Beauty Bag: Lavender Ion Color Brilliance Review

Hello Brownbaggers!  If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that I am VERY passionate about education.  Theory and pedagogy are my thanggg!  However, just like every other teacher on this planet, there is more to me than teaching.  For that reason, I'm going to start posting more frequently about health, wellness, and beauty - the other loves of my life.

For quite some time now I've been wanting a change with my hair color.  I have been blonde almost my entire life.  And I've been loving the pastel, candy-colored hair trend.  I especially love it when it's all-over color.  How cool, right?! 

However, given my career choice, I can't color my entire head cotton candy pink. In addition, I don't have the style to pull that off.  I would describe myself as preppy, equestrian boho... not eclectic.

So, I decided to put in some lavender peekaboos!  Below is my experience with the Ion Color Brilliance Brights (semi-permanent) Hair Color in Lavender:

(Check out the other colors they offer!)

I won't lie.  When I first bought it, I was quite intimidated.  I've never colored my hair at home.  Ever since I was a young girl, my mom would tell me her horror stories about at-home coloring.  But, with my mom there to help me, it was on!  The best part about the Ion Color Brilliance Brights collection is that so many of them were candy-colored.  This specific line carries the true pastels I was looking for.

What did I like even more?! It ONLY came with a packet of directions and the hair color.  No mixing involved.  Just squirt the THICK hair color creme into your gloved hands and go to town!  

I wanted my color to be subtle.  Not stop and stare but more like the... "Oh wait? Do you have purple in your hair?" kind of a response.  So I pulled up the top inch of hair on both the sides and the back of my part.  I wanted the top of my head/hair to remain professional for work.  

Then I had my mom GLOBBBBB on the color cream in large chunks.  She spread the thick cream on starting 2" inches from the root of each section and working the color up and down the strands.  I made sure that the hair was saturated and left it on for 1 hour.  The directions say to leave the color on for 20-40 minutes but from the beginning I knew it would take longer to get a more vibrant color pay-off.

You can see from the pictures above that the color turned out great.  It's pretty subtle.  At first I thought I should add more; however, the more I look at it, the prettier I think it is.  At only $4.79 a package (from Sally's Beauty Supply), what a great deal!  I  would for sure do this again if my hair was previously lightened.  It does require pre-lightened hair which is something I don't feel comfortable doing on my own.

Final verdict? LOVE.  It's super easy to do and idiot proof.  It semi-permanent, so you're not married to it.  And it's right on trend.  I'm trying cotton candy pink or baby blue next time!

Wordless Wednesday: The Calm Before the Storm

Today I'm linking up with Miss DeCarbo for the Wordless Wednesday Weekly Linky Party!  This picture is the calm before the storm!  Research papers for summer school are due TODAY! 

 

What are you doing today?

Graduating

This weekend I attended the graduation ceremony at National Louis University in downtown Chicago.  My uncle was graduating with his Ph.D. so needless to say it was an exciting time!  We were all so proud of him.  This is something that he had wanted for his entire adult life.  To finally reach that point must have been so exhilarating.

For me though I never felt a huge accomplishment when I graduated high school or college.  I don't even think that I'll feel like I've made big strides when I finish my Master's degree next Spring.  At the risk of sounding insensitive, I never truly understood why graduation was such a big deal.  You see everyone in my family has a higher education degree.  I grew up not knowing anything different.

But at this graduation ceremony, the president of the university asked all first generation college students to stand up.  She also included graduates who had reached the highest degree in their family.

At least 75% of the graduates stood up and the crowd went wild.

I felt a sense of pride from the families that was so touching.  My eyes even welled up with tears a little bit.  It was quite exciting to hear the crowds cheering, yelling, clapping, hooting, and hollering.

I don't know if I'll ever feel that way about graduating myself but I should.  I should recognize the amazing feat it is to continue one's education.  I should appreciate the hard work that myself, my family, and my friends have put in in order to get to where they are in life.  I still don't think college is for everyone and that we, as teachers, shouldn't push everyone into thinking that college is the only option. There plenty of successful individuals who don't have college degrees. Some are in the trades, running their own businesses, and much more.  And that's amazing!  

