Be Optimistic NOT Downimistic

Finding the bright side of a situation can sometimes lead to frustration. 27% of times there may not even be a bright side to something, but as humans we must find a way to overcome the fact that life isn't always sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. Although yes, I agree it would be amazing if it were.

Honestly, this is something I just recently had to accept. As circumstances with dying family members and a chaotic school year suppressed me each day, I had to learn many things: talk to family and friends, but most importantly talk to the ultimate friend of life that will never leave me nor forsake me in times of difficulty, Jesus Christ. 

He will turn fearful into faithful,  and the storms of life into isles of grace. And the coolest thing about it is to simply trust Him! Yeah, my GOD is that powerful! 

Standing in the car rider line today just doing my duty...my friend and I asked a former student if he remembers what optimistic meant. He proceeded to tell us it meant looking on the bright side. And so we then asked him what the opposite to optimistic was and his answer was indeed: Downimistic. 

We are all on this journey together. Let's make the best of it and be the best Christians we can be! With the help of other Chrisian support, we will be able to fight the gloomy day battle and overcome Downimisticness once and for all. 

"In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?" Psalm 11:1 

Man vs..........

It's been quite a while since I have been able to sit down and chat with all of my blogsters. A plethora of things have consumed my life, and one of those has been starting a new school year. And as all teachers now, a new school year means a totally different group of kids and personalities. 

To demonstrate my perspective on this matter, I will start by sharing this:

Introducing conflict...I ask the kids what the four types of conflict are before teaching them anything on this matter. 

 So, they tell me...

1. Man vs. Food (as you know, TV show)

2. Man vs. Predator (movie, I think?)

3. Man vs. Wild (yet another TV show)

4. Man vs. Wife (go figure)

Instead of...

1. Man vs. Man

2. Man vs. Nature

3. Man vs. Society

4. Man vs. Self 

Regardless of how much TV they watch, through a co-teacher and I demonstrating these scenarios in real life ways (somewhat pranks), they will now NEVER forget the legit 4 types of conflict...and they have stated that conflict demonstration/prank day was their favorite day of 6th grade so far!

Never a dull moment with middle schoolers! 

A Very Merry Un-Earthday...to You!

Pssst, Hi....

Happy Belated Earth Day earthlings..... 

               "Tree Hugger Day",

                            "Save the Earth Day"

                                           .......or whatever you want to call it. But you wanna know what...I believe every day should be "Earth Day" in a way that we preserve and take care of the earth that God has so graciously given us. No we can't exactly stop "global warming" or save the homes of my beloved polar bears BUT we can make a difference in our community (and now I sound like a Disney Channel commercial). Anyways, today I asked my students for their homework to go outside and take in the natural beauty of our earth and write a paragraph about it. I challenge you to do that also, but you don't have to write me a paragraph. =)

It's been an interesting week in the world of middleschoolteacher-ness. Needless to say, a LOT has been going on. We have been "sweating out loud" on a few things, we have also been "remanascan" (reminiscing) on the past and the fun/crazy/awkward moments we've had, and taking in the all natural "beautiful-ol-ol-ol-ol" world around us. Our students have inspired us to give it ALL we've got, even when our Monster Energy (Rehab) is out of our system. We even learned that RSVP means to respond to the party that invited you, with a REASON why you can't make it. Therefore, we have tied this knowledge into our curriculum. SYSWE, Support your stance with evidence as to why you can't make it to the particular event you were asked to attend. 

*Quotes above from actual students mouths, in real life scenarios, in a very serious manner. 

Ok, so to wrap this up I would like to display a special song (actually my favorite song) by Needtobreathe, in honor of Earth Day and the beautiful world in which we live. 

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to change, it's not." -The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Embrace Your Awesomeness

"Embrace your AWESOMENESS" has been the theme of Ms. Thomas' LA class, we have overall had some highly intriguing discussions as we journey into the land of Awesomeness. However, I also wanted to share with the blognation a few quotes that have really been seriously thought about and analyzed in our class.

First of all, my kids have taught me that:
-Everyone is awesome, we simply need to find what we are awesome in and truly embrace it.
-Once we embrace it, we need to release it and show the world how awesome we are!
-We were born to be AWESOME!

We also analyzed this video and discussed some things that can make our world even more awesome!

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience which we really stop to look fear in the face...we must do that which we think we cannot." -Elanor Roosevelt

"Define your limits, don't let your limits define you. Believe you are limitless and you will be." - Rob Dyrdek

Calling all Teachers

Sometimes after a long week of awesomeness with my kids, there are times you simply need to sit down and reflect...on well, basically everything. Now, I will be the first to admit that my kids could have their own reality show, comedy show, you name it. But when it comes to teacher business, we tend to forget that the items below, we manage on a daily basis...whether we realize it or not. Thanks to a teacher friend of mine, I found that the phrases that follow are legitately true in my life.
 
The Educator's Room--HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE A TEACHER? By Jeff Foxworthy

You get a secret thrill out of laminating things.

You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.

 You walk into a store and hear the words, “It’s Ms./Mr. ____________ and know you have been spotted.

You have 25 people who accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
You can eat a multi-course meal in under 25 minutes.

You’ve trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day, lunch and planning period.

You start saving other people’s trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.

You want to slap the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off”.

You believe chocolate is a food group.

You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.

You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, “Boy, the kids are sure mellow today.”

You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
 You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

 You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.

 You can’t pass the school supply aisle without getting at least 5 items!

 You ask your friends to use their words and explain if the left hand turn he made was a “good choice” or “bad choice.”

You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

 You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.

Just wanted to share the awesomeness with my other teacher homies out there...

Random Quote of the day: "In life some people trip and some fall, but some take that trip and make a beautiful dance out of it." -Rob Dyrdek