THE HOLIDAY BLOG!

November 11, 2022November 11, 2022 TheAngryTeacher

So I was shopping in Walmart the other day and it happened!

Yes, the holiday displays and the Christmas music heralded throughout the store. I gasped!

I mean we haven’t even cleared Veteran’s Day or Thanksgiving yet.

In any case, I realized that I should be pleasantly surprised instead of flustered because Christmas is my favorite time of year! No, it’s not just because teachers get 2 weeks off (I mean there is that), but people move differently; they act…well…with civility.

So back to Walmart. I’m walking through picking up regular non-holiday groceries when one of my favorite holidays songs came belting through the store. Yessir, Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You!” (Don’t judge me!)

So I’m pushing my cart and humming, every now and then nodding my head from side to side. I even had passers-by smiling, and sharing knowing nods, as this was their favorite too. Some of my aisle-mates’ kids looked embarrassed as their parents hummed and hawed through the store.

That’s when I realized that some students have no idea how to discuss and analyze music, much less, Christmas or holiday tunes. We have a generation of students who do not understand the Christmas songs they hear once a year because we never give them an opportunity to hash out and analyze these songs.

Especially this year, I would love for students to feel the same joy I feel during this season; they need an emotional picker upper.

If you think students need to get in the spirit of Christmas, like I do, check out this product I developed. It’ll allow students to breakdown songs they’ve heard before and now will be able to impress their nodding and humming parents. Hey, they might even add new songs to their repertoire.

Check it out!

https://tinyurl.com/vutf49hh

Some of my annual holiday songs include:

Toni Braxton’s “Santa Please” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwYCIeZy9Bs

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” https://youtu.be/aAkMkVFwAoo

Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” https://youtu.be/AN_R4pR1hck

Kenny G’s “Greatest Holiday Classics” https://youtu.be/49GhF-cboqk

Various Artists “The Real Meaning of Christmas” VOL1. https://youtu.be/0j7rGCgGnsk

Tamar’s “Sleigh Ride” https://youtu.be/KlOQp4LTXwA

Amy Grant’s “My Grown-Up Christmas List” https://youtu.be/RmF2rsDHOZc

Bing Crosby’s “It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas” https://youtu.be/z3vMisNaqd8

Salsoul Orchestra’s “Christmas Medley” https://youtu.be/rkIZ3HkomTk

Bebe & Cece Winans’ “Jingle Bells” https://youtu.be/-PISnJldG3g

Luther Vandross’ “This is Christmas” https://youtu.be/trFv63cMk4M

Cece Winans’ “Christmas Album” https://youtu.be/en2x-WKFMB0

And there are so many more! I TOLD YOU I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

Until we talk again, have a wonderful holiday season! If you do or don’t celebrate it, know that you deserve some rest, festivities, and time to reflect!

Wherever you are around the world, Happy Holidays!

Diverse group of people taking pictures with christmas tree, celebrating festive season with holiday decorations in business office. Colleagues taking photos with seasonal xmas ornaments.

education, Positive TidBits

THANK YOU MA’AM [SHOWING APPRECIATION]

August 20, 2022 TheAngryTeacher

So I was walking into a store and a young man held the door for me. “Thank you, sir” I said, as I walked in.

I was left a few minutes on the dryer at the laundromat the other day. “Thank you so much,” I told the lady who offered me her unused minutes in the dryer.

As I was allowed in the left lane infront of another driver, I put my hand outside the window and put a THUMBS UP for him to know I appreciated him.

**Happy excited thankful guy. Joyful young man raising arms and looking up. Praying and success concept**

I never realized how grateful I am.

I guess growing up and instructed to be kind, cordial, and grateful was just expected. After coming from little to nothing, I understand what it’s like to show respect to the universe when something is given to you, even if it is just a gesture or a few minutes in a dryer.

I am always grateful for life, love, and family that I whisper a prayer every morning when I go to the gym. I’m grateful for being able to go to the gym, my family, my job, my students, my pets, the weather, my truck, the stray animals that made it another day, my breakfast, the homeless man who found something to eat, my friends, my life, in general. Why?

Because others may not have it, may not get up, may not be able to drive, find food, feed their pets…there are so many without; I never want to forget that. So my “Thank You’s” are genuine. Coming from a real place of appreciation because you never had to do anything for me.

With that said, even sometimes when people try to intimidate or hurt you and you survive it. Be grateful for that too. I remember reading Langston Hughes’ “Thank You, Ma’am” when the teenaged boy named Roger got beatdown by Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.

Yes, buddy got his butt whopped, a beatdown, on the sidewalk, in public! It was awesome! Lol…but I digress.

