9.26.2010

Making Me Hungry

This is what I took with me for my 8 hour workday.  Lunch and snacks for 1 human include:


1. pickles
2. crackers
3. cheese cubes
4. sandwich
5. apple
6. yogurt
7. pretzels
8. graham crackers
9. soda

I didn't take the loaf of bread or the sugar and flour canisters, although I probably could have with the huge bag I had to carry all this food in.

I work until 5pm.  All of this food was gone by 3pm and I was hungry by 3:30.

The good part of this?  The bebes are definitely growing.  And so is my belly.  Check this out:


9.09.2010

Our Babies

Dave and I have called a lot of things "our baby" in the past.  The car, a new fun toy, his plasma TV, my nephews, each other.
Now we will have new things to call "babies" -  our babies.
In March, Dave and I will be parents of TWINS!  I am 3 months pregnant and we couldn't be happier to be doubling the size of our family.  And suddenly our new 3 bedroom house seems a liiiitttttle too small. :)

Some of you know the struggles Dave and I have been through to be here, some of you might not.  Just know that we are blessed to have this happening, blessed to be having 2 little bebes (or "le bebes" as I call them), and I will (try to) remember that blessing when we do twice the feedings and twice the changings.

We prayed for a baby and God blessed us with 2.  Does that mean He has a sense of humor?  Possibly.  But I guess we prayed really hard. Now that we have seen them move around and kick (through the ultrasound) and heard their heartbeats, we already can't imagine not having both of them here with us.

Baby A and Baby B, you are already in our every thought and in our hearts.  We love you (even though you are only 2 inches each right now) and can't wait to meet you.

9.07.2010

Update on Bug Status in Classroom 400B

Dearest Crickets (that I hate),

I know that you have become more sparse in my classroom lately (thanks to various sprays, stompings, and scare tactics) but do you have to crawl into my lights every night and die there?  It's really harshing my classroom's mojo.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Shumway
p.s. I saw that one of you was still alive in there, don't think you're getting away with it.

p.s. I really love all types of animals except bugs.  I really hate those.

9.01.2010

For My Students

A lot of my students have really hard lives.  They go through things that any "child" shouldn't have to go through.  I hesitate to call them children though, since a lot of them are the sole providers for their families (mom can't or won't work, dad's in jail, 5 siblings younger than them equals a lot of responsibility). 

What can I do?  How can the short time they spend with me be beneficial for them? 

When I started teaching (in Indiana) I decided that I would (try really hard to) never talk down to the students, even when they acted like idiots.  They have enough people in their life doing that for them already.  I decided I would talk to them like real people, like adults, with respect.  And you know what?  It works.  It takes a while (insert teenage angst, I hate the world, I hate school, I hate you, etc...) but it has always worked.

Eventually they see me as someone who is there to help them, not to make them feel small.

I took a break from typing this to meet with a group of students known as my advisory group.  It's a group of 7 students that report back to me daily on their progress, struggles, and any questions they have.  I had a student mouthing off to me telling me that an assignment was stupid and she wasn't going to do it. 

I laughed in my head, thinking of what I had just written on this post and how I should stay true to it. I wanted to say, "You are so immature, that's why you're 20 and still in high school."  But I didn't.  She's probably been told that a million times. 

I explained why I thought the assignment was valuable and then moved on and addressed the rest of the group, acting like nothing had happened and showing no emotion toward her.

She still left with an attitude.  We'll see how tomorrow goes.  All I know is I didn't tell her to quit, give up, stop trying, or whatever other people have said to make her so callous.

I wanted some inspirational quotes in my room, but didn't want to buy those cheesy teacher posters that are like, "Don't tell me the dog ate your homework, I know you don't have a dog."  I just made that up.  Sounds like a teacher poster with a picture of some dog hanging out of a trash can.

Anyway, I made these for my room.  Hopefully 1 or 2 kids will stop and read them: