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Comment by Brandy on August 27, 2008 at 6:59pm

Oh my! Political drama and I almost got pushed in. I almost cried today because of it. I felt I had done everything right and I wanted no part in the school politics of it all. My Dept. Chair saved the day and is keeping me under her wing to protect me. I love her.

Comment by dd on August 15, 2008 at 9:09pm

Yay, YOU, Brandy! If you can keep up those positive skills, you'll do great this year!

Comment by Brandy on August 14, 2008 at 7:19am

NSV: I turned down the doughnuts, giant muffins, and breakfast bread at training yesterday. Didn't even look at them. And when I got hungry, I pulled out the rice cakes I'd brought with me!

Comment by HungryHippos on August 6, 2008 at 7:19pm

That's a great list. It reminded me that I left my school shirt at school. I probably would have remembered, but it would have been late. Gotta run back and get it!

Comment by dd on August 4, 2008 at 11:24pm

Those are great ideas...I just took care of the movie thing today! I went to see Mama Mia! It was cute...really a good one to see prior to school starting - upbeat and kind of nonsensical...but very fun. I'm hoping I meet my next 5-lb. mini goal at tomorrow's WI because I want to get my reward pedicure!

Comment by Brandy on August 4, 2008 at 8:23pm

So, in class today my instructor gave us a to-do list before school starts. This is by no means the extent of my to-do list, but I thought I would share some things she suggested:
-start getting up earlier
-Make sure you have dependable transportation (get the oil/brakes checked, tire rotation, fill with gas before the first day...whatever needs to be done)
-Get a haircut, and whatever other hygiene things done (like mani or pedi)
-Make sure you have the first week's clothes matched and ready to go (do laundry, iron the clothes ahead of time, hem if needed)
-Cook some extra meals and freeze them for those crazy/hectic days
-Set all dr. appointments ahead of time
-clean your house (it'll feel good to come to a clean home at the end of a stressful day)
-see a good movie (cause you won't have time once school starts!)
.....Those were some suggestions she gave. I have a ton more on my list, but I thought she had some good ideas.

Comment by Brandy on August 1, 2008 at 7:24pm

I'm almost done cleaning! I cleared out 6 big boxes and 2 large trashcans with junk. Woohoo!

Comment by HungryHippos on July 29, 2008 at 4:11pm

I would love to have a document camera too. I am a visual learner, so therefore, it influences how I teach. I don't do anything that I'm not writing on my overhead. I spend so much time writing and rewriting throughout the day. It would be nice to be able to save it.

I'm really thinking about getting a projector. We were supposed to have a big budget to work with for supplies. However, with rising energy and gas costs, we were told it would be cut. They're not even going to make it available until October, so I won't know until then how much it will be. Last year we got almost $200. If I don't get enough school money, I may think about buying my own. One teacher I know shows all of her homework and daily assignments with her projector. That would be so wonderful for me because I have horrible handwriting, and it takes me forever to get anything legible written on the board!

Comment by dd on July 29, 2008 at 2:23pm

Oh...Brandy! I forgot to say, you have a lot to be content with...you're SmartBoard will be an amazing tool for you! Don't at all be yearning for the document camera when you have that bad boy in your room! lol

Comment by dd on July 29, 2008 at 2:18pm

If you're looking at teaching with PowerPoint, you'll need the LCD projector.

The document camera is just a replacement for the overhead...and my school did provide it for me. It looks like the one I have costs $599.00 (ouch!) But I like using it in several capacities. It can capture and store images, so I often will store a pic of a math problem, then continue with the steps, and capture another pic. We can then go back and see the problem as it originally looked by quickly scrolling back to the saved image. I also store an image of an answer column to last night's math homework, and the students correct their own homework as I go around and check off the work. After I'm done scanning over their work and stamping it, I show the full assignment on the doc cam so they can see how the problem was worked out on the ones they missed. Pretty cool stuff.

I would invest in an LCD, if I were you (and if I had the extra $). My school issued me one of those, as well, and I use it daily with my laptop. However, I've always kind of wanted to purchase my own to have at home...isn't that silly? But I'd love to show movies on the garage outside at night...

I guess I'm just a big dork that way...I love...bordering on obsession here...school and office supplies. This is a dangerous time of year for me!
; )

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