teaching and stuff

Every now and then, a Julia Child or Michael Pollan come along and changes the way we eat. Could Jean Kristeller, author The Joy of Half a Cookie, be next? Psychotherapist Jean Fain says maybe. Fain writes:

Back when Kristeller, now a professor of psychology emeritus at Indiana State University, was a grad student at Yale in the late 1970s and early 1980s, she had a compulsive overeating problem. She had been meditating for years, and decided to apply what she was studying about eating regulation and the mind-body connection to her overeating. As she writes, it was transformative. Once she got a handle on it, she developed a mindfulness training for a variety of eating issues called Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training, or MB-EAT, and set out to test its effectiveness.

In several studies, Kristeller has shown that the practice of mindfulness meditation and mindful eating effectively decrease binge eating and increase an inner sense of control overeating.

(via teacherquote)

In addition to my attempt at spreading the love with my #follow forever, I also want to spread the love with my #money from my #salary that is #way too low for the amount of work i put into this freaking job.

So with that being said, I’ve been wanting for a little while to host my first-ever blog giveaway, and I think reaching this unbelievable number of followers is more than enough cause to celebrate.

To enter the drawing, like and/or reblog this post and I will use a random-number generator to choose TWO BLOGS (going by what number you are in the notes on the post the day of the drawing) to spread my thanks to.

Here’s what you can win!!!

1. A $20 online gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers. I am always the person who goes onto that site and marks “free” in my selection while gazing longingly at the adorable, detailed, way-too-time-consuming-for-me-to-make-myself things that cost actual dollars to buy. But if someone were to give me actual dollars (like the ones I’m offering here), I’d spend the hell out of them like you wouldn’t believe. And if you’ve never tried TPT, let me just tell you that $20 can go a looooooong way on that website, where even the most coveted teaching gems cost like 7 bucks and most decent things are $3 or less. 

OR…

2. A $20 online gift card to Target, since I know not everyone here is a teacher…and also teachers sometimes need groceries more than they need cutesy-tootsie TPT things (beautifully-crafted as they may be).

I’m going to make the deadline for this giveaway October 8, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of when teachdotcom listed me in their 16 Best Teacher Blogs on Tumblr and I almost started crying in the middle of a Gattitown (at which my presence was contractually required and not by any choice of my own, I swear). At 6:00pm EST I’ll do the random number thing and contact the winners so they can choose whom they want to patronize, TPT or Target.

P.S. You do not have to follow me to enter, although I will warn you that if you don’t already, you are missing out on a whole lot of quality education content and not at all me just griping about my job using a lot of One Direction gifs. So…your loss, I guess.

There are teachers from every grade level here.  I asked teachers to send me their wishlist if they needed classroom supplies and materials that their districts and/or students’ families would not be able to supply.  Many teachers on this list have been tumblr friends of mine for years, while some have just come to the #education community more recently.  The majority of the teachers here teach in Title I schools (areas of high economic need), special education, or are new teachers.  Your support makes a world of difference to our students and to us.  Here’s to a successful 2015-2016 school year!  

Positivelypersistent’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Girlwithalessonplan’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Novicephoenix’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Listenlearninspireteach’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Pablophonic’s Amazon Wish List is here.

HipsterEnglishTeacher’s Amazon Wish List is here. 

Windycitylibrarian’s Amazon Wish Lists are here and here.

VWalker’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Allisonunsupervised’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Impatienteacher’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Veecheck’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Lugofrombananacountry’s Amazon Wish List is here

Kateann6′s Amazon Wish List is here 

Allmadeofstardust’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Jibteaches’ Amazon Wish List is here.

Audgy’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Anjimoto’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Myfesteringcesspool’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Nojokesfact’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Itsdestiny’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Firstclassrom’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Andjuliesaid’s Amazon Wish List is here.  

Ship-of-dreams’ Amazon Wish List is here.

Mystified Mom’s Amazon Wish List is here.

copseth21′s Amazon Wish List is here.

Miss-Kang’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Mpinaire’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Redfernfrog’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Allysowned’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Myrtletheviolist’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Wearingmycrazy’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Sh*&mysecondgraderssay’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Megbytheminute’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Repandrev’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Justwalkthroughmyclassroom’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Theyellowraincoat’s Amazon Wish List is here.

Middleschoolchamps’ Amazon Wish List is here.

I just had a brief, frustrating discussion with someone about how the Seattle district teachers were striking today in which they said, “just don’t do work when you’re not paid to be working”

I can’t even begin to explain the enormity of how no that statement is for teachers. Honestly, if I were to arrive when contract time starts and leave when contract time ends, so many elements would be missing.

I wouldn’t be able to plan for more than one prep. Grading? Not even close. What about the professional collaboration that we are required to demonstrate to receive a positive evaluation? or the any of the other domains?

The argument that is being made is that were teachers to show up, work only during contract time, and then peace out, it would serve the students better than teachers who went on strike. 

As a teacher, I don’t think I could walk in that door at 7:15, teach, then peace out at 2:45 and be okay with it. I know that, even if I was “on strike”, I would struggle to walk out that door knowing I was unprepared for tomorrow’s lesson, but hey whatevs it’s quittin time. The strike just wouldn’t happen from me. Also, what would you do with those kids in your class you weren’t ready to have??

I don’t think people realize that teaching isn’t a job where you can leave a task unfinished and just pick back up the next day. The best way to describe it is that post where someone said a teachers mind is like having 30+ tabs open in your internet browser. There’s just no damn way to get what we need to get done, and what is expected of us done in contract hours. Peacing out is not an option. No way.