Panamazing

 Is it just me, or has October been incredibly busy?

At the end of September, I went to Atlanta for a school thing. Then came Fall Break and Panama. Then the Vols beat Bama. Then we did a quick weekend in Disney World for my parents' anniversary. And now we have reached Halloween. 

As far as Panama goes, it was very nice. I was sick most of the trip with the usual end of quarter crud, but my dad and I still had a lovely time. The canal was a marvel. Even 100+ years on, the engineering is spectacular and it was quite interesting to learn about its history, as well as how the canal has affected Panama culturally and economically and in terms of Panama/US relations. And Old Town Panama had a very New Orleans feel.

The Canal at work!

Old Town Panama with its New Orleans vibes

Our beach/ocean excursion in Bocas del Toro was also great. I particularly enjoyed the sloths and Hollywood Beach, where you can see all your favorite stars! (As in starfish, love it.)

Beautiful beaches!

Patrick!

So next time you want to plan a trip to Panama, consider the country, not just the city in Florida. In terms of Central American countries I have now visited, I still do think Belize is my favorite. However, a lot of that has to do with the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, which is truly one of the coolest things I have ever done.

Anyway, Disney was Disney. The Halloween decorations and shows were delightful. This trip was definitely a bit calmer than we've done in the past. Like, we were willing to cancel a dining reservation. And it was great. At this point, my family has been to Disney enough that we know what we like and what we want to focus on. However, Disney is also wonderful in that it changes rides and shows up periodically so that each trip brings something new. And, of course, the food, whether it's at a sit down restaurant or just a snack, is superb. 

Mickey waffles are the finest cuisine.

And now it is almost November and the true start of the holiday season. And the beginning of the end of college football season. I am going to reserve all thoughts on football season until the University of Tennessee plays its last game for the season. But, you know, go Vols. 

Finally, I took a break from TikTok (because people are stupid), but now I'm back (because I need to ignore stupid people). Please follow me at: https://www.tiktok.com/@ms.brooketerry?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

I am on the TikTok

 So, it's been a month. School started, I booked a trip to Asia for next summer, and I have a TikTok with over a million views.

School is honestly going just fine (knock on wood!). I like my kiddos. I like teaching math again. And I really like designing and teaching my world cultures class! The students especially like snack days. American snack day had goldfish, marshmallows, Doritos, and M&Ms. African snack day featured pineapple, bananas, hummus/pita chips (to represent North Africa and the Mediterranean influence), and Fanta. I drew inspiration from my years in Rwanda. Below you will see how 7th graders eat marshmallows in 2022.

I also booked my summer 2023 adventure! I will start in Korea with my brother, then join a tour that goes to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam! I'm so excited! Please send recommendations for things to do!

And in random news, I have a TikTok that has over 1 million views! I confiscated this kid's mister thing, and made a TikTok about it. He was pretending to vape and being silly and distracting. I gave it back after class. And since I just learned how to turn on comments, I am receiving the hate of the internet. It's mildly entertaining.

"Why did you take it?"

"You're on a power trip!"

"It's for asthma!"

"Karen teacher!"

"This is why kids hate school!"

My students are defending me in the comments, which I think speaks for itself. Also, you can tell that most people have never been in their life been a teacher, let alone a middle school teacher.

There are, of course, real issues in education that I will try to address on YouTube. You can check that out here: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCttBB-VmftsT7ZdpcsvoynQ

If you're more interested in the daily shenanigans of middle school, here is my TikTok: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@ms.brooketerry?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well! My next adventure will be Panama over Fall Break! I can't wait to share cool pictures of the Panama Canal!

Also, please enjoy these animal pictures from the past month.

Maggie, the newest member of the Terry family.

Coco in loaf position.

Buffalo! Shelby Farms truly is a Memphis treasure.

My Wild Summer

Unfortunately, summer is almost over. In service starts tomorrow, and I'll be back my real life job.

