Knit, Teach, Ride

What I Wore: Saturday 2.4.12

2012-02-10T10:18:00.001-05:00

On Saturday I went into Boston for the day to visit with my friend Jay and do some shopping. We had a good lunch and neither of us ended up buying anything.

I'm Wearing:
Scarf - H&M
Cardigan - JCrew
T-shirt - Kohl's
Jeans - American Eagle
Boots - Ralph Lauren

I bought these boots back in November. I waterproof sprayed them into oblivion and have been wearing them 3 - 5 times a week since. They were way more expensive than any other boots I have previously owned, but so far are totally worth it. When my last two pairs of Target cheapies died I finally decided it was time to suck it up and drop a lot of money on a decent pair. I'm so glad I did. They are comfy to walk in and look good with jeans, leggings, and dresses. Now only if I could figure out how to get my pants to not bunch at the knees when I wear boots . . . Does this happen to you? Any solutions/suggestions?

New Favorite Teacher Blog

2012-02-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

I always like reading blogs by other teachers. The interesting thing I've discovered about being a teacher is that everyone thinks they know what it's like to be a teacher, because they all attended school. I have something to break to you non-teachers out there, being a teacher is nothing like being a student. It would be as if I said since I have been going to the dentist all my life I know what it's like to be a dentist . . .

When I read other teacher's blogs or talk to teachers they totally get it, in a way someone outside the profession wouldn't. I'm sure that's true of many other professions as well. It's also amazing how isolating being a teacher can be. Sure, I talk with my colleagues and am incredibly lucky to work in an amazing department with people I truly consider to be my friends, but teaching is still a solitary act. When the first bell rings I close my door and don't usually see or converse with my colleagues until lunch or the end of the day. Reading other teacher's blog or even tweets about experiences I've had or things I can relate to usually makes me smile, and feel better about my teaching, Oh thank goodness, I'm not the only one that happens to!

I follow a few teaching blogs but just was introduced to Hey Girl Teacher, which is clearly more geared towards females, but I think can be enjoyed by any teacher. It's the perfect combination of humor with sincerity and I spent way to long scrolling through all the posts laughing and relating. It will definitely be a good source for a pick-me-up after a tough day.

Do you follow any teaching blogs? Any recommendations? I have a few favorites, but I"m always looking to add more.

What I Wore: Last Weekend

2012-02-08T10:05:00.000-05:00

Work, graduate school, and various other obligations led to me putting posting on the back burner last week, so here's a little catch-up.

I wore this last weekend (when it was still January) and unseasonably warm out. We hung out with our friends and their daughter and walked to a park near our house. Thor enjoyed digging up the playground and their daughter played on the swings. We all basked in the almost spring like sun and temperatures.

I'm Wearing:

Yuri Gagarin T-shirt - ordered offline two years ago . . . tag says "qh"??

Long Sleeve Shirt - Forever 21

Jeans -American Eagle

Sneakers -Converse

I love low key weekends where I just lounge around with no make-up in a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Since "growing up" (or no longer being a college student) I find I do this less often. I'm either in sweatpants and slippers, or dressed like I'm going to work.

Is your weekend style different than your weekday style?

Pop Block Wrap I

2012-02-07T10:17:00.000-05:00

Just a little peek at something I've been working on for a while in between projects, or when I just want to do some mindless knitting.

The color is more true in the first picture. All I can see in the second picture is dog hair. It's infiltrated every part of our home. No amount of vacuuming will ever conquer it.

My wrap is slightly shorter than the pattern calls for (pattern here), so I'm trying to think of a way to use some of these super awesome antler toggle buttons a friend made me to make it into more of a caplet than a scarf . . . we'll see what I come up with.

Weekend Highlights LXXV

2012-02-06T13:05:00.000-05:00

On Saturday I went into Boston to meet a friend for lunch. We saw this Patriot's ice sculpture in front of Quincy Market.

Then we got cupcakes at Sweet.

I spent all day Sunday cooking to prepare for the Superbowl, and then eating. Although it was clearly way too much food for two people.

Did you watch the Superbowl . . . what I'm actually more curious about than that is what did you eat?

Vegan Black Bean "Cheese" Burgers

2012-01-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

Vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore, I highly recommend you make these ASAP. Recipe can be found here. These are delicious, healthy, and they freeze well! What more could you possibly want?

First Outfit Post of 2012!

2012-01-26T14:20:00.001-05:00

It may have taken a while, but I finally am going to do my first outfit post of 2012! I hope it was worth the wait.

I'm Wearing:

Hat - knit by me

Jacket - Anne Klein

Scarf - H&M

Cardigan - Filene's Basement

Dress - TJMaxx

Tights - Target

Socks - Gift

Boots - Ralph Lauren via DSW

I wore this to a surprise birthday party for Andy's grandmother on Sunday. Andy took the pictures for me. We're slowly, but surely learning how to use our new camera properly. I think it has a self timer, but where it is and how to use it is still eluding me. Hopefully I can figure it out soon and finally be able to take my own outfit pictures.

Wordless Wednesday XVI

2012-01-25T14:16:00.000-05:00

Thor and loved ones.

Solitaire Beret Completed!

2012-01-24T18:07:00.003-05:00

This was an excellent hat to knit. The pattern was simple enough that it was easy to zone out, but the single cable kept it from being boring. This pattern very likely could have been completed in a weekend. I went up a needle size for the body of the hat (which made it floppier than shown in the pattern), and I'm glad I did. I love how this sits on my head and would definitely consider making another one as a gift . . . in case I accidentally keep this one.

Wordy Wednesday: SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-18T16:28:00.002-05:00

Normally I try to avoid being political on the blog (especially on Wordless Wednesday!), but I feel that the SOPA and PIPA bills are an important issue that needs to have everyone's attention. As an educator I rely on my students being able to have free access to information. While I understand the concern over intellectual property and copyrights there are already laws and protections in place that are not so restrictive. New laws could be made that don't restrict access to free information and common knowledge.

My concerns about this law are not only the concerns of an educator, but also an American citizen who values freedom of speech and information. Again, I understand the importance of protecting intellectual property, but not at the cost of restricting access to information and knowledge. Anyone who creates unique content and posts it on the Internet is aware of the risk they are taking, and are free to decide whether or not to post their content. Sites that misuse copyrighted content should be punished, but not at the expense of the freedoms of American citizens.

I encourage you to do your own research and find out as much information as you can. If you go to wikipedia today you will be forwarded to a page that gives you information to contact your representatives in the Congress and Senate, write them a letter if you feel so inclined. It's important that your voice is heard on this issue.

Solitaire Beret II

2012-01-17T16:17:00.002-05:00

I made some progress. The lighting is poor in this picture. For true color check out my previous post.

I'm looking forward to sitting down and doing some more work on it this week.

Wordless Wednesday XV

2012-01-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

More pictures from our walks in the woods over the weekend.

Solitaire Beret I

2012-01-10T15:45:00.000-05:00

This weekend I started my first official project of 2012 (by official I mean not continuing work on one of my many unfinished projects from 2011). This holiday someone checked out my Amazon wishlist and got me Weekend Hats (thanks Andy!). There are few things I enjoy knitting more than hats. Even though I have enough hats to last me a lifetime that doesn't lead to me wanting to knit them any less.

Thor tried to help hold the book open for the picture.

Thor helped out again with the progress picture. What a good boy.

So far it has been in a quick and easy knit. There are so many great patterns in this book I can't wait to work on.

Weekend Highlights LXXIV

2012-01-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

This weekend it was unseasonably warm so we all went for a walk in the woods.

It's very difficult to get Thor to look at a camera. Calling his name and putting him a choke hold don't always work.

In addition to frolicking outside we also saw The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. I thought the book was better. The people I saw it with had some difficulty understanding the plot. I got it (since I had read the book), but could see how the movie would be long and convoluted to someone who didn't have the background knowledge.

What did you do this weekend?

You're going to need this for college . . .

2012-01-05T10:56:00.001-05:00

This year I've been striving to move away from traditional teaching techniques. I was never a "traditional" teacher, I never stood in front of the students and lectured for the entire period. Not to say I didn't lecture, but it was always a supported lecture - it involved visuals, multi-media, graphic organizers, lecture guides. This year I've been trying to minimize my lecturing/teacher centered approach. Given the nature of the subject I teach and the age (I don't rely on students to read or gather information outside of my class) some lecture/lecture like method of delivery is necessary. True there are many ways of delivering content to students, buts sometimes, lecture is the best most efficient way.

I still lecture (by lecture I really mean PowerPoints with guided graphic organizers for the students to take notes on) at least once a week in all my classes, more in honors level. I could do less, but one of the reasons I've been holding onto the lecture component of my classes is that I felt I wouldn't be adequately preparing students for college/higher education if I stopped. The majority of students don't seem to mind and some even say it's their favorite part of my class. However, when a student does complain about disliking PowerPoints/lectures my go to response is, "This is how it's going to be in college. For the majority of your classes the professor is going to stand in front of you and lecture." I'm not lying to them, this is how it was for me.

Then the other day I heard this story on NPR. While I agree with a lot of Professor Mazur's points about students needing to know how to apply information, and lecture does not give them the opportunity to do that. It's great that colleges/professors are moving in the direction of less lecture and more hands-on student centered learning, but lecture is necessary from time to time.

Do you lecture in your classroom? If so, how often? Do you find it to be an effective method of information delivery?

Wordless Wednesday XIV

2012-01-04T13:33:00.001-05:00

Thor at almost 7 months old. Taken on the new camera.

It's all in the details.

2012-01-03T18:15:00.003-05:00

Back in the fall of 2008 I made this sweater.

It was probably the best sweater I had made at that point. However, I hardly wore it, due to the terrible choice I had made in buttons. Those little cheap black plastic toggles I had on there didn't keep the sweater closed well. They actually stretched out the sweater as they popped open. They also didn't look great with the material and color. I decided not to wear the sweater until I found better buttons for it.

Then I forgot about it . . . until we moved. I went searching for better buttons but wasn't finding any good options, until a friend offered to make me some.

The buttons are just the right fit for the sweater. Since they were made by hand from antler they all have the same basic shape but each one is unique. The sweater stays closed and the buttons compliment the color and material far better than the previous ones.

More pictures to come when I have better lighting and have mastered using the new camera (these pictures were taken on my old one).

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-01T09:48:00.002-05:00

Happy new year! 2011 was a great year, but I'm really looking forward to 2012. I've got some exciting things planned: trips, home improvements, knitting projects, books to read. Andy and I got a new camera for the holidays, so I'm looking forward to learning how to use it so I can photo document all of this and share it with everyone. As I'm sure you noticed I've taken a blogging break lately, but with the new year I'd like to blog more regularly, so stay tuned.

