New school year, new outfit!

New dress and heels! Believe it or not I didn't used to have any red heels! Don't worry, crisis averted, ('bout time...) hah

Students' observation superpower

At the high school level though, they definitely just want an excuse to get out of work for a few minutes haha. Oh you lost your pen? Let me be the best student ever while devoting the rest of this class period trying to find it!!! Ha. But normally they know exactly where your stuff is. "Where is my coffee?!" "You left it over here Mrs. Fitz." Best little stinkers ever.

Students are always paying attention to details. Not the academic details of course, those are no fun. But personal details. I mentioned I liked turtles my first year of teaching and the next day a student brought me a live turtle (carried it into school in his backpack, all between his books and notes,) and that is how our class pet Pyro came about 6 years ago!

"Pyro is the G.O.A.T." -student

I worked orientations at my school last week, and I had my phone sitting on the table and I was so surprised how many students commented about how I had gotten a new phone over summer break! Ha. One student told me once that my nail polish didn't match my outfit. Students are extremely observant. It's like a superpower that they have.

Now if only we could get them to use that superpower for the academic content of our lessons...

I'M EXCITED FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR, OKAY? GET OVER IT!
Btw, those heels are my students' favorites.

Adulting is hard

Today I am very proud of myself because I adulted very well. This entire week has been filled with more adulting than I feel is my fair share. I've technically been an adult for almost a decade now, but there are still many instances where I'm looking for guidance from an older, wiser, adultier adult.

Insurance, medical, and monetary issues... why can't all of these things run smoothly? After my adult triumph with my insurance company this morning, I treated myself to a celebratory lunch of homemade chocolate-covered strawberries, 2 cans of Coke, and a $5 Little Caesar's pizza, of which I ate 5 out of the 8 slices. That's over half of a large pizza, my not-math-whizzy-people, (it's ok, I'm a physicist, math is my second cousin. ...Really, more like a big brother.) The comfort of food is real. And I have no regrets. Not even one slice!

Guess what? As a teacher, YOU are the only adult in the room. (I know, it's a horrifying thought, feel free to pause to lower your heart to an acceptable rate. Every day I am amazed someone let me be in charge of 25+ young teenagers...) 

I remember the first time there was a spider in my classroom. The first time a girl came to me frantic because her pants button had popped off so her pants wouldn't stay closed. Or the first time a kid came to me with half of his bloody fingernail hanging off. 

These are the times I had to woman up, keep my face calm, and handle the situation like a boss. I smashed that monster of an insect with my best heels, when on the inside I was more terrified than my students. I supplied that precious girl with a few safety pins and pinned her pants together myself, (at first I sent her to my gigantic walk-in closet on her own, but she was struggling so I was summoned.) And I clipped the rest of that bloody fingernail off like a mother who wasn't squeamish of her own child's blood, (kids, don't try that at home. Funny story... it was during my planning period and my student came to me, [because your babies will come to you for anything and everything.] So I walked him to the nurse. He had split his fingernail horizontally about halfway down his nail, hence the blood, and the nail obviously needed to be cut the rest of the way off because it was long and every time it bent it hurt and squirted more blood. [You're welcome for that visual.] And the nurse was too squeamish to do it!!!! So yours truly, who herself hates all things dirty/gross, [have I mentioned the Hand Paint Incident Of 1993? Scarred for life. But I digress!] made two surgical snips to relieve my poor physicist. Whew! Then lots of disinfectant...)

Suffice it to say as a teacher you wear many hats, but as the fearless leader of your adorable troop of minions, you must always wear the adult hat. You are responsible for your babies. For the minutes/hours they are in your care, their well being is in your hands. Good luck to us all!

Bumming it brings balance

I'm either dressed to the nines, or completely bumming it. That's how I roll and that's how I like it. No one should be wearing a full face of makeup and dressed presentably all of the time. It's unnatural! For me, I live in a land of extremes. If I'm going to look good, I'm gonna bring it with everything I've got. But I can't half-a$$ it. During the school year, as soon as I get home I change from my fabulous, completely put-together outfits into pajamas. Hair up. Let my makeup smear. I like to think it brings balance to the universe. So, just so no one is led astray by my perfectly-poised outfits (ha), here are a few pics of me just bumming it. And I go out and about while bumming it too! It builds character. I have many of these bumming it days during summer break, naturally. I think I'm going on 2 weeks without having worn makeup or heels right now... Sacre bleu I need a night out! (Just kidding. Totally enjoying recharging my batteries.)

