What DO You Do?

People ask me this all the time..
What do you do?
What do you do with your time?
What do you do at the school?

"A LOT" is my answer.

Professionally, I am a teacher and at the school I substitute mainly for grades K-5. I've been subbing here for 8 years now since Hannah was in preschool.

Hannah and her cubbie in preschool.

This year I also taught a middle school elective for the first time: Yearbook.

My class, a great group of 7th and 8th graders of which 3 I taught when they were in 3rd grade.

This was a 3x/week one hour class for two trimesters. It was really enjoyable teaching middle schoolers and the publishing program was easy to learn. The time consuming part was taking all the pictures of every school class and event you can think of to fill the book. I had to be literally everywhere.

Volunteer-wise, I oversee POPS which stands for Partnership Of Parents and School. I created this organization last year to develop and hopefully strengthen the parent-teacher relationship at the school by supporting them in various hands-on ways such as:

Coffee & Treats for Staff

My sister in law, Matthea (here with our family teacher, Mrs. C, she has taught my girls and her 2 kids) was in charge of these well-attended events.

Operation Christmas Child

We collected and sent 281 boxes to Indonesia, Philippines, and various restricted areas

Design and Update the Sports Boards

I wanted to pump up and highlight our sports program for the Middle School so I go to the games, take pictures and design posters to highlight each sport.

Jog-A-Thon

This is the 2nd year I oversaw this K-8 event where we raise extra funds to a much needed school program. Our goal is $10,000 and the kids run laps for 30 minutes. Last year we raised $15,128 for PE/Athletics Dept. This year we focused on the Music/Arts Dept and raised $15,428.

Me and our Music/Band Director, Tony B.

Emily raised $460 and ran 19 laps (2.3 miles).

Hannah raised $415 and ran 24 laps (3 miles) and won a medal for the most laps ran for a girl in 5th grade.

My niece, Marissa, a third grader, ran 20 laps (2.5 miles).

My nephew, Timothy, a Kindergartener, ran 19 laps (2.3 miles). That is 12 more miles than what his mother expected him to run. She thought he won't run more than 2 laps. Boy did he prove her wrong!

Teacher & Staff Appreciation Luncheon

This is the event highlight of the year for the teacher and staff. We go all out to show our appreciation for all they do for our children. Norma, one of the best parents anyone could ask for, oversaw this event, hired the caterer and decorated the shin-dig.

Luau theme this year with terayaki chicken, poached salmon and sweet and sour meatballs.

And a few others:
- Cleaning out Lost & Found Closet
- Hosting Parent-Teacher Conference Dinner for Teachers
- Overseeing all school year round Fundraisers: SCRIP, Cash for Class, School Store

And then I am also a Band Mom, helping Mr. B out with administrative duties in communicating with the parents for performances.

PLUS this year since I have a graduating 8th grader, we dove right into 8th grade fundraising for Emily's Washington DC trip at the end of May. That itself is it's own post.

It Is Finished.

Yesterday was the last day of work for me. The school year has officially ended.

The kids were all gone on Wednesday. Below is a picture of them in their 'Great American' costumes. They had to give an oral presentation in character of their chosen Great American.

 My classroom was cleaned out and cleared out for the upcoming summer activities.

I thought this long term sub position would be a piece of cake. It was a grade that I was thoroughly familiar with. It was at the end of the school year which meant all the important stuff should have been taught and I would be just 'coasting to the finish line'. There were only 16 students which was almost half the amount I taught last time. And the teacher I was replacing put together a detailed list of what needed to be still taught; a comprehensive description of all her students and their parents; and trained me on everything I needed to know. She was incredible. I could not ask for a better teacher to replace. And she left me nothing to correct or complete. I started fresh and new!

But looks can be deceiving...

This year was probably the toughest seven weeks I ever had in all my years of teaching. A combination of difficult students and difficult parents just drained me to the core. But important lessons were learned. Remember I always say... everything can be a teachable moment... even for me.

