Professional Development

As a teacher, I am required to fulfill professional development every year. I attend workshops and lectures and glean from these ideas on how to be a better teacher. Sometimes they're great, and when they're great they're GREAT but when they're bad, they are HORRID.

Well, I was sitting in the dentist's chair the other day and I started thinking about professional development in the world of dentistry. My old dentist was, in fact, old. She had been my dentist since I was old enough to remember the pain of a dental pick's prick. She was set in her ways and while I listened to friends tell me about the things they were experiencing at their dentists' offices, I felt like I was getting the short end of the stick.

As I sat in my new dentist's chair, I looked around at the fancy equipment that took x-rays of my teeth - individually! Prior to my appointment, I perused their website to see that they don't use silver fillings but instead have fillings that are tooth colored. The numbing agent used was soooo much better than my previous dentist's.

I, no longer in a haze of gasses, realize that the advances in tooth filling and such probably aren't quite as dramatic as the constant changes in education. However, I see some parallels in the prof dev department.

What if my older, more established dentist, didn't take advantage of the dental workshops or seminars that were available? What if she never updated her equipment (one online reviewer stated she hasn't)? What if she turned up her nose at advancements in dentistry and said "I've done it this way for years and I'm sticking with what works!"???

Her patients would be missing out on the benefits that the newfangled ways of doing things have to offer!

This comparison of my old dentist with my new dentist got me thinking: What if educators did the same thing?

As I stated earlier, my profession requires that I go to professional development every year. And I have to log 150 hours every five years to keep my certification. It would certainly free up my schedule a good bit to skip those mandated hours, wouldn't it?

There are so many educators in this state who have decided that there is one way of doing things - the way they've been doing them for 10, 20, 30 years. Teeth may be the same, but kids certainly aren't. I graduated just 10 years ago and I can tell you that they've changed - dramatically.

They don't learn the same ways that you and I did. The worksheets and repetition aren't enough. They need you to edutain them because they've grown up watching TV, playing video games, and social networking. But more than that, they need to see the relevance of what they're trying to learn.

And beyond that, they've found BETTER ways of teaching the same old stuff. I am always trying to re-invent myself in the classroom, trying to improve what I did the day, week, month, year before. Sometimes I fall flat on my face. Sometimes I jump up in the air, click my heels together, and get so excited because they get it. Shouldn't all educators be as passionate?

They get it. That's what it's all about. It's why I do what I do. It's why I go to conference after workshop after seminar. I don't ever want to be an teacher with "old" ways. I don't want to be like my old dentist with equipment from the 1960s. I always want to be vibrant and excited about the world in which I live.

Are you stuck in a rut? What do you do to make sure you stay on top of your game? Let me know!

Mrs. V

Baby days - I don't think so!

I love babies. I really do! I always have. At my father's house, you can find pictures of me leaning over babies to "take care of them" when I was a toddler. I used to tell my mother that I had 6 kids and they lived at McDonald's. Truth be told, I like kids of all ages, and I'm pretty ready to help out if you ask me. And if it happens, it happens, and we'll be thrilled.

However, this does not mean that I'm ready for my own. No, thank you! And I'll tell you why.

I just got married what seems like 5 minutes ago (truth be told, I'm just 14 days shy of my 1st anniversary). My husband and I are still adjusting to each other, learning what makes the other tick. For example, I had just rolled out of bed the other morning, and Mr. V asked me what I was planning on doing with something that was sitting on the table. I, not being a morning person, told him as lovingly as I could pre-sunrise that "this is NOT the time to ask me questions." It hadn't really come up yet, so there it was. Can you imagine me, not a morning person, dealing with a baby, a toddler, a teenager, a child of any age AND having to (I use this term loosely) "train" my husband on the 'do this but not that' of mornings? Can you spell catastrophe?

People will ask me all of the time when we're going to have children. "Not yet," I tell them. "We just got married. We're going to wait a while." And I get a little tired of it.

Now, I know a lot of people are thinking that they know or are someone who was pregnant within the first year of their marriage and that worked out just fine. I know those people, too, and I'm so, so, so happy for them. But I know me better and I know that I need a little more time.

See, what you may not know is that my mother passed away almost three years ago. I started teaching just a month after she passed away. And coaching. And I had an apartment fire. And that was just in the first year of her not being here to support me they way she had for 25 years before. Since then, I've been busy with the ups and downs that come with teaching and coaching and getting married and moving and everything else.

I need a year of normal. I need it. I'm looking forward to having my first year of teaching without coaching cheerleading. It's going to be great! I'm looking forward to my second year of marriage to a man I hopelessly love but am still getting to know. I'm looking forward to buying our first house, to my friends' weddings in far off places, to our month in Europe next summer, to laughing and getting back to truly loving life and living with a gusto. I miss the person I was 3 years ago. I need to find her again before I add another person to the mix.

I know it's fun to ask and people love babies. Trust me. I'll let you know when we're expecting. Just don't expect us to expect anybody new anytime soon.

Thank you, friends!

Mrs. V


PS - My sweet husband is also a big goof and every now and then, he'll contract foot-in-mouth disease. He'll say something akin to "It's okay, baby. We'll have one someday" while rubbing my back. This generally warrants the rolling of my eyes as someone in the group will invariably (and consolingly) say "you still have time" or "there's no rush." While well-meaning, it's not necessary. I even find it a bit patronizing and I don't need the sympathy, so it's out of place. I have taked to Mr. V about it and he is trying to stop, but if he slips up and happens to say something like that, please disregard. We're not actively trying to have a baby right now.

Mrs. V gets a make-over!

In an effort to keep from "letting myself go," I decided it was time to turn my frumpy blog into something more fun. I hope you like the changes that I've made and that it will make you visits much more pleasant!