Side rant. How come in movies, people with curly hair never get frizzy, out-of-control crazy curls? When I put my hair up I have all kinds of awkward, refusing-to-be-tamed rebel strands that curl out of my scalp at the oddest, most unflattering angles. All I'm sayin is curly-haired people are not being accurately represented in movies/tv, and I take offense to that because now people have unrealistic expectations for how curly hair should look. S'all I'm sayin. End rant.

Note: many of these are "exhausted teacher pics" that I've posted on Instagram over the last school year... Aspiring teachers, in case anyone hasn't warned you yet... this is an absolutely exhausting profession. (But totally worth it, of course!!) If you're doing it right, you will be exhausted (and happy!! and fulfilled!!) at the end of every long day.

First I would like to thank SnapChat's "pretty" filter for making my face somehow still presentable in this stereotypical bumming it picture

This was one of those aforementioned "exhausted after a day of planning, teaching, grading papers, and running a household" posts. My husband Q likes to nap in my lap. These little breaks while he naps are always prime picture-taking opportunities because I  always play on my phone while he naps on me.

One should always bum it with nature. Because nature bums it with us.

#ExhaustedTeacherLife Frazzled hair, expression, and all

See. Another nap in lap picture. I told ya, it's our thing.
P.S. Feel free to not tell Q I've been posting pictures of him napping... He has a bada$$ image to maintain.

What is this picture doing in here?! This was taken Thanksgiving morning, in my coffee pajama pants, surrounded by various stuffed animals Q has given me. ...You can bum it in the morning too.

So this is all to say, that just because you love fashion, that doesn't mean you have to be perfectly polished and fashionable every day of every week! Be comfortable! Be natural. Let loose a little, it's healthy for the soul.

I believe in Education

(Side-note: Wow I started this blog last year, and then life got busy, but I'm going to try again to make it work!)

I believe in Education. I capitalize it because it is so important to me. It is a proper noun in my book for sure. Education puts food on my table. Education is my greatest talent. Education is my passion. Education leads to all other things. Education is my professional calling. Education is life!!!

Everyone deserves to discover what they are best at, (and I do firmly believe that everyone is the best at something, because at the very least you are the best at being you.) I'm [one of] the best at school. I love ballet, but I was never the best in my class. I loved playing oboe, and even though I was very good, others were better. I had fun playing softball, but heaven knows I'm not really aggressive or competitive enough to excel at sports. But in school, I was the best. I received perfect grades since kindergarten. I was valedictorian of my high school. I actually didn't get straight A's in college, (I was a physics major who took graduate level math courses for fun. That sh!t is HARD!! And failing every now and then builds character. Note: I never actually failed a class. But you get what I mean!) Got back on the perfection bus in grad school though and blazed through my degree with all A's.

Me, giving a speech at my high school graduation

Me, posing in my friend Jana's graduation cap and gown in my apt, since I didn't actually go to my bachelor's graduation haha

Me, rockin the hood and the heels at my master's graduation ceremony last May!

School is my thing. I am good at it. I LOVE it. I love every aspect of school. I love the social aspect of it. All of these people stuck together, forced to cram their brains with knowledge. I love extra-curriculars. I tell my students that I became a teacher so that I never had to leave school because I love it so much, and that is absolutely true. I get to go to high school football games for the rest of my life. Those are so much fun! I get to go to PROM every year! I LOVE an excuse to dress up! I get to go to graduation every year. And cry, as my big heart bursts with pride at what my babies have accomplished. Just walking through the halls of a school and sniffing the air like a lunatic gets me high, thinking of all the blood, sweat, and tears that have occurred in those magical places called classrooms where unbelievable personal growth has taken place in thousands of minds.