It taught me that I could not rely solely on myself to do a good job. That was impossible this time around. I could not control people. God had to intervene and teach me to depend on Him. I was humbly reminded to pray for me and my students on a daily basis. When I did, the tide turned and it got much better but it took me three weeks to learn this.

Three weeks in and I wanted to quit. And I am NOT a quitter. I humbly learned that in everything I do I can not do it well without God's help. Even if the students do not change, my attitude and the way I see things can. And it did and I got through the seven weeks.

I also learned that I cannot work full-time... at least not for the next few years. I was unable to balance family, work and ministry. The work just sucked the life out of me. This time around it wasn't the amount of work that was a lot... it was the emotional toll and stress instead. I was not a very happy person when I was working full-time. And I am sure my husband and children were none too happy either. But they were extremely supportive and that got me through the weeks. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel.

And that is called... Hawaii!! Can't wait to blog about it!! Aloha!!

On Haitus...Sort Of

If you haven't heard,  I went back to work full time. I took over a 3rd grade class who's teacher left on maternity leave and isn't coming back. (That teacher was actually the teacher that replaced me when I left two years ago.)

So I am teaching, planning, grading and closing up the school year for her. It's only 8 weeks. Eight long weeks! 4-1/2 weeks have already passed and I am counting down!! 12 more days to go!

Because I am working, I, unfortunately, don't have time to blog. So sorry.. I know you guys think.. "Oh what a relief! I can finally catch up on all the posts she's been emailing me and clogging in my inbox."

Well.. no.. not really. I still will be posting regularly but it just might not be me. Emily has taken a liking to write about her bird stuff so I will have guest bloggers regularly. My husband might even post a few.

So when you are checking your email and surfing the net and then BAM! it hits you. You stop to wonder..."Hmm? I haven't read any of MamaCez's blogs written by MamaCez lately".. Well this is why!

A Planner... I Am

Some of you may have known that I worked in advertising before I became a teacher. I actually graduated in advertising and have worked in two large ad agencies in the city. To get into advertising you always start at the bottom and work your bottom off to get to the area where you really want to work. For me that was in Media. After about a year and a half in accounting, I was offered a position as assistant media planner. I eventually worked my way up to Media Supervisor when I was let go due to a loss of a big client but I really enjoyed being a Media Planner (one step below Media Sup).

What is a Media Planner? Well , I "plan'' how to spend the client's money in whatever "media/medium" would be the most cost efficient for their dollars. It could be in print (newspaper, magazine), outdoor (billboards) or broadcast (radio or TV). I had to do lots of research, print graphs and charts and all that good stuff that was in planning. We had lots of perks in the job. Reps from magazines and broadcast stations were really nice to us.. since we were their 'clients'. I mean, I did get to decide where our client's money goes.

Here I am with my co-workers at a Sports Illustrated function. They always had a big luncheon to promote their swimsuit issue.. and yes that is Kathy Ireland.. who was on the 1992 swimsuit cover.

I've always been a planner.. all my life actually. I 'planned' where I wanted to go to college, what to do as a career, when I was going to get married, what type of person I was going to get married to; my wedding; when I was going to have children etc.. Of course, the majority of my plans didn't pan out. I learned the hard way that "my plans" may not be "God's plans" for me and that "my" plans may not be the 'best' plans.

As a teacher, you have to write out lesson plans daily. That's pretty much what we do. Plan it out and then execute it.

Here is a sample week's lesson plan:

I guess planning things is my forte'. It is a gift from God since I do enjoy all the little details that come with planning.

At church, I help plan our women's retreats.  Normally our annual retreats have been through the weekend at a conference center in the mountains. It takes about six months to plan and execute.

This year we had a one-day retreat at the church. This one took three months to plan but felt like the same amount of work as if it was a weekend retreat. Nevertheless, we had over 90 ladies attend and it was extremely well received!

We served breakfast and lunch with the majority of the food all homemade.

We had a mini worship team lead by my dear friend who just celebrated her 25th anniversary. I, btw, coordinated her renewal of wedding vows ceremony.