But with that thought aside, I now realize what it means to attend and complete college.

Congratulations, Graduates!  You did it!

Reflections & Collages

I've never been one to use journal entries in class.  I thought it was just a time killer - something the teacher could use to fill time while they took attendance. However, this year I've been using journal entries to prepare students for a final reflection.  Surprisingly, it's been going well! 

It's been sparking a ton of debate in my class!  Today, the journal prompt was "In five years I will be...." and the students got to write about whatever they wanted. 

Afterwards, we discussed the responses.  Sad to say but some of them were a little bit depressing.  One of my students said, "In five years I plan to be paying off student loans..." Another said, "In five years I plan to be working two jobs so that I can pay off my college debt..."  

At least they're being realistic??  It created a real honest conversation about college, finances, and the reality of the world that we live in.  We even got into the inequality between professor pay and administrator pay.  The students, as you would imagine, had quite a lot to say.  Much of it was well founded too!  

Regardless of how outrageous it is that those were their genuine responses, I quite enjoyed utilizing journal prompts.  I'll continue to do so moving forward too! So, I put together a unit of 14 journal prompts and 1 essay prompt - all of which rely on one another.  

Feel free to go check it out by clicking the image above!  I'd love to hear what kinds of journal prompts you have all used in class.  Which were the most effective?  Least effective?

Hot Secrets: What I've Noticed From Teaching Summer School

I'm already half way through teaching my first of two semesters for summer school. I can't believe at how slow and quick it has gone.  Four hours and fifteen minutes is a long time to do anything, let alone sit in a class. 

So here are the 5 things I've learned so far:


1.  Everyone is just biding their time.  We hate to think it as teachers but, yes, they're there because they have to be.  More often than not, they're there because they have failed.  All of this means that they want to get in, get out, and get gone.  That's fine!  Design your summer school curriculum that way.  It doesn't make you a bad teacher! 

2.  Students like the leeway.  Teach only what they need to know and find a way to give students autonomy.  For me, that's pretty easy.  Autonomy is almost synonymous with composition.  Regardless, I let them pick their partners, topics, sources, etc.  If I can give them choice and guide their learning, that's an efficient and effective way to spend my 14 days.

3.  My students respond well to routine schedules.  I have the same schedule every day.  Grammar - Journal - Research - Writing - Revision.  Students know what to expect when they come in.  They get straight to work and are able to become better at each task the more frequently they do it.  By the third or fourth day, you won't have to explain directions on how to do something... such as writing a basic paragraph.  Instead, you can spend time helping individual students at their own level.

4.  Don't give out homework.  Like I said, they're biding their time.  In my opinion, if we can get the work done in class, then that's what we should do.  Instead of having them write an entire research paper outside of class, I have them write it in chunks during class time.  We're already covering an entire semester's worth of content in 14 days.  Don't make this harder than it already is.  

5.  Give extra credit.  I give one extra-credit worksheet each day.  It's only worth 6 points and it ties into what we're working on with each unit.  Not everyone will do it but it's nice to give them the option.  Remember, this is a credit recovery summer school course - they need and want the choice.

These are just 5 of the many things that I've learned in the past 6 days.  Have you ever taught summer school?  If so, what have you learned?  Comment below.

As always, if you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, please like using an icon and follow!

Top 8 for Summer Break Linky

Welcome to the Top 8 for Summer Break Linky!  Here are the only two rules:
1.  Post the Top 8 To-Do's for your summer break
2.  Include the Brownbag Academics logo with a backlink to this blog so your viewers can see everyone else's posts

Summer is here whether we are ready or not.  After a long school year, it's time for some much needed R & R.  This year I'm trying to make the most of it.  Wait, scratch that... I'm GOING to make the most of it.


I have lots on my to-do list:

1.  Lounging Poolside: Normally I like to bring school work and grade some papers (since I'm teaching summer school). This year I plan to bring some books to read to prepare me for my Comprehensive Field Exam in Linguistics.  And... of course snacks. Nothing beats a string cheese wrapped in a little Buddig turkey meat.

