The Smarts

Carson, my 7 year old nephew (about to be 8 in five days), is one smart cookie. Seriously, I am amazed at what he knows and what he's learning in school. He is waaaay smarter than me, and I wish I could bring him to my 16 year old students to show them that Carson knows more than they do.


It is so cool to see him learning, asking questions, sharing his thoughts, and exploring. He approached me the other day and said, "Shiloh, do you think I'm inquisitive?" He caught me so off guard with his use of the word that all I could do was laugh.


"Why yes, Carson, you are a very inquisitive young boy."


Kyler asks, "What does inquisitive mean?" to which Carson replied, "It means, you ask a lot of questions. Corinne is definitely inquisitive. She's always asking questions."


Then Carson says to me, "Shiloh, you're very ..... ummmm, I can't think of the word. What's another word for beautiful?"

I was very flattered. "Pretty. Gorgeous. Cute?"

"No, it starts with an E."

"Exquisite?"

"Yes!! Shiloh, you are very exquisite."

"Why, thank you Carson."

Later on the in the day, Kyler told Carson, "My Wii game is funner than your game."

Carson: "Kye, funner isn't a word. It's more fun."

That evening, Carson was writing sentences on his paper. He used a comma to separate two adjectives (something my 16 year old students don't do). I asked him why he used a comma, and he correctly informed me why he put a comma in the place he did.

Finally, Carson took some time to talk to me about artwork. They have been studying Monet and some others I can't remember. He was talking about impressionist paintings, and I couldn't even hold a conversation with him because I had no idea what he was talking about.

If only their eagerness to learn followed my students into high school.

If only I was as smart as my 7 year old nephew.

Sex Changes and Birth

Last summer, Josh and I decided we needed pet frogs (more me than him). We arrived at the pet store to pleasantly discover that African Dwarf frogs are cheap ($2.50 per frog) and very easy to care for. We took two frogs home that day and named them Mrs. Hazelnut and Mr. Hopkins.

Mrs. Hazelnut died within days, so we returned her and brought home Mrs. Hazelnut the second. Then she died. So we returned her and came home with Mrs. Hazelnut the third. All the while, Mr. Hopkins couldn't figure out where his friend kept going.

Mrs. Hazelnut died (again), and after some research, Josh figured out that my tap water was full of chlorine and we needed to buy some drops to clean my water. After buying the drops and returning back home with Mrs. Hazelnut the fourth, we finally got Hazelnut to live.

Within a few weeks, however, Mr. Hopkins died. Josh had had enough. "No more frogs," he declared, but I knew I could get him to budge. Mrs. Hazelnut was unhappy all by herself, so within a few weeks, we brought Lily home.

Since that time about 9 months ago, all has been quiet on the frog front.

That is until a few nights ago. I was watching TV and heard a clicking noise.

Click, click, click, click. Very fast and very loud. I paused the TV to listen and figured out the noise was coming from one of the frogs.

Josh immediately began researching on the Internet and discovered that only male frogs make that call. And, it's his mating call.

Uh, oh. Lily is actually Larry.

Josh also informed me that once the mating call is sent out, the boy frog will eventually wrap his legs around the female and hang out for the course of their mating. After that, the female will drop eggs.

The following morning as I was leaving for work, I checked out the frogs. Larry had his legs wrapped around Mrs. Hazelnut, just as Josh said would happen, and they were doing the happy dance.

Within hours, my tank was full of at least 100 teeny tiny eggs.

Josh's research said that the frogs will eat the eggs unless they are separated from them, so Larry and Mrs. Hazelnut have been moved to a different bowl for the time being. The eggs are floating on top of the water, and we're waiting for any type of movement, which will happen about 2-3 days after being laid. Once they start to move (the tadpoles will start to wiggle), we have to feed them. Josh started calling some pet stores to find the specific food, but no one carries it. One lady told us we can feed the tadpoles hard boiled eggs (crushed and mixed with water), so we're waiting for any type of movement.

Josh's research said that most of the eggs will not survive, so we're really not expecting to get any frogs, but we're going to try to save a few. It's so exciting. I'm a new momma to 100 frog eggs.

Job

Most of you have already heard the news, but just in case you haven't, I got the job at Chatfield!!!

Yesterday was a long day of waiting, and I didn't receive the call until 7:30. At that point, I figured they were going to wait until today to call, so I had put my phone down for the evening.

My phone had rung about 6, which stopped my heart. It wasn't the school, but it was my good friend, Kari, so I had a nice conversation with her. My phone rang again at 7, and I ran as fast as I could to grab it. It was my grandma, so I had another nice conversation with her. When it rang at 7:30, I just knew it was the school. With a pounding heart and shaking hands, it was my department manager.

He first had to apologize for calling so late. He had a soccer game (he's the girls soccer coach), and they lost. He has 9 girls injured, so he had to pull together a team out of some JV and Varsity girls. He can't believe he has so many injuries this early in the season. After telling me of his soccer team, he then asked how Lacrosse is going.