I piggybacked on a great idea from my cousin's wedding: having a Favor Bar..

of candy ...

.. and bath salts (for those who are non-candy eaters). The theme of the retreat was Refresh.. Spa for the Soul so I though the bath salts would be very appropriate. It was a very blessed retreat and God was present!

I really do enjoy all the details of planning events. It's the melancholy in me I guess. Event planning is very exciting. I guess that's why I enjoy coordinating weddings; planning showers; organizing VBS and retreats. It's the little details that are thrilling to remember to include into a plan. I love the planning process. It's the execution that it not so exciting. The execution is so physically exhausting. It'll be much easier if I could just do the plan and have someone else do the execution. But of course, the choleric in me would not allow anyone to execute 'my' plan besides 'me'. (More about my temperaments in a future post).

Was Your Child Tested?

UPDATE: Ohhhhh sooooo close... the 50th comment is really just a couple of clicks away!!  I can't wait to find out who it is!!

For the past few years, I have been going back to my former public school to work. I usually start on the second day of school and work for about three weeks in September. It's a pretty busy time for me since I was supposed to be 'free' from the kids finally after a long summer with them 24/7. But that's okay. It's good money,  a great way of keeping connected with my colleagues in the public school arena and it's only temporary.

I test students who's primary language is not English. And at my old school, that's a significant amount of the school's population. In fact we will have tested over 200 students at this one school.

How do we know who to test? Well, one of the forms you have to fill out if you register to attend a public school in this state is the Home Language Survey.  On this form, you indicate what was the first language your child spoke when (s)he first spoke; what is the primary language spoken at home; what the primary language is spoken to your child; and what is the primary language that is spoken between the adults in your household. If you answered any language that is not English in those blanks, your child is required to be tested. This test is called the California English Language Development Test (CELDT).

To quote the California Dept of Education, "Students in Kindergarten through Grade Twelve whose home language is not English are required by law to take an English skills test. In California, the test is called the CELDT. This test helps schools identify students who need to improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. Schools also give the test each year to students who are still learning English." 

Why give this test? Well, this State has become a melting pot of languages. It's become more difficult to teach children academics when their grasp of the English language is very weak. So the State 'tries' to help these children by offering ESL services in the schools. Now with budget cuts in education, these areas are very small (or nonexistent) with minimal curriculum and manpower to teach so regular classroom teachers now are required to be trained to teach ESL learners. It is now a required part of receiving a Teaching Credential.

So I have been testing students Kinder through 6th grade at the beginning of every year for the past three years. It's a pretty long and comprehensive test. It is not easy by any means. When you don't 'pass' the test, it just means that your child will be eligible for ESL (English as a second language) services at the school (if they offer it). This test is regiven to each student every year until they show significant growth in their English language skills. It is then they will be reclassified and will hopefully 'exit' this classification.

The majority of the tested students are Kindergarteners through 3rd graders. This is because it takes quite a few years to be fluent in English not only conversationally, but auditorially, verbally, in reading and writing. Many of the Kinders at this school do not know how to speak English very well. That's because the majority of them never had any schooling (such as preschool) before entering Kindergarten. Note: You would probably not be aware of this test that was given to your child until your child comes home with a letter indicating how they did on this test.

Personally, I never went to preschool. My first language was probably not English since my parents rarely spoke it at home so I guess I was an ESL student entering Kindergarten. I don't think I was ever tested nor I received any special EL services but I think I turned out okay. I don't speak English with an accent nor have trouble expressing myself in the English language.

But I did come from a family where education comes first; doing your best in school is more important than anything else. Even though my parents could not help me with my homework or help me study for my tests, I was expected to do well on my own. I had nothing else to take my attention away from studying: no sports, no birthday parties, no sleepovers; no vacations; no hanging out outside to play.

BUT I did watch TV.. a lot of TV, as a matter a fact, since I was home with my grandma all day long. I think TV helped me learn English... yah.. that's it. Thank you to Romper Room (even though she never called my name as she said good-bye), Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, the Electric Company, Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, Charlie's Angels, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, Happy Days.. I could go on and on.

