Official rules: "Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 30 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you."

1. I hate to bathe.  It seems like such a waste of time to get wet and then dry off again.  I never bathe if I don't have to (if my hair looks okay).
2. I hate to brush my teeth.  I forget to brush them 2-3 days a week and end up doing it at work in the bathroom.
3. I begin the school year leaving my house at 7 am to get to work and by the middle of the year (now) I get UP at 7 am.
4. Some kids just piss me off for no reason and I want to duct tape their mouths.
5. I need 9 hours of sleep a night.
6. My best time of the day is between eleven and four.  I can't be called a morning or night person.
7. I have wanted to be a teacher since I can remember.  In elementry school, I use to erase the answers on my corrected homework and teach the neighbor kids how to do the problems, then make them do the homework.
8. Although I am a pretty social person, I avoid people from high school and college in the grocery store so I don't have to have the awkward conversation of "how are you, what are you doing, etc"
9. I talk to my bunny like he's a real baby and look forward to coming home so he can just around the house.
10. I love pink.
11. Reading is my favorite thing to do, but I don't do it during the week.
12. I run around my classroom on a regular basis and run into things ALL the time.
13. Dave and I have known each other for ten years.
14. I don't really care how much money I make, but I'm pretty concerned about how it is spent.
15. My bunny is named after my favorite character in my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, which I've read seven times.
16. I read all four Twilight books in seven days and I reference them in my classroom on a semi-regular basis. 
17. My new washer machine sings a song when it is done washing.
18. My sister and I have become best friends even though we never got along when we were younger.
19. I have become a horrible student in my master's program and procrastinate more than I ever thought possible (and it gets worse each quarter).
20. I feel like my friends' babies are mine.
21. Girl's night is one of my favorite things that happens and I can't believe that it's been almost five years since we started having dinner at my apartment.
22. My friends help me be a nicer person.
23. I drink a LOT of water and go to the bathroom 10-15 times a day.
24. Yearbook is one of my passions and I never want to teach anywhere without being the yearbook advisor. 
25. Reality TV shows like Top Chef, Project Runway, Real Housewifes of O.C., and Biggest Loser capitivate my attention.
26. I seem to have an attraction to poles.  I've hit many with every car I've ever driven.
27. I have worked since I was 14 years old and enjoy it, but I'd really like to be a stay at home mom.
28. I LOVE football.  My husband doesn't.  I read everything possible online, follow the drafts, and even tried fantasy football playoff edition.
29. I like the temptature between 72-26.  Anything colder than that is too cold, anything warmer is too hot.
30. Water aerobics is my favorite sport; mainly because I can talk to all the old women.

I'm sure that they were thinking, "what is this crazy women doing here and why in the world is she talking about my brain," however, it would probably be more appropriate to say that they were thinking, "I can't believe I can't goof off afterschool anymore and I HATE this women who is standing in front of me."

You see, I am tutoring eighth grade Algebra afterschool for the next fifteen weeks.  I have five kiddos (lost two of the originals, gained a new one already) every Tuesday and Thursday for one hour.  I had four of them last year as students and they are the TOUGH ones to love and reach.  Thinking and stressing about this over the past few days, I came up with a plan. 

Bribery. 

Plain and simple. 

Now, I know, they should want to learn and their learning should be enough.  Come on, folks, we're in the modern age... nothing is enough without some good ol' fashion bribery.  I made them each folders with their names on it, a pack of color pencils just for them, newly sharped cool pencils, and post it notes in the shape of light blubs.  They get to add star stickers to their brain drawing when they share or do something positive.  I spent time teaching them about their brain (how and why it works and sometimes doesn't work).  Today we spent 20 minutes completing eight first grade math word problems using the strategies labeled by the "standardsplus" company and modified by my knowledge of the brain. 

They were well behaved, engaged, and almost excited (although I'd never tell them that).  I asked them to tell me what they liked/didn't like/wanted changed for Thursday without putting their names on it.  Their comments touched my heart enough that it motivated me to write this blog.

Here they are:

• "I liked how everyone is working in a group like a family."
• "I like learning about the brain before Algebra and that you took your time with us."
• "Mrs. Pfeffer I really liked how you had a folder for everyone and it was organized also, the brain photo and stickers was legit."
• "Everything is good as it is."
• "What I liked is you explained everything good."

This weekend I disappeared for three full days and attended "The Learning Brain Expo" in Newport Beach.  The conference was Saturday-Monday.  Thanks to a friend of a friend of my from CSUSB, my entire department got free tickets to the conference (as long as we stayed at the hotel it was held at) and we took advantage of it. 

For those of you who don't know, I've been actively researching brain-compatiable teaching and learning for the past four years and use as many brain-friendly strategies in my classroom as possible.  This conference was reaffirming for my personal beliefs that we can help all kids, even those who come from miserable home lives with no emotional or physical support. 

