^^that is me crying.
I have been sucky at blogging. I have been productive at living. SOOOOO busy.
Last week, I had a week off from grad school classes. It wasn't supposed to work out that way, but my professor canceled the last class, so that was nice. I took the week off. Well, actually, I had a lot of stuff to do, but it wasn't writing papers or reading, so that was great.
Last Thursday, the WVU percussion ensemble came to Josh's school and did clinics and put on a concert all day with his kids! It was AWESOME. The kids actually got to perform with the college kids from Josh's old studio in the concert that night and we got to see some old friends. We got home late on Thursday night. We both took Friday off because we were traveling to York to see Josh's family and attend a Surprise birthday party for one of our friends! We left Friday early afternoon and went out to dinner with Josh's family at Chili's. I love that place.
Saturday, I got to hang out with my friend and bridesmaid, Lauren during the day. Then we got ready and went to the party. Josh's friend is a principal in York and it was a surprise party for his 31st birthday. It was at the Lancaster Brewing Company with endless good food and great beer. A good time. I am now wishing I had taken pictures!
Sunday we had an early spaghetti dinner with Josh's extended family and drove home. We got home around 7, immediately went to the grocery store, came home and unpacked and I started on grad school work again. My first class of the summer semester was yesterday. I had to do some work which was due on Monday evening. I read and replied to forums allll night long. Just in time for Josh to get sick. He has practically been sleeping since Sunday night.
Woke up Monday, went to school, taught all day, came home and changed and went to McDonald's to work. YEP. That's right. It was McTeacher Night. We gave coupons for free happy meals at school and a percentage of income made that night goes to our school. Well, here's the catch. The teachers work there all night and serve the students and their families. I worked the Drive Thru. Surprisingly, I had a great time. maybe a throw back from my Starbucks days???
Tuesday I was at school early. I had multiple rehearsals in the morning for a program that night. I had 60-70 kids at a time all morning. Then in my only planning time of the day, my principal and supervisor show up and want to do a formal evaluation. UGH. It went really well, though. I continued teaching all day, stayed after school to set up the stage, and then had a big program with the whole 4th grade and the strings program. It went really well. I rushed home and made it just in time for my first grad school class of this semester. I was on that until 10, then I passed out.
Today I was a teacher all day and then came home and read a LONG article and wrote a 3 page paper on it. That took until about 9:20 and it was due at 10. phew.
Tomorrow I am being a teacher all day, doing zumba with teachers after school, going straight to a class at the gym, coming straight home and getting online for class again. This class meets on Tuesdays AND Thursdays. I can already tell I don't like it.
Friday is a busy day at school again and then I am coming home, sitting on the couch and not getting up until Saturday morning. What about dinner, you ask? Well, someone is just going to have to bring it to me :-)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
I Still Hate Writing Papers...
Last night I had my last online class of my first semester of grad school.
My group presented on education policy and reform in Chile. My portion of the presentation was specifically on recent policy and reform in higher education in Chile. Does this sound boring to you? It did to me at first, too. Actually, it wasn't ever really all that exciting. It just got less and less boring the more involved I got.
My presentation actually went really well and our professor and other students seemed very receptive and asked lots of questions. That scared me a lot because I was terrified that they would ask something simple and I wouldn't be able to answer it. But I did okay.
My last paper isn't due until Sunday and we plan on sending it sometime on Saturday. It's hard to write a 40-page paper with three other people. It's even harder when those three other people are located in: Chile, Puerto Rico, and New Jersey. We had a hard time finding a time to Skype because of the time changes and work schedule differences and whatnot.
So far, I am proud of my research for my portion of the paper. It is by far the most extensive research I have ever done on my own and I hope I can report it accurately. I feel like I am "growing up" in the world of writing, researching, and reporting. If this is all I take out of grad school (even though I know it won't be) I will still be satisfied because that's important stuff, dude!
When this class is over I will have a few days until my next one starts. During the whole two years that I will be in this program, there will only be about 14 days that I am not actually in a class. They definitely keep you moving right along in this program. No summer breaks for me for a while!
My group presented on education policy and reform in Chile. My portion of the presentation was specifically on recent policy and reform in higher education in Chile. Does this sound boring to you? It did to me at first, too. Actually, it wasn't ever really all that exciting. It just got less and less boring the more involved I got.
My presentation actually went really well and our professor and other students seemed very receptive and asked lots of questions. That scared me a lot because I was terrified that they would ask something simple and I wouldn't be able to answer it. But I did okay.
My last paper isn't due until Sunday and we plan on sending it sometime on Saturday. It's hard to write a 40-page paper with three other people. It's even harder when those three other people are located in: Chile, Puerto Rico, and New Jersey. We had a hard time finding a time to Skype because of the time changes and work schedule differences and whatnot.