For now here are my resolutions for 2012:

Blog more - I have a clearer idea of the direction I'd like to take the blog, so I'm hoping to make that happen this year.
Give up fish - I mentioned before that I went vegetarian. It's true I stopped eating meat (and haven't in several months, except for one accidental bacon eating - in my defense it was one of those potato skin things and the bacon was totally hidden), but I still eat fish on occasion. While it was really easy for me to stop eating meat (don't miss it, and have absolutely no desire to eat it), parting with sushi, and bagels with lox and cream cheese is going to be a challenge.
Cook more at home - I've done this more in 2011 than I ever have, but I'd like to do it even more in 2012. When I cook I typically make vegan food, which is healthier for me and Andy, and delicious. Seriously, my meat eating husband has some vegan favorites now. Plus we save money, which we can spend on trips, or crafts, or puppy toys.
Drink more water - self explanatory.
Expand my craft/DIY repertoire - not that I really need more hobbies, but I'd like to branch out and explore other crafts such as sewing, needle felting, and various projects around the house.
Document my crafts/cooking/life more - part of my lapse in blogging was that I started to feel that it was cheesy to put minutia of my life online. However, I really enjoy having that information documented to look back on. I also know that some friends/family who don't live close by really enjoy reading the blog to see what I'm up to.
Make more of an effort to get together and spend time with my friends - I have great friends whom I love very much and am so fortunate to have in my life. Since moving I don't see them as often as I'd like, so I'm going to make more of an effort to plan get togethers and spend time with them.
Spend less time in front of the computer - I don't really watch a lot of tv, but I do spend a lot of time in front of the computer. While I would like to blog more I'd like to spend less time wasting time in front of the computer (does that make sense?).
Get regular hair cuts - I know this seems like a ridiculous resolution, but I'm seriously bad about this. I have this habit of getting my hair cut once a year and then letting it awkwardly grow out until my next annual hair cut . . . not in 2012!

Since I plan to blog more (resolution #1!) hopefully you'll see me fulfill all these resolutions. Except the water and computer one, you'll just have to take my word on those

Wordless Wednesday XIII

2011-11-30T14:48:00.000-05:00

Thor and my mom. I can't look at this without smiling.

A long long time ago . . .

2011-11-29T15:38:00.001-05:00

A long long time ago (2008-2009ish) I began knitting one of the most fabulous sweaters in existence. The pattern was absolutely amazing; knit all in one piece, with cables and texture and darts in the waist! I wanted nothing more than to complete this sweater and wear it to flaunt my accomplishment.

I cast on and knit like a fiend over my holiday break.

But alas, I did not finish the sweater in time to debut it when I returned from work. I slowly worked my way through the rest of the body throughout the winter of 2009.

However, spring had arrived. It was far to warm to be working on such a heavy sweater. Plus, the worst part remained . . . sleeves.

The most fabulous sweater ever was put away to be replaced by lighter more "seasonally appropriate" projects (like socks). It became buried deep under piles of other projects. It was pretty much forgotten until it came time for the big move. The unfinished sweater re-surfaced, but was packed away yet again. It remained quietly packed away until a freak snowstorm came along in October resulting in a day off from work . . .

To be continued.

I've Returned

2011-11-28T19:10:00.004-05:00

Thank you for patiently waiting for me to return from my blogging hiatus. As I said before, my break was a result of two things: lots of stuff going on (mostly having to do with work and school) and lack of blogging inspiration. When I started this blog it was meant to be about my teaching. Then I started taking pictures of my outfits. Which was really fun . . . for a while. Then it began to feel like a drudgery.

I still would like to do an occasional outfit picture I don't feel like centering my blog around it anymore. I'd rather focus more on my knitting projects (and especially outfit pictures featuring my projects), food (who doesn't love food), and teaching. Don't worry, there will still be lots of pictures of Thor.

So for now, here is a very brief overview of what I've been up to this past month:

Spending time with my family.

Thor made his first trip out of state (to visit my parents in Vermont). He was so awesome. My brother got to meet Thor for the first time, and loved him.

Dressing up like Napoleon.

For spirit week at school. The students had theme days to show their school spirit. The teachers did too. One of our days was dress up like someone/something from your content area. I took the opportunity to dress up as one of the most fascinating people we study in my course - Napoleon! My friend is a math teacher and wasn't sure what to dress up as, so I made her a math wizard costume. Yes, those are pipe cleaners glued on to Andy's graduation gown to make the Pythagorean theorem . . . 100% awesome if you ask me.

Making more delicious vegan treats.

Since last blogging I decided to make the jump from being an omnivore to being a vegetarian. As much as I would like to go all out and be vegan I'm just not ready for it yet (I love cheese so much). However, I'm still trying my best to cook vegan meals at home and eat vegan whenever possible.

Doing another homecoming with the junior class.

This is my third year working with this class, and I enjoy being an advisor to them more than I could describe. They are truly great kids and it's so nice to be able to work with students in a non-academic setting. As stressful as homecoming can be it bums me out sometimes when I remember I have only one year left with them.

Working on the Strafford Sweater some more.

Although I temporarily put it aside to do some holiday knitting.

Attended my first ever NHL game.

We were in the nosebleeds, but the Bruins won. We also sat next to a guy that tried to start cheers at random times. Like during timeouts . . .

I think I hit on all the major events that occurred during my absence. I haven't been very good about taking pictures once I stopped blogging regularly. I have been checking in with my Google Reader, but I'm sure I missed a lot in the blogsphere as well. What have you been up to lately?

Checking In

2011-11-17T17:33:00.002-05:00

I realize it's been a month since I've updated. All is good here, just crazy busy lately and I've been lacking blogging inspiration.

Please enjoy this picture of Thor as a consolation prize.

I plan to return to regular posting after Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Take Care,
Lisa

Seasonally Inappropriate New Project - Strafford Tee (I)

2011-10-18T11:18:00.000-04:00

In the same Knitscene magazine right next to the Windsor Cardi pattern is the Strafford Tee. Before I started knitting I never understood why anyone would want a knitted wool t-shirt. I would've looked at this pattern and thought, that's pretty, but I'd never wear that.

Now I get it. A knitted tee can be the most awesome thing ever, especially for that awkward time in New England when you're between seasons. Also a knitter I personally think sleeves can be the worst thing ever to knit. Maybe not as bad as thumbs on mittens, but not far behind. Knitted tee = no sleeves = awesome. It's like the distributive property of knitting.

Although this pattern is done in a wool/cotton blend I'm using 100% wool of the Andes in Daffodil. I like the yellow better and I already have plenty of material since I originally bought it for what became a failed cardigan attempt.

This is another top up pattern like the Windsor Cardi and by the same designer, so I'm really excited to begin working on it.

Weekend Highlights LXXIII

2011-10-11T12:48:00.000-04:00

I had a relaxing long weekend at home. To start it off my parents came down to visit. They really wanted to see how much Thor has grown. He has totally changed since the last time they were down. My dad took a some more pictures of him this time and then made a side by side one. You can hardly believe it's the same dog.

Even though it's still ridiculously warm out I tried to get into the fall spirit by making these pumpkin biscuits.

I only succeeded in heating up the kitchen even more and setting off the fire alarm.

The top part didn't taste too bad. I might attempt making these biscuits again at a lower temperature. However, the burnt bottom did not deter Andy from eating approximately three entire biscuits . . .

How was you weekend? Did you have a three day weekend? I can't really say I support Columbus Day as a real holiday, but I can't really complain about getting a day off either.

Friday Favorites I

2011-10-07T13:01:00.000-04:00

Favorite outfit of the week:

I'm Wearing:

Scarf - American Apparel

Dress - TJMaxx

Cardigan - JCrew

Tights - Gift

Boots - Target

See more originals with Thor here.

Favorite meal of the week:

Tater Tot Casserole from Peas and Thank You. Seriously amazing. Andy rated it an A, which is very high on the Andy scale of food rating, and extremely rare for something that is vegan. It also tasted better the next day. Not that I got to eat much of it, Andy consumed approximately 96% of this.

Favorite Blog Post:

Miss Vinyl Ahoy's post on Domestic Violence Awareness. Go check it out for yourself and wear purple on October 19th. Thanks for bringing attention to this important issue Suze!

Random Favorite:

Andy sent me this and I actually laughed out loud (that's right a real life LOL). I was able to find it here. It might not be as funny if you don't get the Game of Thrones reference. By the way, if you haven't read it you should.

The Homework Debate Continues

2011-10-06T16:03:00.001-04:00

A while ago I blogged my thoughts about homework. Yesterday on my way home from work I heard this debate on NPR about homework. While I think both Alfie Kohn and Janine Bempechat brought up good points I can't say I agree with either one of them entirely.

As I stated before I think meaningful homework that actually enhances learning has value to students. I think assigning work for the sake of assigning work is pointless and I'm sure Kohn and Bempechat would agree on that. One point that came up in the debate briefly and I felt merited more attention was the role that homework plays on grades. It was mentioned that assigning homework doesn't improve grades, which I seriously question.

NPR decided to host this debate based off a recent study which showed that homework didn't make a significant difference in test scores in most subject areas. While I agree with this statement in regards to raw test scores, homework can have a huge impact on a student's grade. Think back to when you were in school. What percentage of your grade did homework count for? It may have been as little as 5% it may have been as high as 30%. While your homework completion may not impact your test scores it certainly impacts your class grade.

Now what if you take homework away? This may benefit students who completely get the subject and don't do any homework. Now think about a student who may put in the effort to complete all their homework, but still doesn't do well on the test? How would this impact their grade?

I'm not trying to imply homework should be a crutch for students in order to pass, but for many students it is the only measure of effort that is put into their grade. If grades should be based entirely on mastery or include some measure of effort is a debate for another day, but I think it is wrong when discussing homework to completely disregard the grading aspect. There are many things that should be considered in the homework debate: student learning, mastery of content, family time, and grades.

What are your thoughts on homework?

Wordless Wednesday XII

2011-10-05T16:45:00.000-04:00

A Russian nesting doll (matroyshka) that was my mom's from my great uncle.

Wavy Scarf

2011-10-04T11:10:00.003-04:00

I made this scarf to give to my mom for her birthday. The pattern itself is a super simple one from knitty that I've probably made five times by this point (I actually taught this pattern to my beginner's knitting class at the Andover Bookstore). What makes this scarf special enough to give to my mom for her birthday is the wool. This is some of the most fabulously amazing material I've ever worked with. It's the softest hand-dyed Peruvian wool I've ever encountered.

I wish you could feel this scarf, it's so amazingly soft. I still have a little bit of this material leftover and I'm seriously considering making myself a headband or cowl so I can wear the awesomeness that this wool is.

Weekend Highlights: October 2011 (I)

2011-10-03T06:51:00.002-04:00

This weekend Andy and I didn't have too much on our agenda, so I did a lot of cooking and baking.

