Classroom Pencil Sharpener

This post is for all of my teacher friends....

I know you can relate to my hate for pencils and pencil sharpening in my classroom.  I feel like whenever I turn around I've got a student that needs their pencil sharpened.  That's not even the worst of it - it usually takes them sooooooo long to sharpen their pencil because our $100 classroom pencil sharpener stopped working weeks ago and now it just eats pencils.  Nice.

Well, one day I was perusing Pinterest when I saw this:

This pencil sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies claimed to sharpen any pencil AND claimed to do it quietly.  Say whaaaaaa????  Surely this was an evil trap that someone had created to get all teachers to fall into?  Surely this wasn't real - I've never heard of a pencil sharpener that actually sharpened all pencils quietly!  I've heard of pencil sharpeners that sharpened expensive pencils (hello Ticonderoga Pencils! alas, I love you) but did it as loudly as possible while I shouted at the top of my lungs to continue teaching, but never one that was quiet AND sharpened ALL (what about Dixon???) pencils.  Be. Still. My. Heart.  

I did it - I got one and was so excited when it came!  One problem was that I got it at the end of the 2011-2012 school year and so it didn't debut in my classroom until this past year.  I waited all year to share this post with you because I wanted to see how it held up after being tortured used by my students for an entire school year.  After a year of using it, I've gotta tell you that I absolutely love it.  Now, it did take some abuse from my students....I won't share with you the look on my face when it dropped to the floor for the first time....

photo source

(whooooops - maybe I will...this was me...except I'm not a man)

....but despite that abuse, it held up quite nicely!  I am telling you what - this pencil sharpener sharpened like a dream!  Better yet, it sharpened EVERY pencil - from the Ticonderogas to the dollar store pencils, this sharpener works like I never knew I cared a pencil sharpener to work!  Even better than that (I know!? Can it get better?!) is that price tag - at only $24.99 a sharpener, how could you not want to have at least one for your classroom?!?!!!  I'm now contemplating purchasing the teacher special of 3 sharpeners, only I know that Stephen might struggle with me paying even more money for my classroom.  Below is the video from the website showing you how to sharpen a pencil using one of their sharpeners.  This video is incredibly accurate, right on down to the noise level you hear while the pencil is being sharpened.  While you watch it, I'm going to go figure out how to finagle a way to buy 3 new sharpeners for my classroom this year!

Happy Sharpening!!!

What a Year!

As of last Thursday, I wrapped up my fifth year of teaching...and what a year it was!  If you've been hanging around here long enough (despite the fact that it's sounded like a big cave with crickets chirping for the past couple of months) you may recall that last year I had a very challenging year teaching an intermediate split (4th and 5th graders).  This year, I had the blessing of teaching one straight grade (4th) and I had the advanced students for Math and Reading.  Needless to say, this year my job was much more enjoyable than last year, simply because I had the same grade level all day long.  Along with teaching, Stephen and I made sure we kept our candles burning on both ends and we had quite a busy year...

Our weekly schedule during the school year looked like this:
*Monday nights my sisters and I enjoy dinner at my parents house - spouses are welcome but not always available to join.

*Tuesday nights Stephen and I both attended Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) - he was in the Men's class and I was in the Women's night class.  Tuesday is also the day for faculty and committee meetings at my school so I would stay at school until BSF (6:45) and then come home after BSF.  We suffered through enjoyed 9pm dinners on Tuesday night.

*Wednesday nights were devoted to driving down to the University of Louisville's campus to help lead Young Life's College Fellowship group.  We hung out with college students, led Bible studies and helped try and train new leaders to volunteer in high schools around the city.  Wednesdays were also the day when I would have Quick Recall Practice (that's right: be jealous - I am the Quick Recall Coach at my school) after school.  We met every Wednesday from 4-5:30 so I would stick around school and drive to UofL after practice.  Stephen and I wouldn't return home until 10pm on Wednesday nights.

*Thursday nights were the "catch all" nights.  We didn't have a standing event and we welcomed what normally was an uneventful evening during our week.

*Friday nights we attended the weekly leadership meetings for Young Life.  Both Stephen and I would come straight from work to leadership - the good news is that dinner was served at Leadership so we'd actually get to eat at a normal time!

*Saturday is the day where we would sleep...and then run around the house like a chicken with it's head cut off to do all the things that got put off during the week.

