Spirit Week!

Monday:

I never know what the hell dress day it is on Monday.  Apparently it was "Celebrity Day".  I think that's lame and I'm glad I didn't know well enough to dress for it.  The only celebrities worth dressing up as you can't pull of in dress code....Snookie for example. 

Tuesday:

What Retro time period can I pull off with 5 minutes until I walk out the door to meet carpool??  60's obviously.  I'm from Boulder.  We like flowy tops and ethnic-y jewelry from all the many places we've traveled to feel as though we are not just a bunch of white yuppies.  It makes us feel cultured.  Besides, every hippie I've ever seen DEFINITELY wore Pucci.  

Wednesday:

Jersey day.  I don't wear jerseys...not even to football games.  I haven't donned a jersey since I played high-school sports.  Eww.  No one looks cute in a jersey and all those girls who wear the pink versions of their boyfriends' favorite team and think it looks so super adorable are so super wrong.  Jerseys are heinous--even when pink. 

Thursday:

 Ranchero day=jeans.  That is all.

Friday:

Black and silver day.  I will credit our district with choosing a super chic color combo.  Metallics are so hot right now.  Next weekend I will be sporting the old orange and black in Caxy pride at my 10 year high school reunion.  Holy fuck, its been ten years and I'm still getting dressed up for spirit week. At least  I can get drunk at next weekend's homecoming.

Talking the Talk

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Learning shit is hard.  I have been taking a GMAT prep course every monday night since school started and it has humbled me.  I don't remember the basic equations of geometry, I can't multiply any times tables past 5, and, sadly (I am an English teacher after all), I can barely recognize the appropriate use of the simple past versus the past perfect when put on the spot.  While its doing an awful number on my self-esteem, feeling stupid for 3 hours a week is likely the best professional development I have ever received. 

If I don't end up with a respectable score on the GMAT, I will at least walk away from my study program feeling that I did not waste a grand so much as gained a thousand dollars worth of empathy.  One might argue that this is actually a priceless acquisition.  That is a nice sentiment, however, boundless empathy coupled with my already limitless patience will not a premiere MBA acceptance make.  These characteristics may make me a nice person and an above average teacher, but I think they also make me a chump.  I have been on a mission this year to de-chumpify my professional life.  Somehow my educational background (a BA from U of M Ann Arbor and an MA from CU Boulder) and my background in education (4 years in a Colorado public school), don't seem education-y enough, so I figured it was time to go back for another round--see if a few more letters behind my name won't finally erase those pesky insecurities always buzzing up in my head.  I'm still trying to piece together what exactly I feel is my future in business, but I can tell you that it has something to do with "sustainability"...yeah, how do you like that hot lingo?  With a vocabulary like that, I am definitely ready for business school.

Who would win in a fight between an elephant and a grizzly bear?

Its mid-term election season once again.  Yet another year of cold-calling and door-knocking to convince our lackluster constituents to give a shit about the kids in our district.  Its a phenomenal experience to watch an entire community fail again and again to pass a bond that would increase taxes by less than two bucks a month with the money going directly into their schools.  In a neighborhood on a downward housing trend, one would think that homeowners would grasp at anything to improve their property values--like brand new schools throughout the district--but after 3 years of watching ballot measures flat line, I am reluctant with my optimism that during my tenure we will resuscitate the lives of our ramshackle school buildings.  Last year, the bond didn't pass even with the added incentive of a 30 million dollar matching grant from the state that would've funded the building overhauls.  30 million dollars of free money!!!!!!!

"Hey, I'll trade you thirty million dollars for two dollars each month."

"Nah, its cool, I'll just keep my two dollars..."

WHAT?!?!?!  Its like turning down a Capri Sun or homemade chocolate chip cookies to keep your baby carrots!  Who would do that?  Nobody that I call friend.

Tuesday...backlighting is a bitch. Lesson learned.

Wednesday

Thursday.  Leggings are not jeans, woot woot!

Friday. Two inches? Uhhhhh-huh....

On friday I was most likely out of dress code and may have threatened to shank a couple of seniors.  I think these facts are irr-elephant to this week's theme: grizzly bears.  

Summer's Over.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

     I didn't work on Friday as I was utilizing my first "personal" day of the year!  So, obviously the white linen pants had to get their last go before the long Labor Day weekend.  Of course, the weather is still lending itself to lightweight summer pants, but I'll standby the rule until its late time to break out the winter whites.  I love me some crisp white jeans contrasted with a rugged winter boot.  I could've used those boots in Michigan this weekend!  All I wanted was a last day to rock out in my bikini next to the lake, but it was 50 degrees and chronic downpour.  Instead of wrapping my self in cool Lake Michigan waves, I was wrapped in denim and blankets in front of the fireplace.  At least I was still able to wear my vintage stunner!