Vegan Donuts - recipe from Oh She Glows

Vegan Jambalaya - recipe from Peas and Thank You - Andy loved this and probably ate about three servings. Not bad from a guy who's comment on anything vegetarian is usually, "It's pretty good. You know what would make it better? Meat."

Sweet and Sour Tofu - recipe from Peas and Thank You - Andy refused to eat this due to the tofu content. The tofu is marinated, baked, and then sauteed. You can't even tell it's tofu. Whatever Andy, you totally missed out because I thought this was delicious.

Oats and Seeds Bread - recipe from Kath Eats Real Food - I guess this is vegan too, but to be honest I don't think I've ever made a bread that isn't . . .

Thor had an exciting weekend. On Friday we took him to a football game at my school. Thor's generally a well behaved guy, but we weren't sure how he would do with all the noise and people. I figured we may only last 15 minutes there, I figured an hour tops.

Andy and I were completely and totally shocked, Thor was absolutely perfect. The only time he barked was when another dog came up to him. He didn't make a peep when mobs of seven year olds swarmed him and pet attacked him. We ended up staying for almost two hours, and got tons of compliments on how adorable he is and his behavior. I was such a proud dog mom. I'll definitely bring him to another game.

Yesterday our friends Jay and Joe visited and brought their dog Sandy. She and Thor played and she totally wore him out. He fell asleep and I was able to snap this picture of him (he's nearly impossible to photograph when awake).

He's in a slightly awkward phase now. His tail is too long for him, his paws are gigantic, his ears are the same size as his face, and he's losing his puppy teeth. He's still adorable though.

How was your weekend? What did you do? Did you have anything good to eat?

Fourth Year Fine Tuning

2011-09-29T08:14:00.001-04:00

This is my fourth year of teaching, but I still don't have everything perfect. Nor will I ever. To quote Billy Joel, only fools are satisfied. I will probably never be satisfied with my curriculum, or at least stop tweaking it. I've changed things up a lot from my first year, but every time I teach certain units I think of how I could do things better. Sometimes I write it down, sometimes I don't. This year I'm really making an effort to document my thoughts on improvements so I can actually put them into place next year.

Some of my colleagues are probably going to laugh at this . . . but I made a GoogleDoc of my ideas for unit improvements. As I go through each unit I add my thoughts to it. You're welcome to take a peek, although it may not make a ton of sense unless you know my curriculum.

While I don't believe my curriculum will ever be perfect, I think this will be a good way to continually improve it. At very least it will be good documentation of what worked one year and what didn't work the next.

Wordless Wednesday XI

2011-09-28T06:30:00.000-04:00

Apple picking at Shelburne Farms in Vermont.

Windsor Cardi (V)

2011-09-27T06:36:00.001-04:00

It's finished!

Now I just need it to actually feel like fall so I can wear it.

Thanks dad for taking the pictures.

Last Week's Outfits

2011-09-26T16:22:00.002-04:00

Last Monday I had this brilliant plan: I would take pictures of my outfit everyday and then do a post of all my outfits for the week on Friday. I did just that for three days. One of the pictures came out terribly, and I didn't post anything on Friday.

So here are two of my outfits from last week!

Maybe this week I'll do a better job of documenting my outfits . . .

More School?

2011-09-22T07:50:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago I heard this story on NPR about Chicago public schools and it's stuck with me. The story started off by talking about how Chicago students attend the least amount of school in the country (they have a shorter school day than the average school and 10 less school days). While I understand that many parents and other community members may want Chicago children to get the same amount of school time as their other American peers are receiving it brings up a lot of the questions and concerns I have (and many other educators have as well) about increasing the amount of time children spend in school.

A school administrator is quoted saying that increased time in school will not necessarily increase test scores, even if it is dedicated to test prep. I could not agree with that sentiment more. While I don't think Chicago students should be cheated out of educational time (especially since they are significantly below the national average) I can imagine many people who aren't in education listening to this story and thinking, "Increasing the amount of time kids spend in school will definitely increase test scores."

It seems to me like so much of the push to increase the school day is to increase test scores. There are many positive reasons kids should spend more time in school (such as keeping them off the streets and giving them something positive and productive to do with their time), but not every waking second in school needs to be dedicated to test prep.

It kills me when I see students who didn't pass the MCAS being pulled out of their specials (such as gym or art) to have extra MCAS study time with a tutor. First of all, how unfair to that child, but also is it benefiting them? Everybody has a saturation point at which they just can't absorb any more material, which is part of the reason students get study halls and non-academic classes in their schedules so they can give that part of their brain a break and be refreshed when they return to their academic studies.

If Chicago increases the amount of time their students spend in school I hope they will use that time to provide students with opportunities that will make them love to learn, not beat them down with more test prep.

Wordy Wednesday

2011-09-21T09:18:00.002-04:00

It's opposite day. I'm doing Wordy Wednesday instead. I've seen this on a few other blogs and it made me nostalgic for when I was in high school and had an aol.com email address and these surveys used to get passed around.

A. Age: 26
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: picking up dog poop in the yard
D. Dogs: 3.5 month old German Shepherd, Thor
E. Essential start to your day: breakfast, I don't understand people who don't eat breakfast. It's my favorite meal.
F. Favorite color: green
G. Gold or Silver: silver
H. Height: 5'1"
I. Instruments you play: none
J. Job title: history teacher
K. Kids: none
L. Live: Massachusetts
M. Mother’s name: Roberta
N. Nicknames: Li
O. Overnight hospital stays: none
P. Pet peeves: drivers who don't use their turn signals
Q. Quote from a movie: Tyler Durden from Fight Club, "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet."
R. Right or left handed: Right handed
S. Siblings: younger brother, Jason
U. Underwear: what about it?
V. Vegetable you hate: brussel sprouts
W. What makes you run late: someone else, I hate being late and I rarely am if I can help it.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: feet and dental related
Y. Yummy food that you make: I can make a lot of things, probably apple cake is my favorite . . . or at least my favorite that I plan to make as soon as I go apple picking.
Z. Zoo animal: Probably gorillas, but zoos in general make me kind of sad, the animals always seem depressed.

If you're going to do the survey too let me know if the comments, I'm nosy so I like to see what other people say.

Windsor Cardi (IV)

2011-09-20T08:19:00.001-04:00

I've finished knitting it and weaving in all the ends. Now it's just a matter of finding the perfect buttons.

Don't underestimate the role buttons play in a sweater, they can make or break it. Seriously. I have this sweater I made a few years ago that I was seriously considering pulling apart because I never wear it. As I was about to tear it all out I realized the reason I never wear it is because the buttons don't hold it closed very well, not because there is anything wrong with it.

On an unrelated note: today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday! I can't wait to see you this weekend.

Windsor Cardi I
Windsor Cardi II
Windsor Cardi III

Weekend Highlights: Fall Decorating

2011-09-19T06:14:00.001-04:00

Now that Andy and I are homeowners we decided to decorate our home/yard to celebrate our favorite season. We didn't go over the top or anything, but we did at a few little touches.

We also decided to decorate the dog, but he did not seem to happy.

He spent at least 15 minutes trying to get the bandanna off and refused to look at the camera for his picture. I don't know why. I think he looks handsome.

We had a pretty low key weekend that mostly seemed to be centered around eating. How was your weekend? What did you do? What did you eat?

Friday Catch Up

2011-09-16T16:49:00.002-04:00

This was the first full week of school where I also had graduate school and taught a knitting class, so it was a bit hectic trying to get into the new routine. I think I got it all figured out now, but that's my feeble excuse for my lack of posting.

I promise more content next week. Please enjoy this picture of Thor eating his first ever ice cream.

Windsor Cardi (III)

2011-09-13T16:13:00.003-04:00

It has sleeves!

I'm so excited to finish this and wear it, but there's really no rush considering it was 80 degrees today.

Windsor Cardi (I)
Windsor Cardi (II)

Last summer outfit of 2011

2011-09-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

To celebrate Labor Day Andy and I went to Newburyport to spend the day window shopping and hanging out near the water. It was absolutely beautiful, and it made it even more depressing when I had to go back to work on Tuesday in the pouring rain.

Although school started before Labor Day this year for some reason in my mind Labor Day is still the last day of summer. So I wore my most summery dress.

I'm Wearing:
Necklace - H&M
Dress - H&M
Pink Flats - Graceland

Aside from the fact that it's a halter dress, the pattern just screams summer to me. This week I broke out my tights and boots, so alas, this dress will be pushed to the back of the closet until next summer. Next time I wear it I'll also remember to wear a tank top or t-shirt underneath it, I had slightly more skin showing than I'm normally comfortable with.

I know some people would re-mix this dress throughout the fall and maybe winter, but I tend to designate certain clothes for certain seasons and don't have a lot of crossover. What about you? Do you designate specific clothing items for certain seasons/weather?

(Belated) Wordless Wednesday X

2011-09-08T20:12:00.002-04:00

Labor Day in Newburyport.

Windsor Cardi (II)

2011-09-06T08:36:00.000-04:00

The body is done!

This is such a fun pattern to knit. I love it even more as I keep working on it. I've been working on this sweater like crazy because I can't wait for fall to come so I can wear it.

Windsor Cardi (I)

Weekend Highlights: September 2011 (I)

2011-09-05T07:37:00.003-04:00

Andy and I started off our weekend with a trip into Boston on Friday night to see our friend's band The Dotted Eyes play at the Hard Rock Cafe. Since Andy works in Boston I met him for dinner and we hung out until it was time to see the show. While we were walking around the Downtown Crossing area we discovered a Sweet cupcake shop. Neither of us could pass on the cupcakes.

I got red velvet and Andy got lemon raspberry. Both were awesome.

Eventually we made our way over to the Hard Rock to see The Dotted Eyes and our friends.

Unfortunately since we had to catch the 10:30 train we couldn't stay very long and we had to run to make our train at North Station. I was worried about Thor being alone for a long time in his crate, but he was fine.

On Saturday and Sunday we basically spent the day hanging around our house, enjoying having a backyard and cooking on the grill. Andy worked on teaching Thor fetch.

On Saturday we had some friends come over and they brought this awesome corn they got from an organic farm stand and showed us how to cook it on the grill. It was seriously the best corn I've ever had. I can't believe I went all summer without corn on the grill. Now it's pretty much the only thing I want to eat.

Today we're just laying low and taking it easy. I have some prep to do for this week. Later we're going out to dinner to celebrate Andy's grandma's birthday, but that's about it. Even though school already started today actually feels like the last day of summer vacation.

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. What did you eat this weekend/will you eat today?

The "professional" dress.

