So I cried a little bit.

My mom, who likes to help me whenever she can, suggested that instead of getting a storage unit, I put some of my things in my sister's shed, and others, like my very fragile first editions and Stephen King collection, in her condo while I'm out of the country.  She is leaving for North Carolina on Thursday for the summer, so we went down yesterday to clean out the shed and bring her a few boxes of books.  I packed my first editions of Hemingway, my personalized, signed copy of Jaws by Peter Benchley, assorted other signed books and about half of my SKs.  Then I sat down on my couch and cried. 

I feel silly for crying over something material, especially since I pride myself on not getting to attached to "things".  But this is different.  Each one of the books I packed this weekend has a significance to me - the Tucker Max that was the first book my husband bought me, the SK novel that I read aloud to my dad after his first stroke when he was in rehab, my great-grandmother's New Testament in German that she received on her confirmation so many years ago.  These are part of my history, my past.  It felt like giving up my past for my future, although I trust that my mother will keep my precious books safe for me. 

I hear it's hard to find books in Abu Dhabi.  Wonderful old bookstores and secondhand paperback shops apparently don't exist.  I hope that's not true, because as many times as someone has told me to buy a Kindle and download my favorites, I just can't bring myself to do it.  I love the feel of books, the smell of the paper, the ability to take them just about anywhere and not worry if they get splashed while I'm doing the dishes, dropped because I'm carrying a baby, a book and a laundry basket upstairs, or even outright destroyed, because they were left too close to the tide line while I was swimming in the sea. 

Let's not lose sight of giving up the tangible for the intangible.  Most of us prefer our flesh and blood friends to Facebook buddies, cold hard cash to Bitcoins, and a real life hug to a virtual one.  Keep books alive!  Keep people real!  Hug your friends in real life and give them a real smile.  Shake your students' hands, high five them, fist bump them.  Don't keep yourself at a distance. 

A non-related post!

This post isn't related to teaching, Abu Dhabi, or anything professional, so be warned!

This Saturday is the Natural Birth and Baby Expo here in Tampa.  I'm excited to go and to participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Change.  I never thought that I would be excited about an event that features a drum circle and changing a diaper, but there you go. 

My journey into "natural" birth and parenting started about twenty years too late.  My first three children were all born in hospitals, all induced using Pitocin, and born vaginally under epidural anesthesia while I was semi-reclined in a hospital bed.  While all the experiences turned out fine, I never knew that this wasn't the best way to have a baby.  No pain?  Check.  Don't wait for nature to take its course? Check. "Professional" supervision of the birth? Check.  I figured those days were behind me, and I viewed the natural birth and parenting movement that began gaining popularity in the 2000s as something that only hippies and granola-chomping folks espoused.

Then I got divorced and later remarried a man thirteen years younger than myself.  Life being life, I soon ended up pregnant (we had planned on having a baby together, but not quite as quickly as it happened).  The more I remembered my experiences in the hospital, the more I worried about all the intervention.  The fact that being 40 automatically put me into the high-risk category made my anxiety even worse.  I did the research and knew that having a C-section was a high probability, and that was something I definitely did not want. 

The final straw came for me over the summer, when I was about four months pregnant and waiting in my obstetrician's office.  I had been there for about 45 minutes so far and knew that when I finally did see the doctor, or possibly the nurse practicioner, that I would get five minutes with him/her and be dismissed.  I was done.  I felt like a second-class citizen, and I pride myself on being a self-advocate.  I walked out of the office without seeing the doctor. After emailing the office that I was severing my ties with them, I began researching and contacting midwives.  I found a wonderful midwife about half an hour away, and set up an initial appointment.

People who have used midwives can tell you what a different experience it is.  Imagine being the only patient in an office for an entire hour.  Imagine your care provider bringing out a Moby wrap to demonstrate babywearing to your husband.  Imagine your glucose test involving not a disgusting orange-flavored sugar drink, but a Snickers bar or regular grape juice.  It was amazing and empowering.

