2014 in Review

2014 was a big year. So many fun things happened this year, and I loved getting to look back and re-live many of these moments. So here's to bringing 2014 to a close...

January

On the 19th, my mom and I ran the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon. This was my third half-marathon and by far my favorite one I've ever run. I loved sharing this experience with my mom.

February

 Our Family Fitness Challenge ended with a bang and a Brennan's Dinner Celebration. 

Matt and I enjoyed a mini Texas road trip and vacation. We went to my favorite resort, The Hill Country Hyatt and celebrated Valentine's Day there and then in Austin.

March

On the 14th, we celebrated Pi Day at school. Being a 7th Grade math teacher definitely has its fun days! And this was one of them.

 For Spring Break, we took our first trip to the East Coast. We visited Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello while we were there. 

March also brought Rodeo season! One of my closest friends joined our Mutton Bustin' committee this year which made it even more fun. 

April

We took a little weekend vacation to Boston to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary. It was Matt's first time there, so we did all things Boston tourist- Freedom Trail, cannolis, Red Sox game, etc.

May

Bayhouse trips galore! I feel like we were in Galveston pretty much every weekend in May. Mom's birthday, Mother's Day, Memorial Day...

June

Summer Softball. Matt and my brother, Chase, have been playing in a summer league for at least three years. Avery loves watching her daddy play ball.

July

 We spent the Fourth of July at the bayhouse in Galveston. Matt and I took on a little project to help celebrate the 4th!

We participated in Mission 1:8 with our Sunday School class. We helped put on a small Vacation Bible School for some refugees, most of which had never heard about Jesus before.

My roommates from college and I had a reunion weekend. It is so rare that we are all together, so we took advantage of the time we had together. 

August

 On the 1st, we celebrated the wedding of our friends, the Debayles, and we got to spend time with some of our favorite people.

The weekend before school started, we visited Matt's family in Fort Worth.

On the 26th, I started my third year of teaching middle school.

September

On the 24th, many of our students gathered for See You at the Pole. I will never forget listening to their sweet voices singing songs of praise to our Heavenly Father at the flag pole of our public middle school.

October

 The fall brought Aggie football season, so we traveled to College Station for tailgates quite a bit throughout October and November.

Since I can't post pictures of my sweet athletes, here's a selfie of me before our big volleyball tournament, in which my team won 1st place!

November

 On the 4th, we made our voices heard by voting in the midterm election.

In the week before Thanksgiving, we took advantage of my time off of school, and we traveled to Washington D. C. for the first time. We loved it!

December

 On the 21st, my grandparents got baptized in the same church I grew up in.

We spent Christmas traveling around Texas and visiting all of our family :)

It was such a great year. I cannot believe it is now over. We learned so many things this year, especially me. I am constantly working on trying to be the best wife I can be to Matt. I have learned to be patient with God, that things are perfect in His time. I have been continually reminded of how abundantly blessed we are. God is so good! I know He has really big plans for 2015. I can just feel it. I pray that we continue to keep Him at the center of our marriage and trust Him in all things, and I pray that we cherish time we get to spend with family and friends.

Here's to 2015!

Highlights of Summer + First Weeks of School

Why the month of no posting? You probably could have guessed. School started. And may I say TGIF?! The first few weeks are hard. New students, new expectations, new curriculum, new year. Before I get too far into the start to school, I want to share some highlights from the summer.

We spent time in Galveston, in Dallas, going out with friends, having reunions, celebrating weddings, serving the inner-city, playing/watching softball, and spent lots of time with family. It was really a great summer. But, as all summers do, it came to an end far too quickly.

The end of the summer brought the beginning of school. The first week back was full of setting up my classroom and attending staff development and planning for the year. I had told myself that I didn't need to make any changes to my classroom decor, but once I stepped foot in there, I couldn't help myself. I started by updating my bulletin boards to keep up with the constantly-updating apps.

One for birthdays, one for studying tips, one for reminders, and one for housing those dear iPhones (that all the middle schoolers have) and graphing calculators.

A few other new things were added this year, because once I started, I just couldn't stop. So, a few more pictures to pull it all together for you!

 For two weeks now, those empty desks have been full. Oh so full. Full of life and laughter and energy--teenagers. And this bright-eyed, year-3 teacher is exhausted. These teenagers are hard work sometimes. They are thirteen going on thirty, so impressionable, and it's wonderful and scary all at the same time. They can so easily fall for temptation. I pray every day that they don't. I pray that they stay young and pure and use their youth to set an example for others.