So far, I am proud of my research for my portion of the paper. It is by far the most extensive research I have ever done on my own and I hope I can report it accurately. I feel like I am "growing up" in the world of writing, researching, and reporting. If this is all I take out of grad school (even though I know it won't be) I will still be satisfied because that's important stuff, dude!
When this class is over I will have a few days until my next one starts. During the whole two years that I will be in this program, there will only be about 14 days that I am not actually in a class. They definitely keep you moving right along in this program. No summer breaks for me for a while!
Monday, May 2, 2011
OH YEAH
I finished!
Sorry it took so long to update, but I was recuperating.
We all finished! Josh ran his 5K and beat his personal record by almost 3 minutes, Brian (Josh's dad) ran his first half marathon and finished in less than 2 hours(!), Alex (Josh's brother) ran his first half marathon and finished in just over two hours (!) and I ran my first half marathon and finished in 2 hours and 26 minutes!
More about the whole day to come :-)
Sorry it took so long to update, but I was recuperating.
We all finished! Josh ran his 5K and beat his personal record by almost 3 minutes, Brian (Josh's dad) ran his first half marathon and finished in less than 2 hours(!), Alex (Josh's brother) ran his first half marathon and finished in just over two hours (!) and I ran my first half marathon and finished in 2 hours and 26 minutes!
More about the whole day to come :-)
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wish Me Luck!
I will (hopefully) be finishing my first half marathon in about 11 hours!
Remember this post? It's my first post announcing I was going to try to run a half marathon. It also includes a picture of what I wanted to look like across the finish line. Here it is:
Remember this post? It's my first post announcing I was going to try to run a half marathon. It also includes a picture of what I wanted to look like across the finish line. Here it is:
Um. Yeah. I will include pictures. But don't get your hopes up.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Easter Family Photo
Easter morning, my brother, Derek, his girlfriend Kim, her daughter Baelee, my sister Bryana, Josh and I all went to my dad's church service.
Something I Would Like to Share With My Teacher Friends
So I had to give a standardized assessment to my 5th graders today. They had to come up to me one by one to perform some rhythms and I had to grade them on their accuracy and sight reading. Yes, it was lame.
Well, this was a magnet class, which is essentially just like "Gifted and Talented" or something. They are pretty intelligent. While I was giving this exam, I didn't know what I could do with the other kids who weren't performing at the time, so I gave them a little survey asking some random musical questions. I MUST share some of these answers! I will quote exactly... spelling and everything! Keep in mind: These are 10-year-olds.
1. Who is your favorite singer/artist/band? Why?
"none"
"Lady Gaga because she is just out their"
"Eminem because I love Rappers"
"I like all of them but not all of them. I like all music, exept hip hop, pop, and modern rap"
"Lady Gaga because she's like the madona of our generation."
"Bruno mars because he is a inspirational person with Real life situations."
"I despise the music that plays on the radio alot (hip hop, rap, and pop). That music sounds awful"
2. What is your favorite instrument? Why?
"I love the horn because I love how people hold it."
"The violin is very respectful"
"recorder because it is the only one I can play"
"guitar because it is a smooth sounding instrument and it's so compelling to me"
"The bassoon because the instrument is most popular in music"
3. What would you like to do in music class by the end of this year?
"play outside"
"Dance around with music then we all have lunch with our teachers"
"karioki"
"Dance to Mrs. Mengels music"
"Dance outside on a warm day"
"Have a No-Shoe Day"
"I can't think of anything musical to put in Miss Mengels room because its the biggest collection of music I ever saw so I cant really come up with anything"
"Nothing."
4. In your own words: What does it mean to improvise?
"Add your own flare"
"to play notes without a paper"
"Play off top of your head"
"you are not reading anything"
"do anything/note you want"
"Make up a song with no practice"
5. What is your favorite song that we have done so far in music class?
"I liked the song we performed at the PTA night" (We didn't perform any songs at PTA night)
"none in particular"
"None in particular"
Well, this was a magnet class, which is essentially just like "Gifted and Talented" or something. They are pretty intelligent. While I was giving this exam, I didn't know what I could do with the other kids who weren't performing at the time, so I gave them a little survey asking some random musical questions. I MUST share some of these answers! I will quote exactly... spelling and everything! Keep in mind: These are 10-year-olds.
1. Who is your favorite singer/artist/band? Why?
"none"
"Lady Gaga because she is just out their"
"Eminem because I love Rappers"
"I like all of them but not all of them. I like all music, exept hip hop, pop, and modern rap"
"Lady Gaga because she's like the madona of our generation."
"Bruno mars because he is a inspirational person with Real life situations."
