Pink Pants How To

I am completely obsessed with Pinterest and saving the pictures in pic stitch format to create a theme. I'm a visual kind of gal and need to get ideas or see how to do something in order to do it.

I was at Francesca's last week and took advantage of their 50% off clearance items and ended up with bright pink pants! I know colored pants are trending, but wasn't quite sure what I'd wear with them other than the overused hot pink and black combination.

With help from Pinterest, here's what I came up with:

Miss Thrifty

As an English teacher, I am an advocate for independent reading for students and adults alike. With the assistance of a reading program, ACCELERATED READER, it makes it easier for me to promote the long, lost concept.

AR is a program that schools can elect to use. AR will do an initial diagnostic test on each student. It is a computer adaptive test, meaning the test starts out difficult and adapts based on students' answers. At the end of the test, AR will give results based on grade equivalency and will also give a reading range. Students will then pick out a book within the reading range, that has an AR quiz, to read independently.

The beauty of this program is that classics and modern day teen novels are all on the list. For example, my students are reading books such as The Giver, Frankenstein, and The Child Called It. The Twilight series books are available and so are Harry Potter books too! Look up any book to see if it has a quiz at www.arbookfind.com. With any reading initiative, of course there is resistance from those who don't like to read, but I have never before seen students reading sooooo much and enjoying it. I love this program! (I can do another detailed post on AR if you'd like.)

Anyway, onto the thrifty part! I want to continue building my classroom library, but it's difficult to buy for the class on a teacher's budget. I have found a way to shop and stay within a strict budget!

There was a festival on my local town green and inside the church they were holding a book fair. I went in with $10 hoping to find a bunch of good picks, but expected to leave with nothing... Well with a little digging (and ducking from church basement pipes) I found about 8 great finds! They include:

-Gawain and the Green Knight
-Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
-Bridge to Terabithia
-Hot Mess:Summer in the City
-Last of the Mohicans
-The Horse and his Boy by CS Lewis
-Radiance by Alyson Noel
-And a Stephen King Novel!!

I got all this for (drum roll please) .... $3.50!!!
Hardcover Children Books were .50
Paperback Children were .25
Hardcover Adult Books were $1.00
Paperback Adult Books were .50
Old Hardcovers (for decorating obviously lol) were $2.00

If you're in the market for books, I highly recommend scoping out a book fair near you! Check your local paper for upcoming listings!! I know what I'll be doing November 3rd and at least I can say I went to church that weekend; I do strive to be the best role model I can be for my students ;) lol

How to Dress for an Interview

Ever wonder how some people dress for an interview? I'm confident that presentation adds to the overall impression or impact one leaves on an interviewing panel.
*Don't be risky. (Don't wear anything you're not comfortable with).
*Don't worry about looking "sexy."
*Add a small interest piece.
*Keep hair away from face.
*Don't neglect small items such as nails.
*Closed toe shoes only!
*Confidence is key! Remember every one once had to interview in their life before! Good luck!!

How to Choose Shoes for Teaching

It's been a while, but welcome to the 2012-2013 school year! I hope you were like me and enjoyed every second of pure, absolute, nothingness this summer. In all honesty, it got a bit boring, but hopefully next summer will be more adventurous.

Anyway, watch my video to get some tips on how to choose shoes for teaching, working, or working it at night girl lol. These shoes may not be the sexiest for going out in, but nothing's more attractive than a girl who walks in heels, rather than a pair of heels that walk the girl.

My Goodies

It's nice to offer some goodies once in a while... "Chrass, what are you talking about?" you may ask.

On the first day of teacher appreciation week, my brother told me to stay put because he had a gift for me. Last time he told me to "stay put" I was immediately surronded by chunks of shiny quartz that replicated the crystals used on Charmed to do some voo-doo in a circle. I tried to escape, but he warned me I wouldn't want to do that. I, being superstitious and unsure of that kind of thing, just stayed put and begged for him to collect the crystals and put them back in their magic box. Let's just say I was a little weary of what I was getting myself into this time.  What could he be bringing in from his car for me?  Would he have time to trap a fart in a jar?  Would it be a burned piece of incense he used the night before in a spooky house? Would it be one of his ougie (is this how you spell it) boards?

Low and behold, it was actually something delightful!  He piled me up with free Friendly's 3 scoop ice-cream certificates for teacher appreciation week.  In addition, he gave me buy one, get one coupons too.  I figured these buy one, get ones would be a good reward for my students.  I am often frustrated by negative behavior, but need to acknowledge the good behavior as well. 

In addition to the buy one, get one coupons, I am a subscriber to LUCKY magazine.  They always provide sticker tabs to label what you like in their magazine.  I never do anything with these stickers, but just recently had the idea to give them to students.  They like the quirkiness of receiving the "maybe" sticker.  On assignments I'll put the "yes" or "love" sticker.  High school students never get too old for stickers.

Obviously, the best kind of recognition for positive behavior is verbal recognition, but receiving little things here and there can be fun too.  What kind of tangible rewards do you give to your students? Would you like another post on other items I give out?

OHH and for those of you who were on the edge of your seat in regards to my job interview... I GOT THE JOB! Today is the first day of my life that I am on a salary!!

Interview Time!!

Long time, no blog. I know...

I had an opportunity to go to Florida with my boyfriend's family and took them up on the offer. I was off of work for a total of about 13 days!! Good Friday, spring break, Weekends, and my vacation all helped me relax.

With summer approaching I have been a hot mess wondering what I am going to do when summer comes around. I have told you I'm a teacher, why would I need an interview for a job so badly, right? Well... I've been paid as a sub for the past year and a half and have finally been offered an interview... (for the job I'm already doing) if it sounds weird and confusing, then yes, you're following along.

Anyway, Friday is the big day! I am nervous considering this will be my first serious interview. Plus, this could be the difference between me working a cash register all summer or working on my tan instead. I'm opting for the latter. In order to ensure I will be the number one candidate I have obviously been preparing since the phone call came in on Monday. These have been my main focuses:
1. Have Up to date resumes to distribute to each individual on the interviewing panel. I also made copies at Staples on thicker, ivory paper to stand out and look professional.
2. Think of my outfit! I want no controversy when I walk in the room. I am going to interview in basic black pants from Express and a grey with black lapel blazer by Rampage. I'll probably wear a black ruffle blouse underneath (because my white button down has a sauce stain on the collar) . For shoes I will wear black alligator esque pumps that I can easily walk and teach a mini lesson in. I'll wear a watch and maybe pearls and my hair will be away from my face, but still down. (I look like a toddler when my hair is up and I'm trying to be a big girl.)
3. Extreme attention to detail on my mini lesson plan! I have plenty of copies of my lesson plan so they can see my objectives. I am also engaging them in the lesson by reading them a two line imagist poem and asking them to draw what they envisioned in their head when I read to them. I will then break them into groups and have each group do a different task based on their accelerated reading scores. Each group will focus on the same intervention skill though: understanding author's craft.
4. Organizing my teaching portfolio. I want to be prepared to show data driven decision making, differentiated instruction, out of the box assessment methods, etc.
5. Reviewing possible interview questions. Even though I work in the school in the very position I'm interviewing for, I'm still nervous that they may bring up educational jargon that I am not familiar with.
6. Preparing questions for them.
7. Reviewing data/demographics/CAPT scores of school.
8. Of course there's a million other little things I'm doing because when it comes to having a salary or not I absolutely need to be a perfectionist and be over prepared. I want to come across as confident, capable, and worthy.

Any tips for miss?

Night to Day

As young professionals, we tend to have more "night" wear and fewer "day" pieces. On a beginners budget, it only makes sense to re-use what you have and pray it works (or pray for a promotion)!

I have a gorge underwire corset top strapless dress with a bubbly-esque bottom. I usually wear it with fierce black platform open toe pumps... But black can be a bit much during the day.

Here's a solution to transform it from night to day:
1. Layer a simple black tank with thicker straps underneath
2. Choose flats or wedges to tone down the va va voom
3. Accessorize black with teal, coral, and gold. The black makes these bright colors pop. In my opinion, try to stay away from hot pink and black because if done incorrectly it looks cheap.

What do you do to transform night wear to day wear?