2.  Stand-Up Paddleboarding:  If you haven't done it, try it.  Who wouldn't want the opportunity to quite literally walk on water.  The first time I did it, it took me about 45 minutes before I could stand-up.  For those of you who have done this before, don't hate.  I was doing it for the first time of the rough waters of Lake Michigan.  I'm sure there's a lesson here about falling down and learning to get back up again...

3.  Freelance Writing:  Excited about some new freelance writing opportunities that have come my way.  I've never had that opportunity before but I'm looking forward to the challenge!  Among the opportunities, writing a chapter on "Onomastics" for The Year's Work in English for The Oxford Journals.  Don't worry!  A post on this will come soon I'm sure.

4.  Summer School: Yup!  That's right!  I'm taking my summer off to teach some Pre-College Composition Courses.  This summer has been quite a different experience but it has certainly been a growing one!

5.  Vacation:  Who knows when.  Who knows where.  But I AM going on vacation.  It's necessary.  I have the itch to travel and the need to get away.

6.  Strict Money Diet: I'm obsessed with Dave Ramsey.  His book The Total Money Makeover is a God send. I used to follow it strictly.  I used his methods to help get me out of debt!  Now, I have a new job and a vastly different lifestyle.  It's time to be wiser about the way I handle my money.  Envelope system -> here I come!

7.  Run a 5K:  Enough said.

8.  Professional Development:  I plan on reading quite a bit this summer.  While many of the books are academic, I'm currently finishing up BRIEF.  I highly suggest that we as teachers read about what successful business people do.  If it works for them, it will work for us!  It's all about becoming efficient employees and effective service-providers.

That's what's on my agenda for this summer.  I wonder what everyone else will be up to?  

Click the "An InLinkz Link-up" button below to add your link to this linky party :)

An InLinkz Link-up

How do you contact parents?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!  Please comment below or tweet me with the ways you keep in contact with parents!

How to Collab Effectively

As teachers we like to incorporate collaboration into our classroom. When students learn from one another, they learn more than just content - they learn to challenge each other, question themselves, and incorporate teamwork. All of this is important to teachers too. 

But how often do we collaborate when we're not forced to for our PLC's???

Today I met up with another instructor and LEARNED from her. It was by choice and it was a good reminder as to why we need to collaborate with each other regularly. 

Who Should We Collaborate With?

1. Teachers in our content area

2. Teachers outside of our content area

3. Administrators in various positions

4. Business people outside of the education sector

Why the Variety?

We learn valuable information from talking to different people. You never know what you could learn or what opportunities will present themselves. 

In a recent meeting with an entrepreneur, I learned about better communication and how to be more effective as a leader. As a result, we decided to collaborate on a writing curriculum.  It is because this person was outside of education that I learned these skills and was offered this opportunity. 

How Do I Effectively Collab?

1. Come in with a plan - Be prepared with what you want to get out of your meeting...but be flexible.

2. Ask about that person - Learn about their specialty and be open to learning their skills.

3. Plan - Be aware of what you will implement post collaboration. Maybe you learned a new skill you want to practice professionally. Maybe you experienced a new type of teaching or activity that you want to put in place. Be aware of what it is that you want and create and action plan.

4. Follow-Up - Always follow up.  Be kind, grateful and interested in that person.  

Most of all, remember that we need to be excited about all of the opportunities that come from collaborating with others!  From collaboration comes learning, growth, and influence!

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Carryon Bag: Summer is Here!

Time for a new series!  The Carry-on Bag series focuses on one "day in the life of a teacher".  This will be a monthly series so, given the school year schedule, each month's posts will be drastically different.  

We start this series off in the dead of summer!  This was my day, and it is pretty typical for this month!

How do you spend your days in the summer?  Professional development? Blogging?  Relaxing pool side?  Comment below!