    Summer's over!

Not So Hot for Teacher

                

Monday

(Kristen C., one of my seniors, told me that she HATES this shirt and that I should warn her the next time I plan to wear it so she can cover her eyes...)

Tuesday

 

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

     After 12 hours at school on Thursday of last week, I found myself at a dinner with an acquaintance who has a knack for making any average dinner conversation suddenly inappropriate.  I'm just minding my business cross-legged on the carpet in a dress (at least the 2-inch rule saved me from any embarrassing crotch shots), simultaneously shoveling down curry and guzzling my bottle of white wine in a desperate, albeit transparent, attempt to avoid eye contact with my stupid former boyfriend who is looming on the couch just across the coffee table and BAM!  Just when I don't think I can feel any more desperately uncomfortable in my own skin, the acquaintance hits me with the winner, "So, slept with any students this year?"  Its one of those silly comments that a young female teacher gets used to hearing at bars when the inevitable chatter of careers comes up, but becoming used to something doesn't always mean you have become comfortable with it.  It offends me.  I don't know why that particular jab gets so deep into my gut.  There is so much of my job that is pure comedy, so much that I will be the first to laugh about, so much to share to make others laugh, but jokes about sleeping with students is a lot like making racist jokes--its acceptable with those who are part of the group, but not when an outsider chimes in.  So, there it is, mid spicy-curry bite, no witty comeback.  "No, I have not."  I could wear stripper heels and pasties to work, and I still don't think that sex would be anywhere near my mind while in the school building (but I wouldn't wear that because its out of dress code...and tacky).  This diatribe has no real purpose other than to say that I hate getting rolled into some juvenile male fantasy.  The ability to reduce educators to a sexual fetish might explain more than I'd like about the state of American education.

One, One! Get Some!

I love having a senior Crew! Looping students with their teachers is probably the best idea that all those progressive education advocates have going for them.  My kids are so genuinely excited to see me and be back in school, its impossible not to be excited with them!  Besides, I get to spend all year making up cheers that rhyme "eleven" with single syllable words.

Tuesday: It was move in day... I had to move out of my garage into a real classroom this year.  No more four-square during class time :(

Wednesday: First day with students! First day wearing heels to work!  

                                                      

Thursday:  My intro to classroom norms involved some yoga, so I had to rock some pants that allowed me to move. 

                                                         

Friday: "You could be a farmer in those clothes", and I was. Check out all my kiddos getting their farm on!

   

                  

Shortchange

Our union made sure to navigate the district away from another year of salary freezes, but you can bet we will be feeling those budget cuts elsewhere this year.  Our staff retreat, for example, is a clear reflection of how our funds have steadily diminished since I started 4 years ago.  In that first year, we loaded up cars and caravanned up to Estes Park to spend 48 hours bonding in shared bunks over cafeteria food while taking in the Rockies, but this year it was a mere 7 hours at Montclair Park in Denver.  While the location and duration have shifted, its refreshing to be part of a community that has not allowed the financial crunch to change our traditions. I value our time together outside the building.  Taking the serious conversations into a not so serious environment shapes the culture of our staff each August--it reminds me how lucky I am to work in such impressive and enjoyable company.  It also helps that we can wear whatever we want...
Friday:

I went through a phase in my mid-twenties where I thought I had to start wearing long-ish shorts to be "proper", but now that I've hit late-twenties,  I say fuck it.  When you're pushing oh-so close to 30, might as well flaunt what you've got, and I've got me some skinny little legs that are tanned and toned from miles of running and hours of yoga this summer.  So, inspired by my new appreciation for my physique, I sought a trend to match (you will NOT catch me sporting any half-shirts no matter how much of a comeback they may be making),  and I was totally getting excited about rocking my short shorts with tights to roll my summer essentials into fall faves!  I am all for a trend that increases my wardrobe without cracking the wallet.  However, today all my opaque-Hue hopes and patterned-DKNY dreams were shattered as I learned  that we have instituted a new dress code in which our skirts/shorts can be no more than 2 inches above the knee.  Damn you, professionalism!  So, this might be the last you'll see of my shorts after all...sad sad day.
Monday:

Those private school bitches win this round: