While my daughter and son aren't thrilled, I am very excited about heading back to school.
Pretty soon we'll be engrossed in Books of the Month, deliberating over our next writing piece and developing strategies that will sharpen our operations and algebraic thinking skills. Expanding our minds used to be so mundane, rote, and less than fulfilling, but now - with the push towards collaborative learning, higher level thinking skills, and concrete examples, we can truly feel the reality of what we're learning. I've only been teaching for eight years, so the newness has not worn off quite yet. I've taught kindergarten, first, second and third grades. I have worked with students challenged by emotional and behavioral challenges, children on the autism spectrum, and kids that are labeled developmentally delayed. Through learning about all of the amazing differences in the minds and bodies of these children I have discovered that I can make a difference. Not one child was left behind, each one learned, each one experienced joy and a feeling of accomplishment. They grew... and so did I. I am so very thankful that I've had the opportunity to work with such amazing kids and I'm looking very forward to a new, exciting school year full of challenges and days that will never be mundane. I'm touching on a book that features a teacher that works with children with special needs. I will keep many of my personal cherished moments close to my heart, but some will surely make it into the book. I hope the writing will display the act of teaching in a positive light and show that it is an important job for those few teachers filled with love for these kids.
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I'm trying to laugh at myself right now.
Usually it's just my kids laughing at me, but now I'm bound and determined to laugh while I chalk up my impulsive and oopsish behavior to my yet-to-be diagnosed ADD. Here's the scoop: I self-published three of my books in July. yeah, cheer, cheer, yay - but all is not well in publishing land... Mistake #1 - 'self-publish' Enough said. It costs around $1,300.00 per book to have it professionally edited so I will continue to 'self-publish' until I make my first million - which will not be anytime soon due to Mistake #2. Mistake #2 - uploaded wrong book Long story short. I was too lazy to get my hard drive, so I edited my third book on my computer without backing it up. When I uploaded the book, I sent the old version into the internet stratosphere forgetting that it was the version littered with grammatical errors and several gaping plot holes. [imagine scary face emoji here] Mistake #3 - advertised wrong book The only books I've sold were those to friends and family (basically courtesy purchases), so a friend suggested that I have a 'free' promotion for a week in order to get the word out. I happily put the book on the 'Free Book Promotion' sacrificial table and let nature do its worst. Unfortunately, I accidentally clicked on the third book (with errors) instead of the first one. 1 + 2 + 3 = please say it isn't so It took me about five hours to realize my mistakes. Don't ask me how I figured it out, but it all came to me as I was sitting in church. Thank you Lord, not only for bringing my errors to light, but for giving me the sense not to freak out in the middle of the sermon. (Don't tell my husband that I broke a few laws driving the five miles back to my house after church.) I immediately jumped on the computer to fix everything but the damage had already been done. Twenty books were purchased. I'm now just waiting for the awful reviews to pour in... - This woman should not be writing. - Was this written by a four year old? - LOL - joke, right? - Do you have an English version of the book? - Best book I've ever read! The last one, of course, would be Mom's review. Sooo... my sincere apologies go out to the readers that had to trudge through the unedited version of my third book. I will certainly not be making that mistake again. Though I'm sure I have about a thousand more just waiting to jump out and scare me during the sermon at church. C'mon and get me mistakes! I'm ready. You'll find me sitting here laughing at myself... along with my teenagers. |