*Sundays are always church days and then we enjoy lunch at Stephen's mom and dad's house with whatever family members can come that day.  Then, the dreaded grading and school work would begin, as I'd put it off all weekend long.

On top of all those things, here are some other fun things that happened throughout the year:

In September I ventured to Ohio to the outlets with my besties and enjoyed Chipotle for the first time in over a year (Louisville hadn't gotten one yet - dumb).  I am not at all embarrassed by my love for Chipotle and their amazing guac.

In September my good friend, Jenna got married so off to Lexington we went.  Here I am with some of my closest, oldest friends. 

In October, we visited Brown County for the weekend with Stephen's family.

In October, one of my best friends, Laura got married.  Here I am getting down and dirty on the dance floor with the groom.

 

In November Stephen and I headed back north to Chicago to celebrate the wedding of our sweet friends Zack and Marcia.  We were also blessed to be able to spend time with other friends.  Here we are with Debbie and Stephen - they're tying the knot this July!!!

In December I turned the dirty-thirty and got to celebrate with 3 of my best friends (Stephen, Donielle and Katie) as well as with a small group of super close friends.  What a blessing it was to be with them!

In January my best friend, Donielle joined me in the dirty-thirties.  Another trip to Lexington was in order!

In March, my Quick Recall team took home 1st place at the annual Mayor's Cup competition.  This was my 4th year coaching a Quick Recall team and it was my first win.  I couldn't have been more proud of them.  On top of taking home first place, the other students in the competition voted them for the Best Sportsmanship award!  My school went home that day with 4 trophies: Quick Recall 1st place, Future Problemsolvers 2nd place, Best Sportsmanship and then Overall 1st place.  What a great way to spend a Saturday!

In April I headed down south with good friends (Jenna, Katie and Julie) to spend Spring Break in Panama City Beach, FL.  The beach picture was taken at beautiful Seaside, which Katie and Julie introduced us to.  

In May I completed my 3rd year of BSF.  I'm looking forward to studying the book on Matthew in the Fall!

Throughout all of this, Stephen has been taking classes at night, after work to become a CFP (Certified Financial Planner).  He's currently in his last {review} class that is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30-8:30pm.  Needless to say, we're both ready for him to be DONE and are praying that he passes his test when the time comes for him to take it.  

After reading this, maybe you understand why my blog has been so neglected this school year.  Now that it's summer, I'm hoping that I can catch up on ALL the things I've been putting on the back burner all year long.  I have lots of small projects I've worked on (or started and never completed...) that I'm hoping to share with you and I'm hoping to keep up with this blog as a form of accountability to not fall into the temptation to be a slug all summer long.  Expect to see {almost} daily posts up around these parts as I try to have one of the most productive summers possible...lost of furniture restoring, painting, creating, reading, studying, and preparation for another upcoming school year will be going on around here.  I hope you'll stick around and join me for it!

Randomness In Numbers

It's been waaaaay too long since I came on here and promised you I'd be back...I wasn't lying - although I was very slow at my return.  Apologies.  I know your life has been on hold while you've been checking my blog feverishly on a daily basis (I kid, I kid!).  There's so much swarming around in my head - so many thoughts, projects, feelings, ideas, stories...today just seemed like an appropriate "random" day.  What better way to share with you what's been going on, than through a random post - with numbers?  Here we go!

5 - the number of school days left with students....I am so ready for this summer break.

1 - the number of new students that I got today....5 days left into the year.....that don't speak a word of English.

3 - the number of custom baby bedding orders I'm currently working on - are you pregnant, or know someone who is???  Change that number!

2 - the number of dead birds my dog has brought me over the span of 2 days.  He was incredibly excited and thrilled by his offering.  Too bad my anger and disgust really threw him off.

6 - the hour of the morning that Stephen and I awoke on Saturday to find ourselves still in our Friday clothes, on the couch, with the dog, and the t.v. on...ay yi yi!

4,567,921 - the number of projects I have on my mental list of things to do this summer.  Will they all even be possible???

2 - the number of students who called me a "snitch" on Friday - to my face.  Please refer to my first random number.

4 - the number of nieces and nephews I have that I've been able to see on a weekly basis now that Stephen and I live in Louisville.  There's nothing like seeing your baby nephew so often that he smiles when you come into the room!

582 - the number of recipes I have pinned on my Recipe Pinterest board...someone better get cooking!

4 - the number of recipes I have actually tried from my Recipe Pinterest board - at least I was pleased with every one of them!

1 - the number of baby pools Stephen and I have purchased in our lifetime.  This baby pool was not for our baby (considering we do not have one), but instead for our dog - in a last ditch effort to keep him out of our pool in the backyard.

20 - the day in June that I have to take time out of my summer break to drive to Bowling Green for a Conference for school.  PTL for family in Bowling Green - let's get some good family time out of the random work day during the break!

3 - the number of times that Stephen has converted into a 5 year old little boy while he's explaining to me what Bear Country is in South Dakota and how much he can't wait to visit (a trip we have planned this summer)!

4 - the week of Couch to 5K I'm getting ready to start this week...here's to hoping I'm more consistent with my runs this week than last.

6 - the number of pictures I have to share with you to make this post even more random, but less boring :)

Princeton - or P-ton, as we like to call him, enjoying his new pool!
Here's to hoping this keeps him out of ours!

Cakes I made for a friend's baby's first birthday.  That
homemade fondant is just so good!

P-ton sleeping on the couch...he's hard not to snuggle,
which then leads to waking up next to him at 6 am.

The lilies we have growing in our pond in the backyard -  they are gorgeous!  This was
not our doing, we're just reaping the benefits of the previous owner's plantings.

Exhibit A of why living in Louisville is nice. Randomly celebrating a
handsome man's pre-school graduation is always a good time!

Exhibit B.  This little guy is just too much fun!

My Week

I realized the other day that I don't spend enough time talking about what's going on in my life here at what is supposed to be a blog about my move to a new city...oops!  I've gotten into new hobbies and crafts of sorts and have neglected any of you who may be interested in what's up.  So, for those (few) of you who care what's up, here's a bit about my week :).

I had a good start to my week on Monday because I had just finished having a wonderful time with my dear friends, Anne, Derek and Sarah who came in (except Sarah who lives in Naperville) from Lexington to spend the weekend with me and Stephen.  The only thing that stunk about Monday was that I had been used to having a full apartment of 5 of us and it dropped to only me.  Sarah left on Sunday morning before church, Anne and Derek split town after lunch on Sunday and then Stephen left me early before anyone should even be awake on Monday morning to head to work and then to hop a plane to New York City for the week.  That's right - I've been alone for a week...ugh. Thoughts on that will come later.

I had classes all week and I've had this new "pressure" of my new job as a research assistant on campus.  I put the words "pressure" in quotations because I feel like I'm the one that's putting pressure on myself.  The people I work with are incredibly lenient on when I come in and my hours but when I'm not there, I'm constantly thinking, "should I be there?"  "do they think I'm slacking?"...that's me - overanalyzing e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.  I really need to get over that!
I feel incredibly blessed to have this research assistantship for so many reasons!  The first reason is because it's such a great opportunity for me professionally.  My role is to act as a "liaison" to the elementary schools we work with and our project.  Our project is one that helps schools go through a reform to create more intentional teaching, which in return will create stronger students.  I feel like I'm constantly learning how I can be a better, more intentional teacher when the time comes.
The second reason that I feel blessed to have this assistantship is because it pays for my tuition.  You just read that correctly - I'm currently going to grad school for free.  On top of that, they pay me a stipend on top of it.  Unreal.
The third and most important reason that I feel blessed that I have this assistantship is to share my life with the gals who work in the office with me.  It's an interesting work situation - interesting because it's so different from what I've experienced in the Bible belt of KY.  I'm praying that God will show me how to love the people I work with and how to share my life with them in a way that glorifies Him and shows   how much He loves them.  Prayers are appreciated.

School is sucking my life out of my life.  It's okay, it's only because the end of the semester is creeping closer and things are drawing to a close, which means I have a lot to do before the beginning of December...eeek!  Did I mention that I'm enrolled in an Independent Study and my wonderful teacher who is working with me is going to allow me to turn my paper in after winter break?  You know what that means, don't you?  Yup!  I'm going to have to be working on that dang paper over the break...ay yi yi!  That's okay - don't feel too bad for me because after this semester has concluded I will only have 1 more semester and 1 measly class to take over the summer and then I am DONE - DONE-ZO - FINISHED!  ahhhhhhhh!