Come on, get the point!

I told him all about Lacrosse (we won our first game on Tuesday!).

Finally, after five minutes of gibber jabber, he finally got to the reason of his call.

"Shiloh, we've been very impressed with what you have done at Chatfield. You had a great interview and far outshone any of the others. If you are interested, we would like to offer you a permanent contract at CS of H. If you want it, that is."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!! Without a doubt, I want this job more than anything. Thank you so much for this opportunity."

I stammered on for a few more minutes, and we said our goodbyes.

I got the job! No more job worries. What a relief, and again, Praise God.

Such is my Luck

Of course, an interview can't go without a hitch. At least in my world.


As I mentioned, I had my interview today. It was also TCAP testing day (the Colorado State test that all CO students have to take-we've been testing for two weeks, and today was the last day). I admit that I've gotten a bit lazy through the testing and have opted to wear jeans every single day to work, along with the other 120 teachers in the building (including our principal). Since my interview was today, I put on my best clothes, including wedge strappy heels and jewelry. I was ready. My students asked why I was so dressed up. They aren't used to such fanciness.


I didn't have a single chance to think about my interview until about 45 minutes beforehand because I was so busy all day. My interview was at 2:30 (the last bell rings at 2:27). First there was four hours of testing. And then afternoon classes, which are always rush, rush, rush.


During my last class of the day, my shoe broke. Yep, go figure. The entire strap broke and the bottom of the shoe came undone from the sole of the shoe. I needed help, and I needed help badly and quickly.


I had spare shoes in my car. Black tennis shoes with a pink bottom. Not going to work, since I was wearing an orange and brown dress.


I wouldn't/couldn't dare walk into my interview barefoot.


Liz offered to let me borrow her shoes for my interview, but she was interviewing immediately after me at 3. It wouldn't look very good to exchange shoes as I walked out and she walked in.

And besides, her sandals were black with pearls on them. I was wearing an orange and brown dress.


Fashion, people!


I attempted to walk in my shoes. I ended up looking like I had a broken leg as I tried to keep from clomping.


Walk. Flap. Clomp. Drag my foot.


It didn't work so well.


So I called for the help of my students.


"All right, guys, I need help. Fast. My shoe is broken, and I need to get it fixed for about 30 minutes so I can walk down the hallway into a meeting without looking like my shoe is broken."

My students sprang into action. One, a band student, said the band teacher had a staple gun.

"Perfect, go get it!"

He was gone for five minutes and returned empty handed. The band teacher had taken the staple gun home.

Plan B.

"The wood shop teacher....he should have something that will work."

"Perfect, here's my shoe. Go fix it."

Two students ran down the hall with shoe in hand. Five minutes later they returned with Gorilla glue and a clamp.

Whatever will work.

They quickly got to work, gluing my shoe and clamping it down so it could dry.

"How long does it take to dry?" I asked.

After reading the back, "About 60 minutes."

Crap, my interview is in 20 minutes.

The bell eventually rang and the kids left. I held my shoe in the clamp was long as possible, but eventually I had to return the equipment back to the wood shop teacher. Unfortunately, the glue did not have enough time to dry. The moment I put my shoe back on, it came undone.

Walk. Flap. Clomp. Drag my food (and did I mention that my classroom is the farther room from anything else in the building, including the main office where my interview was. It's about a 5 minute walk from my room to the interview).

Well, at least I know my interview committee. Hopefully they won't mind that A) My shoe is broken, B) It is very loud to walk due to the flapping and clomping, and C) It looks like I have a broken leg while trying to walk as quietly as possible without attracting attention.

I clomped my way to the interview and quickly sat down. The interview went great, by the way, and then I discretely tried to escape the room without drawing attention.

Once I made it out to my car, I changed into my tennis shoes and jeans for Lacrosse. I threw my broken shoes into my bag, along with my dress and scarf. Went to practice. Came home. Unpacked my bag.

Bad news. The glue had finally dried. The gorilla glue works very well, actually. My shoe is glued together. My scarf is glued to my shoe. My scarf won't come off.

Interview

My interview for Chatfield is today at 2:30. Wish me luck!

I should know by tomorrow or Friday if I got the job or not.

Job News

Very few people know this, but back in December I interviewed for a teaching job at Heritage High School, a school about five minutes from my house. My friend Britt works there, and she told me an English teacher quit mid-semester. They were interviewing to fill his position, starting in January. It also held the potential to be a permanent teaching position, which means I would be guaranteed a job next year and the year after and the year after that.

Britt told me I HAD to interview for it, even if it meant leaving Chatfield mid-semester. My initial reaction was, "No, I made a commitment to Chatfield for the year. I won't leave mid-semester to take another job."

But then I started talking to people, and every single person (all teachers at Chatfield) told me I had to interview.

