Trip into Boston - Freedom Trail Part 1

I thought I would finally get around to posting some pictures of my trip into Boston and walking the Freedom Trail.

I took the commuter rail into North Station because it's so much easier to ride the train verses dealing with Boston traffic and parking. My friend Sarah and I headed to Boston Common once we got off the train. Sarah told me that the week before her and a bunch of her friends checked out the Cow Parade in Boston. There are 117 cows all over Boston and each one has a theme to it. All day long as we walked the Freedom Trail, we saw cows so I took a few pictures of them. Here are a few of my favorite cows:

Map of Boston Cow in Boston Commons.

State House Cow behind the State House in Boston.

T Cow in Boston Commons.

As we walked the trail, you stop at various historical points in Boston. The first stop is the State House. Across from the State House is the Robert Gould Shaw memorial (If you've seen the movie Glory, Shaw was the guy that was in charge of the 54th Regiment - the first African American regiment organized in the northern states during the Civil War).

State House in Boston.

Memorial to Shaw of the 54th Regiment.

We then headed over to the Park Street Church. I've never been inside the church. They had a nice 12 minute video on the history of the church. Some big happenings in this church: The hymn "America" was first sung here, and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gave his first antislavery speech here in 1829. Afterwards, we walked over to the Granary Burying Ground. Some famous folks are buried here such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock.

Grave of Paul Revere.

Grave of Samuel Adams.

We then walked to King's Chapel and Burying Ground. This is another building I've never been in. Some big facts: Because it was a stronghold of Loyalist opposition, most of the congregation left for England and Nova Scotia in 1776. In 1787 those remaining organized the first Unitarian congregation in America. The burying ground next to the chapel contains the remains of John Winthrop, the colony's first governor, as well as the gravestone that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write The Scarlet Letter.

Our next stop was the marker for the first school, the Boston Latin School- the site of the oldest public school in America, which Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock once attended. Puritan settlers established the Latin School here on School Street in 1635.

Marker for Boston Latin School.

We grooved our way over to the Old South Meeting House. Again, another building I have never been in before. Most of the buildings we toured were free because we had our teacher union card. Lots of history in this building too: When the Old South Meeting House was built in 1729, its Puritan congregation could not foresee the role it would play in American history. In colonial times, statesman Benjamin Franklin was baptized here. Phillis Wheatley, the first published black poet, was a member, as were patriots James Otis, Thomas Cushing, and William Dawes. This museum had nice exhibits and a wonderful gift store if you have plenty of money to buy teaching supplies.

We then moved our way to the Boston Massacre sight. A cobblestone circle marks the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre when British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians. Fugitive slave Crispus Attucks was among the five victims who died that day.

The marker of the Boston Massacre across from the Old State House.

My favorite place of the Freedom Trail - Faneuil Hall! Lunch time! We walked through Quincy Market to find some lunch. As we sat and ate our lunch, you can watch street performers - everything from dancing or juggling or comedy acts. Great people watching!

We then made our way over to the North End. We had to make a stop at Mike's Pastry - the best pastries in the world! I had to have my cannoli - I'm so addicted to it! Yummy!

Paul Revere's house is the next stop. The Paul Revere House is the oldest in downtown Boston. Built in 1680, it was owned and occupied by Paul Revere and his family most of the time from 1770 to 1800.

Front of Paul Revere House in the North End.

The next stop was Old North Church. I adore Old North Church. I always thought that I would I love to get married in that church - in the evening with the candle chandeliers. Very romantic and historical! :-) Built in 1723, Christ Church is better known as "Old North". It is Boston's oldest church building and still an active Episcopal Church. On the night of April 18, 1775, sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns in the steeple to warn Charlestown patriots of the advance of British soldiers.

Inside Old North Church.

Trip into Boston - Freedom Trail - Part II

A cat hanging out in front of Old North Church.

Front of Old North Church.

We then crossed over into Charlestown to see the USS Constitution. We walked onboard the ship - the Navy sailors were just leaving so we got to see them line up at the end of day. They look so cute in their whites! Afterwards, we checked out the museum - it's very hands-on and was a ton of fun!