2011-09-02T08:15:00.002-04:00

I never bought into the belief that a teacher shouldn't smile in front of their students until after Thanksgiving. I don't think you should try to be your students' best friend, but it's ok to let your personality show. If you act like a teaching robot you'll lose student engagement.

However, I do believe in no jeans/casual wear until a month into school. Especially as a younger female teacher I want to make the boundary very clear that while I may be friendly towards you we are not friends. You are a student, I am a teacher, you can clearly see this by the way I treat you and the way I dress. So even though yesterday was a half day (and fake Friday) and it would've been fine for me to go more casual (and I definitely will later in the year) I didn't yet.

I'm Wearing:
Dress - TJMaxx
Earrings - H&M
Necklace - H&M
Flats - Crocs

When I wear this dress I frequently get comments on how professional/dressed up I look. I always find that kind of amusing because this is honestly one of my comfiest clothing items. Comfy+Professional = Awesome. This dress is also easy to remix, so that's why I tend to wear it so often.

I also hoped my dress and bright jewelry would mask the fact that I was totally exhausted. The past few nights Thor was not sleeping through the night and having these complete melt-downs when we crated him. This was really unusual because he started sleeping through the night on his third night home. We realized his new food was upsetting his stomach, so we switched him back to his old food thinking that would end the problem. Nope. We were confused, frustrated, and tired, and then we figured it out. He was too big for his medium size crate. He couldn't stretch out in it. If I had to sleep in a space I couldn't adequately lay down in I'd probably pitch a fit too.

Last night we went out and bought him a massive crate. He looks funny in it now (we call it his condo), but we all slept peacefully through the night. Which is a good thing, because tonight I'm staying out way past bedtime to go see my friend's band The Dotted Eyes play. If you're going to be in Boston you should stop by the Hard Rock Cafe to hear them (or you can go to their website).

Other than that we'll probably just cook on the grill, go for some nice long walks, and enjoy our long weekend. What do you have planned for this weekend?

Animal Prints and Tech Woes

2011-09-01T06:28:00.000-04:00

I put all my effort into my first day outfit, but I didn't want to slack on my second day. I also had a class that would be meeting for the first time today, so I still wanted to make a good first impression.

I'm Wearing:
Earrings - Charlotte Russe
Dress - TJMaxx
Mary Jane Wedges - Graceland

My introductory activities with my class meeting for the first time went well today, but my second day activities could have gone better. For my past three years of teaching on my second day I talked to my students about plagiarism and citing sources. As important as this is I find it so incredibly boring. No matter how I try to make it exciting there's really just no way to psych someone up to do citations. Fortunately this year I schemed my way into getting the librarian to teach the students about plagiarism and citations (and I know she will do a way better job than I do), so I needed to come up with a new second day activity.

I didn't want to actually start teaching content because we have this weird set-up where the first week is only two and a half days, and then we have a four day weekend, but since there's a half day I won't see many classes for five days. I don't want to start a new unit and not see the students for that long. I figured at some point I want to get the students signed up for GoogleDocs and my honors students registered on my wiki so why not do it on the second day? It takes care of some housekeeping and gets the students out of the classroom.

I made some (overly detailed) tutorials on how to create a GoogleDocs account and had an activity for the students to do in GoogleDocs once they had their accounts set-up. I took my second period class down to the computer lab and go over all the instructions with them. Almost instantly a dozen hands go up. "Excuse me Miss, but the computer says that this site is blocked."

GRRRRRR. I checked to make sure my wiki wasn't blocked, but I didn't think something so innocuous as GoogleDocs would be. After a frustrating conversation with our usually helpful tech guy (he told me all about the dangers of allowing students too much access to Google . . . um, what?), a student sheepishly raised their hand and waved me over. She then showed me how she found a way around the firewall that was set-up. We quickly began to spread the word to students and I was able to get many of them signed up for their accounts, but they weren't able to complete all the activities I had planned, so I ended up with that awkward 5 - 10 minutes of dead time at the end of the period. I hate that. I try to avoid it like crazy, I want my students to be working and engaged the entire time in my class. Since I hadn't taught them any history yet I couldn't fall back on my traditional "lets review what we've learned" games.

So to make a long story short, tech is great when it works. It's also great when you have students who know how circumvent the school's firewall. I'm also not sure that we should be limiting so much of what the students have access to. Obviously I don't think students should have unlimited access to youtube, games, online shopping, or worse, but putting restrictions on Google applications or email just makes it difficult for teachers and students alike. If students want to check their email the majority of them already do it on their phone, so when they're trying to get onto their email on the school computer it's likely because they want to email a project to themselves or verify their Google account . . .

On a side note last time I checked the introduction survey results Batman is totally winning. Also, for the question "What would you like for your last meal?" one of the most popular requests has been mashed potatoes.

First Day Recap

2011-08-31T08:41:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my fourth first day of school. It felt good to be back at school and to have professional status (tenure). It was definitely my most low-key first day in all my years of teaching. Mostly because I went with the same tried and true first day activity I did last year. All I really had to do was update my PowerPoints and my wiki and I was good to go. My toughest decision of the whole day was what to wear.

I'm Wearing:
Earrings - Gift from Andy
Necklace - Gift from parents
Blouse - Kohl's
Skirt - H&M
Wedges - Graceland

Although I was debating about wearing the pencil skirt on the first day, mostly out of fear of sweltering, I decided to go with it. I'm glad I did, no sweltering occurred, and I love how it looks with my new blouse. Andy and I are on a pretty tight budget right now so I didn't do any back to school shopping. However, it would just feel wrong to go back to school with nothing new so I did give myself permission to get one item.

I've been wanting a blouse for a long time. I have one blouse. It is black and kind of ill-fitting. I have an incredibly difficult time finding blouses that fit properly and that I like. I stumbled across this one in the Kohl's junior department. I love the fit and the ruffle detail on it, although it's a bit on the sheer side, so I always have to wear something under it.

Since the blouse already draws a lot of attention I kept everything else simple. I wore my pearl necklace that was a wedding gift from my parents. I figured what better time to wear it than the first day of school?

All in all it was a good first day. The students seemed to have a good time doing my first day scavenger hunt and they talked and were a bit more engaging than past years. Although this was the first year where all my classes didn't meet the first day of school (we have a rotating schedule so one of my classes didn't meet today), so I'll get to run through one more first day presentation again tomorrow. I'm taking the rest of my classes down to the computer lab to get them signed up for GoogleDocs and get them familiar with using my wiki. At first I was hesitant to have the students out of the classroom on the second day of school, but then I thought, why not? I want them to see that my class is more than just sitting passively at a desk and taking in information, I want them to realize early on that I expect them to be engaged participants in the learning process.

I'm also really excited to see the results of my introductory survey for my students. I learn a lot about them by how they answer the Batman vs. Superman question.

What about you - Batman or Superman? Choose your answer wisely. I'll post the student results on my wiki in a day or two.

Windsor Cardi (I)

2011-08-30T09:16:00.001-04:00

I think my grandma subscribes to every knitting magazine there is. If she determines there's nothing in them she wants to make, she then passes them along to me, so every time I go visit her there is a massive stack of knitting magazines waiting for me. I go through them and put sticky notes on the things I want to make. Then I put them in a pile somewhere and they collect dust.

Recently I went through my sticky notes again and when I saw this Windsor Cardi pattern in Knitscene (summer 2011) I felt so inspired I actually started knitting it.

I love the gray, but I already have too much gray in my wardrobe. Fortunately I have an abundance of this blue wool . . .

I'm loving this pattern right now. It's complicated enough that it holds my interest, yet simple enough that I don't have to give 100% focus to following the chart. Also it's knit in one piece (hooray, no seaming!). It will be the perfect piece for late fall/early winter so hopefully I'll be able to complete it by then.

Irene and the end of summer vacation.

2011-08-29T16:23:00.004-04:00

Andy, Thor and I really didn't do much this weekend in anticipation of Irene's arrival. By the time Irene reached us she was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, but she still beat up the tree in our front yard.

Fortunately the branch didn't hit anyone or anything. The tree was pretty much on it's deathbed anyway, so I think Irene just sped up the process. Surprisingly we didn't lose power at all.

Today was a professional development day, and the first official day back for teachers. Even though I've been going to work everyday for the last week today it really felt like summer is over.

I'm Wearing:
Earrings - Gift from Andy
Necklace - H&M
T-Shirt - Kohl's
Pants - H&M
Flats - Graceland

I still haven't decided exactly what I'm going to wear tomorrow. I was thinking about wearing this pencil skirt I wore two years ago on the first day, because I feel like a pencil skirt is the ultimate in professional apparel (besides a suit jacket, which would just look weird if I wore to work). However, it's going to be 80+ degrees tomorrow (there's no AC at my school) and the pencil skirt has pretty thick and constricting material, so I'm thinking I may be better off wearing something a bit more breathable.

I keep having the nagging feeling I'm forgetting to do something before the students come tomorrow. I keep going through the list in my head and can't think of what it is. Then I realized, it's not that I forgot something, it's that I'm not feeling something. That something is nervous. My first year I was incredibly nervous (at least nervous for me, I'm not really a nervous/anxious person). After the first year it was significantly easier, but this is the first year I haven't had to plan an entirely new first day activity (I just made some modifications to last year's) and I actually feel really prepared and excited to begin the school year. That doesn't mean I won't have one of those nervous dreams where I'm late to work (I'm always on time. If I am late 99% of the time someone else is to blame), or where I show up and find I am missing a vital piece of clothing. Don't worry, I always set two alarms, and I now have two full length mirrors to check myself out in to make sure I'm not missing any important clothing items.

How was your weekend? Were you impacted by Irene? If you were I hope it was nothing too serious.

Daily Outfit: 8.23.11

2011-08-26T06:26:00.000-04:00

This whole week I've been prepping to return to school. The students don't start coming until Tuesday, so I could wear whatever I want, but I find it helps me get more in the school/work mindset if I dress like I would if the students were there.

I'm Wearing:
Necklaces - Gift from my mom & H&M
Earrings - Zinnia's
Shirt - H&M
Skirt - H&M
Belt - Charlotte Russe
Flats - Graceland

I took this picture myself. I'm not generally good at self portraits and have difficulty finding a good location, but I think this came out okay . . . it could certainly be better. You can also see the ugly carpeting and wallpaper in my "office" (aka - yarn room).

I swear this summer went by ridiculously fast. I can't believe next week school will be in session. I'm also bummed that I won't get to spend all day with Thor anymore. I think Thor is less upset about this because he gets to spend all day with my in-laws dog playing. He really has the best life ever, I'd be lying if I said I'm not jealous.

Will textbooks become extinct?