Wordless Wednesday...err Thursday

Today I'm linking up with Miss Decarbo from Sugar and Spice for 

Most of us are out of school for summer but for those of you who aren't, make sure to get some R&R this afternoon and this upcoming weekend.  Spend some time outside!  After all, it is BEAUUUUUUTIFUL!

I used to live right by the water and now I have withdrawals!  I was able to get my water time in this Memorial Day!  And better yet, feed the ducks!

Reaping What You Sow

Everyday I make sure to spend some time with God and I usually like to change things up.  I don't want it to feel like homework or going to class but a time to grow in worship and learn more about my savior Jesus Christ.  So today I decided to listen to James MacDonald's Walk in the Word.  I listened to Part 1 of a two part podcast entitled "Laws of the Harvest".  I highly suggest you go check it out!  He offers insight into warnings from the Bible and how to apply these principles to our daily lives.

As you would expect given the title, the podcast was about the truth of reaping and sowing.  It focused on a passage from Galatians 6.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. 

A man reaps what he sows. 

8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, 

from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, 

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, 
especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

This passage and podcast really hit home to me.  What are we sowing into our lives?  More importantly, what are we sowing into the lives of our students?

I know there have been times where I've been caught up in my own selfish circumstances or instances where I've been frustrated or even angered by students.  And my reactions and interactions with them show it.  But it's so important for us to always remember that we are sowing into their lives every day.  

We see them for at least 40 minutes 5 days every week.

It is our responsibility as both Christians and teachers to sow into them the traits that we wish them to exhibit on their own.  The text says that "whatever" we sow, we shall reap. So what is it that you should sow? MacDonald suggests awareness of choices in forgiveness, love, time, attitude and acceptance of Christ.  While the last of those choices is one that has blurry lines for the public classroom, the rest are choices that we can and should model for our students.

• Forgiveness.  Forgive them for making mistakes.   Don't hold it against them.  Whether they're younger or in college, they're still children.
• Love.  Be loving and kind toward them.  We have no idea their home situation.  There's a sad chance that we are the only ones that interact with them in a positive way.  If this is the case, shouldn't we take every opportunity to love them, be kind to them, and be gracious to them? 
• Time.  We want them to make wise choices with their time.  If that's the case, we must effectively use our own time in the classroom. Show them what it means to use time efficiently.  Then, give them tools to learn how to manage their time.  They might not know!
• Attitude.  Don't be apathetic.  Be caring.  Be interactive.  Be communicative and cooperative.  These are all traits we wish that others around us would exhibit.  We must sow these into their lives as well as our own.  For more ways to show positive attitudes, see my post on Showing Grace to Students. 
• Acceptance of Christ.  As mentioned above, this one is more murky. Remember, though, that if a student brings up questions about faith, religion, or spirituality, we are more than welcome to discuss those questions.  Be open to having those conversations in class and encourage those conversations.  As always, we need to be mindful of those with various views.  Including these different view points makes for a more complex conversation too!  If we want to encourage civic and cultural awareness, how better than these conversations?  In being open to talk about it in class, students will be more apt to come to us in private if they have more personal questions.

With all of this in mind, we have to remember that reaping and sowing don't happen all together.  Sowing happens seasons before the reaping... so if we are truly modeling all of these characteristics, it might take some time before we see the reaping in our students.  Keep at it though!  Just as Paul writes in Galatians, "9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Thanks for stopping by Brownbag Academics!  If you liked this post or found it helpful, please click an icon below to like or share it!  Follow this feed for more posts on how to teach effectively in more ways than one!

How should we talk about lit terms???

Literary terms can be rough territory for teachers.  We usually fall into the trap of the always-asked question, "Why does this matter?".  

It's a good question really.

Why do we need to talk about literary devices?  Shouldn't the writing speak for itself?  What if the author didn't really mean to make it metaphorical, ironic, etc.?

Good questions of course but probably moot.  In class, weren't not wondering whether or not the author meant to use those specific rhetorical devices. We're investigating...

if they did, what does it mean?

That's the real bread and butter of teaching literary device analysis.  Why and how do authors say something the way they say it... does that make sense? It does in my head.  If it doesn't, just say it out loud.  *trust me*  That's the fun in analyzing literature!