Side of the USS Constitution.

Looking up on the USS Constitution.

The Bunker Hill Monument was closed for the summer for renovations so we didn't check it out. We took the ferry back to Boston which was a very scenic 15 minute boat trip that drops you off in front of the New England Aquarium.

View of Boston from the water trolley.

As you can see from the pictures, it was an absolutely beautiful day to go into Boston and enjoy a little history. I highly recommend that folks check out the Freedom Trail. Most of the stops are free or a request for donations.

2nd Day of Orientation

Today, I have the second day of orientation. On the schedule:
*Meet administrators
*Given an overview of teaching the English Language Learner (formerly known as ESL)
*Take tour of building
*Review rules and regulations
*Meet with Head teachers to discuss classes
*9th grade team meeting (I'm going to be working with a team of teachers that share the same 9th grade students)

I'm hoping to start working on my classroom. I may go into school tomorrow as well to get myself organized. Officially, the rest of the faculty comes back to school next Tuesday. I'm sure the condition of the building being in major construction may bring folks into the building earlier to get started on the major task of cleaning and organizing their classrooms.

So I guess I should get out my cleaning supplies and start cleaning! :-)

1st Day of Teacher Orientation

OK, this cartoon could possibly be me. Minus the playground duty. High School teachers don't have to worry about playground duty. :-)

Today, I have new teacher orientation at my new school.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE:

1st day went well. Met teachers from all over the community. I met one of the social studies teacher from my department. There was another one hired but we couldn't figure out who that person was at the orientation. There were over 50 new teachers in the city. The gift bags were nice - it's a HUGE book bag (like the canvas LL Bean type) that was filled with supplies for school, some munchie food, new teacher info, professional development binder, and a book on how to survive your first year.

The trolley tour was fun. It was rainy and cold but the tour was nice. I saw parts of the community that I didn't even knew existed and they showed us all the schools in the city. I need to go back to the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). They showed us a quick tour of the museum to encourage us to come back with our classes.

Tomorrow, I'm at the high school. We are in meetings most of the day. I'm hoping to be able to set up my classroom in the afternoon. I guess the building is still declared a hard hat area until Thursday so we have to wear hard hats while in the building.

Working Gal!

I pretty much worked at Paws all weekend.

Friday: Worked 1-5. Meet Annette for dinner at Applebees in Epping, NH. I saw one of my former colleagues from Newburyport there. She works as a waitress for Applebees for extra money. Annette and I then proceeded up to the Lakes Region in NH to go see a musical that her son Darryl is doing up there. This is the second summer that Darryl has worked for the Lakes Region Summer Theatre company. He's the technical director for all the shows. We saw Oklahoma! - I've never seen it before but I thought it was a great musical. The actors and actresses did an amazing job! This theatre company has one famous actor come out of it's program - Tye Diggs! I am so very proud of Darryl - he's one of my babies from the Class of 2003!

Saturday: Worked at Paws 10-3. We had one psycho customer come in and yell at one of the employees about our return policy. MA State law requires each store to post it and print it out on receipts. The store follows that policy. However, people get upset when they try and return something and the store only gives out store credit. I did not make the policy. I only follow it. But, some folks get upset over it.

Sunday: Worked at Paws 11-3. I had a psycho customer come in and yell at me about a return. This woman yelled at me for over 20 minutes! She threatened to call the state on us and she is going to fight her credit card company on paying the bill. The entire time she yelled at me, all I could think of was I really don't get paid enough to deal with this! :-) Remember, this is a part-time job for me. It's a job that I tend to like doing most days because of the interaction I get with the dogs. The woman came back an hour later with her digital camera to take pictures of the store so I think she may try and make a huge issue of this. We did call the owner to give her a heads up about what happened (the owner is down in N. Carolina with her sick father). I really didn't want to bother her with this until the woman came back with the camera.

Other news: As of tomorrow, I go back to school! I'm a little nervous and scared all rolled into one! Starting my teaching career over again isn't exactly what I wanted to be doing at my age but I'm hoping for the best.