(As a refresher, I am currently in a temporary teaching position, which means at the end of this year, I will be cut. I've faced this for the last three years, but every year I have been blessed with a job at the last possible moment. Also this year, my school district was facing $70 million in cuts over the next two years. All temp teachers were going to be cut at the end of this school year.)

So, knowing that information, my mentors all advised me that if I didn't interview for a permanent position, even if it started mid-year, then I was out of my mind. I set up a meeting with my principal, and through tears I told her that I had a job opportunity at Heritage, and while I did not want to leave Chatfield, I felt like I needed to at least interview for the job at Heritage and potentially secure a teaching job for next year. I had her full support (she's wonderful), and she told me that I would be foolish not to apply for the job. With sadness in her voice, she told me that she would not be able to hire me back next year. She told me that Jeffco had 600 temporary teachers; all 600 would be cut, along with potentially 400 other tenured teachers (known as RIFTs in the teaching profession).

I left her office heartbroken about leaving Chatfield but full of hope for securing a job for next year.

I interviewed.
Got called back for a second interview.
I did not get the job.

I was relieved and sad at the same time. Relieved I would get to finish my year at Chatfield (I had been dreading a very hard conversation with my students about why I was leaving mid-semester) but sad that I was going to be jobless next year. It came down to another guy and me, and while they really liked me, they chose the guy. Perhaps it was easier for them to hire a teacher who didn't already have a job than to bring me over when I was still finishing up finals and grades at another school. Nonetheless, I didn't get the job, and I was able to focus my attention back to Chatfield.

Over Christmas break, Senate Bill 191 passed, which changed EVERYTHING.

Praise God!

I mean, everything changed.

I won't bore you with the details of that bill, but if you're interested, please ask. It basically brings "fairness" back into the teaching world again. In-district transfers now have to interview for a job; they won't just be randomly placed in a school. Teachers on a temporary contract (me) can now be offered a permanent position (for the past three years, Jeffco has not offered any permanent contracts). It also changed our cuts from $35 million down to only $20 million. They are keeping all cuts out of the classroom for next year. Not a single teacher will be cut, nor will we have to take another pay cut!!!!

Not only could I be offered a permanent contract, but I would officially be tenured because I've already served three years in my district. I could be offered a non-probationary contract!

That's only if, however, my school has a position to offer me.

And it DOES! Chatfield has TWO positions to fill, which means my friend Liz (who is also temporary) can be offered a job, and even better, we won't have to interview against one another.

I was informed on Friday that my job will be posted today (they have to post all permanent positions). The job is open for a week. I have to apply (for my own job). I have to interview. But in no less words, my principal and department head have told me the job is mine. I just have to go through the ropes to secure it. They are interviewing next Tuesday, and I will know by Wednesday or Thursday that the job is mine.

And I will be non-probationary.

After the past three years of worry, stress, and hard work, I have finally secured a permanent position at Chatfield! Unless I blow the interview, I have a job next year, and the year after, and the year after that.

Praise God.

He obviously knew what He was doing when I didn't get the job at Heritage. God knew I'd have a job at Chatfield. :)

All things worked out, despite the disappointment of getting turned down for a job.

Double Rent

And my story keeps getting better.

Remember how I told you I cancelled my rent once I realized my paycheck hadn't been deposited?

Well, once I DID get my paycheck money, I went back to my apartment complex website and re-started my rent payments.

I finally thought the entire situation was back to normal, so I went about my day. The following day (March 1), I logged into my checking account to make sure my rent had been paid, and my account balance was far lower than it should have been. I started my investigation into where $700 had gone when I realized I had been charged for rent twice! I apparently had not stopped my rent payment the first time, and then when I went back in a second time to pay it, I got charged twice.

Ugh.

So I called my apartment. I didn't go into details as to why I had been charged twice, but I informed her that I had been charged twice and needed $700 refunded to me. Her reply was, "I'm sorry, but we don't give refunds."

At this point, it's been one heck of a day/week. I am in no mood to discuss this matter, whether it be my fault or not.

With as level of a voice as I could find, "I'm sorry, but yes, you WILL refund my money. I have paid for rent twice, and you owe me $700. So how would you like to proceed. Either you can call your manager and get this taken care of, or I can call instead. Which would you prefer? You or me making the call?"

"I'll call right now. I will call you back in a few minutes."

That's what I thought.

As promised, she called me back within 20 minutes. She told me that my payment had to clear first, and then they would send a check in the mail. The process would take 5-7 business days, so as long as the payment cleared, I'd be getting a check next week.

That is fine, as long as I get my money back (and it's already cleared the bank, at least on my end).

This was Thursday. My paycheck drama happened on Wednesday. Friday morning, I accidentally slammed my thumb in my desk drawer. It took everything in my power to fight back tears, but even today, my thumb is a little purple and pulsates whenever I touch.

What a week. I'm glad it's over.