To Kill A Mockingbird and Getting Married

Random title, I know. I recently re-read To Kill A Mockingbird.  It has probably been at least five years since the last time, so I enjoyed it a lot more this time around. My sophomore class that I am student-teaching is reading it, so I thought I would read ahead, to make sure I remembered everything. It has some seriously deep messages that I never caught the other times I read it! Loved it! Wish I could say the same for the sophomores....they just aren't getting into it. Part of me feels that the way it is beeing presented is a big factor. I did not design the unit. My CT (cooperating teacher) did. She has been teaching 40 years and possesses a wealth of knowledge about teaching, but has a completely different philosophy on students than I do. She knows that she is a very structured teacher and has said that she enjoys my "new" activities and ideas! So, we are learning from each other.

Studnet-teaching is going slowly. I am not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I just get sooooo frustrated that I can't do what I want with the students. That's okay, though. Someday I will, hopefully, have my very own classroom and being able to teach the way I would like!

Also...I am getting married in 4 days!!! AAAAAAAH! Still not sure what I was thinking, when I decided to get married during student-teaching. This is one stressful week! I have 2 of my professor observations this week and it is a week of my KPTP teaching. I am crazy! Oh well.... I have decided that Thursday night (the bachelorette party) will be my cue to give up all stress and frustration until the following Monday. I am determined to be completely and wonderfully happy and stress-free for my weddding. I will soon be Mrs. Langenwalter! Eeek! : D

That is about it for me today. Headed to a CCHS Board meeting and then to my Momma's for some homemade Tortilla Soup!! YUMMMM!

The book I am reading now is "Cowboy" by (I can't remember the name.

I also saw that one of my follower's read The Persian Pickle Club! Great book! Another great Sandra Dallas read is Alice's Tulips! Amazing!

TTFN

No poems today. Sorry. :(

Cowboy : 2.5 **
To Kill A Mockingbird : 5*****

Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas

I just finished another Sandra Dallas book and it was a good one! I go through phases of liking certain authors, and she is the one that I am hung up on lately. The previous book, The Persian Pickle Club, was just as good! I am not sure which was my favorite because they are very different. Alice's Tulips takes place during the Civil War. The entire book is just letters from one character, Alice, to her sister, Lizzie. It is amazing that such a complete story can be told in first-person and through letters to her sister! One of the things that I especially like about this book, is that it is uplifting without being idealistic. The character endures many hardships, including miscarriage, rape, and suspicion from neighbors, yet it is told in a way that does not turn the reader off from the story. I hope to read more Sandra Dallas books soon!
I also just finished Georgia Bottoms by Mark Childress. This author also wrote Crazy in Alabama, which I have yet to read. Georgia Bottoms was the funniest book that I have read in a long time. It is set in the early 2000's in Alabama, in a very small town. It follows the trials and tribulations of Georgia, a prostitute who denies that she is a prostitute because she only has one client each night of the week, for a total of 6 regulars. It sounds tasteless, but it is told with such hilarity, that one will love every bit of it! Definitely a must-read for women!
The Persian Pickle Club : 4 ****
Alice's Tulips : 3.5 ***
I wrote two more poems this week, but they are not among my favorites. However, I will add them in here for your entertainment purposes!
I have completed my first week of actually teachig Juniors and went very well. I have one more week to go and then I need to get it all recorded in that dreadful KPTP! Yuck....
Oh and the wedding is only 8 days away!! I am so excited for it to be here. There will be many people attending that I have not seen for a long time and even some that I have ever met! An added bonus to the whole shebang is that I am off work the entire week, even if I still have to teach. It is crazy to think that in a very short amount of time I will be Jessica Langenwalter, and have to spell my last name out every time someone asks! Haha. Ok, enough mushy stuff about the wedding....
The first poem was an assignment to write an indignant love poem....at least I tried...
The second was to write an ostentatiously fancy poem. I think its dull....

#1

The Nerve!! 

You think I love you?!!

Me,

The one who does the dishes,

Sweeps, dusts, and scrubs,

All for you?

I only cook all your favorites,

Chocolate chip cookies and chili.

You really think I love you?!

Well,

Don’t I know your favorite cars,

All about them, down to the

Year, make, and model?

You think I love YOU?!!!

Well, hell yes, I do!

#2

Petals of Divinity

Petals of luscious crimson

Gracefully alight upon

A carpet of forest green.

The Heavenly scent permeates

The crisp Autumn air

That delicately suffocates

The soul

Of all magnificent blooms.

Last post of today...and more poems!

Ok, so this will be my last blog message of the day, as I need to get back to the hell that is KPTP (student-teaching research paper for those non-ed people). A book that I read recently is The Persian Pickle Club, by Sandra Dallas. It is AMAZING, and I truly enjoyed it. It is about a group of women during the Dust Bowl who join together through quilting. It may sound all boring and Debbi Macomber - ish, but the ending provides a wonderful twist! Oh and last, but not least, here are some more fabulous poems. I hope the format looks okay, because I cannot view my blog, I can only post. Darn school computer blockers....


3 poems for your enjoyment...Are they getting any better??????

The Secret of Literacy

Brittle bindings,

Creaking with age,

Embrace fragile parchment

Coated with dust.

Somewhere,

In these ancient pages,

Hidden beneath the black type -

Castles.

Dragons.

A Princess.

Trapped in a world

Of darkness.

Just waiting,

For one who will free them

Into

Imagination.

Equine Optics

Feathery fringe frames

The deep dark depths

Of velvety brown.

Trust is ever-present

In the window to his soul.

Squirrel

Bushy-tailed busybody

Chattering to all who can hear

Darting around

To and fro

Up and down

Around the trees

Into the street…………..

Poems - Week 2

I realize that I am attempting to catch up on 3 months of blogging in ten minutes, but what do you expect from someone who is planning a wedding, student teaching, working as a waitress, and attempting to keep the house semi-clean....?
So, here is my second poem, that was supposed to be a bout a memory. Yes, it is a cop-out because it is not traumatic, but hey its a memory nonetheless.....

Rodeo Dreams

Saddle soap and leather

Blend into

An intoxicating haze.

I go back –

Back to the days

Of Daddy and Daughter.

Marty Robbins melody

Drifting from

A vintage victrola,

While a worn saddle

And sofa arm

Become a

Bucking bronco .

Like sugarplum fairies

Rodeo clowns and Cowboys

Danced through my mind

Taking me to another time.

An innocent time

Of make believe –

Precious, to be cherished

For years and years

In memory….

Nice memory, but not a favorite in the way of poems...

Poetry of a Non-poet

Ok, so I am taking a poetry writing class....One thing that I am finding out - - - I am not a poet. However, for the delight of anyone who reads this, I will post the ones I have written thus far:
My very first poem, ever -

            About a Peacock Feather

Cerulean seduction of blind night

She flows tauntingly – a moth to light.

His emerald iridescence

Drawn by her grace and elegance

Cares not of potential sin,

While she battles turmoil, within.

Feather-soft whispers erase all doubt

As she bends to temptation without

A thought to the one at home

Who waits in silence – alone.

Now, an exotic, earthen scent

Belies her alibi of intent.

Ambrosial ashes – taste of rage

Nothing less than death can assuage.

Now, three are still, no more to sigh

Hauntingly portrayed by an unblinking eye.

Yep. not the best poem in the world, but at least it rhymes, sometimes... ;)