Catch up

I cannot believe I haven't blogged since October! I guess that means we've been terribly busy since then. Christmas was great and went by too fast. New years came and went. We've been back in school since the 4th of January and I can see spring intercession in sight. But there have been a few things on my mind lately:

1. ISTEP- please can take the pressure off of this test? Middle school students could take the exact same test the next day with completely different results.

2. Budget cut- Why should a teacher have to worry about his or her job? Aren't we creating the future in our classrooms? Wouldn't we want the best for our children? It seems as though the US is heading toward privatizing schools making parents pay for it. Doesn't sound so competitive does it? What happened to honest and frugal spending?

3. School start date- I am a huge advocate for year round schools. The climate in the schools are so much more calm and there is always hope of a break soon. We get 3 weeks off in the fall and the spring and around 6 weeks off in the summer. The breaks are necessary to keep the mind from becoming dull and numb. The students actually remember things we have talked about from July. How many traditional calendar teachers can say that? I have seen it and experienced it with my own eyes, otherwise I wouldn't have believed it.

4. Future- I don't know what I want to do with my future. It seems that education is going by the way side and now I'm just not so positive about my career choice if there is no support. Too many hands are in the public education systems and it doesn't seem to make sense to me that a businessman can tell me how to run a school and how to teach?
- Also along with the future we have some things changing in our lives, positive and exciting things, and again it throws up some questions as to what we want to do with our future! Dustin retires in 5 years and we can move to a new house hopefully in the country but close enough to a city to have a day out.

5. Brother- I'm thankful for my brother. I'm so very excited he is coming to hang out today with his fiance, Dora. I cannot wait for their wedding in October! She definitely makes a good match in our family.

6. Dustin- Last but not least I'm so very thankful for Dustin. He's an amazing man and puts up with me no matter what. He helps me out and makes life so much easier. I don't know what I'd do without him.


I will try to keep this updated better as the spring progresses! We are going to San Antonio :)