As you may know, I spent my summer working at the zoo as a camp counselor, so it was pretty wild. I made animal puns all the time, and the campers LOVED IT (I think). But really, it was a wonderful summer job and I will miss all of my co-workers (animal and human). It was all the fun parts of teaching, plus animals! I'm not sure what I'll do when I don't get to visit the snapping turtle or meet a new animal visitor every day.

Our Australian friends!

My snapping turtle friend!

I also traveled to tropical Hawaii with my grandmother. Neither of us are big beach people, but we both really enjoyed the tours we did of Pearl Harbor, the island of Oahu, Iolani Palace, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The history of Hawaii is fascinating, as it is home to people from all over. America itself is a melting pot, and Hawaii exemplifies that as it has been explored and inhabited by people of many different cultures. And they all embrace the welcoming aloha spirit and strive to take care of their beautiful home. Also, I saw so many turtles and had some amazing Dole Whip. 

I was also supposed to travel to the country of Panama this summer with my dad, but we had some scheduling issues. We will now travel over Fall Break in October.

Lastly, if you are interested in helping me provide supplies for my classroom, please check out my wish list here: https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/35FITXIC6LI46/guest-view.

I hope you all had an amazing summer and are ready for the school year!

Iolani Palace had electricity before the White House!

Turtle friend!

Aloha!

Byodo-In Temple

Exploring Oahu

Delicious Dole Whip

The volcano was smoking!

I Have a Bone to Pick

Listen, it's still summer. I don't want to think about school. However, recent events and remarks have made me think more about school than I really want to in July. No, I'm not talking about the back to school sections that are already up in stores. I'm talking about the comments of Dr. Larry Arnn and Governor Bill Lee regarding public school teachers.

In case you haven't heard, Dr. Arnn, who was hired by Tennessee's Governor Bill Lee as a charter school adviser, had these gems to say about public education: 

    "teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges"

    "education destroys generations of people"

In response, Governor Lee clarified that Dr. Arnn was not talking about Tennessee teachers, and he quickly turned a conversation about the remarks into a rant against the "left-wing agenda." It should be noted that neither Dr. Arnn nor Governor Lee have degrees in education, though Lee's wife does. Neither have worked in public schools. 

They piss me off.  In case you didn't know, teachers are pretty smart. And creative. And flexible. And responsible. We have to be to navigate the world of public education and reach our incredibly diverse students. I really would like to see both Dr. Arnn and Governor Lee teach or substitute for a day. Their comments and similar comments are part of the reason we have such a teacher and substitute shortage. Maybe they can help with that by showing how much smarter than teachers they are and modeling their ideas and methods in a classroom setting (eye roll).

Anyway, I don't want to spend anymore time on their nonsense. Please enjoy some pictures of things I did and read this month.

Also, if you are interested, here is a link for my classroom wish list: https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/35FITXIC6LI46/guest-view.

He really likes Yosemite.

A cool, new piece at the Brooks Museum by Faig Ahmed from Azerbaijan.

Science! Evolution! Birds!

Yay! Fireworks!

Summertime is here!

 I think most educators can agree that this has been just about the longest school year ever. I even switched schools mid-year, and it was still dragged on. Between on and off COVID restrictions, increasing bureaucracy, and student behavior spiraling out of control (in some cases), it's been a doozy.

And then we essentially ended the year with a school shooting in Texas. A shooting in which 19 children and 2 teachers died because our government (or parts of it) won't stand up and ban assault weapons. 

I hope we can all take the summer to reflect and decide how we want to move forward.

For me personally, national news aside, the school year came to a solid conclusion. My team won field day (yay!), I read two good books, and I went to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibition, which was really fun. I've always been a fan of Van Gogh, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has always been one of my favorites.

This summer I will be working part-time at the zoo and tutoring. I have also made it my personal mission to make more TikToks because I think they're funny. i am also going to spend the summer trying to do something with a book I have written about the state of our public education system. So if anyone works in or knows someone who works in the publishing world, hit me up.

Have a wonderful summer!

Book #1

Book #2

Van Gogh!

More Van Gogh!

The exhibition will soon be Van Gone.