Mrs. V

Birthday/Family Mania!!!

One of the things I've realized as I've gotten older and observed my friends' marriages is that when you marry your husband, you marry his family. This has been said over and over and over again, I know.

Now that I'm married, though, I can completely sympathize with my friend, Mrs. M, whose husband's family is bigger and LOVES to hang out. A lot. For any reason.

I love my in-laws. I feel very fortunate that I don't have a Monster-In-Law or anything that resembles the terror one might face in a J-Lo film. However, the sense of family togetherness and the desire to hang out and just be with my man collides when there is any major holiday or birthday. Add in my father, who needs a good bit of help with things and is lonely (as widowers tend to be) and you've got a LOT to do in one weekend.

Friday was Mr. V's birthday AND the end of TAKS. Not one to make a fuss out of making one more trip around the sun (unlike his wife), we planned to celebrate the two together. After school on Friday, we ended up across the street at an Italian restaurant (because our first choice is closed between 2 and 5) and we caught up with good friends, devoured excellent garlic rolls, and passed around the baby (not ours - our friends') for what ended up being over 3 hours! It was great, but we got home much later than we expected!

The next day, I let Mr. V sleep in while I caught up with an elusive college friend who, after years (seriously, years) of living under a rock, delightfully reemerged and came up to Dallas for a 5k. Then I rushed home to pick up my sleepy birthday boy to get packing materials from my dad so we could race to Ft. Worth to pack up more of my grandmother's house before heading out to the in-laws house in Keller to shower, change, and head out to Bedford for Mr. V's family birthday dinner at Pappadeaux's! Funny enough, we ran into our school's drill team director and got to meet her family and boyfriend while we were there. Bonus!

While we were there, we got to give Mr. V his birthday present from all of us: season tickets for TCU football! I don't know how I'll ever be able to beat that idea. Ever. He was so beyond excited!

We left Bedford to get some rest before experiencing the last of the birthday weekend: dinner with my dad! We met in the middle at Twisted Root in Richardson which was good, but not great. I feel like the FoodNetwork lied to me a little - Jake's is still FAR superior, in my humble opinion.

I wish I could say that we'll soon be able to rest up for that final push to the end of the school year, but we have Mother's Day and another family birthday on back to back weekends.

I keep telling my friends (who married 6 months after we did) that it seems like married life is just busy-ness followed by more busy-ness topped off with a packed out schedule. Anyone else sympathize with crazy (albeit sometimes fun-filled) married weekends?

It's About Time

No, really. This post is about time. Mr. and Mrs. V have had so little of it lately (hence the hiatus from blogging) that we're about to scream. This month, we have had something going on every weekend and this one is no exception. However, instead of heading out to Arkansas or spending the day at cheerleading tryouts, we are headed to Arlington with some friends for a little Rangers action.

We had the opportunity to attend a talent show at the school tonight but turned it down in favor of hanging out around our often neglected home. And what did we do, first thing? Take a nap. Because we're tired. So very tired.

Here's the lesson we've learned in these oh-so-busy months: time is valuable, precious, necessary. When we were dating, we were Mr. and Miss High School (in the teacher sense), going to everything and seeing the kids as often as possible. This year, we've tried doing the same thing but we've noticed that we just can't. It's been smacking us in the face lately, our overcommitment to everything else. We both love to support our students - and at our school, where so many kids' parents aren't there, we feel it's incredibly important, but so is our marriage and spending time together is essential to building a strong one.

Note: If you're wondering why, on a Friday night, when we've turned down a buy-one-get-one free ticket to a rockin' talent show, I'm taking time out to blog, it's because the Mr. is in the shower.

Spring Break!!!

Finally, spring break has arrived and at the time of this post, is nearly over. I will miss it.

First, Mr. V and I flew off to Palm Springs, California for a wedding - we joke that we had separate vacations as we were split into boy groups and girl groups all weekend - and then we went up to L.A. to see Miss W and her boyfriend, Mr. B and stopped over at Universal Studios. We had a BLAST. It was fun to see the Cs get married and to see Mr. M (totally missed his wife, though) for a while. 'tis a shame that we have to pay a million dollars and hop a plane to see someone who lives 30 minutes north of us when we're in town, but it was a definite blessing. And it was GREAT to meet Mr. B, who will someday soon make Miss W his Mrs :)

Since returning to Dallas on Tuesday evening, we have been on California time, minus the "spring forward" time change, and have found it hard to go to bed at a reasonable (Dallas) hour and even more difficult to get up at a decent time! Hopefully we'll get it together over the weekend or else we're in MAJOR trouble for Monday when we have to go back to school at 7:00am!

I hope that everyone who has Spring Break has had a restful one, and that everyone else is not too jealous but is able to get away and get some rest somehow!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay, who else got breakfast in bed this morning? I'm willing to bet that I'm not alone.

Along with my scrambled eggs, bacon, and chocolate milk, Mr. V brought in a vase full of flowers and a card filled with wonderful, sweet words about all the things he loves about me. Well, probably not ALL of the things. There is limited space on the card. BUT it was so sweet!

Though Valentine's Day is commonly associated with lovers, I have to say that it makes me miss my mom and my childhood.  Every Valentine's Day, my brother and I would get a valentine from our parents, and sometimes a little gift, too. I remember one year, early in my school days, I got a heart-shaped puzzle made from erasers. It came in a little plastic case that was also heart-shaped. I don't think I ever used them. After all, If i used them, the puzzle wouldn't fit together anymore. I treasure this memory from my childhood, and encourage you to send your love to the people in your life who need to know you love them, be they family, friends, or your special someone.

And if you feel as though you have no one to love, no one special to think of, remember that God's love abounds. It's a gracious and wonderful gift that's yours for the taking; all you have to do is receive it.

Happy Valentine's Day!