They have an exciting agenda planned for us on Tuesday:
8:00 am Continental Breakfast - meet with other new teachers
8:30 am Trolley Tour of Salem
9:45 am Peabody Essex Museum (PEM)
11:00 am Welcome w/ administrators and community members
11:30 am Lunch
12:30 pm Gift bags for new members and Mentor/Mentee Program overview

I'm really looking forward to the trolley tour and PEM. I wonder what's in the gift bags????? :-)

Mandy's Goo Goo Dolls Concert Pics

That's John in the middle. My sister is the second from the right - greenish shirt with jean skirt!

Those of you that know me - know that my sister is a DIE HARD GOO fan.

She emailed me some photos from the concert at the Illinois State Fair.

So, here are a few pics from Mandy and a new friend that she met at the concert.

John is one HOT man!!!!

It's Friday!

I survived my lovely day in Boston yesterday. The weather turned out rather nice. I was afraid it might rain but the day was perfect! Not too hot! I walked the entire Freedom Trail (2.5 miles). If you are not familiar with Boston, the city is hilly. And, because of the Big Dig, the trail has been moved a few times. It was a very long day. I took a ton of pictures that I will post at some point. My friend Sarah went with me - I used to work with her at Newburyport HS. One of her friends invited us to a film viewing in Somerville for the evening. The viewing was in this cute little park in Somerville. Sarah's friends brought picnic fixings and drinks and blankets and we hung out and watched short films. All the films were done by women in New England. Some were rather scary but a few of them were funny and good.

Sarah's boyfriend drove us home afterwards since it was so late - I didn't get home until 11:30. That's late for me!

Today, I work at Paws 1-5. When I worked on Wednesday, there were so many boxes of stuff that it was overwhelming! There is no room in that store and we have to put all the new stuff out so it makes it a bit challenging. Plus, we are already getting Christmas stuff in! Can you believe it? Christmas stockings for cats and dogs, stuffed Santa toys that play music, Christmas costumes for dogs with reindeer hats, etc. I hope that the boxes are done but I have a sneaky suspicion that are still there - waiting for me to finish them up.

I meet with Annette tonight. We are driving up to Meredith, NH to see a play that her son is doing. Her son, Darryl, was one of my kids in the Class of 2003 that I advised at Timberlane HS. Darryl is going to school for tech in theatre. I haven't seen him since the winter when he performed in a play at UNH (Into the Woods). It will be good to catch up with Annette - we don't see each other that often due to our crazy schedules.

Enjoy your Friday all!!!

Off to Boston for the day!

I'm off to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail today. The weather isn't exactly nice up in my neck of the woods so I hope it's a little bit better in the city. I decided on taking the commuter rail in because 1) It's cheaper, and 2) Convenience.

I'm planning on taking photos today. I'll post them at some point.

Enjoy your Thursday!

How scary is this?

Just read about this online. Now, you are probably thinking that ONLY a NEW teacher would do something this ridiculous. NO! He's been teaching since 1979!

How Massachusetts Are You?????

Dude! You're 92% from Massachusetts!

Dude! Me and Sully and Fitzie and Sean are gonna hit Landsdowne tonight after the game, hang out at the Beerworks. I'll pick you up at the Coop at 6.

How Massachusetts are you?

OK, I know I was born and raised in IL. BUT, I couldn't resist doing this quiz. Not bad for a gal that has lived in MA since 1994! :-)

Hump Day!

It's Hump Day! Joy!

Carla's appt went well. She came back to my place and slept for a few hours. Thank goodness I have the futon in the 2nd bedroom. The drugs they gave her to knock her out were not that strong. Later in the afternoon, she was up for taking a walk so we went to Plum Island and walked on the beach. Carla wanted to eat something so we eat dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. She ate soft food! :-) Afterwards, we went to Hodgies for ice cream. This is only the beginning of the dental work but I'm so proud of her! She's deathly afraid of the dentist so this is a huge deal for her. She still has more procedures to go but she's a trooper!

I was asked to work today at Paws. The owner's father isn't doing very well so I'm covering her shift for her today.

I'm debating about going into Boston tomorrow to do the Freedom Trail. We shall see . . . . . .

