World Teachers' Day with Grammarly

The most important person in a child's life besides a parent/grandparent/guardian is a teacher. Teachers spend the majority of the day with your child. Teachers are introducing concepts to your child beyond reading and math, like social skills, time management, and hard work. Those skills are just as important as anything they will learn in a textbook.

Teachers may technically work in the classroom from 8-3:30, but they are showing up at school an hour before the day begins and staying hours later to make sure everything is ready for another day. Especially, in the secondary setting, teachers will often stay to attend sporting events and extra-curricular activities to support their students and get to know them on another level. Teachers will call parents at home in the evening, grade papers until their eyes no longer stay open, buy books and supplies from their own bank account...all because they love teaching and care about your kids.

Since I work as a substitute teacher, I see many teachers who go above and beyond their duties every single day. They are the teachers that kids respect and appreciate. They are the teachers who have a passion for teaching. They are the teachers who find a way to relate to the students and get kids excited about learning.

I think if each of us take a moment to think about that one teacher who made learning fun, who made time for us, and who truly cared about our lives, you will find that teacher left a great impression on you and your learning. I have several favorite teachers from my school years. As a parent, I have several teachers who I personally saw go above and beyond for our kids. I saw their passion. I witnessed their long hours and dedication to their school and community. Those are the teachers I'm truly thankful were part of our kids education.

Today I'm joining with Grammarly to recognize and appreciate those wonderful teachers. Grammarly has designed this awesome graphic to share about the great things teachers do for us. Grammarly is a website that can be helpful to students, parents, and teachers. For more about their services, check out their website, HERE.

If you can, I highly recommend taking a few moments today to send a note, make a phone call, drop off some cookies, send some flowers, or get a gift card, to thank a teacher today. Whether it is one from your past or from your child's, take the time to thank them for their dedication, their hard work, and their passion for education.

Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  

As a subsitiute teacher, I know how hard teachers work and how they can feel unappreciated at times. We have just a few weeks of school left in our district and it can be a really stressful time for teachers. Students have begun to "zone out" because it is getting nice outside and they don't want to be in class and guess what, teachers want to be outside too. Crunch time is here and a lot of projects are due and need to be graded. Everybody is just ready for the school year to be over. This is the perfect time to recognize the teachers in your child's life and give them that extra push to finish the year strong. Another way you can help support a teacher is by making sure your child is doing his/her best and working hard all the way through to the end of the year!

TAKE LESSONS.COM has created this round-up post of Teacher Appreciation Week gift ideas. There is something for every age, gender, and teacher personality. Have fun with it and if you can't find time to make something this week, take a few minutes to write a note and share your appreciation with your child's teacher!

Ideas like these below are featured. They are super simple to pull together and you can personalize it for your child's teacher. There is truly something for everyone in this gift round-up. Too see all the great gift ideas, click HERE.

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Thanks to Megan at TakeLessons.com for sharing this great post with me!

Book Review: Crazy is Normal By Lloyd Lofthouse

CRAZY IS NORMAL

By: Lloyd Lofthouse

Published: June 14, 2014

Publisher: Three Clover Press

Non-Fiction/Memoir

I'm participating in the book tour for CRAZY IS NORMAL with Virtual Author Book Tours. After teaching for twenty years, Lofthouse decided to keep a journal sharing the ups and downs of teaching freshman English and journalism. He kept this journal during the school year of 1994-1995. Twenty years later in 2014, his experiences teaching in the California public school system are still seen in classrooms all over the country today.

CRAZY IS NORMAL is a great way to describe the setting in his classrooms. It was rare to have an entire class that listened, did their work, and followed through on their homework. The bright light in his day was his time with his journalism students. These students were motivated to work, intelligent, and made him laugh, unlike most of his freshman English students.

Nogales High School in La Puente, CA is located in a prime gang community. Drive-by shootings and acts of vandalism occurred on a regular basis. Mr. Lofthouse had to work with students from the gang community that didn't care about school, to students who had a second-grade reading level and were continually given a passing grade, to students who truly wanted to learn and do their best to succeed. These different groups of students brought daily challenges which the author shares through his weekly journal notes. The reader will be able to feel frustrated right along with the author as he sends the same students again and again to what he calls BIC, which is basically an in-school suspension. It became quite monotonous to read the same type of situations day in and day out, but it was reality for Mr. Lofthouse.