It's Okay to Be Quiet

It has been another 30 days. We have made it through Easter, and we are well into standardized testing. There are 25 days of school left.

Over the past month, I have continued to go to yoga and other workout classes. I almost met my goals for both good eating and physical activity, and I was feeling pretty good about myself until I had to go shopping for a dress to wear to a wedding. Does everyone feel fat and ugly when they have to go shopping?

But anyway, in more academically minded news, I read a book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can's Stop Talking by Susan Cain. As Cain says, anywhere to 1/3 to 1/2 of the world's population are introverts, but we in Western cultures promote the "extrovert ideal." If you are not extroverted, you're weird. And Cain does a really good job of bringing her ideas and arguments into the classroom. It makes me think. Are students incapable of doing independent work because we've been encouraged to assign more group work? Do they not stop talking during class because they've been taught that being quiet or shy is abnormal? The book came out before the COVID-19 pandemic, and I wonder how the lockdowns and quarantines have changed how we define ourselves and work with other people in terms of the introvert/extrovert scale. 

Sometimes it's better to be quiet.

As we are taught to accept all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or other demographics, perhaps we also need to focus on accepting all people regardless of whether or not they like to make small talk.

Moving into the end of the school year and into next school year, I hope to keep Cain's ideals in mind, as well as what I have learned in my reading about executive functioning and executive functioning skills. Though the end of the school year is really too hectic to try anything new, but I will keep reading for next year!

   

Always need tips to teach executive functioning. 

Also, I wanted to include some pictures from the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. They have free yoga on Thursdays, free tai chi on Saturdays, and the gallery and gardens are free until next year! Memphis has lots of cool, free things to do if you just look!

https://www.dixon.org/

Work Environment and the Countdown to Summer

I meant to write this over Spring Break, but I got distracted. I cleaned. And also napped.

But anyway, Spring Break marked the end of my first quarter at my new school, and it has been a complete change. I am calmer, more focused on my health, and happier to go to work. I have taken more time to read and write, and I actually met my goal for days of physical activity. And I was only one day off for my days of good eating!

More reading on executive functioning skills. The children are less than organized.

A book about Indian princess. Very interesting.

In these days of the so called "Great Resignation," switching jobs really has shown me how much work environment matters. It's not that I, or most people, don't want to work. I like teaching and working with kids. I don't like being bullied by supervisors. There are many reasons we have a teacher shortage. And those reasons are similar to the reasons many establishments are facing labor shortages. People want to be treated with respect, and that just doesn't always happen.  

Despite not dreading going to work, I still am counting down the days until summer (40 school days). This summer, I will be working part-time at the zoo at their camps. Then I will be going to Hawaii, and perhaps somewhere else. I'm still making decisions.

In other news, I did make myself a TikTok, mainly for the cat videos. It's the same reason I'm on Instagram. My TikTok is https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdav6kPp/.

Now, please enjoy the various animals I have seen on my walks.

Duck friend.

So much floof!

Less floof, but quite affectionate.

Majestic

Executive Functioning and Work Environment

In addition to starting to a new year, I also recently started at a new school. I have combined this new school start with attempts to change my diet and workout routines. Those goals are going okay (I've actually been cooking and trying different workouts), but let me tell you, changing schools has been a huge change.

I enjoy going to work now. I actually get to teach! It's exciting, and fun. But also calm. My admin and co-workers have been very supportive so far, and I have had mostly positive interactions with students and parents/guardians. Knock on wood. I swear I can feel my blood pressure going down, and people have commented that I look calmer and happier. Work environment can have a huge effect on your overall well-being, and I can only hope that my work experiences stay positive. 

With my new found calm, I've been able to do some reading and writing, and I been able to spend time on activities outside of school. I've had lunch/breakfast with people, started planning a trip to Hawaii, and found a free yoga class (shout out to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens). 