Tuesday Tidbits

I spent my Monday evening with Janet and Lauren. We hung out, ate pizza, and had a great vent session about life. Isn't great to have such great gal pals in your life? Had a wonderful time ladies - the Pumpkin Pie was amazing!!!!

As I drove home last night, I decided to call my sister. She's in San Francisco for the week on business. We had a nice chat. She's a little disappointed in San Francisco though. She said the homeless and crack dealers are just overwhelming there. We were in San Fran in the summer of 1988 and I don't remember it being like that. Mandy really doesn't feel very safe there. It's too bad because San Fran is a wonderful city with some great history and culture. Mandy even made the comment she thought the homeless population was worse in San Fran compared to Seattle. She told me she's been ordering room service because she doesn't feel safe enough to venture out into the city. Being that Mandy lives near Chicago, she doesn't feel that way at home. My parents are all stressed out because they think that something bad can happen to her (mostly Dad is stressed out).

This morning, I drove Carla to the dentist to start the first round of surgical work on her teeth and gums. I have to pick her up this afternoon. She'll be staying with me until tomorrow because she can't be by herself for 24 hours.

So, I'm hanging out here doing school work and laundry. Oh, and blogging! :-)

Enjoy your Tuesday! :-)

Random Thoughts for a Monday . . . .

*Mom and Dad had a garage sale (they have garage sales in IL) on Friday and Saturday. They were able to get rid of quite a bit of stuff. And, make a little extra money. They are starting to get ready to sell the house soon and travel full-time in a RV.
*My sister went to see the Goo-Goo Dolls over the weekend. She's a member of the fan club and won a meet and greet. Yes, she met the Goo in person! She called me on Saturday from her cell phone so I could hear the concert - well, one song anyway! She was so excited!
*I got an email from Traci. She's back from her honeymoon and they had a wonderful time in Aruba. Once little incident of a stolen wallet but overall it sounds like she had a wonderful time. I can't wait to see some pictures.
*A week from Tuesday, I go back to school. Still have all sorts of mixed feelings. Excited. Scared. Etc. Having to start over again at a new school isn't exactly where I saw myself six months ago. But, life throws you a curve ball and you have to go with it. I'm trying to stay positive and upbeat about this starting over thing but it's tough.
*I'm meeting Janet and Lauren tonight for a birthday celebration dinner. It's always so nice to get together with my girls! :-)
*Weekend was pretty low key. I worked on Friday and Saturday.
*I've come to the conclusion that my life is pretty boring. Lonely. This not having a male in my life is starting to bother me. At 35, I thought I would be married by now. I'm so scared to meet someone. I'm soooo not normal!

That's it for my random thoughts.

Any random thoughts that you want to share?????

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!!

Corey is on the left and Jacob is on the right of Spongebob!

Happy Birthday to Jacob! Jacob is the son of my friend Cheryl - Cheryl is a friend from those crazy days at Hall High School! Cheryl is a great Mom! Her boys are amazing!

Wishing Jacob a very happy birthday and lots of hugs!

It's almost time to go back to school . . . . .

It's so hard to believe that in 11 days, I'll be back in school again. My last day of school was June 26th. It was so nice having the month of July off. Usually by August, I'm very ready to go back to school.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been working on my new curriculum for my honors US History class. It's been a little more challenging than I originally thought. I haven't taught an honors class in four years so I really need to be on my toes!

I am planning on going into Boston next week and walk the Freedom Trail. I want to take pictures and take tours so that I can incorporate the material into my lessons. I'm hoping for a nice weather day next week. I lucked out with my road trip to Concord and Lexington. I've done the Freedom Trail a few times in the past but never took pictures.

I've also been doing some cleaning around the condo. Personal stuff and school stuff. This is my 8th year in teaching and it's amazing how much material you accumulate after a short amount of time in education.

Today, I work at Paws 1-5. Short day. Not that I want to jinx myself but I think the tourists are slowly going away. A sure sign to the end of summer. We had two customers that came into the store yesterday from Texas. They both commented on how much cooler it is here in New England compared to Texas (one was from the Austin area and the other was from Dallas). I told them they should've been here a few weeks ago! :-)

Birthday Shout Outs!!!!