Because this book basically consists of journal entries, there is little plot or story construction. As you read through the year, you read about the same students and you want to know how the school year ends for them, good or bad.  But there is little to draw you in and keep you reading. I was uncomfortable with his attraction to his "star journalism student", Amanda. Even though he was attracted to her, I believe it was inappropriate for him to write about it, although, thankfully, he didn't act on his feelings. I appreciated that he made sure he wasn't in a situation with a student that could have caused concern, such as being alone in a room with a female student. But, it still made me cringe. I also took offense to his frustration with substitute teachers. As a substitute teacher, I take my job seriously and do my best to carry out the plans left by the teacher. I would much rather teach something than sit and read all day. Not all subs are in the classroom to have a good time or mess up the teacher's plans as he discussed. Some of us really care about the students and their learning.

His frustrations with teaching, his feelings of burnout, and annoyance with out-of-touch administrators are common themes in schools today. Fellow teachers will empathize with Mr. Lofthouse and respect his convictions to teach students the proper way to read and write.

The following video is an interview with the author, Lloyd Lofthouse. In the interview he gives his opinion on how his book, based on a year in his classroom in 1994, is worth reading today, even twenty years later. He also shares his opinion on No Child Left Behind and the solution to education reform today. I have to say that I actually agree with his solution. The importance of reading to your children at the beginning of their life and continuing to reinforce the values of reading will have a substantial impact on your child's educational future.







If you would like to purchase a copy of CRAZY IS NORMAL, you can click the photo below. Through November 15, the book is only $.99 on Kindle.

There are several other blogs participating in the book tour for CRAZY IS NORMAL. To read interviews with the author, see other reviews and even enter to win copies of the book, click on the blogs below. 

Crazy Is Normal Web Tour Schedule

Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus Oct. 1 Review & Giveaway

Inspire to Read Oct. 2  Guest Post & Excerpt

Cassandra M's Place Oct. 6 Review & Giveaway

Pinky's Favorite Reads Interview & Excerpt

Dr Bill's Book Bazaar Oct. 8 Review                                          

Being Tillys Mummy Oct 9 Guest Post & Excerpt

Unselfish Oct 13 Review                                               

Back Porchervations Oct 14 Review, Interview, & Excerpt

Sincerely Stacie Oct. 15 Review                                               

Heck Of A Bunch Oct. 17 Review & Giveaway

Books, Books & More Books Oct 21 Review                                        

Rockin' Book Reviews Oct 22 Review, Interview, and  Excerpt

The Book Binder's Daughter Oct. 23 Review & Interview

The News in Books Oct. 29 Review & Guest Post

M. Denise Costello Oct. 30 Review & Excerpt

She Treads Softly Nov. 3 Review                                              

CelticLady's Reviews Nov 4 Review                                          

My Devotional Thoughts            Nov. 5 Review & Excerpt

Manic Mama of 2 Nov. 6 Review & Excerpt

Deal Sharing Aunt Nov 7 Review, Interview, & Excerpt

What U Talking Bout Willis? Nov 10 Review & Excerpt

From Isi Nov 11 Review

Lloyd Lofthouse

Little did Lloyd Lofthouse know in 1999, when he married Anchee Min, that he was beginning a journey of discovery. His first trip to The Middle Kingdom was on the honeymoon with his bride, who introduced him to China and Robert Hart (1835-1911), the main characters in Lloyd’s first two novels, My Splendid Concubine andOur Hart. The next decade was a journey of discovery. Lloyd now lives near San Francisco with his wife–with a second home in Shanghai, China.

Lloyd earned a BA in journalism in 1973 after fighting in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine. While working days as an English teacher, he enjoyed a second job as a maitre d’ in a multimillion-dollar nightclub. His short story, A Night at the ‘Well of Purity’ was named as a finalist for the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards.

Lloyd has won 15 awards for My Splendid Concubine and 5 awards for Running With the Enemy.

