Mrs. Moore's Musings

Happy Sunday!  I am so looking forward to this week--it's my birthday on Tuesday!  I love birthdays, and yes, I am going to be 41 years old.  I love birthdays because they are a celebration that we are here, living and breathing and learning and loving!  Each year, I am so thankful for what the previous year has taught me, and even at my age, I am so excited about starting a new year.  I love any occasion to have fun with my family and friends, and I also love cupcakes.  For me, my birthday is not really about me, but it is about being thankful for all of the things that I have learned from, been changed by, people I have loved and wishes for the future.  So, in honor of my birthday, I want to write a few things I have learned this year: 1. Acting is painful, but it is less painful than waiting If you do something that you really believe in, you will make people uncomfortable. You have to be aware of this bargain, weigh the options, and make a choic...

'Merica Monday Last week was spirit week at my school.  Our football team was playing our cross-town rivals, and we celebrated and anticipated a victorious game by wearing ridiculous outfits to support the team, school and our community.  I have never missed a spirit day opportunity to show the love I feel for my students.  Each morning, my husband would yell from the shower, "What is today?" as I was pulling on a green and purple tutu or painting my face with white polka-dots.  He has frequently shaken his head, laughed, discussed my current mental health, and taken future possible black mail pictures, but he has never stopped supporting me.  Teaching dressed as the Credible Hulk has some distinct logistical considerations (how can I make it down the rows and through the groups if my tutu is too big?), but I love showing my spirit for my school.  It brings me so much joy.  I love seeing my students dressed up, taking pictures, having fun.  Th...

As a little girl I moved a lot. We moved to Arkansas when I was in sixth grade.  803 N. Gutensohn is the first place where I started to understand what home meant.  I can still remember walking in the front door, right into the dining room that was never used for dining but for collecting anything we could shed, before heading either left into our bedrooms (mine was the last one in the narrow hallway) or straight through into the dining area/ kitchen/ family room area.  You could tell someone’s mood by which direction they went.  Home meant something, it meant permanence.  It meant that no matter how bad it got between the human beings that stayed there, they were obligated to work it out because we shared a HOME. Home is something I cherish.  I cherish it not because it is a place, but because it is so much more than that.  Home has weight, it has permanence, it has obligation.  Through all the moves we made, I knew we would probably move ...

Some of my new peeps! We are well into a new school year--this week will be week number four.  It is still new, but my new crew and I know each others names and some traits, and I have really started to enjoy some of my new students.  This year I am teaching the same schedule as last year, three sections of AP Language and Composition and three sections of 11th Grade English.  Of course, this group is very different from my crew last year.  This morning, as I was logging into my blog, I found myself reading some of last year's blog posts from my seniors.  Oh my goodness, I felt a rush of love and ran to my phone to text some of them to find out how things are going for them.  But at the same time, I started wondering what my new students will have to say. I was so surprised that many of my past students have continued to write on their blogs.  There were entries as recently as two weeks ago.  When I introduced the blogs, students were pretty u...

So, I have been thinking a lot about the purpose of this blog.  I think that it is be sure and write down, as honestly as I can, my experiences during this year that has had so many important events.  I did not know that when I made this my New Year's resolution, but I am pretty sure that some day I will be glad that I have these entries to look back on.  Today is my wedding anniversary.  My marriage has been a grand adventure with ups and downs, but I truly married my best friend, and I know that of all the decisions I made in my life, marrying him has been one of the most important and best decisions I ever made. This week has been one of the most difficult in my life.  As I sit here thinking about how to write this, I know that I want to.  I want to write this down and not forget what has been a forever life-changing week.  This week my son moved out of our home in order to begin a brand new adventure in college.  I am so overwhelmed with emo...

My favorite girls enjoying our last summer supper :) Oh my gosh.  It is here!  It is really really here.  Tomorrow is the first day of school.  My daughter and I finished getting her school supplies packed just a few minutes ago.  She is starting her FRESHMAN year.  This is simply not possible.  I have cookies baking in the oven and I am getting ready to get in the shower.  My classroom is ready, name tags are made (who knows if the people I originally have on my roll will still be my people tomorrow, but I want to be ready).  I have my outfit picked out, I have peanut butter and pretzel snacks packed in my book bag. I am ridiculously excited and nervous.  I know I won't sleep well tonight, but I will be so excited it won't matter until Wednesday (the day I must move my son into his dorm room--a project I am in denial about tonight because I can only handle one major emotional upheaval at a time).  I currently have 147 new peo...

So, summer is almost over.  Next week I have a week of professional development, which means school with no kids, and that is not my favorite week of the year.  I am actually a professional development enthusiast most of the time (when I get to choose the classes and subjects that I know I can benefit from) but I am not so great at meetings that I am not engaged in or interested in. Probably how MOST of the students in my classes feel so I will make it through for them.  My summer has been pretty low-key and wonderful.  My family decided to put in a pool, which ended up being quite an adventurous undertaking, but we are thrilled with it and know it will be something we will enjoy for many years to come.  I had a goal to watch some serious television, I did not do any of that (although I watched some episodes of House of Cards and I highly recommend this series).  I read about 25 books, some classics (my favorite was re-reading Invisible Man) , some adult l...