A Pack of $5 Stickers vs. Using What You Already Have!

Yesterday after I picked Phillise & my niece, Melodee, up from school, I decided to stop by Michael’s. We hadn’t been there all summer, so I figured it was high time we did. Initially, I thought about buying some stickers, but thought about the 1,000 we already had at home. (Translation: I was being a [...]

Look @ those two!

I called Phillise to ask her for a hug, and got a wet one ’cause the sleeves on her robe was wet.
“Honey, why are you wet? What are you doing?,” I asked her.
“Oh, I was just helping David wash the dishes,” she said.
So, I look in the kitchen after she walked away from me and [...]

Mission Impossible Assignment #3: School Shopping on a Budget, Part 2

My mission (which I already accepted) was to purchase school uniforms, underwear & socks, and shoes for 2 children for under $150. This was seemingly impossible, but it’s been done before and it can be done again. One of the best ways to save money is to recycle clothing from the previous year that [...]

The Day I Saw My Mother-in-Law’s vagina!

Ah, the day I saw my mother-in-law’s vagina. What a catchy title? You just have to read this post now, don’t you? Trust me, this post is not going to be what you thought it was going to be about. This post is about a couple of things. Like to hear them, here they are:

Why [...]

Book Club field trip!

Well, I added a new element to Book Club- field trips. I also dropped it to 3 days/week instead of 5. Five days/week was way too much. It made me feel like I was still teaching. I didn’t feel like I was on vacation. Anyway, I digress.
So, we went to FREE TUESDAY @ The LaBrea [...]

Speaking of…

This is a silly post. It’s totally random, but I just wanted to write it.
The way I speak now is like a broken record now. Why? Because when I speak English, people ask me what language I’m speaking. When I speak Spanish, I get asked to slow down because I talk so fast. When I [...]

Subject & Predicate

I have been out of ideas for clever titles, but am back now and better than ever. I love the title; I don’t love the subject. I spoke to my assistant and she told me that my class has been horrible in my absence. And the whole problem is because my student’s behavior is predicated on [...]

Missing them! Part 2

***Warning- This post is long!***
I am really beginning to miss my students. We had so much fun in my class. They knew me and I knew them. It was a good atmosphere, as long as Nu wasn’t present. When he did participate, it was great. I had nicknames for them. It was a funny little [...]

A Lesson On People

Taken directly from Diva Zone Magazine’s Daily Dose
A Lesson On People
I recently heard a story that changed the way I look at some people that I come in contact with…..
There once was a little bird flying south for the winter. He was flying so fast that he froze in mid air and immediately fell [...]

From the mouth of babes…

The more I am around young children, the more they impress me. I was just talking to David, my youngest son, when he said something so profound. We were talking about taking care of Moriah for the night.
My little sister, Danielle who I call Yelli, called and asked if I could take care of Moriah [...]

When procrastination paid off for me…

I hate to admit this, but since I’ve had my plate so full, I have become a bit of a procrastinator. Usually, this ends up biting me in the but. However, today, it paid off for me.
Before Christmas I saw the cutest little Continental Electric brand mini sewing machine that I thought would be [...]

Proud me!

I am so proud of my baby. I read her the book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett some time last year. A couple of days ago, I read her the sequel to it, Pickles to Pittsburgh, and she noticed right away that it was the same illustrator. She didn’t know that [...]

Yay! Not today!

Yay! As it turns out, today is not my day to present. My day is on the 24th. I will stay true to my promise and do my work this week ahead of time, so I will not be so stressed out. As for the assignment that was due where I confused phonological awareness and [...]

Goodbye to Toolie!

Life is so funny. A couple of months ago I would have given anything to have this kid, Toolie, out of my class. He was loud and very disruptive. He called me names, etc.
I thought that once he was out of my class that it would be so much better off. Oh, how I wished [...]

I got a new student!

On Thursday I got a new student who didn’t want to come into my class. She cried at the end of the day. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she didn’t want to be in my class.
“Why?” I asked her. I want to go back to my old class. I didn’t [...]

You can not come into my class!

I found out from someone @ U.T.L.A. that I could refuse to admit problem students to my class. In essence, I can suspend them from class. I really hate to resort to this measure because I want to help them, but nothing seems to be working with one student in particular. I have tried everything, [...]

Yesterday wasn’t half bad!

I have to say that all-in-all, yesterday wasn’t a bad day. I am happy about that because even though I was determined to have a great day no matter what, I was still a little worried.
First of all, my oven is on the fritz. Even when I have it all the way up to broil, [...]

A reverse psychology motivational speaker using Seinfeldian terms

For this Thanksgiving I had a plan. I was going to have a peaceful Thanksgiving if it killed me damnit! My plan was to unvite some parts of my family for Thanksgiving. Yeah, you read it right. I said unvite instead of invite. That’s a Seinfeldian term from the sitcom by Jerry Seinfeld. Let me [...]

A seemingly long-toothed lion defanged!

I had a very interesting, life changing revelation yesterday when dealing with one of my students. When I was first observing the class, I wondered how, oh how was I going to deal with him. He was like a roaring lion seeking to devour ( 1 Peter 5:8).

I was prey to him!
He really made me [...]

Engaged and not distracted!

For the lesson that I taught yesterday to my potential class, I scaffolded the lesson to include the two children who didn’t talk. This is where the scaffolding part comes in. I made a P.E.C.S. (more later) board for the two who can’t talk. After writing the words on the board, I had everyone make [...]