Website: http://lloydlofthouse.org/
Author’s Den: http://www.authorsden.com/lloydlofthouse

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lflwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lloyd-Lofthouse/168775989838050

Thanks to Virtual Author Book Tours for providing me a copy of this book for review. This review is my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way for this review. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com reviews. 

An Overwhelming Yet Rewarding Week

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have begun substitute teaching.  Since February, I have been subbing at least once or twice a week at our Middle School/High School.  Each day seemed to bring new challenges.  Somedays I was expected to teach topics I wasn't too familiar with (Alegbra) and others I had to learn to deal with disrespectful and even disgusting situations that students decided to put me in.  After each day, though, I felt I got more comfortable and felt like I had gained some more respect both from the students as well as the teachers.  It felt good when the phone calls to sub again kept coming.  I wanted to say, "they like me!" or (maybe they are really desparate).  This week I was faced with a challenge to sub for an entire week for someone that has been gone and may be gone for more days/weeks.  The students miss their regular teacher, resent the numerous subs that have been through there, and have gotten used to "slacking off".  I was completely overwhelmed on Monday, but by Wednesday, I felt like I was really making headway.  By the end of today I realized I might actually miss these students a bit over the weekend.  I am planning to return next week and who knows if I will be needed after that.  This week has not only been an adjustment for me, but also for my family.  I haven't worked 5 days in a row out of the home since I have been a mom (which was 10 years ago this weekend).  So, not all the housework got done, not all the laundry went from washed/dried/put away in one day, some of the meals were quick-fixes, and my daughter didn't get the attention she was used to.  But, after going through all of that, I also found this week was rewarding.  My husband and daughter got to have some daddy/daughter time each morning before daycare and most of the day today.  I met some great people this week that I never would have met.  I also realized how fortunate I was to grow up in a loving home and to have my children grow up in that same atmosphere. I am grateful that I had parents who cared about what I did or didn't do at school, who my friends were, and what I was doing at night.  I am glad I had parents who gave me consequences when my grades or attitude wasn't what it should have been.  I am grateful I had teachers who respected me and expected the best from me.  I have learned after this week what can happen when students don't have all those things that I had growing up.  So, if I end up going back next week, my goal is to give those kids what I am capable of offering....a solid education, expectations, and a guide to lead them through the rough patches.  I know it won't be easy, but I am up for the challenge.  I am asking you to be involved as a parent.  Get to know their teachers, check their grades and assignments on a regular basis (most schools have online programs to do that), and be there for your kids.  Care about who they hang out with, ask them about their life, follow through with consequences, and hold them accountable for their actions.  Your child will appreciate you some day....it just took me 37 years to realize how lucky I was!

A New Adventure

I have embarked on a new adventure the last couple weeks.....Substitute Teaching.  Back in November I took a class to get a Substitute License.  In Iowa, if you have a Bachelor's Degree, you are allowed to Substitute Teach at the Middle School/High School level after taking this required course and completing a few other steps to the process.  I received my license at the end of January and have Substituted twice and have 3 more dates scheduled. 

I was completely nervous on my first day, not sure how the 8th graders would perceive me, how I would handle "classroom management" issues, and teach so the kids would think I was knowledgable in the particular subject.  My first day I didn't have to worry about that because they just had a worksheet to complete on their own.  Plus, on my first day, I had the pleasure of teaching my nephew who acted like it was cool (at least in front of me) that his aunt was his teacher that day.  He even popped in a checked on me my second day! My second day I was responsible for teaching 7th grade Geography.  Actually teaching on the Geography of Europe.  Yikes!  I had to label maps and lecture from a power point.  Gulp!  But, by the end of the day, I was in my groove AND I was exhausted.  I have a whole new appreciation for teachers who stand on their feet all day and who talk all day.  I couldn't wait to put my feet up and snuggle under a blanket that night!

Subbing days ahead of me include 8th grade math and high school Spanish.  I am looking forward to these challenges, to step out of my comfort zone, and to even learn something new along with the students.  On my first day, I heard from the students as they walked into the classroom, "Oh good, you're not the screw-ball lady".  My goal is to NOT be one of those "screw-ball" substitute teachers!