Can I Get an Amen?!

Classroom Focus blog post from Indianapolis Star

Things I Wish I Could Wear

We all know how much I love a good bow.

The Highs

My last few posts have taken the form of bulleted lists. My brain works best this way, so I'll just stick with it for now. Here are the highlights of my Christmas break (so far):

• Discovering The First 48 online
• Quality sister time
• Kitty!
• Family Christmas party
• Picking up Koro from airport
• Finding money in my car
• Tiger game with my papa
• Free Danver's roast beef because the Tigers won
• View of the Mississippi/Memphis skyline
• NO PAPER GRADING
• Mimi's sausage bread
• Papa Croft's eggs on toast
• Papa Croft spraying the belts on my car so they don't wake up the entire neighborhood when I start my car in the mornings
• Recovering about a dozen of my books my sister has been hoarding

P.S. These are in no particular order--ranking them would require more brain effort than I'm willing to exert right now.

A Non-Resolution, of sorts

I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions...but I am one for setting goals. So, we're going to peg this list as a goal, NOT a resolution. Over winter break, I realized I had a long list of books in my head that I desperately want to read. The problem comes in when I further realize that I actually have no time to read, and when I do, I can't for the life of me think of one of the books on my list. For that reason, I've typed it out here, and fully intend to mark these books off my list as the year progresses. Here they are (divided categorically, of course):

Good Life Books
Commitment to Excellence by Vince Lombardi

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Our Chosen Faith by John A. Buehrens and Forrest Church

Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

Teacher Books

Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools by the National Writing Project and Carl Nagin

The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children by Gloria Ladson-Billings

We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools by Gary Howard

Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12 by Janet Allen

Holler If You Hear Me by Gregory Michie

Teach Like You Hair's on Fire by Rafe Esquith

Teacher Man: A Memoir by Frank McCourt

Children's Books

Harry Potter (all of them) by J.K. Rowling

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Holes by Louis Sachar

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Frindle by L.G. Minasean

Sounder by Jeanette Sanderson

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Sweet Success!

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything of any real substance. But so goes my life. Lately it's been a flurry of paper grading and holiday partying (rough, I know).

I DO, however, want to update everyone on my most recent life success: 5K RUNNING! The best things about this include:

• I ran the whole thing.
• They gave us medals.
• Within 30 minutes of arriving in Memphis, we witnessed drunk man being arrested before our very eyes.
• Finish time? 36:18 (Not too shabby for this first-timer.)
• Lauryn was a CHAMP.
• Long sleeved t-shirt for free.
• Finishing on the field at Autozone.
• I have the absolute best friends a girl could ask for (more on that later).

Following the advice of my many advisers, I smiled as we crossed the finish line! Sadly, I later discovered that some lame-o stole our glam shot, and there's no photographic evidence of our crossing the finish line. We did. Take my word for it. And I've got a medal for proof.

East TN stories NEVER get old

Cows Lick Home, Owner Calls Sheriff

Be sure you read all the way to the last line.

Couldn't say it better myself...

Memphis and Music: The Story of Why I Miss My Hometown

Addendum

As an addition to my previous post, here's something about Alabama. It's okay...they "wasn't gunna lurn nothin neway".

What It Was, Was Football

Family fave. We listen to it on "albums" (slash records) at almost every holiday gathering.