2011-08-25T06:34:00.001-04:00

As the first day of the school year approaches I always think back to when I was a student and it was my first day of school. It was so exciting to see all your friends who you hadn't seen over the summer and see who was in your classes (this was all before facebook and texting, so you usually didn't know this stuff until the first day of school). I also remember how boring the actual first day of classes were. We would always have an assembly to go over the school rules, and in every single class we would go over the syllabus, course expectations, and get our textbooks. Our assignment for the first night would always be to go home and cover your textbooks.

I do go over course expectations, and we usually do an assembly on the rules in the first few days of school, but I don't give out textbooks on the first day of class. Maybe not even the first week of school. Not because I don't want to burden the kids, I'm not that considerate, but because I really dislike the textbook I have. It is old, outdated, and pretty boring. The supplementary materials that come with it aren't much better. I do use the textbook, but mostly for reference and rarely more than once or twice a week do I assign students work from the book. I make most of my own worksheets and activities and look online for primary sources, and articles to use.

I don't think I'm in the minority either. Pretty much every teacher I've talked to is unhappy with the textbook they use and create lots of supplemental material on their own. This isn't surprising, because a good teacher won't rely on just one source for their entire course, but most teachers seem genuinely disgruntled with textbooks. They're dated, expensive, heavy, and generally inconvenient to use.

One of my co-workers mentioned to me the other day that he rarely uses textbooks with his class, and he mostly uses primary resources and articles he finds online. I find his movement away from the textbook admirable and something I hope to achieve someday. Instead of giving students textbooks at the beginning of the year I could provide them with a link to the resources we will be using instead. As technology and Internet access becomes cheaper and more readily available I think this is a realistic goal.

So what will happen to textbooks? I don't know, but it will be interesting to see. When I was in college I still had to buy textbooks for most of my classes, but now in graduate school the professors are more often posting readings online instead of having us purchase a required text. This way we save money and get a range of information, rather than being locked down to one perspective that would be presented in a stagnant textbook.

How heavily do you rely on your course textbook? How much are you creating your own supplementary materials?

Wordless Wednesday IX

2011-08-24T16:22:00.001-04:00

He's going to jump it soon . . .

Sock Yarn Scarf (II)

2011-08-23T09:10:00.000-04:00

The great thing about this scarf (aside from using up all my leftover sock yarn) is that it's an ongoing project. I probably won't finish it for a long time, but it's a great thing to pick up in between projects, or when I just need a break from whatever I'm working on. Lately I've been working on it a lot.

I don't have a plan, I've just been adding on various yarns as I feel like it. So far I'm happy with how it's coming along. It's really wide, so it will end up being more of a shawl . . . in about five years.

Sock Yarn Scarf (I)

Weekend Highlights: August 2011 (III)

2011-08-22T16:25:00.002-04:00

This weekend Andy and I had a second "housewarming" party. Some of our friends/family still hadn't seen our house, and some came to visit for the second time. I made cupcakes.

I've found that if you put sprinkles on them nobody can tell how poorly you frost them. Also, everyone loves sprinkles.

Andy will be mad that I put this picture up, but it's his fault for making this face.

On Sunday we went to visit our new favorite coffee place, Ultimate Perk. Their coffee is good, but their "muffins" are also phenomenal.

I'm pretty sure they're actually cupcakes, but calling them muffins makes me feel better about eating them for breakfast.

Then we went to my in-laws house to see my father in-law's new motorcycle.

Thor turned 11 weeks old (3 weeks with us!) this weekend. At 11 weeks he has gained better control over his ears. He can lift them up and lower them.

Sometimes I just wait for him to put his ear down so I can say his name and watch them lift up again. I'm sure that will get old eventually . . .

So to summarize, our weekend was basically eating, and spending time with family and friends. No complaints here.

How was your weekend? What did you do?

First Day Planning (Year 4!)

2011-08-18T09:24:00.002-04:00

This is my fourth first day of school as a classroom teacher! I'm still super excited for the start of the school year and the first day of school. I always looked forward to the first day of school as a student (truth: I looked forward to the back to school shopping, picking out an outfit, and seeing all my friends . . . but I think that still counts . . . and I still like all those things about back to school). As a teacher I look forward to planning my first day activity. I probably put way too much time and effort thinking about my first day activity, but that doesn't mean I won't do it again this year.

Last year I was pretty happy with how the first day went (you can read about it here). It was the best first day I had in my teaching. Although last year was good, I think this first day can be better. I really liked doing the scavenger hunt to get the students up and moving and then doing the PowerPoint to go over some classroom basics, but I'm trying to think of some ways to jazz it up a bit for this year without losing the focus.

The scavenger hunt and information in the PowerPoint need to be updated . . . I'm also considering doing a Prezi instead of a PowerPoint. I was considering doing a polleverywhere.com survey with the students as well . . . maybe I could somehow incorporate that into the survey?

Teachers - what do you do for your first day? What have you found to be successful?

Students - what do you wish teachers would do on the first day/what would you like to know?

Everyone else - thoughts/suggestions?

Wordless Wednesday VIII

2011-08-17T06:40:00.001-04:00

Full disclosure - my dad took this picture.

More Thor pictures here.

Helena Baby Sweater (III)

2011-08-16T08:11:00.002-04:00

It's finished! I still need to weave in the ends (I deviously hid them for this picture) and I think it definitely needs to be blocked. Other than that, all done!

Helena Baby Sweater (I)
Helena Baby Sweater (II)

Weekend Highlights: August 2011 (II)

2011-08-15T08:42:00.002-04:00

This weekend my parents came down to visit to meet their grandpuppy. Thor was so excited to get attention (and rawhide bones!). I was thrilled that my dad took some awesome pictures of him.

More pictures can be found here.

We took Thor with us to walk around downtown for the first time too, and he did really well. He attracted so much attention! I was pleased that he was friendly and polite to every person and dog we met. He's definitely getting much more curious and outgoing.

Andy and I also discovered the top part of our wedding cake in my in-laws freezer this weekend. So one week after our one year anniversary we defrosted the cake to taste. It didn't look or taste quite as good as it did here, but surprisingly it wasn't that bad.

We didn't feed each other the cake either, but we did share a fork. How romantic.

This was one of my last "summer" weekends before school starts. Part of me is sad that summer is ending, it seems like it went by so quickly. However, fall is my favorite season and I always love the beginning of the school year. Once I start going in and getting my classroom set-up I start to get excited for the students to arrive.

How was your weekend? What did you do?

PowerPoint - Yay or Nay?

2011-08-12T08:22:00.003-04:00

I have a love/hate relationship with PowerPoint. Sometimes I feel like PowerPoint is a really effective means of getting information to students, and I like it's versatility, you can embed various multi-media into it and it's easy to post on my wiki, email, or download. Other times I feel like PowerPoint is so 2001, and boring, and I'm totally over it.

At the end of this school year I was feeling like I was over PowerPoint and wanted nothing more to do with it. I was seriously considering how I could convert many of my old PowerPoints into more interesting, modern ways of presenting information such as Prezi. When the school year ended I decided I was finally ready to break it off with PowerPoint and move on.

Then I began taking an online summer technology course (which I have mixed feelings about, but that's a subject for another post . . .), and one of our assignments was to use PowerPoint to create a quiz. When I saw the assignment I scoffed at it, PowerPoint to make a quiz, totally lame and useless. How could you actually make an effective quiz on PowerPoint?

I realized you could actually make a pretty decent non-graded quiz/learning check for students. I hadn't realized you could link to slides within PowerPoint, and started to learn a lot more about it. Truthfully, no one ever taught me how to use PowerPoint, I just remember around my junior/senior year of high school having to do a PowerPoint for class and then using it from then on for any sort of presentation I had to do. Now 10+ years later when I actually began to learn how to use the program I realized there are a lot of nice features to it.

Still, I feel torn about PowerPoint. I've certainly seen some really great uses of PowerPoint as well as some absolutely horrid ones. I know a lot of it depends on the presenter as well as other factors. Part of me feels that with some of my new PowerPoint knowledge I can make excellent informative presentations to my students, yet another part of me says PowerPoint is the past and I should be moving into the future and exploring some of the other great presentation tools out there.

What are your thoughts of PowerPoint? Do you use it in your classroom? What is your preferred method of presentation?

Hi, my name is Lisa, and I'm a cheapskate.

2011-08-11T08:25:00.003-04:00

I have a confession to make, I'm a sucker for a good deal. I know everybody is, but I'm really a cheapskate. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, so I'm admitting it right now.

I don't want to be cheap anymore. I thought by being cheap I was getting a good deal and saving money. Instead I'm probably spending just as much money, and ending up disappointed. Case in point, this H&M bag that was cheap. I was so proud of myself for finding it. For $10 I thought I was getting such a good deal.

Cute bag right? It wasn't the best bag I'd ever seen, and I didn't absolutely love it, but it worked. It held all my junk, although the strap did kind of dig into my shoulder a little bit. Whatever, it was such a good deal I could overlook something like that. Or the fact that it was obviously made from low quality material. I mean, it was $10 after all. I was so convinced I got a good deal.

Until about 2 months of carrying it, and this started happening.

Whatever, 2 months, $10, I'll get another bag . . . right?

Then I thought about it. If I'm getting a new bag every 2 months, even if I only spend $10 (which is unlikely I'd find another bag for that price) that's still $60 a year on bags that I would no longer have. I have a few Coach bags that I paid more for and they're going strong after a couple of years. So think about it, what's cheaper that $10 bag or the $100+ bag that will last for years.

I'm sure you see my point. Also, which would I rather have? Of course I'd rather have a nicer more expensive bag. I'd rather have this bag for several years than a series of clearance rack cheapies that I never really loved, but bought mostly because they were a good deal.

Now I'm not by any means trying to imply that one shouldn't be frugal, thrifty, or otherwise cautious with their money. I'm just trying to warn you against falling into the trap I frequently fall into - buying something because it's cheap, not because I truly love it or it's of good quality, because really in the long run being cheap doesn't pay off.

Instead of running out to buy a new cheap bag I'm going to use an old one I have for now, and when I find a quality, reasonably priced bag that I love and know I will use for a long time, then I will purchase it. It's not going to be easy, and I know cheapskate recovery is a long road, but I think it will pay off in the long run.

Wordless Wednesday VII

2011-08-10T07:57:00.002-04:00

More pictures of Thor here.

Weekend Highlights: August 2011 (I)

2011-08-08T15:09:00.003-04:00

On Sunday Andy and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary!

I can't believe its been one year! This time last year Andy and I were on our way to Alaska for our honeymoon which was an amazing experience.

In the past year Andy got admitted to the bar, became a lawyer, we bought a house, and got a puppy! It was a big year for us and I can't wait to see what the next few years will have in store for us.

