Inside Bell's Brain

  Call me an overachiever .  Or just a lover of alliteration .  But I think my #16for16 is off to a great start.  I wanted to have something catchy for this big upcoming year, especially since last year's #focusedin15 worked so well for me.  When I met with a few of my best girlfriends on New Year's Eve to map out our plans and intentions for the coming year, I broke each of my big areas into three sub-goals.  I added one little overall goal to the bottom...and BAM!  There was my #16for16. Everything is kind of self-explanatory in the bullets, but a few things may not be.  For example, PTP (Polishing the Pulpit) is a spiritual retreat week that my congregation hosts for churches of Christ from all around.  It originally started as an opportunity for preachers to connect, but then it grew into an amazing get-together of Christians from all around.  I'm hopeful that by going I will grow spiritually and that I might e...

This month's #2getherwearebetter linky is all about bulletin boards .  Seems fitting since most of us are back to school or are heading there very soon.   I just wrote a post about my new welcome bulletin board a few days ago ( read it here ), so I decided to share my interactive bulletin board with you in this post.  Last year, I wanted to do something to serve as a reminder of all the goals we were accomplishing throughout the year.  I wanted it to be something in which my students could take ownership and that their parents would enjoy seeing when they came to visit us.  I also wanted to address some language goals and incorporate technology , so I finally found a way to bring all those concepts together. With our class timeline bulletin board, we can track the sequence of things we do all year long.  This helps my students with sequencing and with understanding how a timeline is constructed.  We also made audio QR codes to prin...

If you know me well, then you know that one of my best (or perhaps worst , depending upon your perspective) qualities is my insatiability for knowledge .  I believe in striving for continuous improvement in all areas of my life, though - admittedly - I am more successful in some areas than others.  But ultimately, I couldn't agree more with John Cotton Dana's quote... That innate push for improvement that compels me to keep going , work harder , do more , and so on, and so on, is what made me perk up when I saw this month's 2getherwearebetter linky theme: Room to Improve .  We're doing a little introspection on our last academic year to decide... (1) What area of your classroom or of your teaching would you like to change or improve in the upcoming school year? (2) What are your plans for changing it ? (3) Seeking blogger and peer input on others' experiences, advice, and feedback to help us in the process. Immediately, I knew what my pos...

I must begin this post by reminding myself of that ever-meaningful adage, "Comparison is the thief of joy."  When I look at all the other amazingly cute work spaces, so pristine and color-coordinated , I feel so disorganized and (honestly) a little jelly at how appealing my peers' work areas are. So I must remind myself that my home office space is a work in progress (and for that matter, I am too)!  Literally...I'm in the middle of an office overhaul right now. That's one of my major summer projects. But here's my work so far... (I will not compare myself to others, I will not compare myself to others, I will not compare myself to others...LOL!) So here's a sneak peek into my current situation ... The main attraction is my new desk area, created by two filing cabinets and a wooden door.  I wish I had taken a "before" pic of the monstrosity of a desk that was there before.  I had had it since I was a teenager, so it had a go...