Guest Post: Jennifer Blair

Happy Monday! Today is my first day back to school with my new students. I worked nonstop last week, through the weekend, and will continue to work a lot this week. It takes so much to start off a new school year. 

 

Enough about me...I'm happy to announce my first ever guest post! 

Today's guest post is by Jennifer Blair. 

 

 

First and foremost, Jennifer is a Christ follower whose blog posts will both challenge and encourage you. She is also an amazing photographer. I love looking at her photos. God has given her a talent and she is using it for Him. 

You should definitely check out her blog and her Facebook page.

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There are two kinds of people in the world: those who do cannon balls and those who test the water.

I don't know about you guys, but I always test the water before I get in the pool...or any water for that matter. I've never been a cannon ball type person. Come to think about it, I'm not sure I've ever done a cannon ball. Some people love it though. I can just see it. Everyone is in their swim suits, putting on sunscreen when out of nowhere comes this guy (because it's normally that guy) who suddenly blazes past everyone. Running like stallion out of the gate, he heads for the dock and catapults into the water without hesitation. Yeah, he's totally cool for doing that.  All the girls are impressed dude. Psych! Not really. The smart people cautiously find their way to the edge and stick their toe in the water before venturing in for a dip.

I like to test things before taking the plunge. You never know if the water is going to be colder than the Arctic, right? Sure, being cautious is a good thing. We test drive cars, test our coffee to make sure it's not too hot, test products in labs before putting them on the shelves, just to name a few things. No one wants to come out of the shower with blue hair because Suave didn't test their product before shipping! Testing is beneficial in a lot of ways, but it's so good in our spiritual life most of the time.

I might be the only one, but I test God way too much. I feel like Gideon in the Old Testament quite frequently. God called him do something REALLY big, and he was a nobody from an insignificant tribe of Israel. Gideon tested God again and again before he followed through with what God had called him to do. (The account can be found in Judges 6.)

When God calls I still act like I'm at the pool or lake - I want to test the water.

God says, "I'm calling you to do ____ (fill in the blank)."

I say, "God are you sure? You know I'm not really good at that. I might mess up. I might not be good enough. Can you give me a sign?"

"Don't worry child. I am your strength. I will provide you with everything you need to accomplish it."

"God, I'm just not sure. I guess I can try though."

As soon as I put my little toe out into the water, I find it colder than I thought and doubt of God's calling encompasses me. I get scared and back away like the kid too chicken to go swimming because he might drown.

I need a "cannon ball" kind of faith not a"testing the water" kind, which really isn't faith at all. God is calling me lately to do something that is so much bigger than what I can accomplish on my own. And I'm like Gideon - a nobody from an insignificant place, ordinary and nothing special. Does that effect what he can do through me though? Not at all. Nor does it with you. I pray that I will have "cannon ball" faith and jump into God's will for my life. Yes, it will probably be cold and uncomfortable, but He never said that following Him wouldn't be hard sometimes...a lot of times. Actually, we suppose to expect it to be difficult. But the fact remains that we cannot stay where we are and go with God.

So what is God calling you to do? Are you "testing the water" with Him or are you jumping, trusting Him in faith?

He who promised to be with us is faithful, so let's cannon ball together.

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Thanks Jennifer!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Pinterest Inspired Classroom

We have officially lived in our current apartment for a year.

I have officially been working at my current school for a year.

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I work at a year round school and I love it. Many people seem skeptical of the year round thing or they don't want to give up their summer. I think it's great because I get breaks all throughout the year. My schedule basically works like this: 9 weeks in school, 3 weeks off. It's great for reevaluating at the end of each quarter to see what works and what didn't. It makes it easy to try something new and to plan. I was not nearly as stressed this past year as I was my first year when I was at a traditional school.

I started back to work this past Monday and this week is our work week. No kids are here. The students start this coming up Monday.

My classroom has been majorly Pinterest inspired. 

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea. Instead of spending my time trying to ask and figure out who a "no name" paper belongs to, I will just hang it up here and they're responsible for checking it.

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Here's my version:

 

I saw these on Pinterest and wanted to do something similar because students are constantly in and out of the room for different reasons. I thought this would be great so that I didn't have to try and remember where everyone was. I also liked the idea of clothespin hall passes because it's easy and hopefully won't get as germy or lost as much.

 

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For my version, I changed it up a little bit and decided to use magnets. I also have seen over and over again on Pinterest things that use cookie sheets as magnet boards. So, I bought 2 cookie sheets and I cut out small circles with my Cricut that I glued on magnets. The top one is where all of the students' names will go and it shows that they are in the classroom. When they leave the classroom, they move their magnet to the appropriate area on the bottom one. I hung them by ribbon on hooks so that if there were to be a fire drill and many students were out of the room, I could take it with me and know who was not with me. I made it simple by just hanging the clothespin hall passes on the "out" board so that they can grab one after they move their magnet. Here's my version:

I saw this math rotation idea on a blog I follow first and then I pinned it to Pinterest. I definitely did not do a great job with math centers last year and I wanted to redo how I teach math anyway. This idea seemed very simple and yet effective.

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For my version, I put it on a trifold board. Part of being in a year round school is rotating rooms, so things need to be mobile. My fellow teacher, Mrs. Cusick, came up with the great idea of putting it on a trifold. She also had the great idea to use the cute duct tape as a border. Here's my version:

 

The last thing I want to share with you that I found on Pinterest is my most repinned pin ever. It's a quote I saw and loved. I want to use this quote as our class motto. I want the students to worry less about grades and passing tests (I know those things are important) and more about doing their personal best. I also want them to understand that everyone's best is not going to look the same. My plan is to have us say this every morning and refer to it often. I hope it will make a difference in their work quality and motivation.

 

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Here's my poster version:

I have many other great ideas I've found on Pinterest to use when actually teaching. I hope to keep you updated on what those ideas were and how they are working out for me. 

Want to follow me on Pinterest?

 http://pinterest.com/mdhall88/

Thanks for reading!

Ek Balam

Ek Balam is Mayan for "black jaguar."

This is a fairly newly discovered site. I believe it was discovered around 1997.

This was an important and influential city to the ancient Mayans. This city thrived for around 1000 years. It was inhabited from somewhere between 100 BC and 300 AD to somewhere between 600 AD and 900 AD.  When the Mayans abandoned it, it became buried by the surrounding jungle.

This is the first thing you see. Upon entering the site, you must pass through the outer walls used to protect the city.

Then you come up behind The Oval Palace which contains burial relics and is believed to be connected to certain ceremonies.

This arch is built over the road that lead into the city and is believed to be ceremonial in purpose.

Unlike some Mayan ruin sites, you can climb the ruins at Ek Balam. The first one we climbed was the Oval Palace.

Below are pictures that show the view from the top.

There's the arch again.

These structures were called The Twins. They were two temples that looked the same.

Below is the Acropolis. This structure is about 96 feet tall and we climbed it! Those roofs were not part of the original structure. They are there to protect what they uncovered. This structure has 6 levels where important people lived.

This is at about the half way point. This is probably where some people lived.

This is a tomb of a Mayan ruler. The details are amazing. What's even more amazing is that none of this is restored. This is exactly how the Mayans made it.

The entrance to the tomb is designed like a jaguar's mouth.

The view from the top of the Acropolis

The back side of the Acropolis has not yet been uncovered. It was neat to see what an uncovered part looks like as well.

This was our "tourist" day of our mission trip. It was another great experience to get to see such ancient history.