I started BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) officially for the first time this year and we've been studying the book of Isaiah.  Let's talk about how intense and difficult the book of Isaiah is, then let's talk about how incredibly happy I am that I'm reading it and diving into it through BSF because I'm getting SO MUCH information that I don't think I could have ever gotten if I had tried to read this book alone.  Talk about conviction and stretching.  I feel so loved by our Father who has every reason to wash His hands of me but doesn't because He loves me.  I feel blessed by BSF, my small discussion group in BSF and my discussion group leader.  It was hard for me to not compare her to my beloved Frankie (my old Bible Study Leader) and I finally snapped out of it.  Frankie will always be near and dear to my heart and she'll ALWAYS be my sister and mentor in Christ but I've moved into a new phase of life and God will bring new people into my life to show me His love and how to better know Him.

I feel like I just left you on overload...big time overload.  I'll stop for now.  I'll leave you with a video from a song I heard on the radio while I was driving to my friend Amanda's apartment on Friday (Amanda also shows me Christ's love, especially when she calls me throughout the week and invites me over because she knows I'm all alone this week while Stephen's gone).  I love this song because it makes me think about all the truths of the Bible, specifically from what I've been reading in Isaiah.  Despite who we are and what we deserve, God loves us.  More than I can possibly try to explain here.  I pray that you feel His love for you in this moment and throughout your day - it's unlike anything else you could possibly experience.

Summer Grad School

Sorry for my absence - UIC has chewed me up and spit me out.  I signed up for summer classes with the thought, "I can do anything for 8 weeks..." but let me tell you, it's gonna be a looong 8 weeks!

My classes are 4 hours long every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 4:30-8:30.  And despite some hopeful thoughts of them letting us out early, they keep us the ENTIRE time.

My Philosophy of Education class is a long class (brilliant - I know I didn't need to tell you that!).  However, my teacher is a cute old man who reminds me of the world's greatest grandpa.  He cracks himself up and tells a story after everything.  It took him an entire hour to take roll tonight.  Why?  Because he kept on distracting himself with his stories.  He then calls on you to ask you what you think about what he's said.  The first night of class "Karl" (that's me...it happens all the time - the "i" looks like an "l" and so suddenly I become a man named "Karl") was called on regarding what he I thought about progressive taxing.  Awesome.  Tonight, he called on me asking what I thought in response to what he had said.  Too bad I had just started to trail off in my mind and I missed the majority of what I was being asked about.  Good for me that he restated his thoughts - phew!

Let me tell you: it's. going. to. be. a. looooooooong. 8. weeks.

I'll leave you with a picture of who my professor resembles:

I'll be back tomorrow to share some fun from my sewing class :).

The weekend's ALMOST here...YOU CAN MAKE IT!

God is Good!

It is so easy for me to forget this!  I guess it's not necessarily that I "forget", but I guess I just don't consciously think about it or remember how great our God is on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, it takes great "ah-ha!" moments for me to fully remember and embrace this thought and feel a warmth of a reminder in how powerful it is.  I had one of these moments the other day.  It's a small "ah-ha" moment, but it is a reminder, all the same.

It all started on May 8, 2008.  That is the day that Stephen and I got engaged.  We were engaged for an awfully loooong time (we got married on Oct. 10, 2009) and it wasn't because we couldn't decide on a date or that we loved being engaged.  There were lots of different factors that kinda forced us into prolonging our engagement, one of these was the knowledge that when we got married we knew that one of us would be moving.  I had an eery feeling that the person who would be moving would be me.  The prayer between the two of us for those long months of our engagement was that God would lead our paths and make it evident to us where He wanted us to live.  

I have to admit, I never had a STRONG, loud gong-like feeling that I must move to Chicago.  I never said, "I'm moving to Chicago and I know that I'm supposed to move to Chicago."  Stephen, on the other hand, had a different experience, and I think that I felt peace about the decision (sadness and sorrow aside).  Now, since we've moved, I've had many moments where I think God is showing me that we did follow where He wanted us to go (again, sadness and sorrow aside).  One of those, I'm going to share with you (it's small).

In Kentucky, in order to keep your teaching certification, you are required to obtain your Masters degree.  You have 5 years from graduating from undergraduate to start and 10 years from graduation to finish.  My clock was ticking and regardless of where I lived, I was going to have to start a grad school program.  Here's the difference between me and some other teachers in KY: if I'm going to pay to get my masters, I WANT and DESIRE to learn and grow and become a better teacher.  This wasn't something that I was going to rush through and get over with because I had to.  I WANTED to go through a program that would strengthen me as a teacher in my weakest subject to teach: READING.  