So was your child tested?

Off to Work I Go...Kind of...

Professionally I am a teacher, currently a substitute teacher. I really enjoy teaching and it's always so rewarding when the students are engaged and excited to hear what you're teaching. The kids are a blessing too. Well most of them, a few can be 'challenging' even at a private school.

I enjoy working part-time. It gives me the opportunity to do things for myself and I am not tied down on the weekdays at the school. Grocery shopping in the mornings on a weekday is the best since it's never crowded and you can always find parking right in the front of the store.

With all this 'free' time, I started my own little business. Scrapbooking, both traditional and digital, for clients. I personally scrapbook the girls' growing up, school years and all our vacations.

These are a few traditional scrapbooking pages...

Disneyland trips were some of their favorites.. we tried to get pictures with all the characters.

My brother's wedding where the girls were the flowergirls.

Playing in the snow...

Swim lessons in the summer..

Ever since my husband got a digital camera, the amount of pictures I had traditional scrapbooked increased threefold. Eventually traditional scrapbooking took up too much space, materials-wise, so I have been transitioning to digital and I've have been very pleased with it.

There are a lot of digital publishing software out there. And I've checked out many. They are all different. It depends on your desired style, easiness of use, quality of the printed page, and of course cost. Cost is a huge factor because it is not cheap to make a digital album. But the benefit of doing a digital album is that you don't have to go out and purchase all the different materials: paper, embellishments, adhesive, album and printed photos. For a digital album, all you need is a computer with your pictures downloaded and appropriate software to be able to open the desired publishing software. It's organized and designed on the computer and you just click 'order' and a professionally bound album comes right to your door by a delivery service. 

I've looked at many different scrapbook services.
creativememories.com
blurb.com
snapfish.com
costco.com
mypublisher.com
kodakgallery.com
iPhoto (apple.com)
shutterfly.com

I prefer Shutterfly for their variety of designs;

Trip to San Francisco to visit my brother at his work..

Our Annual Christmas Gathering with friends...

Emily's 4th Grade album...

Hannah's 2nd grade album...

 ....and iPhoto (an Apple product made only on the Mac) for cost and efficiency.

Our Florida Trip...

Our China Trip...

I really enjoy the traditional scrapbooking since it allows you to be more more creative and personal but it can be more costly.

Since I am now blogging, I can also make my blog into a hardbound book one day. If you have a blog, you might want to consider making it all a book for memories sake.

If you are like my family we have literally thousands of pictures on our computer. Now after my brother-in-law painstakingly scanned all our negatives (remember those brown strips we used to get with your pictures after you develop them at the store?) our pictures have increased tremendously. It's easy to forget you have them on your computer so I try my best to publish them all in an album so you can easily show your family or friends. It's much harder to show people your pictures with a laptop or have them come up to the computer monitor.

The nicest thing about digital albums.. You can print multiple copies to give away to those who treasure them... Aka grandparents.

This year I have already made 12 digital albums: 4 of which were gifts, 5 were for clients and 3 were for myself.

If you are interested in having me make an album for you, traditionally or digitally, pop me an email and let's chat.

Ahhh...Life Has Started ...AGAIN...2010

As I was rereading this post that was written last June I realized that I did not reflect on how God brought me through this year of teaching full-time and that it was a true blessing through the mist of very hard work. I can understand now when someone shares about having true peace and joy when they are going through tough times. It is God who gives us the peace. No one nor no thing can give us that in our hearts. 

I do believe that it had to have been me to teach this class last year because of the challenges that I was faced with: I had to create, foster and maintain stability with parents in regards to the many changes that had happened to their children at the beginning of the year and this was the first year that all of the 3rd grade students were together in one large class, the largest class in the school that year. My familiarity with the students and their parents definitely helped me become accepted so quickly. I received a tremendous amount of support and help from not only the staff but from the parents also. I could not have done my job effectively without their support and generosity. I  have grown to love these kids as if they were my own and since they were also Emily's friends that was very easy to do. The parents have also become treasured friends. To have a parent-friend teach your child can be a difficult transition to make but they were all very gracious and kind. 