I pray 1 Timothy 4:12 over them every day. I pray that they enjoy their time in middle school and don't look back one day with regret. I am so thankful for my job and for the kids I get to teach each day.

Happy beginning of school!

Teachers Be Like...

Woah. Is it really already over? Did anyone else feel like this today? I saw this picture last night and almost peed my pants because I thought it was so funny.

Today was the last day of school, and I truly felt like I was in a movie. My sweet kids were so antsy and anxious. They started a quiet countdown 30 seconds from the last bell. Then, they continued to get louder and louder until I had lost control. When the bell rang, paper flew into the air... okay I may be exaggerating a little bit, but I was really happy for them to be finished with finals and their 7th grade year. I know they worked hard and put so much pressure on themselves to do well, so I am proud of their efforts, no matter their grades. I have a class Instagram where I post test dates, things to study, etc. and Monday, I shared with them this eCard on the left that I thought was perfect since they have almost all either read the books, seen the movie, or both. They got a kick out of it.

This year was my first full year of teaching in middle school. For anyone who does not already know, I was hired on at my school as a science teacher mid-year last year, since I graduated in December of 2012. I was extremely lucky and blessed to have a job, especially with such odd-timing, not to mention at my dream school. When the opportunity arose, at the end of last year, for me to switch into a math class, I jumped at the chance. I now had my dream job at my dream school. Well, I just finished my first full year and wanted to share some things that I learned (in no particular order). 

Patience is a virtue. Okay, so I already knew that, but teaching middle school brings all new meaning to both having patience and what is considered virtuous. Just like when I teach my students when reading a word problem to "read, re-read, and then read again," it's like you must be "patient, more patient, and then even more patient." They are kids. Don't let 'em eat you alive. They are thirteen year olds being thirteen year olds. Now, there is obviously a place and a time. When it was not the time, I found that something as simple as "if you take up my time, I will have to take up your time..." tends to work, because they sure do covet their passing period five minutes in the hall.

Those sweet little angels can be dishonest. Does this surprise you? We were all thirteen once. There is a lot of pressure at that age. What they don't realize is that they are not very good at being dishonest. Now, I am not saying that is a bad thing. You just laugh later about some of the things that kids try to get away with. However, I realized there are ways to eliminate the pressures of being dishonest. For example, and I was actually talking to one of my students about this today. She commented on how much she liked that I had boards (cut from particle board at Home Depot) that are placed in between the desks on testing days. She said she liked it better than having folders set up or having a cover sheet. I then proceeded to explain to her the idea behind the boards and how I love that it eliminates the temptation of "wondering eyes" because they serve as personal work spaces--like cubicles.

Don't be the cause of the distraction. Don't add to or fuel your students' rambunctiousness. One sure way to be the cause--hand back those tests at the beginning of class--you've lost them. There is no going back; you might as well pack it up for the day. Thankfully, I did not learn this one by making this mistake. But, it could easily be done, so it's just a warning. Even though you use this system all year, and your objectives are clearly stated on the board, numbered in order: 1) Check HW, 2) Lesson blah-blah, 3) Return Tests, they will ask if you are handing them back ASATWITD (As Soon As They Walk In The Door).

Students will be confused--try another way. You know when you are telling a story you have told one hundred times? You might talk 450 miles/hour. You might leave important pieces out. You might be speaking in a different language (hopefully not). Sometimes, especially in math, a student will not understand the way I am telling "the story." You can't get frustrated. If everyone thought the same way, we would be a bunch of robots shaking hands and getting along. That isn't how the real world works, and the classroom doesn't either. Just try another method of saying what you are trying to get across. Start over. Draw a picture. Use your
hands/movements. Try something else. Because, let's be
honest, this is a common feeling about Pre-Algebra...

This is a big one, and one that I struggle with helping my kids to do, because of the trend of today, unfortunately.

Help your students to become problem solvers. Don't solve all of their problems for them. Answer their questions with questions. (Don't you hate when people do that to you?) But it really makes you think. And isn't that what we want for our future generation? We want them to be able to think for themselves, and not be reliant on someone or anyone else. We would be doing them an injustice. This quote says it best...

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don't tell you what to see." -Alexandra K. Trenfor

And when all else fails, just teach like a ninja!

I am looking forward to some much-needed rest, although it is pretty fun looking back at all the memories from this year. It sure was a good one.

Happy 1st day of Summer!

