March 22, 2009

• Here Comes the Sun...

  Here comes the sun....Do Do Do Dooo....Here comes the sun....
  And I say, it's alright.

  To celebrate the beginning of spring, we all sang Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles at church today.    I really like the Arlington Street Church.  It's finally officially spring, but since I live in Boston, you can probably guess what the weather was like here this weekend.  It was very sunny, but still quite chilly.  *sigh*  So, I have a lot to update tonight, and I really don't know where to begin.  I could break this entry up into different entries, but I just want to share it all now.  Let's start with the light and fun things first and then get real.

  I ♥ Sushi

  I started a sushi group on Facebook called Sushi Love ♥, and I currently have 18 members signed up.  The group will choose a restaurant each month on our quest to find the best sushi in the Boston area.  I plan for us to explore new sushi restaurants, discuss the love of sushi, and meet other sushi lovers.  We had our first sushi event last night at Genki Ya in Brookline.  It was so delicious and all 11 of us had a great time.  I actually didn't have a grand plan for the inaugural event.  We all went around the table to introduce ourselves.  I told them some of the rolls and dishes that Yelpers suggested for this restaurant.  I also informed the group that it's best to eat sushi (nigiri) with the fish down when you put it in your mouth. They didn't believe me at first that it would make a difference!  It's a little difficult at first to put the sushi in your mouth that way since you have to flip it, but trust me, it's worth it. I can't wait for next month's sushi outing! 

  I ♥ Jimmy Fallon

  I don't care what anyone says, but I do. Since March 2nd, his debut on Late Night, I've been watching his back episodes online since I can't stay up till 12:35am to watch him.  I just think he's so funny.  I know many people beg to differ, but he's silly funny, and if you're not into that I can understand.  Seriously though...you have to watch him Slow Jam the news, his reality TV bit called 7th Floor West, and all the crazy fun stuff he does on the show.  He played beer pong with Serena Williams (She won.).  He had Michael Stipe sing his voicemail message for his iPhone.  He had Drew Barrymore lick a bowling ball for $10.  He played foosball with Clive Owen (Clive won.)  You can't forget the great music he has on his show either.  The Roots is his house band! How can you say bad things about that?  One of my favorite musical guests has been Ludacris. I'm not a huge Ludacris fan, but he actually performed with the Roots, and it was great.  We do it for hip hop!  I also liked last week's Ting Tings - That's not my name <clap clap> That's not my name <clap clap>!  Anyway, I hope this inspires some of you out there to watch his show!   I'm so excited that I actually get to see him next weekend!  He's coming to Boston this Saturday, and Roger and I have tickets!

  I ♥ Travelling

  Roger believes I travel too much.  I say I can't travel enough.  Next week, I'm off to DC for a week with the freshmen! I can't wait.  I'm the chaperone of Team Compromize - an awesome little group of 8 students.  When we started thinking about group names, our team had such a hard time deciding since we couldn't agree on anything. So we had to compromise somewhere, and there was the birth of our name.  One of the boys in my group asked if we could change the s to a z so it looks cooler, so we did.  Each team has a shirt with their team name on the back! Can't wait to wear them.  In June, I'll be going back to DC again, but with the sophomores. Fun times!  
  
  During my week-long April vacation, I'm travelling to Seattle to visit my good friend Cindy.  I can't wait! We only decided this would happen last night, so I'm still riding on the excitement about this trip.  I'm relieved I'm going in April since I'm not sure if I'll have a chance this summer to go.  After Seattle,  I plan to head to New York City to visit my sister, my buddy Anthony, and to see if we can get tickets to see the Jimmy Fallon show (Yes, I know. I'm obsessed.). 
      
  

  I ♥ Roger

  OK. You know this already, but what you don't know is that he's graduating from Boston University this May! After 2 years of going to school part-time, the boy will finally have his Masters in Computer Science.  We can thank Intel for that.  We're quite excited, and his parents will be flying from Michigan to see him walk.  My mom already bought an outfit for it.  She's funny.  The other night, Roger and I were talking about how much longer we should live in Massachusetts.  As many of you know, we eventually want to move to the west coast - specificaly the Pacific Northwest.  Surprisingly, I found out that Roger actually would rather move to Seattle instead of Portland or San Francisco.  Our current goal right now is 1 more year. So we will see.... 

  I ♥ MATCH
  

  I've decided to stay another year at MATCH.  It was a tough decision, but it seemed like the most logical one.  Since my first year at MATCH, my role and the department has drastically developed and grown.  I'm very proud with what I've done, but I realize that I haven't been getting enough professional development.  So my plan is to learn more about special education this spring and summer - workshops, classes, conferences.  I know that sounds kind of vague, but I need more information about students with behavioral challenges and of course, literacy. I can never get enough info on literacy. The hard part is deciding what I think will work best for my students.  Whatever I can get my hands on, MATCH will support me in my endeavor to arm myself with more knowledge and tools to do my job.  I plan to visit other charter schools as well to find out how schools handle their behavior management system and students with disabilities.  One of my administrators told me to visit North Star Academy in New Jersey, so I might try to travel down there when I go to NYC during my April break.  So, YAY! I still have a job and don't have to look anymore.

  By the way, remember the EPIC grant that MATCH won?  Well the grant awards administrators, teachers, and staff with money to congratulate them on their hard work.  The administrators actually get awarded a much larger amount than everyone else to acknowledge their leadership.  However, just like last year when we won this award, my administrators have decided to share it with the teachers and staff instead of taking all that money.  My executive director sent us all a letter informing us of this decision and ended the letter with, "We're all in this together."  I'm getting $4,000.
  

  • 8:48 pm
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