Adteacher

Guess what? It's absolutely normal to have many doubts and hesitancies at the age when you are trying to decide what to do with your life. Guess what else? The future is not completely unyielding. It gives and takes and changes . We do the best to prepare for what life might have in store for us and what our initial plan is. However, what and who we think we are at the age of 17 or 18 is often different than who we find we actually are, looking in the rearview mirror at the end of our careers. Sometimes we find ourselves doing amazing and wonderful things that we never expected and could not have possibly predicted or prepared for... Agonizing over college majors is common. I know that it seems like no decision will ever be more important and that you will always be whatever you decide you are now. Chances are that you will start out in whatever field you choose as your major. Chances are also strong that you will not finish there. Life takes you places and gives you opport...

Watching the clock. A bad habit. I had always wondered since I became a teacher about 13 years ago now, why some students were so much easier for me to relate to than others, and then it hit me. It's about work. When I was a kid, I had a teacher named Mrs. Pollock. She was my 6th grade teacher. She was one of the "scary" teachers for all the kids in the school, because she was thought of as "mean" by many of the kids I knew. I never knew dread like the day I found out I had been assigned to her class. Oh no, NOT Mrs. Pollock! I just knew it would be a miserable year. On the contrary, it turned out to be not only one of the best years in elementary school, but also she turned out to be one of my favorite teachers. She wasn't mean at all, but one thing about it... she expected her students to be the best students in the 6th grade. (They didn't have to be the smartest, but they had to work hard. She gave you good grades if she knew you were working h...

The fall field trip - photography scavenger hunt! This has been such a great week! I took about 50 students with me on a photo scavenger hunt in Denton for the day, and we had a great sunny day out of the studio to concentrate on becoming more observant of our surroundings and better with our cameras. I am looking forward to another field trip in the spring semester too. It is still in the planning stages, but I always enjoy the students on our field trips and it helps me to spend time with them in a more casual and relaxed atmosphere. We were happy to welcome a few additional chaperones on the trip, our counselor, Mrs. Hemenway and our instructional technologist, Mrs. Adams. Thanks for joining in the fun with us, ladies. In other news, CCE has had the first student receive their acceptance letter from a major design school - other than Mallory Strong, who is a transfer in from Dale Jackson and my program over there. The new student accepted is Andrew Jimenez, who was accepted...

Today was a challenge. First of all, I felt as though I hit the door already behind for the week. Then I realized a few things that I needed to get completed that I didn't do over the weekend that I had promised to some people. I quickly got them taken care of and then realized that, well, I was not going to be able to accomplish some things in class that I had really wanted to do. Sometimes, you have to lean back, take a deep breath, and realize that the most important thing is the PEOPLE, not the work. So I smiled at a few students, asked them how they were doing, and the wonderful part is that they looked back at me and said "how are YOU doing today, Mrs. H?" Yep. It's that people part of life that makes it all so special. So what if I get delayed on a few of my deadlines? I can reconfigure things and make those all work out. I don't get that many second chances with people though. Instead of worrying that my website update wasn't perfect or that anot...

I have never been an athlete. But I raised one. A baseball player, specifically. He started playing T-ball when he was about 4 years old. He didn't have pushy athletic parents, obviously me nor his father were trying to fulfill some sort of unfulfilled personal athletic glory. We never played sports, but we were happy if sports were his thing. He asked us as a little bitty boy if he could "join the team" and we had to do research to even know where to sign him up. He played all the way through his senior year in high school. He was really good at first base, and he had some good successes at bat and running the bases too. He loved the game. He still does at the age of 25 as a young professional. He plays corporate softball at the advertising agency where he works, and he watches every game he can that his favorite team, The Texas Rangers, plays in. Now comes the part about learning to accept defeat. As a four year varsity player, my son had to endure several untimel...

I had a little talk about motivation today. Actually, I had several. One was with my class at large. One was with an individual. No matter how often I have to go over the material that I teach, no matter how slowly I feel we are moving on our deadlines - I never get impatient. Unless... Unless a student displays a lack of internal motivation or "self-discipline". See, I was raised in the 1960s by some parents who were raised in the 1940s. I guess that means that there were certain things that I learned early on in life, mostly because life was much different back then. It was easier for most kids, and for most families. Now there is a lot more reason for students to feel "stressed out" and I do feel bad about that. Nonetheless, it isn't impossible for these students to have high expectations of themselves. Most of the ones that I get to work with do. There are always a few who need to re-focus now and then. Here is a video that explains a little bit abou...

Copyrighted artwork Cindi Lynch available at etsy.com Got past that bad cold and feel much more on the upswing. I am overly busy at times and then when I do get some time to myself, it seems I am feeling overly lazy! There are two wonderful little miniature schnauzers that keep me so grounded. No matter how busy everyone else in my family gets, these little guys always have time for me. In fact, they are the ones who are happy to see me no matter whether I am in a good mood or a bad mood. They simply don't care - they love me regardless of all that! I think that is why God gave us animal companions. I have been in a sports haze this weekend. First came bitter disappointment on Friday night when the Rangers lost game one to the Yankees, then elation after game two when they won to even up the series. I have great hopes for game three with Cliff Lee pitching. After that, who knows? Then the disappointment of a 1-4 start for the Cowboys this season. I think it will be very d...