So here are some tips for teaching literary device/rhetorical device analysis to your high school and college students:

1. First read.  Should be obvious but we all know students don't read from time-to-time.  I suggest doing a reading activity in class (all together, partners, individual reading, etc.), but just make sure they've read the material.  It'll be way easier to have the lit terms discush once they have read.
2. Look for patterns.  Review that a literary device is used to help an author get his/her point across in a unique way - that's about as specific you can get when talking in general about literary terms.  Then, examine the patterns in the piece.  Do they use the same phrase a lot? BAM Repetition!  Maybe even parallelism if you're lucky.  Do they use the words "like" or "as"?  Not always a simile but it's a place that students feel comfortable starting.  Can you picture a scene vividly in your mind? Imagery!  These are VERY basic literary terms.  The more specific you go with lit devices, the more specific you will need to be in your discussions.
3. Focus on the WHY & HOW.  The big question to look at when talking about literary terms is why or how did the author say what s/he said?  Remind students to stay away from what did the author say. This gets into the summary zone which is cool if that's what you're going for. Discussing the why and how questions will lend students to break down information at the document-level, paragraph-level, sentence-level, and word-level. That's the key in analysis!

These should get you started!  If you don't know where to start with your analysis, check out my LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY UNIT PLAN.  The unit is designed for teachers who need everything and they need it now!

WHAT IS INCLUDED?

• Instructor Guide - how to use the unit plan
• Suggested Unit Plan - what to do each day, step-by-step
• Literary Analysis Essay Prompt - simplified & organized
• Suggested Readings - with links, summaries, & suggested rhetorical devices to discuss
• Rhetorical Devices Bookmark - for student use
• Guided Reading Activity (with answers) - to practice analyzing rhetorical devices
• Individual Student Notesheet - for students to break down examples & analyze rhetorical devices
• Outlining Instructions - how to outline for this specific essay step-by-step
• Essay Scoring Guide & Teacher Instructions - fast & efficient scoring guide/rubric for teachers with instructions to help save time!

What have your experiences been with teaching literary terms?  What have you found that works?

·       Graphics for unit plan by Ashley Hughes… visit… http://www.theschoolsupplyaddict.com/

Freshen Your Commitment

As the end of the year approaches, many of us already have our minds on the upcoming school year!  Even though we have our mind in the game with finalizing grades, calling parents, conferencing with students, and tidying up our classrooms, our hearts are in the new year.  

~We think about everything we did this year, what worked, and what didn't.

~We think about the assignments and activities that our students loved, and   the ones they didn't love so much.

~We think about the new units we wish we would have covered but may not     have had time to prepare.

~We even think about how we can spice up our classroom decor for next year.

With all of this in mind, let's think more deeply about our commitment to teaching.  Let's create mission statements that describe us as teachers. Having a mission statement will refocus our teaching and clarify who we are with course development, unit creation, and daily plans.  While we often times create statements of purpose for the courses that we develop, frequently we forget to create these for ourselves.  These mission statements should incorporate our philosophy of teaching & pedagogy, typical daily activities, and what is most important to us in our content area (links are to my examples).  For example, my mission statement is:

I will facilitate learning, encourage creativity, 

and develop student-questioning through oral and written medium.

After you have that mission statement, create your own contract for teaching success!  Just a brief statement that describes why are you are recommitting yourself to your teaching.  It could look a little something like this:

I am writing this mission statement because I know how important it is to continually focus on developing myself as a teacher.  I believe that I am an effective teacher, but I also know that there are many distractions in teaching that can redirect my efforts.  I will commit myself to actively practicing my mission to _________(mission statement)___________.

It might be a little bit cheesy...okay a lot bit cheesy... but I think that actually taking the time to think about who we are as a teacher, or who we want to be, can really calibrate our teaching compasses.  Even better, post this somewhere that you will see it every day.  Maybe as a sticky note on your computer, on your desk, or even on the front of your lesson planning notebook.  Where ever you place it, make sure you read it daily and make sure you take measurable steps to making that mission statement a reality.  For more on writing your own contracts for personal success, see the post on Spark People!