I just wanted to give a shout-out to a few folks that have birthdays today:
Aunt Jenence and Sherri N.

Unfortunately, I have no recent pictures to post of them (Well, maybe they will be happy that I didn't have a picture to post).

But, it's their extra special day!

Aunt J is my Mom's sister. Some of you that read this blog know her.

Sherri N. is a friend from high school. Her nickname was Mooner. You can guess on why that was her nickname. She's been a great friend and I'm so happy that we've kept in touch again after all these years.

Ladies - enjoy your day! You both deserve it!

Go Rolling Stone Magazine!!!!

I read a ton of blogs in the morning. Some blogs are written by friends, some blogs are about education or History, and others are just blogs that I enjoy reading for the hell of it. I found this article on this blog.

Is President Bush the worst President in history????

Any thoughts or comments??????

Happy reading folks!

Not much new to write about . . . .

Not too much to write about today.

I haven't really been doing too much lately. I worked all weekend. Besides that, nothing is going on with me.

Just wanted to let ya all know that I'm here. I'm alive. I'm kicking.

I just have nothing exciting to write about -

Congratulations to Mark and Traci!

Today, Mark and Traci are getting married!

Congratulations!

I wish that I could be in IL with you on your special day.

I wish you both much love and happiness in your lives together -

Enjoy that wonderful honeymoon!!!

Love Ya's!!!!!

My Day in Concord and Lexington

You couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day for my little educational field trip. The weather was perfect!
I started out in Concord. I visited the Concord Museum to brush up on the town history. Because I'm a member of the MTA (Massachusetts Teacher Association) I didn't have to pay the entrance fee to get into the museum. They has some nice exhibits on the early colonial period. They also claim to have one of the lanterns that hung in the church steeple on the night of Paul Revere's ride.

Afterwards, I checked out the Louisa May Alcott house - Orchard House. I've done the tour of the house a million times so I just took a photo of the house.

Picture of Orchard House in Concord.

I then made my journey to the Old North Bridge - the shot heard around the world. There have been some changes since the last time I've been here. First, the path that leads to the bridge from the parking lot is now fenced off. Second, the bridge was just recently rebuilt. I noticed that someone put fresh flowers at the graves of British soldiers.

Picture of the grave of British soldiers.

Picture of Old North Bridge.

It was so peaceful and serene here. Since I went during the week, there were not a lot of tourists so it was pretty quiet. I even found a nice spot under a tree near the bridge and read my book 1776. I figured that this was probably the most appropriate places to read this book. As a visual learner, I try and imagine what it must have been like on April 19, 1775 at this spot. These men died for our freedom and for that I will always be grateful.

I also checked out the Old Manse. Again, I was able to take a free tour because of my MTA card. The house was owned by the Emerson family. Nanthaniel Hawthorne lived here for a period of time as well.

Picture of the Old Manse.

I started to make my way over to Lexington. I parked at the visitor's center at Minuteman National Park and walked a few miles of the Battle Road. It's a great trail that has various plagues and memorials along the way.

This is a picture of the trail from the Battle Road.

This picture is the site where Paul Revere was captured.

A picture of a British soldiers grave.

Overall, I really enjoyed my day. It was educational yet fun. I was able to get some exercise in by walking some of the Battle Road. I took a ton of pictures so I'll be able to incorporate the pictures into my PowerPoint's for school.

Happy Birthday Mark!

This is a picture of Mark and his son Jeffrey. Mark is going to marry my friend Traci on Saturday. I'll post their engagement photo on Saturday.

Happy Birthday Mark!

To a great daddy!

Enjoy your day with your family!

Hugs!

:-)

Top Ten List

I will post my pics and adventures from Lexington and Concord later on but here's a top ten list.

Top ten list of favorite movies:
10) Grease (the first one)
9) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Actually, any John Hughes films from the 80's)
8) Chicago
7) Fever Pitch
6) Schindler's List (World War II/Holocaust)
5) Bridget Jones's Diary (1st and 2nd)
4) Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
3) Glory (Civil War)
2) Saving Private Ryan (World War II)
1) The Band of Brother's Series (World War II)

OK, I know this selection seems rather eclectic and strange. You are correct.