"I despise the music that plays on the radio alot (hip hop, rap, and pop). That music sounds awful"
2. What is your favorite instrument? Why?
"I love the horn because I love how people hold it."
"The violin is very respectful"
"recorder because it is the only one I can play"
"guitar because it is a smooth sounding instrument and it's so compelling to me"
"The bassoon because the instrument is most popular in music"
3. What would you like to do in music class by the end of this year?
"play outside"
"Dance around with music then we all have lunch with our teachers"
"karioki"
"Dance to Mrs. Mengels music"
"Dance outside on a warm day"
"Have a No-Shoe Day"
"I can't think of anything musical to put in Miss Mengels room because its the biggest collection of music I ever saw so I cant really come up with anything"
"Nothing."
4. In your own words: What does it mean to improvise?
"Add your own flare"
"to play notes without a paper"
"Play off top of your head"
"you are not reading anything"
"do anything/note you want"
"Make up a song with no practice"
5. What is your favorite song that we have done so far in music class?
"I liked the song we performed at the PTA night" (We didn't perform any songs at PTA night)
"none in particular"
"None in particular"
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter
We spent the last few days in Cumberland, MD visiting my family for Easter/Spring Break. I intended to do a lot of grad school work while I was there, but, you know how that goes...
We basically did nothing except visit, watch home videos, and eat. That's what I usually do at my mom's house. It's great. Except: On the way home I started experiencing serious, serious tooth pain. This has happened before in another tooth and it turned into a root canal. YIKES! So I am taking a sick day tomorrow and having an emergency dental appointment to (hopefully) get rid of this pain, which is almost unbearable. (Anyone who has ever had an infection in the roots of their tooth know exactly what I am talking about--literally the worst pain of my life thus far)
We came back last night because we had a busy day today! We woke up early, got some Dunkin' Donuts, watched a little TV, went to meet with our lender and applied for our mortgage which took forever, had sushi for lunch, went to our home inspection which went pretty well and also took forever, went to the mall for a haircut, came home and worked on my project for school, went to the gym, and now I am getting ready to make dinner and meet on Skype with my group from my grad school class to discuss our project.
I have been alternating Tylenol and Advil all day long and I am already well over the 24-hour dosage limit, but I have no choice. On the other hand, a 5-day Spring break turned into a 6-day Spring break!
We basically did nothing except visit, watch home videos, and eat. That's what I usually do at my mom's house. It's great. Except: On the way home I started experiencing serious, serious tooth pain. This has happened before in another tooth and it turned into a root canal. YIKES! So I am taking a sick day tomorrow and having an emergency dental appointment to (hopefully) get rid of this pain, which is almost unbearable. (Anyone who has ever had an infection in the roots of their tooth know exactly what I am talking about--literally the worst pain of my life thus far)
We came back last night because we had a busy day today! We woke up early, got some Dunkin' Donuts, watched a little TV, went to meet with our lender and applied for our mortgage which took forever, had sushi for lunch, went to our home inspection which went pretty well and also took forever, went to the mall for a haircut, came home and worked on my project for school, went to the gym, and now I am getting ready to make dinner and meet on Skype with my group from my grad school class to discuss our project.
I have been alternating Tylenol and Advil all day long and I am already well over the 24-hour dosage limit, but I have no choice. On the other hand, a 5-day Spring break turned into a 6-day Spring break!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
IT'S SPRING BREAK
Oh yeah!
Spring Break is the greatest! The past three days of school my students have either been preparing for our Spring Program, taking county-wide music assessments or playing Just Dance on the Wii with the gym classes. That's right. I was feeling burnt out so I literally spent the majority of my last 3 days dancing to Just Dance. It was AWESOME.
We have lots of days off for our break. I just finished my grad class for the night, so we are packing and leaving for Cumberland in the morning. We will probably be there until Sunday evening.
Monday we are meeting with our lender to apply for our mortgage and then going right to OUR HOUSE for the inspection. We are still soooo excited about our house! I love absolutely everything about it. Everything! I wish I could move in today!
Have an awesome Easter and a great weekend!
Spring Break is the greatest! The past three days of school my students have either been preparing for our Spring Program, taking county-wide music assessments or playing Just Dance on the Wii with the gym classes. That's right. I was feeling burnt out so I literally spent the majority of my last 3 days dancing to Just Dance. It was AWESOME.
We have lots of days off for our break. I just finished my grad class for the night, so we are packing and leaving for Cumberland in the morning. We will probably be there until Sunday evening.
Monday we are meeting with our lender to apply for our mortgage and then going right to OUR HOUSE for the inspection. We are still soooo excited about our house! I love absolutely everything about it. Everything! I wish I could move in today!
Have an awesome Easter and a great weekend!
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