Hello! This last Spring has been one of the busiest and most rewarding times. I didn’t blog or do much of anything extra because I wanted my family to have what time I had left and I wanted to be in the moment and enjoy everything. Here’s what we have been up to:
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
I love being an art teacher so much that I decided I wanted to become Nationally Board Certified. I had heard so many good thing about it and how it is the best professional development. I wanted to go for it. My state pays for all of it through a scholarship program. I was accepted and so excited to start! National Boards has made me a better teacher all around- I’ve learned what is really important and how to focus on that and how to help kids meet objectives efficiently. It has helped me trim the fat and gristle and all the extras that teachers add to their daily load. Before going through this I had done a lot of different things in my field (especially during Covid!), but I had never: written an over-arching educational goal, used self-assessments, filmed myself teaching students (I have filmed myself teaching), advocated for a student need with my superintendent, gathered lots of data on students, done my own personal art step-by-step for children to see the progress of a professional painting, using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) in art discussions, and having mini-conferences with rubrics to grade my students artwork. I finished the 3 portfolio components this year and I truly felt like it was a miracle it got done. I have never re-written so much in my life. I was so blessed to have a mentor from my state who never let me coast, she always pushed me to do better and better and I hope I came up to the mark! I completely lost track of the hours I worked on this, but if there was a weekend or a day off I was working on National Boards. I started in August of ’22 and finished in April of ’23. I won’t know my scores until December, and I still have to take a big test next summer to get certified, but it has been very rewarding. I can’t wait to use all I’ve learned next year.
Leaving My Building
I can’t tell the whole story here because I want to keep things private, but I had to leave my building for safety reasons this year. I tried to get another art job, but another teacher with more tenure got it. I will be in a better, safer building next year, but I will be back in a classroom- teaching 2nd grade. My heart is broken a little over not teaching art, but I had to get away to a safer location. I can still teach art to my 2nd grade class and I will be physically safe. I literally prayed my way into my building every day this year. I’ve never had a rougher year. Once the art teacher in my building retires hopefully I can have her job. I am praying that getting my National Board certification will help. I will still be teaching art with my local arts council, so I do have that to look forward to. I just moved out of my art room and into my new building last week. I’ve taught 13 years in a classroom previously- I got this!
Daughter Graduating High School
Our beautiful daughter graduated high school as Valedictorian this year. I could not be more proud of her and her amazing accomplishment. She has been through everything, bad schools, great schools, covid school, and online college, but she has never had less than an A in her whole life! Her Daddy and I don’t know where she got it from! (We weren’t the greatest students.) I finished National Boards early so I could focus on her and her Senior Year fun! It was such a pleasure to watch her walk and to know that she loves the Lord and that we are so close as a family. Our daughter went to state for swim this year and played her heart out in tennis. She had a ton of fun on the academic team and has always worked part-time. She paints in acrylic in her spare time and loves our animal babies and her plants. She sings and dances in the honor choir and in the show choir and went to state and got a superior for her ensemble! She is a blood donor and helps anyone who needs it. Her friends are tight with her and her high school experience has been very positive. We have been blessed with many excellent teachers for her! She got a full scholarship to a local college where she will be majoring in digital film-making. I am so excited for her and the new things she will learn about her favorite medium! When she walked across the stage I just cried for joy- knowing that this was the culmination of so much hard work and study!
Son Graduating Jr. High
Our children went to a little country school that only goes to the 8th grade and so they do a graduation for them at the end. Our son graduated as Salutatorian and we are incredibly proud of him as well! His graduation happened during a tornado and boy was it wild! We were all okay, but it was scary and my own phone tornado alert interrupted his speech! He is a fantastic baseball player and plays catcher most of the time, he is still a snuggle-bug sometimes but has definitely grown up so much this year. He also played basketball and ran track this year which he said he did not like that much- but her wanted to stay in shape for spring baseball! He lifts weights with my hubby 3 times a week and he can fix anything on a computer. He adores math (again-don’t know where that came from! Math is hubs and my worst subject!), air soft stuff, balisong tricks, drawing, and we adore him. His best friends are going to the same high school he is (the one our daughter just graduated from) and he wants to play football and baseball next year. I can’t wait to go on the high school ride all over again with this child!
Summer Plans
My goodness was that a lot to celebrate! We even threw parties for our graduating babies! That was fun too. But now it’s on to summer plans! Our daughter is moving to the third floor in our old house where we are making it an apartment for her while she goes to college. So we are going on an Ikea road trip soon to get some new furniture. Our son is moving to her room (its bigger than his) and the exterior of the house in going to get painted. (I did the bottom 1/3 last year but we had to save some money to do the rest as we have to rent a lift for a week- I am NOT a ladder person!) We are also going on a family vacation this year to Dollywood. We are also going to go to Graceland in Memphis and to a V&A Beatrix Potter exhibit in Nashville. Also who knows where else we will end up? Its going to be a really fun road trip! Later, my hubs will go on his annual motorcycle trip. After all of that we will have to start getting ready to go back to school in the Fall- each with new, different roles and buildings to go to. It will be hard but the Lord will be walking with us.
Now that things are calmer around here I’ll post more often. I am very excited to be taking a teacups watercolor sketching course from Liz Steel that starts this week- so maybe some art will be next! I hope you have a lovely summer!
Love from Kansas Street,
Jaime
Life on Kansas Street 