and a half years later I have reentered the teaching field.  I am not back in middle school, which is the area I left behind, I am now in a high school (my unlikely love as I was an elementary generalist). I am now working in a specialized classroom. I classroom I have had four and a half years of training to be qualified to work in not to mention the six years of classroom teaching I had done previously. I am wor...

Someone asked me once if I loved my job, and I took awhile to really come up with an honest answer.  I mean the easy answer is (now) yes, (years ago) no.  But I really wanted to figure out why I loved my job, I want to quantify what it was about this job that made it a job I would be happy working at my entire working life should that happen. Now most of you know I have a Bachelor's of Education (Go Huskies) and I used that degree in the teaching field for approximately 8 years from 2003-2011.  I had temporary contracts and I had subbing positions and it was fine. I actually really enjoyed subbing because I could make my own schedule but it sucked because the work was inconsistent.  I enjoyed being a classroom teacher, I enjoyed teaching, I didn't enjoy the politics of teaching though.  Don't get me wrong, I know that all jobs come with their fair share of politicking, but with teaching I just didn't want to play that game, I wasn't interested in it.  I j...

I'm horrible for using chore charts. Translation, I don't use them, I just sort of assign chores at random.  It makes things a bit chaotic, and sometimes things don't get done and if the kids don't know they are supposed to do that chore, then they don't do it. Lil Man loves to help out around the house! He's all about the vacuuming, and sweeping and mopping and doing dishes. Granted none of these are done to a standard that would pass a health inspection but he does the best he can and that counts for something. My hubby and I disagree on this point, I believe that if a child puts in the effort to complete a task and they say its complete then you leave it, making notes in your head to show them next week how to improve that task.  My hubby is of the mindset that if they don't do it the way you want the first time, make them do it again, and if it gets too frustrating then you just do it yourself.  So because I'm me and I think I'm right, (maybe...

Education is a gift, but not one that is given freely.  Your parents and neighbours and mailman help pay for your education.  They are contributing tax dollars towards the education system in hopes that you will come out with an education that will help you develop the next big thing, the next thing that so changes our world that everyone wants it, making your life that much easier.  Adults provide the tax dollars so your teachers can be in a classroom, offering you insight into the curriculum that is supposed to help you on your education journey, but you have to want to learn.  So if you want to learn, you have to tell people what you are interested in.  So many studetns are so focused on their grades, their percent that is a number given based on what?  How well you know something?  Either you know it, you sort of know it, or you don't, so then shouldn't you be given a 0 or a 1 or a 2.  Does it really matter that % mark that you are given? ...

OMG I am finally getting my life back into a schedule, and I am finally able to schedule in blogging time!!! So Sorry blogging buddies that I have been neglectful of you, I have been reading when I can but I am not even kidding you that my life has been,not in the eye of a whirlwind but right in the midst of if for the last four months. It all started back in December getting ready for Christmas.  Christmas is a busy time of the year as it is, and well work and everything else just started picking up and it was like I was on a runaway train.  I had been working three jobs, substitute teaching, working in the group home and working my own home based business, Fifth Avenue Collection.  Plus I had been trying to put in time to writing and spending time with my family and giving myself time but there wasn't much left to give me.  After our quick trip back to Saskatchewan for Christmas I went straight to work for 8 days in  a row.  And not just 4 or 5 hour shi...

I hate job hunting, I actually hate all parts about it, but it's a neccessity in this day and age.  I am again finding myself to be on the job hunt for another teaching position for the fall.  Every year this seems to be my lot in life, and though I love teaching this job hunting SUCKS. Sometimes I sit at my computer and wonder why I can't be a travel writer.  Why not?  It seems like it would be a good job, it would definitely have a lot of perks and I could technically speaking take my family with me on some of my excursions.  But how do people get into that line of work?  I have no idea but if anyone knows then you can send me in that direction.  I would even work for Travel Alberta or Travel Saskatchewan and write reviews for their events. I think sometimes being able to go places and show how they are or are not good for a family is what people want to see or read about when they are about to venture out of their safe bubble zone of their home. ...

In my life as a teacher there are a few tasks that I find mind numbingly boring.  They are tasks that I can barely motivate myself to correct or complete on any kind of consistant basis.  Some of these tasks are behind the scenes, things the students never see or encounter me doing in front of them, but some of them are obviously part of my planning for my classroom. It has focused me to think about some of these tasks.  Why do I find them so mind numbing?  If I find them mind numbing, what do my students think of the ones they are being asked to complete?  How can I make some changes so that we all have a better learning experience?  One of the tasks I hate to correct are assigned questions and worksheets.  HATE!!! I just hate worksheets, I know they are great busy work and a way to get the students to do something while you are planning something else, but seriously they are so tedious to correct that I often find I am ignoring them and I never g...

I am so looking forward to next Monday.  I know this should be on my Lifestyle Lift blog, but I wanted to write it here.  I have my final weigh in on Monday and then I am going to make Adrian take me out on a date.  I think we will indulge in a nice dessert somewhere so if anyone knows of a great dessert place in Red Deer of a place that serves great dessert let me know I am booking it in and my Chandler is going to do some babysitting for me.  I can hardly wait!!!  I am also thinking of doing a little extra indulging this weekend after I finish my Honey Do List.  This list includes mailing out invites (sorry i know i know they are late), completing Fifth Avenue Collection invites for the parties in Saskatchewan (SK friends watch your mailbox for a lovely invite from me), completing my lesson plans for Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week, and booking two more parties for March 11-13 weekend for Fifth Avenue Shows at my place.  It's going to keep m...

I am not a science teacher, but I am.  This year part of my teaching assignment is to teach Grade Eight Science.  I am not the only Science teacher and I only teach one Grade Eight class so I don't know if my students aren't getting the same education as the other class.  I worry that maybe they aren't learning the concepts, but I am realizing that I have to stop comparing myself to the other teacher and just worry about what I am doing.  This is harder than it sounds since the school wants us to be using the same teaching tools and handouts for the students. In this struggle I have discovered some interesting facts about myself.  I struggle with teaching concepts I don't fully grasp, which I am sure is the same with everyone.  However, if I can see th practical application for a concept I can bring it to my students with avegence.  So I have decided to attack each concept I want the kids to learn with the "end in mind".  They teach you this in ...