Day 375, Good times!!

Today I was videotaped teaching a lesson to one of Ron's classes. Enter a surprise visit by Karen Love, the assistant principal at Ron's school, along with a former colleague of mine. They observed the entire lesson, while I was being taped. No pressure. Seriously though, my joy at being with students totally eclipsed my nervousness over being observed and taped. Funny thing though, I have lost a total of twelve pounds since last year, and I'm still wearing the same pants (don't want to buy new ones until I've lost all the weight I want.) Well, my pants kept sliding down, so throughout the lesson I was discreetly trying to pull my pants up. And, by way, here's a note for future reference. If you are over 40, do not wear short sleeves if you are being videotaped. Aye aye aye!! I did my best to focus on the students, but ever present in the back of my mind (in addition to keeping my pants on,) was whether or not my arms were jiggling. Oh man,,,, I am a person who gestures continually (something that was painfully obvious when I saw myself on video,) so there is always a danger of my arm flab taking flight. Gross!!! Note to self---WORK OUT! Firm those freaken flabby arms!

A nice feather in my cap was the feedback I received from Karen Love. She was very complimentary about my lesson, and claimed all the essential elements of instruction were present. She said she felt that other teachers would benefit from seeing me teach that particular lesson. Well, Karen did not have to observe me, and she certainly did not have to provide feedback; I am not one of her teachers, but I certainly appreciated her comments. You see? She made me feel "tall" and competent. I needed that. I'm my own worst critic, so all I notice when I view the videtape are the flaws.

Well, nobody's perfect.

Except Gailand Simmons. Just ask him, he'll tell you.

I loved being on a middle school campus today. I felt like I was home. Sigh.

I need to have my nails done....Seriously!

Day 23, 342 to go

Hurray, no more gray! Thanks to my amazing hair dresser. Thank goodness for modern science!

Tonight I browsed through www.finestquotes.com (compliments of Jenny @ http://rejectionqueen.blogspot.com ,) and I realized I could easily start with the first topic, continue for the entire year and never run out of possibilities for great quotes. I should make that one of my goals in the "365 days, 365 posts" challenge. What the heck, why not? Here's my quote for the night, I love this one... (perhaps because I read it on an empty stomach):

"There are three things to remember when teaching: know your stuff; know whom you are stuffing; and then stuff them elegantly." Lola May .

Why do I suddenly have a desire to eat Thanksgiving dinner?

Planet "M"---Today I asked my students if they know where the trend for saying "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," began. You know the trend... the one that tells us to hurry up because the other party obviously already knows what we are going to say. Okay,,, guilty... I do it too. One of my Philipino students raised his hand and told me that in his language the word is, "Wah," and they do the same thing over there... "Wah, wha, wha, wha, wha." I don't know about you, but my mouth doesn't even work that way. Well, it's a fun joke in our class now. Ya gotta laugh!