Teaching my own daughter was not as hard as I thought it would be. I made sure that she did not receive any additional 'help' from me since it would not be fair to her classmates. My husband took on the responsibility of helping Emily with her homework and studying for her tests. Not only did he help Emily, but he also helped Hannah since I was so overwhelmed with work. How much work? Well, I had 28 students x an average 6 assignments per day per student.. so you do the math on how much I had to correct and prepare for. Plus I had some very involved parents in which communication between parent and teacher was key to them helping their child be as successful as possible. 

Lastly, I was able to build some precious friendships with the staff. If you don't get along with your co-workers, going to work can be very very hard. They really came along side me and helped me 'keep my head above the water' when I felt like drowning. 

In other aspects of my life, my co-bible study leader took the reins and lead the study even when I came without doing my homework and was utterly exhausted from the workday; and my women's retreat committee ran like clock-work with everyone doing their respected duties without any help nor reminder from me. My dear husband cooked most of the meals, cleaned the house and took care of the kids when I was 'working'. I even had four worker-Yees that came to my classroom every Sunday after church to prep the class for Monday morning. Yes, God was good and took care of everything. 

I had the great opportunity to continue to teach this year part-time as a substitute at CCS thus giving me the chance to continue teaching my former students. I was kept very busy subbing for grades Kinder through Fourth. And since I know how the school runs, it became very natural for me to step right back in and do what I love doing.. teaching.. but part-time.. for now.

Written on June 22, 2010

It is Tuesday, June 22.. the 2nd day of summer and I am starting LIFE again... LIFE meaning.. getting to all the 'stuff' that has been backlogged in the house since I started to work full-time in November. It was an exhausting non-stop work for 9 months but it was extremely rewarding and God definitely wanted me there.

This past weekend I put away all my teaching materials back into the garage; returned everything that I had borrowed (BIG thank you to my sister-in-law); ironed all of mine and my husband's clothes that had been piling up since who had time to iron?!?; wrote all my thank you letters to my students for their gifts; filed a huge stack of mail/papers in the "To Be Filed" box; read 5 magazines cover to cover; vacuumed the whole house; sorted through the 1000+ pictures to print to scrapbook for our 2009 family album and even cooked dinner last night!  What a difference NO job makes! We even squeezed in a 'fun' outing on Saturday night to the Chabot Space and Science Center (with one of Emily's classmates/my former student's family) to look through their telescopes.. we saw the moon and Venus but that's about it.. too foggy and very cold!

Summer has started with swimming for the girls (Hannah in Level 1- see her on her back float and Emily in Level 4- see her jumping off the diving board) and gardening for me!!

Well not me.. "I" did not physically do it ..but my very efficient gardener, Michelle, who by the way drove herself to my house now since she has her driver's license. She even brought her little sister to come play with Emily. I did go buy the plants and soil and told her what needed to be done. 

After 5 hours of her hard working labor... she transformed my over grown weedy-yucky backyard into a neat and organic garden. After weeding for 2 hrs on Saturday, she planted bush green beans (the plant on the ground and beans in the circle planters);

... pumpkin and rosemary in the rectangular planter; and annuals in the front yard today.

The only thing left from last year that is still growing are my green onions and broccoli! I can't believe my broccoli started sprouting just now! It's been a whole year!! Did not know it takes that long for broccoli to grow!!

Hope your summer is starting out grand!!