Sleepy & tired me!

I just woke up from a great nap. My couch is so comfortable. Anyway, I digress. I was tired because I was up until 4 a.m. planning this scaffolded lesson (more later). This is the final stage of the interview process.
I am so proud of myself because I had another lesson planned but scratched it [...]

I can totally afford all this cheese!

Does anyone remember that line from the California lottery commercials when the lottery first came here? The commercial was shot from the vantage point of someone shopping in a grocery store looking at all the salami and cheese and thinking that it wasn’t out of their reach anymore.
He is so happy that he has [...]

I just sold myself!

“Call me a prostitute because I just sold myself,” I told my husband when I came home from my job interview yesterday.
“Okay, that didn’t come out right,” I said.
What I meant to say is that I potentially talked myself into a job. I sold my skills and qualifications to the Assistant Principals like a pro. [...]

I’m not signing that!

“Nice try, but no dice,” I said to my 16 year old son Dakota as he tried to shove a paper in my face to sign as I was walking out the door.
My children know the rules. I don’t sign anything in the morning.Why?
Because I was a teen-ager before and I tried the same thing: [...]

Either you do or you don’t!

I was talking to my husband Phillip the other day when he asked me a question that I hadn’t stopped to consider for a long time.
“Why do you want to teach special ed?,” he asked.
He asked me this in response to the story that I was telling him regarding the bad day that I’d had [...]

That “Aha” moment!

Yesterday I talked about that magical “Aha” moment. So many people say it, but what does it mean?

If you will just think about it for a minute, you will know what I am talking about. It’s the equivalent of what Archimedes said when he discovered the theory of displacement. Aha, he might have said, instead [...]

Harping on that TFA thing!

In one of my older posts, I wrote about thinking that I’m not good enough sometimes. It was in regard to being rejected by Teach for America (TFA). At the time I tried to tell myself that things happen for a reason.
Not fully believing it, I told myself, “Maybe I wasn’t meant to be in [...]

Frazzled me!

I know that this was a long time ago, but does anyone remember Sinbad’s stand-up routine where he talks about how he was so bad. He said that his mother got even with him by having a little sister. He said that she told on everything that he did.
Well, it’s the same way with my [...]

Keep your shoes on please!

I decided to return to being an assistant while waiting for the teaching job to come through and boy am I glad that I did. Being at work today renewed my strength. It made me remember my commitment to be the best that I can.
The only thing that I don’t like about the assignment is [...]

A peek into the mind of a crazed post-a-holic!

I was reading this author’s website with interviews from authors who have had books published this year and they were discussing their writing process. I was inspired by that to write about my writing muse and my writing process. I read the article because I wanted a peek inside their heads. How would you like [...]

Mommy, I’m writing a post!

I was writing a post when Phillise went to get her Barbie laptop and informed me that she was going to write a post also. Of course she can’t type, especially not a post. The laptop isn’t real, but it’s so cute that she thinks that she can and she is going to try [...]

How’s that for a nice dose of irony?

I entered this poetry contest @ poetry.com. I decided that nothing but the best would do, so I submitted what I considered my best poem. I put so much work into it. It was about words. I built it up from a phoneme to telling how they cut like knives. Well, what do you think [...]

The time has come, the time is now. Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now?

The time has come, the time is now. Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now?

The time has come- for me to teach Phillise how to read, that is. I have been putting off teaching her how to read long enough. I started on it, but was not consistent with it. Today, I decided was [...]

Uhhh, what’s the question?

Good morning. How are you doing? Are you still at the same job?
I can’t complaint. Life’s treating me well.
How’s your son? Didn’t he just have a birthday?
Yeah, she’s alright. The missus sends her love.
I sit there dumbfounded. What? says the look that I give.
Did he even hear what I said?
This conversation repeats all around the [...]

You be YOU, part II

I’m 36, 5′0 tall and very curvaceous. My niece, Jayelle, is 14, almost 6 ft. tall and as thin as a rail. I stopped growing up, but not out at twelve; at fourteen and almost 6 ft. tall, she is still growing upPPP. Suffice it to say that I am shaped like most black [...]

Confessions of a crazed Post-A-Holic

For all my fellow post-a-holics out there, there is help. I went to my very first Post-A-Holics meeting yesterday. Here is an actual transcript of my recent visit.
Me: Hi! My name is Leila and I am a crazed post-a-holic.
Group: Hi, Leila!
Me: Today is my 76th post in a month and a half. Sometimes I post [...]

I second that emotion

Even though I haven’t officially started my job as a teacher yet, I know some of what’s in store for me because of my current job as a special education assistant. With my current students, I am like a second mother to them. I have to tell them to tie their shoes, blow their noses, [...]

Chickenrocks!

I am writing this post in praise of imagination. What does this have to do with Chickenrocks, you ask?

Chickenrocks! That’s an unusual term. What is it? What does it mean? It’s something my sister Amber made up. She’s unusual also. Amber is quite a jokester. She can make up a story in no [...]

Who’s in the classroom?

In the immortal words of David Alan Grier of In Living Color fame: I got a little story to tell you. Like to hear it; here it goes.
This is the cutest little anecdote.
Like any mom on the run, trying to get ready for work, I did one of my usual numbers of getting out [...]