Unfortunately, we didn't do too much yesterday because of Thor. I didn't realize how much having a puppy would be like having a baby. He can't really be alone for too long. He also got a urinary infection so he's been peeing everywhere. I'm bummed that he's hurting and that we've just taken a major step backwards in the housebreaking department, although it's not really his fault right now. When I brought him to the vet she said aside from the urinary infection he's doing great and he's already up to 10lbs.

Aside from that he's doing really well. He knows his name and a few basic commands, how well he follows them depends on what food you have to offer him. Andy's been working with him on playing fetch. He loves to run after the ball, he's not so big on returning/dropping it. He likes every person he meets, and almost every dog too.

How was your weekend? What did you do? Also if you have a dog how long did it take to house train?

Wordless Wednesday VI

2011-08-03T08:19:00.002-04:00

Our first anniversary is on Sunday <3

You probably thought this was going to be a dog picture. You were wrong.

Sock Yarn Scarf

2011-08-02T08:11:00.003-04:00

After moving into our house I began the laborious (and ongoing) process of sorting through and organizing my yarn. I found I have a ton of scrap sock yarn, that isn't quiet enough to make socks, but too much to just throw away. I was looking around ravelry for some non-sock sock yarn projects and saw a lot of people did entrelac blankets with their leftovers. I don't have enough for a blanket, so I decided to do a scarf instead.

I don't have enough scraps to finish this scarf, but I figured it will be an ongoing project as I accumulate more bits of sock yarn. It will be fun to watch this slowly take shape.

Weekend Highlights: July 2011 (II)

2011-08-01T08:06:00.002-04:00

I know that I run the risk of becoming a crazy dog lady who only blogs about her dog and gives TMI about everything having to do with him . . . I assure you to the best of my abilities I will avoid doing that. However, Thor came home this weekend, so I do feel I would be a poor dog mother if I did not share some pictures of him. His arrival home really was the highlight of our weekend (and it took up all our time . . . and sleep).

If you feel so inclined you can see more pictures of him here.

Over the past week I was super busy attending an education conference/workshop that's part of Race to the Top. Essentially what we're doing is working in content teams to create performance embedded (authentic) assessments within the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks. In order to do that we're designing model units with the embedded assessments using the Understanding by Design model as taught by Jay McTighe. It's ok if you have no idea what I just said, up until last week I probably wouldn't have understood much of that either.

To put it in plan old English, last week I sat in a hotel conference room with a lot of teachers from around the state and listened to lectures, or sat in a smaller conference room with a few teachers and worked on unit design while department of ed. people lingered around. Sometimes it was stressful/frustrating, but we actually got a lot done, and I feel proud of what we did. Also the best part of the whole experience was getting to hang out with a whole bunch of teachers who teach the same thing I teach and be inspired by them. I got a lot of really great ideas and inspiration from them, and I'm looking forward to when we have our next conference so I can see all those people again.

So to sum it up, that's why there weren't many posts last week. After spending all day staring at a computer screen, I couldn't really take it anymore. Hopefully this week I'll be able to get some sleep and get some non-puppy related content up here.

How was your weekend? What did you do?

Wordless Wednesday V

2011-07-27T16:01:00.001-04:00

He comes home Saturday.

My Knits for Sale!

2011-07-22T09:05:00.003-04:00

One of the first things Andy and I did when we moved was try to explore some of the local businesses in our new area. I always try to support local businesses and buy handcrafted goods whenever possible. Mostly because they're better, but also because I feel better about my purchases. We discovered the Andover Bookstore, which is an adorable little shop that feels like the kind of cozy place you just want to lounge in for hours. While poking around there I saw a sign saying they were looking for knitted items to display and sell.

It never occurred to me though to actually try to sell my own goods. Well, that's not entirely true. I'd thought about it, but never actually did anything beyond thinking about it. When I saw that sign posted I decided to inquire. I brought in a couple of my favorite knits to show to the manager. Admittedly I was a bit nervous about it, because I'd never really shown my projects to a prospective purchaser/seller who would inspect them. Fortunately I had no reason to be nervous, she loved them and said she'd be happy to display and sell them in the store!

So if you're in the area and would like to visit the bookstore (and small knitting store they have within the bookstore) you can see my hats on display!

I don't know how many wool hats will sell in the summer (especially today, it's going to be 100, ridiculous), or if they'll sell at all, but I'm just thrilled right now to have this opportunity.

Outfit: 7.20.11

2011-07-21T07:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in the interviews for a new member of our department. It was interesting to be on the other side of the interview process. I also had a tough time deciding what to wear. At first I was about to pull out a pencil skirt and blouse, but on second thought I decided that would look too much like I was the one interviewing for the position. I realized that I have spent so much time thinking about what to wear to interviews in the past, but never any time considering what I would wear if I was the interviewer. I settled on a very similar outfit to what I would wear to work (also it was way too hot yesterday to put on full dress attire, I felt bad for the candidates who came in with their suits on).

I'm Wearing:

Dress - TJMaxx

Earrings - Zinnia's

Black Flats - Crocs

I just recently got these shoes (a birthday present to myself) and they are the most amazing thing ever. They look like regular flats (at least from afar), but are made of the same material as Crocs. I love how Crocs feel, but I had the way those clogs look. There's no way I'd ever wear them to work, even though they feel great to stand in all day. I was worried these shoes wouldn't have the same feel as the Crocs clogs I love, but they do! I know these will be worn often when I return to school.

Wordless Wednesday IV

2011-07-20T06:24:00.001-04:00

Thor ~5lbs

I want to remember him this tiny when he is huge.

Helena Baby Sweater (II)

2011-07-19T08:28:00.000-04:00

The body is finished! Minus the border that is. As soon as I can locate my double point needles I'll start on the sleeves. This is such a fun, cute little knit.

The lace/skirt part is a bit puckered up. I rarely block things, but I'm considering blocking this sweater so it lays flatter. We'll see once I finish the sleeves how it looks.

Helena Baby Sweater (I)

Helena Patter on Knitty

Weekend Highlights: July 2011 (I)

2011-07-18T08:00:00.003-04:00

This was a busy weekend for us. We started off with a visit to Thor.

Thor put on a couple pounds over the past week, but it appears to have all gone to his head and belly, his legs are really stubby and he falls over all the time. To avoid flooding this post with pictures of him (which I am tempted to do) you can see more here.

After our Thor visit we fired up our new grill and had a little cookout with some friends.

On Sunday we went exploring in our new area and took our bikes out to a nature reserve. Although it was really hot out it was cool in the forest. We also found this pond covered in lily pads.

I got pretty dirty.

I did manage to clean up in time to go out to my birthday dinner with Andy and his family.

All in all a good, but busy weekend. What did you do this weekend?

Daily Outfit: 7.14.11 (Birthday Outfit!)

2011-07-15T07:25:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was both my 26th birthday and Bastille Day! To celebrate both Andy and I went to a trendy little wine bar/tapas place near us. It was delicious (I'm actually eating the leftovers for breakfast as I type this), so now we know somewhere good to bring friends in our new hometown.

I'm Wearing:

Dress - H&M

Tank Top - Aeropostale

Shoes - Nickels (from Macy's, maybe?)

This is one of my favorite dresses. I found it on sale for $14 at H&M two years ago. For the past few summers (and as long as I can get away with it into the fall) I've worn it about once a week. It's cost/wear has to be pennies at this point. I'll be so sad when it finally falls apart or gets irreparably damaged.

What do teachers do in the summer? (I)

2011-07-14T07:44:00.001-04:00

Sleep in!

Not. I drive Andy to the train station every morning so I still wake up early, not as early as when I had to go to school at least. Also once Thor arrives I definitely won't be sleeping in.

Seriously though, I actually do a lot that pertains to my teaching during the summer. Here's what I plan to be working on this summer:

Turning my CP curriculum into layered curriculum:

First of all I should probably explain that CP stands for college prep. Since there are only two levels of world history if you're not in the honors level then you are in CP. World history is a required class, so all students have to take it and pass. The students I have in my CP classes are supposed to be heterogeneously grouped, but since not all departments in my school are de-leveled (some have a CP I and CP II) you still get some more homogeneously grouped classes. Regardless, all students at the CP level whether they are in B period or G period need to be receiving the same curriculum and materials. This can be tough when you have a wide range of abilities, especially if you have that range of abilities contained within one period.

This is why I love layered curriculum. Two years ago I first read about layered curriculum, and since I'm not very patient, I began implementing it in my classroom almost immediately. I loved how it worked with my students. Prior to implementing layered curriculum my classroom was very teacher centered, once I put the layered curriculum in place my classroom became much more student centered. I also really enjoyed the opportunity layered curriculum gave me to spend time with students one-one and really get to know them and assess their level or learning.

Last year I had a very different population in my classroom than the previous year, and I worried that the students would flounder with layered curriculum. Instead I tried using interactive notebooks (I hated it, the students hated it, never again) and made my classroom more teacher centered. For some reason I ignored the whole point of layered curriculum, which is if you give even the most resistant students control in most cases they will rise to the challenge and learn. As Kathie Nunley pointed out in her book (and on her website) is that many of the issues students have in the classroom are based around control. If you give students choice and some degree of control over their learning, they don't feel trapped and rebellious. In fact many of them will take on the responsibility and accountability and rise to the challenge. If they don't, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Around the last quarter this year I decided to give layered curriculum a try with some of my more difficult classes. Did I have still have students who refused to work and failed? Yes, but far less of them. Many students enjoyed the freedom they had, and actually became more engaged in the curriculum. A lot of them produced some amazing work that I previously wouldn't have known they were capable of. I actually began to really enjoy many of my more difficult classes, because instead of battling with them to learn, I was letting them take the lead and just checking in to assist and facilitate. Not only did many of their grades and knowledge improve (almost all students scored significantly better on tests at the end of a layered curriculum unit), but my relationship with them did as well.

What I realized from this is that all students are capable of learning, and most want to learn and be successful. Giving them the reins in many cases allows them to do so, and doesn't confine them to one type of learning and one type of success. This next year I intend to start my students off with layered curriculum on the first unit of the year. I plan to make my expectations very clear, and provide them plenty of structure so they don't feel overwhelmed, but the rest will be up to them.

Since I've never started off the year with layered curriculum before I have many units I need to "convert." I also will be spending a lot of time this summer looking over the materials I use and trying to update them or find better versions. Some of the PowerPoints I used this past year I had made in my first year of teaching. While I had thought they were great at the time I realize now there are better/clearer ways of getting information across to students.

If you're considering implementing layered curriculum in your classroom here are a few resources I've found helpful:

Kathie Nunley's website about layered curriculum - http://www.help4teachers.com/
Mr. Roughton's Classroom 2.0 activities, this is an excellent list of various activities complete with directions/templates/etc that can be used for a variety for purposes - http://mrroughton.com/assignments.aspx
Fake twitter and Fakebook - often times I want students to do historical role playing, this is a great way to get them into a character's mind and a fun activity for students who might be somewhat resistant to history/learning otherwise.
Chat nights on twitter, the best professional development there is! I've discovered many great activities and resources from #sschat. You can find a chat for your subject here - http://www.cybraryman.com/chats.html
Other educator's blogs and websites - so much great material is out there in a variety of subject areas.