Me, now in the teacher role, with one of my beautiful physicists who was on Homecoming Court last year

Education isn't everyone's "thing," and I get that. It took me awhile to get that through my thick, education-loving skull though, because I'm thinking it's so easy to do assignments perfectly, and why not always sign up for the highest level of class offered, so that I can learn the most of every random subject offered?! My mother always pushed us in school. Anything less than an A was unacceptable, and we were always expected to take the highest level of any class.

My older brother told me once that he wished our mom didn't pressure us so much in school. He wished he was allowed to take more elective classes instead of having to take all AP classes so that he could have discovered his passion and talent for technology sooner. (Although Mark may not have loved school, he was certainly good at it! He excelled in every class and ended up being salutatorian in high school. [My little sister ended up being salutatorian too. My mother is very proud.] Mark is one of the most intelligent people I know. He majored in trombone performance in college. Now he does really techy awesome code-writing stuff that he taught himself and he's in charge of other techy people and honestly I have no idea 'cause computers are complex and my students teach me everything I need to know about technology like Instagram and SnapChat. End gigantic parenthetical thought.)

This comment from my brother came as news to me, because I didn't remember feeling pressured at all. My mom didn't have to keep up with my grades, because I was an A+ machine on my own. Without consulting my mother I filled my schedule with every AP class I could squeeze in because I genuinely found challenging classes fun. I was very competitive academically, (because I was so good at it,) and I couldn't stand the thought of someone in my high school learning something I didn't also know.

Education is not my husband's "thing" as well and that took me awhile to understand and respect. My husband is just as intelligent as I am; I don't think we would be as happily married if we couldn't keep up with each other's brains, but Q is intellectual in a very non-schooly way. (I like to make up words. You'll get used to it. I think I'm creative.) He's extremely mechanically-minded, having been raised around motorcycles and cars. He could build one from the ground up, and explain the purpose (and physics!) behind every tiny component. It's in his blood. Both his father and grandfather are bona fide geniuses. I say that with no exaggeration. Here are the geniuses I have come across in my life: Laura Hughes, my ballet teacher/artistic director of my ballet company, Q's father, and Q's grandfather. End list. But I digress...

Never would I have thought I'd marry someone without a college degree. I was almost sure I'd marry someone with a doctorate, maybe a professor, because I value Education so much and for a long time it was a very important indicator to me of someone's worth. Luckily I have grown and learned a lot since the time I held those opinions.

This is all to say that I understand that Education isn't everyone's "thing," and it shouldn't be everyone's "thing," because one of the most beautiful things about people is how different we all are. We all learn things differently, but to me that is what Education means. It means learning. Learning is so important, it is how we all move forward in life. I believe everyone can learn anything. I can teach anyone to dance. You think you have two left feet? I promise I've dealt with worse. I can teach you to dance. I can teach anyone physics. When I worked at a preschool I taught my precious babies about the moon, and colors, and they eagerly absorbed every scrap of knowledge I gave them. (Side rant: where do we lose our love of learning? All children love to learn, yet by the time they are teenagers in my high school they view it as a chore. It is one of my personal goals to reinstate that love of learning into my students' hearts, for that is something that will truly get them further in life.) Not everyone needs to go to college, (there is this awful, debilitating thing called student loan debt that will haunt you and hold you back from living comfortably for decades of your life,) and degrees are not a measure of someone's intelligence or successfulness, (there I go making up words again.)

That being said, I believe in our public Education system. People are not perfect. Thus no government, no church, no educational system is perfect. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work. There are good people out there giving everything they have, and there are enough to make a difference. I believe in Education, for it has so much good to offer. That is why I've created this blog. Education is my "thing" and so that is what I shall write about! I'm not trying to shove Education down anyone's throat, but maybe just to open some eyes and enlighten some hearts to the idea of this beautiful, complex organ.

I hope to restore trust in the public education system, and to encourage my fellow teaching comrades who fight this exhausting battle on the front lines with me. It is my biased opinion that we hold the most noblest role that ever existed. Now go back to Netflix and continue enjoying your well earned summer break!