Spirit Fingers

In addition to teaching my darling 8th grade students math, I am taking on the role of Basketball Cheer Coach at school this year.

With the exception of trying out for the McCracken cheer team as a rising 7th grader,
I have no cheerleading experience. I get the
feeling that the other teachers were not lining up for the position, but I think it will be a neat experience.

Cheer practice starts next week. Luckily, auditions were held at the end of last school year and I don't have to worry tryouts. There are 4 returning basketball cheerleaders who I will heavily rely on for pretty much everything. Aside from "Basket, Basket, we want a Basketball," my cheer repertoire is non-existent.

I hope that my dance background will be some sort of asset to the cheerleaders. I at least have an eye for choreography and will be able to make corrections once we have cheers in place. Who knows, maybe I can find a way to slip a little ballet in somewhere! The cheer coach at Kevin's school is great and has even shared some of their basketball cheers with me. Now if I can just remember all the arm movements she did with them...

While I won't be prepping my cheerleaders for any crazy competitive cheer TV show, I do hope to build a team of proud and dedicated young ladies who show school spirit and leadership qualities.

Let's go, Bucks!

A Little Blog Hiatus

This week marks the end of the first grading period at school... and hopefully the end of my hiatus from my blog. 

Life has definitely been crazy since I stepped into the classroom in August. I always knew teachers had a hard job, but I have a whole new respect for what Kevin has been doing the past 4 years. 

There is never a dull moment at a middle school... NEVER. Here are some shareable moments you may enjoy. 

1. My students are obsessed with my age. I have been estimated as young as 22 and as old as 35. There is rarely a day that goes by that at least one student does not try to get an answer out of me. It is not so much that I care if they know how old I am, I just enjoy driving them crazy by not confirming my age.
2. A girl that I don't even teach says hello to me in the hall in the mornings. One morning she told me I was the most beautiful teacher in the whole school... made my day!
3. Me: Where are you going? I didn't call lockers yet...
   Several Students: Umm, yeah you did Mrs. Coy...
   Me: Really? Hmm, ok then, is it Friday yet?
4. I will often play music from my iTunes while students are doing work... "Mrs. Coy, do you have any like, good music, on there?" 
5. A student asked if he could change seats so he could sit in the back of the class. When I asked why, his answer was "I can't see sitting in the front..."
   

My New Shoes...

I have big news. I own an official pair of "teacher shoes"...

Those who know me well know that I am a fan of high-heeled shoes. While I do enjoy my Rainbow flops and UGG boots, I've worn nothing but heels to work since entering the real word in 2006. I love the way heels look and they make me feel tallish (or at least not so short).

It is not that I don't think I can still sport my heels while teaching eighth graders how to solve equations, I am just not sure how long my ballet-battered feet can handle it. I bought no special footwear for my student teaching experience, but then again I wasn't teaching all day, every day, for an entire year.   

So what did I get? A pair of Alegria clogs in African Leopard. I figured that if I was going to breakdown and buy a pair of "teacher shoes" that I should at least get a fun pattern! Mama is a big fan of Alegria shoes and owns more pairs than she will fess up to. She had been trying to convince me that I needed a pair for a while now. I think she is kind of excited that I finally caved. 

Don't worry though, I don't plan on making these my daily shoes. I have purchased some wedges that I plan to wear on a more regular basis. Wedges are like supportive heels, right?

Lights Out for Loggerheads

My family and I had the rare experience of watching a Loggerhead lay her eggs our last night of vacation at Edisto. We have spent many summer vacations on the island, but have never encountered a turtle before!

Kevin and I decided to talk a final stroll on the beach our last night in town. We walked up the beach a little ways and then turned around to head back. The moon was not up, so the beach was pretty dark. Kevin pointed out a dark object in the surf. I shined my flashlight towards the area and let out a gasp - "It's a Turtle!"

I quickly turned off my light and we stood still as we watched to see what she would do. Slowly, the Loggerhead crawled out the of surf and made her way up the beach. We could only make out her shadow most of the time, but she would stop every few feet as if to rest and ensure her surrounding were safe.

Kevin went and called my parents to come down as I continued to watch our flippered friend drag herself up the sand. She did a couple of test digs before she settled on the perfect spot for her eggs. Her flippers were flinging sand in all directions and then she sat perfectly still while she laid her eggs. The sand flinging continued as the turtle worked to carefully coverup her future offspring for safe keeping. Once she was happy with her nest construction, she turned around and headed back towards the sea. Daddy snapped a picture of the turtle as she moved her way back down the beach before she disappeared into the waves.