So what are your mission statements?  Please comment below and you might win my SPARK Teacher Mentorship Program for free!  The program includes a Guided Booklet & 5 Podcasts focusing on Intention, Presentation, Communication, Engagement, & Collaboration!

In order to qualify for the free program, you must:

1. Follow my blog/Subscribe to my posts using the icon on the right 
2. Follow me on Twitter @mac_ker1
3. Comment below with your own mission statement - make sure to leave your Twitter handle in the comment so I can contact the winner!

Good luck and thanks for reading!  If you like this post or found it helpful, please use one of the icons below to like or share!

What It's Really About

A few weeks ago I was at church and listening to the Pastor talk about being a servant.  It was the weekend following Easter, so it was not a surprise to hear about extending your faith from passive to active.

The Pastor talked quite a lot about how people in The Church can often times miss the point.  He said, "You can ruin a church by making it activity-oriented instead of Jesus-oriented" and it reminded me of the most profound thing that I learned during my time teaching at the high school level.

I remember sitting in a meeting with my Department Chair, my student teacher, and my student teacher's advisers.  You see, my Department Chair and myself were co-cooperating teachers.  As we sat in this meeting we were discussing the use of activities in the classroom.  He said:

When you wake up in the morning and are thinking about your day,
 are you thinking about the activities you will be doing in class?  

If so, you're missing the point.

Of course what he meant was, we need to be thinking about what our students will be learning.  That needs to be our focus.  The exciting activities we use or cool technology we have implemented means absolutely nothing if we have not really focused on our learning outcomes for the day.

So my question to you is: 

what do you think about when you wake up in the morning?  

It's important to remind ourselves of the purpose of education and why we are teaching who and what we are teaching.  Let's remember to focus on what it's really about in the classroom... our students, their development, and their learning.

If you like this post or found it helpful, please like & share using the links below!

End of the Year Ideas

As the end of the year approaches, many of use are reconsidering what we do to wrap up the entire semester/year.  Some of us have weird end-of-the-year schedules.  Ya know, the ones where final exams are a week before the end of the actual year?  Or grades are due on a Wednesday but you still have class on Thursday and Friday?

DON'T FRET!  We, here at Brownbag Academics, have some great suggestions to get you designing your End-of-Year Curriculum!

Remember please that all of education is simply a reformulation of ideas.  These are ideas that we have used in our classrooms and have found to work very well!  We've collected these ideas over the years: some were developed by ourselves, some were inspired by lessons found online, and some were collected from colleagues.  Feel free to use and abuse these suggestions!  No sense in recreating the wheel.

1.  Create groups and reflect on the year.

• One of our favorite activities involves separating the class into groups to have them reflect on the course's objectives.  Have each group reflect on one of the following: 
• syllabus & course outcomes - did the outcomes match what happened in class?
• readings - favorites?  least favorites?
• assignments - which did they learn the most from?  least?
• activities - did they prefer group work?  partners? individuals?
• advice - what advice can you offer to next year's group of students?
• Then, have the groups present their findings and have a whole class discussion!

2.  End of the year slide show.

• Have students create a slide show welcoming next year's group of students.  Have them work together to include the following:
• welcome notes
• course introduction
• syllabus review
• what to learn
• what to be prepared for
• what they liked best about class

3.  Reflection essay.

• Having students write a reflection essay is a great way to see how each individual student has grown.  Start with having the students review the syllabus and course outcomes.  From there, have students look back at their work - for English teachers, this may mean looking at old essays; for Math teachers, old tests and assignments; etc.  Then have students write about the growth that they have experienced.  What are their strengths?  What are they still struggling with?  How do they plan to continue improving?  This should be a reflection of them and their work, not you and your teaching.

These ideas should get you started!  We like to think that the end of the year is a time for a reflection - a time for students to begin thinking about what they have learned.  With reflection comes growth and that is what we hope for and expect of our students.  Have a wonderful end of the year!

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