So…there is this whole linky party thingie at Blog Hoppin’ and I thought I would give this whole party shindig a try. We will see how it goes.  I am pretty much the world’s most boring person, so I can’t imagine writing anything fascinating here.

Tell us a little something about you…

I’m Mandy at Mandy’s Tips for Teachers Blog and www.mandygregory.com.  I have two cats and a husband and a stinkin’ cute baby girl.  She is ten and a half months old and I swear she is B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T.  She can say da-da, na-na ( that’s me- no ma ma for her!  Nope, she likes to call me the name most grandmothers get.  I’ll take it- I have gray hair anyway!), Bo (my cat’s name) and D (my other cat’s name, Daisy).  Seriously.  Is she not a genius? 
 I went to college to be a teacher after changing my major. I had this wild hair to be an artist, even though I never took any art classes outside of the community center.  Not even in high school.  So I took several drawing classes, a portrait class and a watercolor painting class (which I LOVED).  Somewhere in the middle of the portrait class I realized my portraits never looked like me and in my class of a whopping 12 people, I was no where near the best.  I feared I would never have steady employment with my mediocre talent and decided to be an art teacher.  And then I realized there are almost 0 job opportunities for art teachers since there is only one  job per school and I majored in Elementary Ed.   It was only fitting since I loved playing school and dreamed of being a teacher (and a waitress in first grade) as a child.

How long have you been teaching?
I think this is my tenth year.  I always get confused because I started in the middle of a school year.  So this is either nine and a half or ten and a half.  I think it is ten and a half but they all kind blend together after the first two and the most recent two.  Ehh.  The kids were cute!

You might not know…
My first year of teaching a child hid a wild baby possum in her book bag (her dog had attacked it at the bus stop and she decided to “rescue” it) and snuck it out (wrapped in a jacket) on to the recess field.  I caught her (and the possum) only after it had scratched about half a dozen children.   I released it in the woods to let it crawl off and die in peace and realized a bit too late that this made it a bit difficult to test it for rabies.  Whoops.  But, I am totally prepared the next time a child brings a wild possum to school.
I have also given a child the Heimlich maneuver at school as well, but that’s another story and another day.

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

A new start.  Not being pregnant.  Not throwing up on people I work with.  Finally being comfortable with third grade standards and expectations.  A new approach to guided math/ math workshop.  I have lots of fun new things on my plate!

What do you need to improve?

I work really hard at getting organized, but have a really hard time *staying* organized.  I want to learn to be a more efficient manager of my time.  I still work late most days and it stressed me out trying to get home, make dinner, clean up and spend time with my husband and baby.  I think I need to learn to say “no,” but this is really hard for me because I *want* to do so many things!

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

I love my Promethean board, my easel, chart paper, markers (Mr. Sketch are the BEST) and my BOOKS.  I have tons and I LOVE them.  I have so many they are EVERYWHERE in my house.  I literally just gave away 2-3 boxes of my upper grades chapter books because I just had way too many.

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That was therapeutic!  See?  I really am “The Most Boring Woman in the World,”  just like the Dos Equis guy but with a Diet Coke instead of a foreign beer.
I am linking this up to Blog Hoppin’!

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