I've also had time to learn about executive functioning, and how our students lack these skills. Apparently, executive functioning refers to our focus, organization, and self-control. You know, those skills needed to succeed in school and life. They have a fancy name now. Anyway, our students need these skills, badly. They lose focus very easily (even more than you'd expect from kids), and are always looking for shortcuts or opportunities to retry and redo. So I've been doing some reading, and the first book I read on the topic was Brain Hacks. It's the executive functioning for adults book I ordered, but there are things I can practice with my students such as utilizing physical activity, chunking information, and using nature to help calm and focus the mind. I have other books to read that focus more on kids/teens, and I am on the hunt for new strategies to try.

Executive Functioning is a thing now.

I also read this book called The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It's in Orpah's book club, but I wasn't super enthralled. It had lots of dogs though, so that's a positive. 

This book could have been 200 pages shorter.

Anyway, my next 30-day challenge brings me right up to Spring Break. I'm not going anywhere, so it will be a break to rest, clean, etc. To wrap up, I will leave you with a pic of Coco all bundled up during our ice days.

She's adorable.

The Terry Family’s Egyptian Expedition

 Happy New Year! It is officially 2022 and the entire Terry family has officially returned from their Egyptian expedition (plus Jordan).

It was a wonderful trip, and a wonderful way to ring in the New Year. 2021 was a difficult year for the Terry family, and so being able to go on such an adventure was a way to focus on the future and the good we hope it brings.

Plus, it was really fun and incredibly educational. Now, most people don’t go on vacation to learn, but we’re kind of a nerdy family, so it worked for us. Our guides could be university professors and they offered such a breadth and depth of knowledge about Egypt past and present. I was in awe.

But, anyway, a few thoughts from my voyage to countries number 31 and 32.

1. This tour was a Viking tour, which is a higher end cruise company. And we did cruise the Nile for several nights in a lovely ship that had a 2 to 1 ratio of staff to guests. We were incredibly well taken care of, from the excellent food, to the attentive staff, to the amazing rooms. That being said, it was unlike any group tour I have taken before. The group tours I have done before have been for the 18 to 30-something crowd, and were cheaper, rougher, and featured more free time, spontaneity, and wild adventures. Think bungee jumping as a “free time add on,” compared to Viking’s tour of Cairo’s Coptic (Christian) Quarter. I have enjoyed myself immensely on both kinds of tours, and met super cool people on both kinds as well. I like hanging out in the bars of Rio until midnight (occasionally), and I also like taking in-depth tours of 4000 year old Egyptian temples (occasionally). You can like both (shocker), and just need to find what works best for where you want to go, what you want to do, and your budget and availability.

2. Y’all, I think the COVID travel regulations are here to stay, at least for another year or so. And while I am grateful that tourism companies are taking so many measures to keep people safe, I do also think it is creating a further divide between those who can travel and those who can’t. PCR tests are expensive, and you have to have one to renter the US under the current regulations. Not to mention it has made arranging and organizing travel even more complicated. I have always viewed travel partly as a way to learn, and I think everyone should have the chance to learn. However, just like with quality, public education, travel (at least for travel and learning) is becoming something fewer and fewer people have access to. I am only grateful that I can have these experiences.

3. Ramses II (aka Ramses the Great) thought really highly of himself. I mean, who needs like 20 statues of himself in one temple?

4. In Egypt, it was “damn the French/British/German” because they took a lot of the stuff and put it in their own museums. In Jordan, it was “damn the earthquakes” because, well, they destroyed a lot of the stuff. At least earthquakes are natural?

5. Hot air balloons are cool.

Well, anyway, Egypt and Jordan were interesting, exciting places to visit. I think I will take a break from traveling over spring break and part of summer just to see how Omicron plays out. Also to save money. Also to rest. Being out of the country for 2 and 1/2 weeks and they coming back to switch schools is tiring. And my new classroom isn’t even fully set up yet! But I digress, I had a great time on the trip and the classroom will get there eventually.

Again, happy new year and please enjoy these pictures.

The Egyptians made really nice columns.

Ramses II really thought he was cool.

Love a good camel ride.

Up in the Air

This is Cleopatra VII (the famous one) and her son Caesarean. He was born via the first C-section.

We’re so cute.

Things always look cooler at night.