So where was I going to go to school?  Well that depended on where I lived.  When I knew I was moving to Chicago, I did what any normal person would do: I looked up all the different universities and colleges in the Chicagoland area and checked out their tuition.  As you would expect, a public university was the cheapest out of the group.  That's where UIC (University of Illinois, Chicago) came into play.  Now, don't get me wrong, they had something else going for them, they offered a program that sounded really appealing to me; they offered a certification program to become a Reading Specialist.  This wasn't a program where I would get a reading and writing endorsement (like a lot of the grad programs in KY), No, through their program, I would become a certified Reading Specialist (what that means is for another blog).  So, I applied.  

I got accepted.  I attended (and completed...YAY!!!) my first semester there as of yesterday.  Here's the part where my "ah-ha" came in.  When I would go to class, I started to get glimpses of how awesome this University was for my particular needs, but it was solidified when I had a conversation with a girl from class one night.  This girl asked me why I had decided on UIC (she is a 7th year teacher who knows her stuff).  I was simple and honest in my explanation: I had to go to grad school and UIC was cheapest and matched what I wanted.  Her response, "You couldn't have picked a better school to obtain your Reading Specialist certification; there are so many amazing professors here that are doing amazing things."  And she's right.  There are professors after professors that teach at UIC that have written reading curriculum and books that schools across the country use....THESE ARE MY PROFESSORS!

God knew what He was doing.  God knew what I was doing.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

  

 

From Super Busy to a Slug-a-dug-dug

This is the new me...ugh!

Before I left Lexington, I was keeping myself super busy.  I know that busyness can be unhealthy and distracting and I'm sure that at times it was, but at the same time, I loved everything that was filling my time.  I rarely watched television and I was rarely at home for long, extended periods of time that didn't involve sleep.
...and then I moved...
at first, I was living in Louisville with my parents.  Of course there wasn't a lot to do because I wasn't working (I was only going to be in Louisville for 2 short months, too short to try and get a job; although I did try to sub, that's another story).  I was preparing for a wedding but honestly, at that point in the game, a lot of attention didn't need to be given to it (not until 2 weeks beforehand, anyhow).  So that's Louisville - long days at home while my parents were at work spending the day with my precious pup, Rosie.  Here is where the slug within me started to escape.
...and then I moved...
Chicago is now "home".  Before I started grad-school, there were only 2 things on my daily agenda: writing thank you notes and getting the apartment cleaned and in order.  Because the latter didn't really have a deadline assigned to it, I slugged my way through it.  Now don't get me wrong, I did complete everything, I just did it at a much sloooooower pace than old Kari would've done.
Then, starting in January I began grad-school.  Let me tell you a little bit about grad-school (for those of you who have gone or are in, you'll be able to relate) - they act as if you need to read everything that was ever written by any man at any time during the history of the world.  I spend so much time reading things (and half the things I read, I don't fully understand) and most of the time I read it so sloooowly because I'm slow now (in case you missed that earlier).
But here's the thing that bothers me:  I can do nothing but read all day long and I'm NOT okay with that. I get so much sleep and I'm still sleepy - WHY?!  Because I'm exerting little amounts of physical activity during the day - in fact I'm really not doing much of anything.  I NEED TO GET A GRIP ON MY LIFE!  I need to DO things.
So today, I'm meeting a woman at 2pm at the Starbucks down the street from my apartment.  I met this woman through Janet (her husband, Joel married Stephen and I) and she is looking for a new nanny for her three kids.  Is this something that I'm definitely going to do?  I'm not sure - I'm not sure that she'll want to work around my crazy class schedule (I go to class at night so 5-8, during the summer my classes will start at 4:30) but it is something that I think I need to do.  I need to have a reason to move around during the day :).
My prayer request is that IF this ends up working out, I pray that the sluggish me can handle reading everything UNDER the sun and being a quality nanny for three precious little kids.  I pray that a little bit of the old me can be revived and the slug in me will LEAVE!
I'll keep you posted my blogging friends - even if this nanny job doesn't pan out, I need to get out and about sometimes!

You Pregnant? Me either...but IF you are (or thinking to be eventually...)