The encounter was truly amazing. In about 60 days, the eggs will hatch into little Loggerheads and begin their journey to the ocean.

So Long, Summer

The summer season may have just started according to the calendar, but my summer is practically over! I guess I can't complain much seeing as how I have not worked since the end of February. But it wasn't until I actually signed my contract with District 6 at the end of May that I was able to really enjoy my brief house-wife status.

Over the next month I will have three days of Promethean Board training, a day of new-hire orientation, a four-day workshop for Common Core Math Standards, two days of Induction training and probably a couple of days for cheer camp. I am also going to two days of cheer camp at MSP to help prepare me for the world of middle school cheering.

If nothing else, all these days of class and training will help thrust me back into the teacher mindset. At least Kevin has ensured that my bulletin board skills have stayed up-to-snuff over the years. 

A Melissa-Made Bulletin Board at MSP

Give It a Try: POPchips

There is a new chip in town and I love it! Healthier than the traditional fried chip and with more taste than a baked chip, POPchips are my new favorite snack.

POPchips are just that - popped. Add a little heat and pressure and apparently sliced potatoes pop into a chip. And with the same amount calories and just a gram or two more fat, POPchips make a tasty snack you don't feel bad about eating.

I have only ever had the barbeque flavor, but they have a lot of variety to choose from. My local Publix sells POPchips, but it is around $3 for a small bag. The POPchip website also says you can find them at Ingles and Fresh Market. Costco is currently selling large bags of the chips for around $5 at both the Greenville and Spartanburg stores, although their flavor selection is limited. 

The Annual Read

This year's beach read

I just picked out my yearly novel... it must be time for the beach!

I don't know how else to put it other than I just really don't enjoy reading. Each year I mange to get through one book while I'm enjoying some sand, sun and surf. I am a slow reader, and probably won't finish my random Costco pickup while we are at the beach. But because I like to finish what I start, I'll continue to diligently read a chapter a night until I finally finish the book once we get home.

I think I used to enjoy reading. I can remember reading lots of books in elementary school, but maybe I just felt like I had to in order to advance through the Accelerated Reader Program. I think I really started feeling like reading was a chore in high school when I was forced to read books I just did not enjoy. Because I read slowly, I always felt like it took forever to get through the assigned portion of the book each night. And because I was a stickler for doing everything by the rules, it never occurred to me to skip a few words. 

I don't like to read series because I don't want the commitment of having to read multiple books that build on each other. I prefer novels with short chapters and will actually checkout chapter lengths before buying a book. Kevin really likes to read and tries to get me to read from time to time. I have actually found a couple of reads to be pleasurable over the past few years. I read 'The Help' because of its tie to the Junior League but ended up liking it (even though it did have some lengthy chapters). I seem to enjoy books written by people that I can hear their voice while reading, almost as if they are telling my their story directly. Michael J. Fox has written two books about his struggle with Parkinson's and I loved them both. I also really liked Mike Greenberg's (from Mike and Mike in the Morning) 'Why My Wife Thinks I'm An Idiot'.

I really don't think I'll ever learn to love to read. So the next time you start talking about this awesome book you are reading or say that you stayed up until 3am to finish some wonderful novel don't been offended if I respond with a blank stare... I just don't get it. 

The Bad Neighbor

I think that I am a bad neighbor. I don't actually know any of the residents of the 5 other houses on my street. Ok, that's not entirely true. I sorta know the Asian family that lives across the street... they own/operate Uncle Poons! We smile and wave at each other a lot. The grandfather rides his bike around and grows veggies in his backyard.

It is not entirely my fault that I don't know any of my neighbors! We were only the 3rd family to move on the street and two of the houses didn't even exist when we moved in. As new people have moved in I haven't figured out how to best approach them for the first time. Of course my dad thinks it is just terrible that I am not on first-name basis with everyone. Mama has stalked all of the neighbors through county tax records (which are freely available online) and found all their names... and how much they paid for their house.

I do have nicknames and assumed life stories for most of the neighbors though. There is the drunk old man with his sugar mama who may or may not be dealing drugs across the street. Converse and her husband were the young newlywed couple who got divorced like a year after moving in. He apparently left her because the only time we ever talked to her was when she asked if we had seen anyone at her house with a moving truck earlier that day... awkward! There is a family living next door with two kids - Co-ed and Larry Bird. I don't have a good feel for the 5th house, they just moved in earlier this year. Although they have those family stickers on one of their cars with two adults and two dogs.

So now that we have lived here for 3 years, I don't know how to go about meeting my neighbors. None of them really spend any time outside and I don't really want to just ring the doorbell and say "Hi!". Maybe I can just send everyone a Christmas card this year...