Wordless Wednesday III

2011-07-13T07:49:00.001-04:00

Thor with his siblings.

All I can think about is bringing him home.

My Home I

2011-07-12T08:10:00.003-04:00

After having spent the first 25 (practically 26) years of my life living in other people's homes or renting, I'm thrilled to have a place that is entirely my own to decorate as I please. Of aesthetic value counts when decorating, but I also wanted the items in my home to have meaning to me. I decided to set high standards for what items I will bring into/keep in my home. I figured this way I would love and value everything in my home, and it will prevent me from becoming a hoarder.

Right now my favorite area of my house is this little corner in one of the spare bedrooms which is in the (very slow) process of becoming my craft room. Warning, many many pictures ahead.

The chair and everything in it has special meaning to me. The chair itself was a wedding gift to my grandparents. It has been in my parents home for years, and now I'm happy to have it in mine. Considering that it's older than me (and my parents!) and it's been used for most of that time it is in remarkably good shape.

On the back of the chair is this absolutely beautiful quilt my friend Dana made as a wedding gift.

The pillows on the chair were a recent gift from my great aunt and uncle, and were actually handmade by my great great aunt, who I never had the opportunity to meet. I knew she did a variety of crafts and never used patterns. It amazes me to think about her making these by hand with no pattern at all.

Of course I can't boast that all corners of my home are as beautiful and meaningful as this one, but hopefully one day they will be. There's still a lot of work to be done, such as removing that awful wallpaper you can see in the background. Slowly, I'm sure it will get done.

What's your favorite part of your home? How do you determine what items stay/are displayed in your home?

Helena Baby Sweater (I)

2011-07-11T12:56:00.002-04:00

Now that we've moved my dream of having a whole entire room just for my knitting and other assorted craft materials has come true. While I couldn't be happier, it has taken me a considerable amount of time to go through all the yarn I have (which is plentiful) and actually begin to organize it in a coherent fashion.

I've discovered a lot of yarn I forgot I even had, such as this pink pima cotton. I had originally purchased it to make this tube top which was an epic fail (hence the sour face).

To be honest, I have no idea why I thought I should make a tube top anyway. I don't own or normally wear any tube tops. Also the lace panel down the center isn't entirely practical or modest. I guess I was intrigued by the pattern, but clearly this item would have no purpose/function in my wardrobe.

I was left with a bunch of super stretchy cotton and no idea what to do with it. I shoved it into a bag somewhere, and forgot about it. What would I possibly make with it? Not enough material for a sweater, or even a shirt. Also, the stretchy factor had to be considered. Who wants a garment that is super stretchy?

Babies do! Babies grow crazy fast. While I adore knitting for babies I realize that I probably spend longer making the item than they do wearing it. Unless it was stretchy, then they could probably wear it for a bit longer. I began searching and found this pattern on knitty.

This pattern is adorable and the tie closure in the front seems to lend itself to being stretchy. Cotton is also a nice lightweight summer knitting material. Since it is obscenely hot here I plan to spend the afternoon working on this while I wait for the plumber (curses kitchen sink), and stream shows on Netflix . . . by the way if you need something to watch on Netflix instantly check out The Kennedys I loved it.

Puppy!

2011-07-09T18:00:00.004-04:00

A couple posts ago I mentioned that Andy and I had a big change coming our way . . . in three weeks we'll be bringing home our first puppy! We picked him out from the breeder today. We're naming him Thor.

Thor's a sable German shepherd, and I wish I could take him home with me today. All the puppies were absolutely adorable, but Thor was the only puppy who didn't cry and squirm around when I picked him up. He won me over instantly.

We also got to meet his parents who are both beautiful well behaved dogs, so we have very high hopes for our little guy.

Mom, she's sable too, so he's likely to take after her coloring, and possibly her affinity towards spherical objects.

Dad, who is huge, seriously, he had the biggest crate I've ever seen.

Consider this to be a warning, in three weeks you'll see nothing but dog pictures.

Family Visit

2011-07-06T07:41:00.000-04:00

Over the long weekend I went down to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to visit my family, most of whom I haven't seen since my wedding (almost a year ago!). It was nice to get out of town for a bit and see everyone. Here are a few quick snapshots.

Some of my mom's side of the family (she is one of five so there are a lot of siblings/cousins not present here).

Baby cousin, she's gotten so big since last time I saw her.

Former baby cousin, she's grown so much too, I'll now call her little cousin.

Cousins, brother, and me from my dad's side.

Taz, my cousin's new puppy. Don't let his cuteness fool you.

Quitters Never Win . . .

2011-07-05T14:34:00.002-04:00

After two 30 for 30 outfit posts I decided I'm not feeling the 30 for 30 this time around. Only two days in the whole thing was starting to feel like a drudgery. Last time I did the 30 for 30 I loved it, and felt like it helped me see my wardrobe through new eyes. Maybe it's because I have only added one or two things to my wardrobe since the last 30 for 30 (which I also did in the summer), or maybe it's that my priorities are shifting, but it wasn't working for me.

So I quit.

I normally hate to quit. I'm pretty stubborn. I also generally believe that when you commit to something that you follow through. It's one of those things many of my students struggle to grasp, and I always try to model it for them. Sorry kiddos, if you can't follow through, at least you can be honest about it.

Although I'm ceasing my 30 for 30 participation, that doesn't mean I won't be blogging. I have some new ideas about directions I want to take this blog in, also Andy and I have some exciting changes happening in our lives, which I will definitely be sharing soon!

The Homework Debates

2011-06-29T17:02:00.008-04:00

Homework is a hotly contested issue. Many parties are involved (teachers, administrators, students and parents), and numerous views on the issue are held. When I was in high school I remember having hours upon hours of homework. If I ever said anything negative about a teacher it was usually in regards to the amount of homework they assigned, but I viewed it as a necessary evil, and took it as a measure of a teacher's seriousness. If you assigned me a lot of homework then you must have high academic expectations for me.

Once I became a teacher myself, my views on homework began to change. At first I thought I would take after my own teachers and assign large amounts of homework to show my students how seriously I took their education. What I realized is it's not the amount of homework you assign that shows students how serious you are as an educator, it's how you teach and run your classroom. I also realized, homework doesn't show you what a student knows, or is even capable of doing, it shows you what they're willing to do outside your classroom. I didn't feel homework was showing me much about my students as learners, or benefiting them as learners so I began to cut back on the amount and type of homework I assigned to my students. I've been experimenting with layered curriculum for the past two years, and next year I'm looking at flipping my honors classes so that will further impact the amount and the way I give homework.

When I read articles like this one on NPR, it makes me frustrated (here's the original story in the LA Times - a brief synopsis of the article - homework can count for no more than 10% of a student's grade). Here's what frustrates me so much about this: it doesn't discuss the role of homework in education at all. Whether homework counts for 10% of 90% of a students grade really doesn't make that much of a difference, if you don't actually look at what the homework itself is comprised of. Do the percentages really matter if the homework has no value on actual student learning? Maybe there's a reason the students aren't doing the homework, besides the fact that they have jobs after school, maybe it's because they realize a lot of it is just busy work that isn't greatly impacting their learning. Assigning an arbitrary value to homework is not a philosophical change in the homework policy at a school. Instead it seems like more discussions need to be had about the role and value of homework in our educational system.

Just because homework now only counts of 10% doesn't mean that students won't receive two hours of pointless kill and drill activities or unnecessary readings, it just means it won't impact their grade as much. The article says that many teachers are worried that students won't do their homework or take homework seriously now that it doesn't impact their grade as much. My response is if you're assigning meaningful, valuable homework, that is necessary and leads to learning, you can assign any percentage you want to it and the students who do it will be successful in your classroom and the students who don't will not be as successful. The goal of many schools is to prepare students for college. How many of you who attended college had your homework count at 10% of your grade? Probably no one, my homework never counted towards my grade, the professor never checked to see if we did our readings. It was obvious based on classroom discussions, tests, and activities who completed the assignments. I did those assignments because I knew they were an essential part of the class and my learning experience. Isn't that why you want students to do homework? Not solely for a grade?

If we're truly concerned about accountability, responsibility, and preparation for the next level of education, we need to look beyond the percentage value of homework.

30 for 30 - Outfit #2

2011-06-29T16:40:00.003-04:00

This post could also be titled, "What not to wear while moving."

You're probably thinking, didn't she already move? Wasn't that what the extended blog silence was all about? You're right, I did close on a house, and move in . . . but we didn't quite move everything. We thought we were being really smart by closing on the house at the beginning of the month, but not ending our lease on our apartment until the end of it so we'd have plenty of time to move. What actually happened is we totally slacked on moving the last bits of odds and ends out of the apartment and yesterday we went back to do the final clean out and move the last of our stuff left in the apartment.

I wore this outfit because I thought it would be light, flowy, and easy to move in. Ha.

I'm Wearing:
Dress - JCrew
Necklace - Gift from Andy
Leggings - American Apparel
Shoes (not pictured/pink flats) -Graceland

Moving what you previously thought was a small amount of stuff out of a fifth floor apartment on a summer afternoon will rapidly turn you into a sweaty disgusting mess no matter how cute and flowy your outfit may appear to be.

It also took us slightly longer than anticipated to get everything out of the apartment and get it all cleaned up. By the time we got home it was way past my normal bedtime and I almost forgot to take an outfit picture. I did remember, but I forgot the shoes.

I'm glad to finally be done with the apartment, and ready to focus all my efforts entirely on unpacking and setting up our new house.

30 for 30 - Outfit #1

2011-06-28T17:06:00.001-04:00

I realize this is a rather bland start to my 30 for 30 remixing, but it was my first day of teaching a summer technology course for other teachers in my district so I wanted to make a good first impression. I think I did, and the first day went really well. It's a completely different experience teaching adults than it is adolescence. When you ask if anyone has questions, many hands go up. Also no one whines or texts under their desk.

For the next few days I'll probably be searching for good outfit picture spots in my new home. I thought the sun room would be ideal, but I'm not so sure.

30 for 30 Line-Up

2011-06-28T10:00:00.002-04:00

I now present my 30 for 30 choices:

A note on the shoes - I had not originally planned on including the pink flats, I had really wanted to include these which I just ordered, but unfortunately shipping time is anticipated to be 7 - 12 business days . . . I didn't think I could hold out that long on only three pairs of shoes. I am going to try to hold out on wearing the pink flats, hoping my new ones arrive and I can swap them in, but I may just cave and go with the pink flats . . . stay tuned.