What are some of your favorite movies of all time?????

Plan of attack for today ....

Well, I'm getting ready to head out to Concord and Lexington for the day. I want to take some photos of some of the historical stuff for my US History class. I figured that I could use the pictures in my PowerPoint presentations for class.

I have my digital camera and a notebook to take some notes.

It's a beautiful day today in New England. Sunny. Temps in the high 70's. A perfect day for being a tourist!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday -

Happy Birthday Dorky Paul!

My Mom and Dorky Paul at a club at WIU. All my friends and family went out the night before graduation and had "a little fun."

Happy Birthday Dorky Paul!

Paul and I have been friends since 1992 - it's an interesting story of how we became friends. We met at Western Illinois University (for those of you that don't know WIU - it's where I got my BA in History). We were both living in Tanner Hall - an upperclassmen dorm. Paul lived on the floor above me. He used to bounce a basketball at all times of the day and night. Do you see where I'm going with this story? I finally got fed up with this asshole bouncing a ball over my head ever night so I finally went upstairs and confronted him. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship! :-)

Eventually, Paul moved to the fifth floor (the same floor as me). I could harass him anytime I wanted now (and vice versa)! I have so many memories from our days in Tanner Hall and WIU:

*My mom used to buy me macaroni and cheese (I was addicted to it and it was a VERY cheap meal). We had a kitchen on my floor so sometimes a bunch of us would cook group dinners. Paul used to come down to my room all the time because I always had food in my room. My mom was excellent about making sure I always had care packages and food. Paul used to prepare the mac and cheese without the milk and butter. He added water to the sauce. It used to totally gross me out.

*We used to call Paul Dorky Paul because sometimes he acted like a dork! And, it was easier to distinguish between my friend Dorky Paul and my boyfriend Paul (I later will become engaged to him).

*Our late night chats about life, love, and what the hell do we want to be when we grow up?

*Politics - Paul was a republican back in the day so we used to get into these heated discussions. I'm a devoted democrat and VERY liberal!

*When Paul got his apartment off campus, I would hang out with him and his friends. We had some great parties!!!!!

*Dorky Paul was so supportive when my then boyfriend Paul studied in England for a semester. DP listened to me cry and vent.

*When Dorky Paul dated Little Lorie. Yes, we had names for everyone in college.

*The night before graduation, Dorky Paul and his folks, my folks, and friends all partied together! Dorky Paul danced on stage with the band at one of the clubs. Have another drink?

*Graduation day - May 1994. Both us in our cap and gowns. So hopeful of what our future would/could be for both of us.

We've had some amazing times together. I am so grateful and blessed to have you in my life. We are always there for each other - through illnesses of parents, relationships, career changes, etc. You are in Chicago and I am here in Boston. But we still are together -

I love Ya Dorky!

I survived Yankee Homecoming!

YES!

I did it!

My body is killing me from standing on my feet all day, heavy lifting, and being out in the sun. It was a busy week.

Today is the official last day of Yankee Homecoming. No, I will not be anywhere near Newburyport today. The parade happens at 12:30 pm. Yesterday, when I was driving into Newburyport, people already had their chairs lined up along the parade route. What's so funny about this is that no one touches or moves the chairs. It's like this sacred tradition. People line up the chairs and attach rope or string from chair to chair to let folks know that that "spot" is taken. It's the funniest sight to see.

Life goes back to normal. At least summer normal anyway.

Today, the plan is to relax. I may run out to do a few errands. Overall, I'm keeping my day low key.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend -

Happy Birthday Traci!

Happy Birthday Traci!

Traci and I have been friends since high school. She's one of the very few folks that still keeps in touch with me. We've been through quite a bit throughout the years.

Traci - I am so blessed to have you in my life. Your support and love means the world to me. I'm so happy for you that you have "your boys" in your life. Thank you for your friendship.

Hugs and love!!!!

The pic above is Traci and her handsome son Jeffrey!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Go over and wish Lauren a very happy birthday!