The leading researchers/scientist from UCI, UCLA, Stanford, and other private institutions were there and giving presentations about their newest findings in the field of neuroscience; along with the researchers were teachers and staff developers who are spending a significant time translating the research from the lab to the classroom.  When choosing workshops to attend, I choose most of the "research only" presentations, but I did attend a few of the mixed "research and application" sessions.  A few of the things that stand out;

1)The human brain can and does change on a daily basis.  Although IQ is mostly determined by your parents' IQ, they have now proved (using brain scan technology), that with proper instruction and intervention, IQs can be raised up to 10 IQ points within a year.  That is huge if you think of many of my students who have IQs in the 70-80s.  100 is considered fully "normal" and 60 is considered "mental handicapped." 

2)As we already know, males and females are different; however, they've now proved that there is a significant difference in the brain!

3)In situations of high, prolonged, stress the brain does not process information and experiences correctly.  For example, a baby is born with 20 programmed emotional responses (pain, anger, sadness, etc).  As a baby grows into a child (age 0-5), a "normal" child will learn between 100-200 more emotional responses.  Any child that is exposed to high level of stress during that time will not learn the ERs.  We see this lack of ERs when the children grow up and do not know how to respond in situations.  For example, someone feels guilty about an act, but because they did not learn the ER for remorse, they act in anger because that is the only ER they have learned.  Best part of this information: if the adult WANTS to learn the correct ERs, they can!

4)It is my responsibility to teach my students how to use their brain to the highest potential.  The empathy I feel for them is not enough and I am teaching with malpractice if I ignore what I know I must do for/with them.

5)The amygdala is FAR more important than I realized (thus the picture from above).

6)Our entire department is on-board with the ideals and theories behind brain-compatiable teaching and learning.  I won't be the only one anymore :)

Lots of things have been happening since I've been consistantly blogging--I got sick (last Friday and all weekend), I hurt my back and it hurts to breathe (Sunday night), Dave and Dad have been working away in the house, I successfully did my "crazy" hairdo this morning, and I'm preparing to start CSUSB (tomorrow).  At work, yearbook is in deadline mode which is SUPER hectic when I have 27 students doing 27 different things.  My Language Arts classes are preparing for the hardest subject I teach all year long.  My department and I are going to a brain-based teaching conference this weekend in Newport.

I miss my friends.  Rachel keeps writing this wonderful blogs that bring tears to my eyes and miss them even more.

Okay--the bell for fourth period is ringing...

The funny part of it (that I can't forget a year from now): It took almost ten minutes to get hot water and the room was FREEZING because it has no insulation in the walls or ceiling and there is a airleak around the new door that Dave hasn't finished yet.  Once in the shower, I curled my body under the water and tried to be a quick as possible--the air around me was frigid!  After I got out of the shower and wrapped myself in my towel, I literally ran to my bed, dove under the down blanket, and took about five minutes to warm myself up.  Dave told me it served me right for begging for a shower for a week, but made me hot apple cider at the same time :)

Dave is a "big picture" guy and starts a lot of different projects; this week that has included a new front door, a giant hole in the backyard to fix the gas pipe for the dryer, and more tweaks to the hall bath.  His projects are "in the works."

My Dad is a "details" man and finishes projects completely before moving on (he went around and finished a few of Dave's little things this week); he's been working on the kitchen floor--sanding, scraping, and preparing for today--a NEW floor!!  Woo Hoo!!  Yesterday, he also spent hours cleaning the master bathroom shower so that we could take a shower at the house!  I wouldn't even go in there because there were HUGE dead bugs and layers upon layers of scum.  Dad to the rescue :)

On a seperate note, I woke up this morning with a horrible head cold that I'm praying will go away as quickly as it comes.

My January Goals:

1. Post my food journal every day.
2. Leave work by 4 pm or shortly thereafter.
3. Wear earring to work most days.
4. Be paticent and loving to Dave.

Pictures still won't post, but for some reason I can copy and paste from the internet?

Went back to work today after two short weeks off--the kiddos were great and we started a new story that they usually enjoy.  Made a crockpot of creamy chicken taco soup for dinner this morning before I left; my goal is to make a crockpot of something every day this week.

My kitchen is actually almost on the verge of making me happy.  A new floor (done by Dad who comes back tomorrow) and curtains and I should be set to go.  Right now the kitchen table is in the spot where the stove would normally go and I like it there :)

Still no shower, but I do have a brand new front door as of this afternoon!

A HUGE thank you to those who helped (Tawni, Rob, Travis, Steven, Scott and Rachel).  Without you, we'd still be making trips :)  My friends are wonderful and I really truely appreciate them and their willingness to give up a Saturday to help Dave and I. 

We finished in time to make it to Hooters for dinner and the CHARGER game!  I enjoyed watching the game in a fun, different atmosphere. I think that Travis and Steven were a bit entertained by my excitment, nervousness, and general intensity as the Chargers played well and the Colts made multiple penelties to help us WIN!!