Checking In

2011-06-20T16:02:00.002-04:00

We finally got our Internet hooked up in our new house! We're not exactly settled/unpacked yet, but we're hoping to be soon, and I'd like to be blogging on a more regular basis.

I wanted to do (and still plan on doing) Kendi's 30x30 challenge, which she started last Monday. I thought for sure my last Monday I'd have my Internet hooked up, and my house/clothes unpacked enough to begin, but I completely underestimated how much junk we had in our apartment, and how long it would take (will take) to unpack it. We have two more school days left (if it wasn't for all those snow days we'd be done by now), then I'll be away for a friend's wedding. When I return on Monday I'll be ready to dive into the 30x30 and some more blogging.

Thanks for sticking with me everyone. I'm looking forward to catching up on the hundreds of posts I have waiting for me in Google Reader.

Closing!

2011-06-03T07:09:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't been posting much lately, here's why - Andy and I are closing on our house today and over the next week we'll be moving!

Posting will be a bit sporadic as we get moved in and get Internet at our new home, but I'll be back and I promise it will be worth the wait. I'll be doing Kendi's new round of 30 for 30!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2011-05-17T06:01:00.000-04:00

It's my dad's birthday! I won't tell you how old he is, but I will share a few pictures of him.

Dad, I love you and can't wait to see you this weekend. Happy birthday!

Weekend Highlights: May 2011 III

2011-05-16T16:52:00.002-04:00

This weekend we realized we only really have three weekends left in Boston before we move! As excited as we are to move (and overwhelmed by the moving process), we are kind of sad to be leaving the city and being further from some of our friends.

We went to visit the house and do some measurements. Although it was a miserable rainy day I did snap a picture of all the pretty blooming plants in our new yard.

So pretty. I wish it was actually nice outside. It's rainy and miserable. I'm going to make some vegan shepherd's pie for dinner tonight because we need some warm comfort food. I'm looking forward to eating it while doing #sschat tonight on Twitter.

How was your weekend? What did you do?

Weekend Highlights: May 2011 II

2011-05-09T19:59:00.002-04:00

This weekend was super busy, but extra awesome because Andy and I went down to Atlanta for his brother's graduation from Georgia Tech.

Actual pictures of the graduation will come when I steal them from my in-laws and when I catch up on sleep. We didn't get home until midnight last night and today was my full day (teaching all 5 classes and a duty, no prep!) so I'm completely beat. I'm going to lay down and make my second attempt at reading On the Road, which will most likely lull me into an even quicker sleep.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything special for mother's day?

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T07:16:00.001-04:00

Happy Mother's Day, mom!

Thanks for being my shopping partner and teaching me how to be stylish, even if I didn't always listen to your advice. I should have, you're usually right. Hope you have a great day!

Love, Lisa

Wordless Wednesday II

2011-05-04T15:13:00.000-04:00

Spring is great, but sometimes I miss fall.

Tasty Tuesday: Peanut Butter Noodles

2011-05-03T16:05:00.005-04:00

There's a place down the street from me that has amazing Thai food. I would order from there every night but that would cause some problems, such as going broke. Instead I've discovered how to make my own peanut noodles. They're almost as good as the ones from the Thai place, much cheaper, and you can customize them to your taste!

I originally found the recipe on Meals and Moves. It's a vegetarian recipe, but I made it vegan by not using egg and extra tofu instead. You could also add in chicken or any other meat. I also skipped the green onions and put in the remainder of a bag of frozen veggie mix.

The recipe makes a huge amount so you'll have lunches for a few days. It tastes just as delicious reheated a day later.

What restaurant/food style have you tried to copy at home? Were you successful?

Weekend Highlights: 5.1.11

2011-05-02T17:54:00.002-04:00

This weekend was relatively uneventful. I mostly caught up on watching Mad Men and knitting and did some homework. Since it was so nice out we did go for a few long walks around the reservoir nearby.

I'll miss the reservoir when we move. I'll also miss the delicious bagel places we have.

Hopefully I can find some good bagel places near our new home. How was your weekend?

Blogging Redirection

2011-04-27T18:48:00.002-04:00

Hello Dear Readers,

I realize lately my blog has probably not been the most fascinating read out there on the Internet. This has mainly been due to three factors:

My being crazy busy.
Feeling like I was in a blogging rut.
Sometimes I just get lazy.

Generally the lazy period passes, as does the busy period. However, I've almost had this blog for two years now, and I have to be honest, I'm getting a bit bored. When I first started this blog I intended it to be about my teaching, knitting, biking and snowboarding. Then I discovered other people's fashion blogs and was really inspired by the idea and decided to try that out, and for some periods focused pretty heavily on it. Lately, I've been feeling a bit burnt out with the same old and want to branch out a bit more, but at the same time return this blog to its originally intended roots.

I'll be changing things up a bit and starting next week I'd like to be posting regularly again. Here's what you can plan on seeing (I'm sure there will be deviations, so think of this as a rough outline):

Mondays - Weekend Highlights and/or knitting projects
Tuesdays - Tasty Tuesdays (I still secretly wish to be a food blogger at times, or at least have a kitchen like one)
Wednesdays - Wordless Wednesdays (just a picture, no words, maybe a caption, but not many words)
Thursdays - Teacher Thursdays
Fridays - Fashion Fridays (I still like taking pictures of myself)

I hope these changes don't mean I'm going to lose some of my readers, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to feel more inspired and excited about blogging again.

Thanks for reading!
- Lisa

Happy 23rd Birthday Jason!

2011-04-22T09:12:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday Jason. You were always the more stylish sibling.

Wordless Wednesday I

2011-04-20T11:25:00.002-04:00

Grandma ~1950s.

Tasty Tuesday: Vegan Shepherd's Pie

2011-04-19T07:47:00.003-04:00

Don't let the word vegan hold you up. Andy who loves regular shepherd's pie and is incredibly fearful and skeptical of anything labeled vegetarian/vegan ate almost everything pictured below.

I found the recipe on Oh She Glows and it is simple and crazy delicious, and cheap to make! The only substitution I made was frozen peas instead of celery. You use a little bit of wine in this dish, but you still have most of the bottle leftover so you can serve it with the meal and it seems like you're really good at wine pairing. All in all I think this one is a winner, and even Andy who loves traditional shepherd's pie agrees.

Boston Marathon 2011

2011-04-18T17:59:00.005-04:00

One of the things I will miss the most when we move is being right on mile 22 on the Boston Marathon. For the past few years I've been enjoying watching the race. This will probably be the last year we see it for a while.

To make sure we don't forget the joys of watching the marathon out our window I even made this little video.

Boston Marathon 2011 from Lisa Herzl on Vimeo.

I finally put the Flip camera Andy gave me to use!

We saw several runners in costumes, but my favorite was Napoleon.

He conquered most of Europe, created lycees, and ran the Boston Marathon. Keep up the hard work Napoleon.

If you were in Boston/Boston area did you watch the marathon? This is my break week, so in addition to watching the marathon I plan to catch-up on some homework, grading, knitting, and blogging.

Why I haven't been around . . .

2011-04-11T19:44:00.002-04:00

Andy and I bought a house!

We just had it inspected, and there's still a lot we need to do before we close/officially own the house. As first time home buyers we're slightly overwhelmed by how involved this whole process is, and it has been taking up virtually all of our time. It seems like after next week things will start to calm down and I hope to be back to regular posting soon.

Teacher Thursday: Timetoast Timeline

2011-03-31T13:59:00.001-04:00

If you teach history you have probably assigned your students to create a timeline at some point. Timelines are beneficial for a few reasons, they force students to actually acknowledge that events in history have dates attached to them (students for some reason stubbornly refuse to learn dates), makes them see events in chronological order (this can help them realize that more than one thing can be going on in the world at a time), and if you make them do an annotated timeline they actually have to describe the event and know something about it. I like the idea of timelines as an assignment, but I detest timelines in their actuality. When students turn them in they're in varying degrees of completeness/neatness. Despite my repeated reminders to outline and/or plan beforehand students don't, this means they often use arrows or other sloppy indicators to show where a misplaced date/event belongs. Also it means I have to spend one night at work until 7:00 to grade the timelines, because I don't want to lug all those posters home with me.

However, we live in a wonderful age of technology. You can make timelines online now! There are several sites available, but my current favorite is timetoast. What I like about timetoast is that it's very user friendly, and it allows students to put in pictures, links, and descriptions into their timeline. It puts dates in order as you enter them (so if you forgot something no need for an arrow or attaching an extra sheet of paper). A student doesn't need to lug their posterboard between home and school (and neither do I!). On the day the timeline is due I simply have them email me the link.

You can click on the dots to see a full event. My students thought this was such a novelty that they seemed to momentarily forget that I asked them to find dates for events and write paragraphs about them. The only flaw with timetoast is that it does limit the amount of text they're allowed to put in a box. Overall though it is loved by students and the teacher.

Outfit Catch-Up

2011-03-29T17:48:00.002-04:00

Since I last wrote I've been fighting a super nasty cold that's been going around work. I think I'm finally on the tail end of it, but it really took a lot out of me. I've been laying pretty low and putting much effort into my outfits (or really anything besides sleeping and blowing my nose . . .), but here's an old outfit I haven't shared yet:

I'm Wearing:
Cardigan - Kohl's
T-Shirt - H&M
Scarf - H&M
Jeans - JCPenney's
Boots - Clarks

I've got a ton of grading and homework to do (mostly because I neglected it while sick), but first I plan to catch up on some unread blogs in my google reader, clearly my priorities are in order.

Teacher Thursday: Social Network Mock-Ups

2011-03-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

I recently discovered (by discovered I mean my co-worker showed me) two interesting socializing/networking site fakes that could be used for student activities.

First one, http://classtools.net/twister:

Not only do I think this is hilarious, but I think it's a really cool ongoing project idea for students. They can continually "tweet" as a historical person/character as we study an event. For example, how awesome would it be to tweet as Winston Churchill through World War II?

Second, but equally awesome, is fakebook - http://www.classtools.net/main_area/fakebook:

This site allows students to set-up a fake facebook page for a historical or literary figure. For historical figures they have actual photographs/portraits, and for many literary figures they have cartoon images or the actor who has played them in a movie. A student could fill in the details about their person, write on their wall, and basically everything else you could do on actual facebook. They can then provide the link to the teacher. I love this, because when I teach about the rise of dictators in Europe I give the students an assignment where they can make a facebook page for Hitler, Mussolini, or Stalin. I created a template I let them use, but now I can let them create a more authentic one (and more fun!).

There are so many great sites available to teachers out there. I recently created a Diigo account so I can store them all in a place I can access from anywhere. If you have a Diigo account let me know, you can see mine here.