Back To Work I Go - Sept 2009

As I reflect on what went on in 2009,  it was really about me submitting to God's Will for my life and trusting Him that he had the best possible path for me. Innately, I am a planner. I always had a To-Do list as long as I can remember and to go back to work full-time and teach was definitely NOT on my list. It was an inner spiritual battle for me. A battle with me and God. Do I be like Jonah and run away from Nineveh, and do my own thing? (Well, for those of you are not familiar with the story of Jonah in the Bible, he doesn't do what God tells him to do which is to go to the city of Nineveh; runs in the opposite direction and jumps on a ship; gets thrown off the ship during a storm; gets swallowed by a fish; ponders about what he did in the fish; and eventually gets spit out by the fish so he can obey God's command for him.) I did not want to meet my 'fish'. So I obeyed. It is all a matter of trust and having faith in my God. The One who loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me so that I may have eternal life. Many times life does not go the way we planned. Many times we have a choice in what direction we take our lives. Our challenge is do we follow our own path or God's?

Written on September 25, 2009

I just wanted to update you on what's going on with me.. I am going back to work... yep.. and it's full time.

Now you may ask, "How did that happen?" Well, Emily's third grade teacher took a two-week medical leave after one week of school being in session. A long term sub took over temporarily. As a contingency, in case the original teacher was not returning, I was asked to consider the position. I turned it down. I was not ready to go back to work full time and enjoyed the fact that finally after 9 years of waiting, I have the days to spend it for 'me'. I also was looking forward in volunteering in Hannah's Kindergarten class throughout the year. Plus I was involved in ministries at church: co-leading a bible study and coordinating our annual Women's Retreat. In a nut shell, I had very busy plans this year.

Fast forward a few days.. I was told the original teacher will not be returning. And the school had no acceptable teachers they would want to hire. So it was back to me .. again. Again, I said no.. but I also struggled with a huge feeling of guilt and burden that it will have to be me if no one else is available. Now mind you, I have a personal stake in this situation. Whoever was going to teach this class will be teaching my daughter. And they did not have anyone that the school felt would be qualified enough to take on this 28-student-third-grade-class.. the only third grade class in the school. 

The dilemma.. what to do.. what to do.. I hate being forced to do something I don't want to do.(I know I sound like a child). I knew that I would go back to work full time.. it was just that this was not the right time for me. I wanted to enjoy the 'me' time that I've been waiting for nine years. Matthew was very supportive in whatever decision I made. All he said was that I needed to have peace with the decision I made. I said No.. and I had no peace.

I was constantly bombarded with signs of what God wanted me to do.. and after many days of prayer and struggle internally in my head and heart.. I figured out that God wanted me to take a step of faith in obedience to Him.. I kept saying No.. but this time I was saying No to God. Thus I had no peace. So .... with the experiences of Moses, Abraham and Jonah to remind me that God wants us to obey Him because he wants to bless us..  I went into the school with nervousness and great hesitancy of what I was getting myself into.. I said yes I would take the position. And I have peace.

So today.. after numerous last minute interviews with the school's leadership, I accepted the position of being the new third grade teacher at CCS... and the privilege of teaching my own daughter for one year.

Am I happy? Honestly, no.. not yet.. if you know me well.. and all of you do.. it was very difficult for me to accept a change in 'my' plans for my life. But I do have peace and as you probably know, am planning out what I want to do for the rest of the school year.

Matthew and I are extremely thankful that Hannah has an incredible teacher who will take care of her as if she was her own daughter... or granddaughter?.. Oops.. no...she's not that old. :)

I am thankful that this was the grade that I loved to teach and taught for three years before the girls were born. I am thankful that I know almost all of the students and their parents well. And I am thankful that I have a ton of support from the school and church staff offering their time and talents to help me through this year.

I am extremely thankful for a loving husband who will support me in whatever decision I made and his openness to accept the increase participation in the 'household/family' responsibilities.

My start date will not be until November 2. My family and my parents will be heading to China for two weeks in October. In the meantime, there is a lot of preparation I need to do before and after I come back from China. (Please pray for good health and safe travels!)

Thank you to Marj who spent so much time listening to this whole situation of mine and for Elaine for giving me the freedom to let go of my baby girl for her to take care of as I go and teach her Jeh Jeh.

This was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make in my life. And I ask for your prayers for me at this time. Thanks so much!