My birth, when it finally happened, was amazing as well.  After three straight instances of being induced (40+12, 40+4 and 39), I was able to trust my body to know when it was time.  I do admit to helping my body out with various natural ways of induction, including eating a ton of salsa the night before I actually went into labor, but nothing as invasive as hospitals use.  When I awakened at 5 am on 11/27/13 and felt the first labor pains I had ever felt in my life, I knew that I could handle what was to come.  Only five hours later, Aurelia was born in our hot tub with only myself, my husband, and our midwife there to welcome her into the world. 

Sleepy baby only 30 minutes old in bed with Mama

Our amazing midwife weighing Aurelia - bed's eye view

Now I am confident in the decisions I make for my family.  I do my research and am very public about our choices to cloth diaper, exclusively breastfeed/pump, and vaccinate our child.  I am a mix of views.  I work, but believe in stay at home moms.  I cloth diaper, but understand that many others choose to use disposables.  What it boils down to is what is best for you, your child and your entire family.  I am very careful never to criticize another parent for their choices, because I used to use disposables, feed my children formula, and stay home with them.  I've seen both sides, and as I've learned, every situation is unique.

I am looking forward to learning more on Saturday about different options for my daughter, and any other children who possibly come along.  It should be a beautiful day and an informative one as well.  Hope your weekend is wonderful!

On Teaching and Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation Week is approaching - the second week of May.  I had a great idea for anyone who wants a great way to truly appreciate their teacher.  No, it's not flowers, gift cards, or even assorted stuff with an apple theme.  It's just doing. your. work. 

That's right.  Even the simplest act of doing what you're supposed to do would be a welcome change for many teachers today.  I recently assigned a Civil War project to culminate the Civil War unit in US History.  Part of the reason is because I believe in differentiated learning, part is because even with open notes, my students don't generally test well at all.  So I spent a few hours researching different options for proving the objectives that appealed to the multiple intelligences I have in eighth grade, created a bingo board with the options carefully arranged so that a complete bingo would cover several objectives, and made sure all the students had the rubric four weeks ahead of the due date.  The due date comes, and in period 4, ten out of twenty students had no projects to hand in.  Not only have I wasted my time creating the project sheet, but my students have not proven that they have even a basic understanding of the objectives in this very important event in American History.

I love teaching.  I love my students, my colleagues, most of the parents, and even the lunch ladies.  I love being part of a bigger mission where we are all united in one goal.  I especially love when I see my students after they leave middle school, because they finally get what I was trying to tell them all along - high school is hard!  I think most teachers don't feel like they need "things" to show them they're appreciated.  They just want respectful students who work hard, involved parents who trust teachers to do their jobs, and administrators who don't micromanage.

I watched an episode of "Inside Man" last night on Netflix.  Morgan Spurlock went to Finland to experience their top education system, teach a class to Finnish students, then teach a class to an inner-city charter school class.  I was definitely impressed by the Finnish educators and principal, who emphasized trust and a holistic approach to teaching.  I was not as impressed as Morgan was, however, with the charter school (even though I teach in one).  It seemed more of a behavior management teaching style as opposed to a higher-order thinking, problem-solving style.  I did like the culture of respect engendered by the school as well as the attention to detail and emphasis on college.

So what's teaching in Abu Dhabi going to be like?  I'm pretty sure I will be using some of the behavior management and engagement strategies, but like the Finnish teacher trainer said in the documentary, I will be using entertainment as a tool most of the time.  I'm not an actor at all, until I get in front of a group of teenagers.  Then I'm on, and I don't mind even when I get on a tangent, as long as the information is relevant to my students' lives.  I'm looking forward to project-based learning with them, getting to know them and their culture, and finding out what makes them motivated. 

Rant over.  I've figured out how to get some pictures on here, so without further ado,
My husband, the baby and me:

My three oldest kids:

 

My adorable dogs, Bas and Lily:

And just for fun, my niece Lulu in some amazing sunglasses her sister brought back from Greece:

 

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.  :) 

Hope you laugh too!