Sweet Success

Last May, I accepted a job as a 3rd grade teacher (in an inclusion classroom, meaning it's a mixed group with special ed and regular ed students) in Newport News Public Schools. This is a different school division than the one I worked in the last four years. Different in demographic, expectations, and scores. I was really nervous that I may not be able to perform in such a fast-moving, forward-minded, score driven school district. I didn't know what I was getting myself into...I had an idea, but definitely not to the fullest capacity. The school division I taught in last had an incredible reputation, with incredible schools, and accreditation. The teachers were awesome, but the students were going to learn regardless of the teacher. Most students in that division have supportive, educated parents. Once again...I was in for a HUGE change! It was totally part of God's plan for me!

The school that I currently teach at is an AWESOME school, but we are 'under the microscope' so to speak because of continual poor scores. There's a lot of boring details about accreditation, government funding, and blah, blah, blah...

Like I said- a HUGE change from where I had been, but God's always teaching me that change is o-k-a-y! It's been a challenge for me- getting used to a new school, new administrators, new colleagues, new students, and SUPER new expectations.

I don't think I've ever had such a heart for a class before- I absolutely adore my students! I'd definitely loved my kids before, but this is different. Because my kids are from such a poor, and rough demographic and background, they have needed every ounce of me I could give...which can be exhausting at times!!

Our school division gives Quarterly Assessments every nine weeks, which are tests in each subject area that just assess what the students have learned over the nine weeks. There is a lot of pressure on the students, but way more on the teachers to perform well on these tests. Because of these tests every nine weeks, our schedule is SO tight, to ensure we get everything in by test day. There's not a lot of room for taking things slow, which is really hard to manage in a class of regular ed and special ed students. These tests don't count towards accreditation, but they do offer a lot of data as to what type of scores we can expect at the end of the year when they take their SOL (Standards of Learning) tests.

I'm always proud to say that my students BLOW ME AWAY with their Quarterly Assessments scores! A 75% is passing, and I always give rewards for kids who not only pass, but make an 85% or higher on their tests. They have done so well, and my administration couldn't be more proud of them!!

I love when my students work hard at something, and see their hard work pay off! It's not frequent that these students have success, and academic success is so sweet!

Scattered Much?

I feel so scattered lately! I would consider myself an extremely organized person, in just about every area of my life. I relax best when things are in order, and neat. I guess some people would call this OCD- label what you want. (Actually, the women I work with call is CDO...I'm so OCD, I prefer it in alphabetical order...pretty funny, huh?!) Currently, our house is being torn apart- inside and out.

John's told me over the last few weeks that I'm handling it really well, and that he's 'proud of me'...

Our house has been in house wrap, windows torn out, HUGE tools all over the house, our normal living spaces disrupted, and to top it all off- my entire family is coming down in 4 days for a visit!

I feel like my time is spent cleaning up behind the construction workers, which is pretty pointless because they just make a mess again in about 7 seconds. It's easy for people to say, 'just let it go...' but it's hard for me to flesh it out.

I can't wait for the renovations and remodeling to be done, and our house to be back to normal...whatever that is.

On a really positive note- we are so excited for our family to come down. My whole side of the family is spending Easter here, and it'll be the first time in 5 years that everyone is down at the same time- so cool!

What are your plans for the holiday weekend??

Toller Family

Rae, Matt, and Katey

Rae...looking all grown up!

Our best friends, Matt & Katey Toller just had a family photo shoot done by a new photographer in VA Beach- and the pictures came out amazing! I love showing off how beautiful this family is!

Coming right along...

Back of the house. New windows, and a new back door to be installed soon! (This was taken early last week, most of the siding is up now.)

New windows!

Hard at work!

The guys have been working like crazy to put up more siding, and installing the new windows. The house is really coming along! I can't update new pictures from the weekend, because the desktop we normally upload pictures on has been put away to make more room for our guests. These pictures were taken early in the week (so imagine how much further along the progress is). I'll post more pics probably in a week or so.

Exterior Home Improvements

Our new siding going up. If you can't tell, it's a greenish-gray color: Irish Thistle.

New garage door.

The roof being repaired, and new chimney built.

Here's the leftovers of our roof, and broken chimney.

During the fall Nor'easter (sp??), a huge oak tree fell on part of out house, badly damaging the roof, pulling the chimney off, and damaging siding too. John stretched the money we received from the insurance company, and we were able to get a lot of improvements done! We have already had the roof fixed, a new chimney built, and a new garage door put on. We are in the process of the following renovations being done: new siding, new windows, and a front porch built onto the front of the house. In some ways, it's been a long drawn out process with the insurance company, but now that the improvements have started, we're well on our way to the house being complete! I'll post more pics along the way!