But, after that incident, when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones took him in and fed him. When he left that night he said “Thank you, ma’am.” He could have been in his feelings and hated the woman and not realize that he’d learned a lot about life and himself that day, but Roger realized he was taught life lessons through his seeming adversary.

So I want to thank those who tried to hurt me and my feelings or tried to stand in my way of personal, social, financial, or professional success because you’ve made me stronger and you’ve taught me about myself and life.

So “Thank You, sir.” “Thank you, buddy.” “Thank YoU, Ma’am.”

Be grateful over a few things. Be grateful over the little things.

Be grateful always.

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education

THE FRESHMAN EXPERIENCE

July 29, 2022 TheAngryTeacher

[new students in high school]

Yes, Indeed! August is around the corner and schools everywhere (well, away from those districts that open after Labor Day in the USA), will be teeming with eager minds, flustered spirits, nervous laughter, gracious smiles, and roving hearts.

Students will flock back to the buildings they left a couple of months ago for the summer; now, they’ll be converging on the steps of school buildings everywhere, unless they’re new to the building…Like FRESHMEN.

These fresh new eyes, hearts, and minds will be nervously and excitedly exploring campuses and searching for their classes and themselves on a high school campus as the newbies. The little fish in a big pond.

Some will fit in right away, some will lose their middle school persona and others will remain how they were in middle school.

Regardless of how they come into their freshman year, their teachers must help them navigate it.

One of my girls tagged me in a Facebook post last week about a project I gave her when she was in high school (she has now graduated from college for about 11 years now); she claims this project is what helped her define who she is and what she wanted to accomplish – she thanked me for the project.

Stories, students, and wanting my freshman class to survive high school prompted me to develop this project that I gave to my Freshman Seminar or Freshman Experience classes – https://tinyurl.com/freshman-seminar.

https://tinyurl.com/FRESHMAN-EXPERIENCE-BUNDLE

I tried to have students [my little people, as I affectionately called them] be able to navigate high school from a fledgling point of view from their new attitudes towards school, grade point averages, friendships, sports, clubs, teachers, assignments, conflict, home life, and more. Because, let’s face it, First Year for students can be hard.

They must navigate a new building, new resources, new friendships, new schedules, new distances, new dynamics, new classes, and new feelings and emotions as well. Really tough stuff.

Some school districts have realized that students need help to move through this new part of their lives, and have developed Freshman Seminar/Experience classes. Kudos to them!

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If we can remember how hard this year was for us, then it would be easy to help these students understand how high school works. It would be so calming for their socio-emotional well-being.

So teachers: smile graciously at these newbies meandering the hallways, offer assistance, understand that this is the generation coming in attached to their cell phones, remember that they are the Pandemic (stay at home for a year) generation, understand that they will need that friendly face and space daily. Remember they was the little ones who set tone for the next four years.

Gotta love Freshmen!

Oh, and if you’re one of the previously mentioned teachers tasked with teaching these wonderful new additions to your high school, check out the following products to help you get on your way to a successful academic year!

CHECK THESE OUT:

50 Journal Writing Prompts
https://tinyurl.com/50-JOURNAL-PROMPTS

https://tinyurl.com/NEW-TEACHER-STARTER-KIT

HAVE A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR!

Uncategorized

Watch “In-Class Fitness: Building Stronger Arms || Healthy Educators || Teacher Vlog||” on YouTube

October 15, 2021 TheAngryTeacher

Let’s get our fit on! Let’s take care of ourselves as we take care of others. These arm workouts should help you get to the next level.

If you’re in an office setting or a classroom, you can make it happen!

Let’s go!

Uncategorized

Are You Sitting Under the Shade of a Tree?

September 3, 2021 TheAngryTeacher

Learning from other’s hard work is key! Walking in the footprints of those who have paved the way for us is something that we need to do.

Let’s go ahead and enjoy what’s already been done for us in the past.

We have to be grateful for what we have, for how much less we have to do to be successful because someone else did all the research, the work, and left a legacy for you to follow.

It’s amazing how much we can soar when we allow ourselves to learning from the mistakes and/or lessons that we learn from being under someone’s “shade of a tree.”

Positive TidBits

Making the Most of It!

August 29, 2021 TheAngryTeacher

So it’s been really difficult! Uncertainty is all around, but here’s the thing: we have no control over it, so why worry about it?

I’ve come to realize some things are just out of our hands! Some things we just have to release into the atmosphere and hope for the best.

We need to make the most of everything we’ve been given. The good, the bad, the uncertain all are to make us strong and resilient, so let’s try to learn from our new found knowledge, think about how to never revisit the negative past, and trudge on…trudge on…trudge on…

Let’s go out there and make the most of today! You got this!

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[new students in high school]

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