Pi Day

Happy Pi Day, everybody! How did you celebrate 3.14? We celebrated BIG in 7th grade this year. We just recently finished our unit on Perimeter (and Circumference), Area, Surface Area, and Volume. It was perfect timing for Pi Day. Not only did Pi Day fall on a Friday this year, but it fell on the Friday before Spring Break. This means that all we did that day was pretty much fuel the [HYPER] fire that was already spreading among our 7th graders.

Our 7th Grade team found and ordered shirts from Amazon. They were a big hit!

 During my first period of the day, one of my sweet students brought me a shirt that her mom had sewed for me! It was so cute, and even though we were all so excited to match, I just had to change into the one she brought me. It was just so thoughtful, and not to mention- adorable!

About a week ago, we asked for donations from parents. We asked for sugar cookies, icing, and M&Ms, and holy moly, our parents responded. I ended up with about twenty dozen cookies. A-mazing.

The above picture doesn't even touch all the goodies that were donated. To celebrate the day, we had our students measure and solve for the circumference and area of a cookie and an M&M. Then, they iced their cookie, and found the area of the iced part. Then, they decorated their cookie with M&Ms and had to figure out how much area was NOT covered with M&Ms. They had so much fun with it. Here is one of my students' cookies…

How did you celebrate Pi Day?

Nerd Alert: I'm already pumped for next year's Pi Day, because it will be 3.14.15 which is the first FIVE digits of PI- 3.1415 :)

Happy Weekend!

Happy Spring Break!

My Dog Ate Your Homework

It has been one of "those" Mondays. You know the ones I'm talking about… the ones where you are a day late and a dollar short. As a matter of fact, that has kind of been the last week or so for me. It is apparently that time of year when parents [four days until the end of the nine-weeks] have realized that their child is not performing to the best of his/her ability, and the teacher is to blame for the 'Incomplete' homework assignments in the gradebook , etc. No worries, I'm not here to vent. I'll leave that for my sweet hubby and my Monday night glass of wine.

I am here, however, to explain the title of this post, although I am not sure it actually requires any explanation at all. Let's start from the beginning…

Our sweet Avery is a golden retriever who turned two in January. She is everything we could have ever wanted in a dog. She has the best personality, loves to cuddle, and enjoys long walks on the beach. She runs with me, which we both love, and the best part- OFF LEASH. It really is a game-changer, folks. If you run with a dog, you know what I mean. She really is wonderful. Because she is so wonderful, we get suckered into trusting her and believing she is actually a human. Because Matt and I had a busy weekend which included lots of the Houston Rodeo, including seeing Usher (one word- amazing.) that will be blogged about later and working out at the rodeo (also- later), and because we were going to be gone so much, we felt a little guilty leaving Aves in her kennel. Did I say 'kennel'? I meant deluxe suite hotel of a kennel. I'm not quite sure why we feel so guilty. It must be the face… 

Or when she pretends she's sleepy and promises that when we're gone, she is just going to sleep anyway. I mean, what's a girl to do? Apparently, a girl is to trust that sweet face and let her stay out of the kennel and roam the house. We let her do this Friday night, and she did great! She was actually sleeping in her kennel when we got home with the door open. Then, Saturday, when we went to work out, same thing. She was sleeping on the couch and had done great. Not a single thing out of place. Saturday night, third time was a charm, because again, nothing. But then… Sunday happened. While we were at church, she caved. She found one of my student's re-tests and literally tore it to shreds. I'm talking- try to salvage, isn't going to happen, shred. Think she felt bad about it? 

The answer is 'yes', she did. This mamma was so mad at her. I even remember when she yawned, I yelled, "No, you are NOT allowed to be tired! You should have been sleeping, and you weren't! Too bad! No yawning!" But… after about three minutes, I had to get over it. What is it about dogs? You just can't stay mad at them. I decided that since it was only a Re-Test (meaning the student can make up to a 70), that this child… no matter how they had actually done… would be getting her 70. She can thank Aves for that one. 

There are so many other things going on around here it is a little crazy to even think about. We are about to start another challenge over here at the Bormann house, so stay tuned to hear about that. Also, the rodeo has started up, which means we have been volunteering, enjoying some good ole Texas rodeo-ing, and some stinkin' awesome concerts. More on all of this coming soon! 

Hope you are not having "one of those Mondays," but if you are, you aren't alone. 

Keep Calm and Tuesday On.

"Snow" Day in Texas

Happy "snow/ice/polar vortex/winter storm" Day, my fellow teachers!! 

If you haven't smiled today, watch this video. 

These two boys will absolutely make your day. 

What sweet talent, a true gift from God!