One of the classes that I'm taking is Developmental Child Psychology - sounds interesting, right?  It kinda is, but sometimes I wonder why I'm taking this class (again) for my Reading Specialist certification.  With that feeling set aside, the 2 chapters that we read for last night's class were all about conception (what could happen to the fetus while in womb that could effect it later) and then birth.  While reading this, there were all sorts of cool statistics and facts that I thought everyone should really know, not just those required to take the course, so I'm going to share with you some of the things that I found to be the coolest :)

There is no rhyme nor reason - just the ones I thought were neat-o skeet-o...


-The Lamaze childbirth technique uses breathing and muscle relaxation exercises to teach women how to manage the pain of labor and delivery (I know, I know, we all already knew this) BUT what I thought was interesting: Mothers who choose to take Lamaze classes experience shorter labor, require less medication, and are less stressed and more positive about the birth experience.


-Women who are anxious and under emotional stress during pregnancy also tend to have infants who are physically more active in utero.  After their birth, these infants tend to be hyperactive and irritable, to cry more, and to have feeding and sleep problems, and they are less attentive at 8 months than other babies.  What to learn from this: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." - Philippians 4:6


-In one study, when pregnant women were under severe life stresses, those with supportive relatives and friends had only a 33% rate of complications in pregnancy and childbirth compared with 91% rate for women lacking social support.  LOVE and SUPPORT YOUR PREGNANT FRIENDS!  That means we should all love Mandy Stone and Anne Warnick...oops!  Sorry Anne!


-Safe conception ages range from 20-40; anything earlier or later than that is more susceptible to higher risks (35 year old mothers frequency of delivering a baby with Down Syndrome: 1/385; 40 year old mothers: 1/100; 45 year old mothers: 1/40 - wow. scary)


-Researchers have compiled evidence for differences in newborn temperament among children of different ethnicities and races.  For instance, Chinese American babies, in contrast to European American and Irish infants, have been described as generally calmer, easier to console, more able to quiet themselves after crying, and faster to adapt to external stimulation or changes.  What does this mean?  That Jen and Ben Brzinski's baby will be much calmer and easier to console than the Warnicks could ever hope for their own baby. :-D


REASONS WHY YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN EVEN IF THEY'RE DIFFICULT:
-A higher rate of developmental problems appears in later life among children described by their mothers as difficult babies.  Why?  There are 2 factors that may contribute: 1st is a more "difficult" or less malleable child is likely to find it harder to adapt to environmental demands and so is more prone to stress and the toll it takes on emotional well-being.  2nd reason (which is REALLY sad) is that a child with a difficult temperament is more likely to cause adverse reactions from other people and thus suffer the psychological damage caused by social rejection (one of which is parental irritability.YIKES!)


That's all I've got on this.  I realize that I'm a little bit sporadic in my blogging and that's due to my procrastination causing stressful catching up in my classes.  I'm ending that cycle TODAY so plan on hearing a lot more out of me in the near, near future :).  Bye for now Blogland!

Just when I was getting used to this...change comes again!

You guessed it...I'm pregnant!

Ah-hahahahaha just kidding!  I really shouldn't joke like that, as I could actually get pregnant and then I wouldn't be laughing!  No, really the news that I want to share with you is that yesterday I received my acceptance letter from UIC for their M.Ed. program!

I will be starting my grad-school classes on January 11th!  While this news is so exciting, it's also kinda nerve racking!  I'm going to be a student again....I don't know what I think about that!  I loved NOT having to take tests or write papers once I graduated, and now I'm asking to be tortured again, and this time it will probably be even more painful as it's graduate school - they ain't messin'!

Anyhoo, some logistics on my program: I am going to be attending the Instructional Leadership Literacy, Language and Culture program in their college of Education.  In this program, I will earn my certification to be a Reading Specialist.  A Reading Specialist works with kids who cannot read and/or are learning to read and their job is to decipher where the problems lie and how to hurdle past them.  This degree would enable me to be a better reading teacher AND if at any point in time I do not want to be a "regular" classroom teacher, I can leave the general classroom and work solely as a Reading Specialist for a school building.  I believe that I can obtain my masters in about 3 semesters, so my plan would be to attend full time for the spring, summer and fall semesters and try to knock it all out in a time efficient manner.  Prayer is welcomed...I could use it as I get ready to embark on a whole new adventure within my new adventure :).