Lauren - You've been a great friend. It seems like forever since we first met at Pagenet. Remember those days???? Eating lunch in the lunchroom???? Chatting with Janet.

You've been there for me through everything and I'm so grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for being such a huge support to me.

Enjoy your day -

Love Ya!!!!!!

Exhausted!

Not much to write about today.

I'm so exhausted from working that I'm taking the day off. Well, it was a planned day off.

I need to rest because I work tomorrow -

I have Sunday off - thank goodness!

My back and legs are killing me - I've been standing on my feet for over eight hours. And, on cement. Plus heavy lifting.

It finally cooled down in the afternoon yesterday. Today, it's raining. But much cooler than it's been for days!

So, I'm still in my PJ's and watching old DVD's.

Hope everyone has a nice Friday and a good weekend-

Dreadful heat and humidity in New England

It's all over the news here. I'm officially tired of the heat and humidity. Make it go away please.

I have to work 2-9 today in this crazy weather. It's Yankee Homecoming week in Newburyport and the entire downtown area will become a tent city. It's sidewalk sales. So, part of my shift will be in a tent on a nice humid day. Joy!

Someone check to see if I'm passed out from the heat at some point today, OK?????? You have my permission to hose me down too! :-)

Goals for the upcoming school year

I am a very goal orientated kind of person. As a teacher, I need to plan everything I do in my classroom. The federal and state governments tell me that I need to teach the curriculum from this point in history to the next point in history. So in a sense, my goals in teaching my curriculum are already set for me by the higher powers (government). But, there are goals that I can work on as a teacher and as a person.

I always have professional goals:
*Work on pacing in my curriculum.
*Attend a few workshops or seminars.
*Work on my organizational skills.
*Keep up with my correcting (This one is hard to do!)

This year, I want to focus on some personal goals:
*I don't want my job to control my life. For seven years, my life has revolved around my job. This is not a healthy thing and after what happened last school year, I need to focus on getting a life outside of school.
*I need to get out there more. What exactly does this mean? It means that M-Dawg needs to start meeting men! Dating! I haven't been on a date in almost seven years!
*To not take life so seriously. Laugh about the ups and downs of life.
*Get involved in something outside of education. I don't know what that is yet but I would like to maybe volunteer at a shelter or something like that.
*Build up my savings. Emergencies happen.

I know. This seems like a lot of goals. I feel that by working on these goals, M-Dawg will become a better human being and teacher.

Do you have goals? What are those goals and do they change as you grow as a person?

1st day of School Work

Today I started working on some school stuff.

I've been reading 1776 by David McCullough to brush up on my American Revolution History. So far, I'm enjoying the book. I really like how McCullough writes his books - I've read John Adams a few years and really enjoyed that as well. He shares more personal insight and stories on each individual person so you feel like you actually know that historical figure.

I spent the morning doing research on the Internet and typing up some activities and lessons.

I'm very strong in World History - I've been teaching World History for eight years! It's hard to believe that I'm entering into my eighth year in teaching. I'm not too worried or concerned about the curriculum for that course.

My weakness, as I have mentioned in previous posts, is the material prior to the Civil War. This time period in US History tends to be rather boring (in my personal opinion). I feel like I'm at an advantage on some level because a lot of the history I'll be teaching is right here in New England. I'm hoping maybe I can jazz up some of the material by either taking a few field trips (money is always an issue) or if I take some photos of some of this historical stuff and incorporate it into a PowerPoint so that it might help make the material more interesting. I was thinking that next week, I may take a road trip to Concord and Lexington and take some pictures of some of the historical stuff (I'm working crazy hours at the doggie place this week and the humidity is way too high to be outside taking photographs).

I remember three summers ago my former department chair at Timberlane asked me to come with him to Salem, MA to help him videotape the maritime history. We took turns holding the video camera and adding commentary at various historical sites. He teaches AP US History and wanted to add to his curriculum. He knew the school didn't have the money to do field trips so he figured he'd bring the field trip to the students! I don't have a video camera but I figured my digital camera will work just as good! And, I can incorporate all the pics into PowerPoints.