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Category Archives: Forensics

Midwinter blahs

04 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by cmadeleine0816 in Forensics, Teaching

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It’s halfway through everything. This post is not very thoughtful because it’s a Sunday, and while I got 12 hours of sleep last night, I’m still mentally out of it. The week takes everything out of me. I’m at school until 6:30 or 7 most nights coaching. Then I come home dog-tired (kitty-tired?), and attempt to throw dinner together. Luckily, the husband has been in charge of Saturday night dinners lately because my forensic tournaments last longer than his………even on the days when we went to the same tournament, he was still home almost an hour before I was. What gives?

Anyway, only three more tournaments left (two weekends plus state) and then spring will be here. Now that I’ve written as much as I have, I am not really sure what I intended to say in the first place. Well, here is a boring update: it was sunny today. I saw some birds. I think something large-ish is living under our porch because there are tracks and a little muddy spot where something (cat-sized-ish) seems to be sliding on its belly to go under the porch. Awesome. Can’t wait for those babies to be born. We have a decent amount of snow, but not as much as my parents up north. The front yard piles are at least five feet tall. We still eat oatmeal every Sunday. Grading gets done. I’m reading five nonfiction books; more on those later. I love juice. My plants are all growing and green. I wish it were summer. The end.

Less than spectacular morning

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by cmadeleine0816 in Forensics

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Forensics, illness, school

Today was the first Forensics tournament. After working 7, 12 hour days, I prepared myself for waking up at my usual 5 a.m., but this time, on Sat morning. The alarm sounded and I jumped out of bed, ready for the day. I was not even 20 min into my morning routine when I was suddenly over come with chills, sweats, and near fainting. I had to call in sick for the tournament and thankfully my wonderful assistant coach, who was not planning on attending because of other commitments, rearranged his schedule so the team could still go. I can’t believe that after all our hard work and dedication throughout the week, my body betrayed me. It frustrates me so. I love tournaments. I love them even though they take the majority of the Saturday and a lot of my energy, but being with the kids and watching them succeed, improve, and bond with one another surpasses any caffeine headache I may have by the end of the day. It’s the end of the semester. Exams start on Monday. Could this be my body telling me that I’m overworked? Hmmm.

Not too busy…

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by cmadeleine0816 in Forensics

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Tags

Forensics

Yesterday, the first thing I accomplished in the morning upon arriving to school at my usual 6:30 a.m. was to print out 2 months worth of forensics practice sign up sheets. These get taped to my door and the team members sign up for practice times. (As much as I would like to use google calendar etc, I’m really a hard copy type person and I love seeing my team dedicate their precious after school hours to an activity I know is important for their growth and well being). After reading Sunday’s post, I thought back to the last three years as a head coach and wondered how I survive the school year/forensics season. People constantly ask me this and I simply shrug. And then, I realized I don’t really consider my days to be “busy.” I get tons of stuff done and I really like knowing exactly what I have to accomplish during the day and when I meet all of those goals, it gives me a little bit of a rush – like I’m  wonder woman or something – and if I don’t get something done, well it’s nothing to get super stressed over because, after all tomorrow is another day (thank you Scarlet O’hara). Like any teacher, illness overtakes me at some point during the winter, but I rest up as much as possible and get the kids to help me out. However, coaching usually puts me at school until 6 or 7 at night at least once or twice a week. But I would do anything for my forensics kids; they mean that much to me. I adore watching them practice and perform and gradually improve their public speaking abilities.

As I read the advice on Sunday, I kept thinking how these tips/tricks somehow found their place in my heart. They’ve kept me going throughout my school years and now I’m eager to share them with my friends/coworkers. The last item to truly achieve is to MAKE time for creating art work that I want to create. My sewing sits forlornly in baskets waiting to be picked up. Instead, I always reach for the next essay to be graded. I’ve constantly lived by the mantra, school first, play time second. (Maybe this is my mother’s fault? That’s not really the point though…). I honestly feel bad though, as if I’m doing my students a disservice, if I don’t get all their papers graded in a timely manner. The only way that can happen is if I sit down every night and grade and then keep grading all weekend until they are all finished. And as I write this, right now, I have a sewing project that I’m itching to start, but I don’t feel like I can until I have these papers out of the way. Ugh. So back to my plan. Maybe if I just take a little “creative me time,” I can have a happier/cleaner/fresher mindset when I grade their essays. And even though the last post was about how awesome I was at grading….well now I have my freshmen batch that I’m about a quarter of the way through because my husband drove the entire 9 hours to Kentucky for Thanksgiving while I graded for 5 of those hours. (I am thankful my husband is an English teacher who completely understands).  My goal for this school year is to set aside “me” time to make items that I want to make. And I am not allowed to feel guilty about the stack of papers sitting on the floor.

 

P.S. I also just realized that I was taught by one of my good friends that if a dog tries to get in your face and lick you or nuzzle you, you say “busy, real busy” and avoid eye contact and it goes away. This method totally works too! Haha.

First Forensics Meeting

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by cmadeleine0816 in Forensics

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Well, there were 35 people (including returning members) at the forensics meeting today. I ordered a cake. It was amazing. I love cake. So do the kids. Everything went super smoothly and for once, my team was not constantly talking over me. We had a surprise performance which the returning team adored and hopefully the new members enjoyed it too. I really hope all of the “newbies” stick around. Forensics is pretty much the best activity ever. Who doesn’t want to be awesome public speaking? I love coaching and I’m super excited to meet new members and share my passion for public speaking with them. Nothing warms the soul more than waking up at 3 a.m. on a frosty winter Saturday (after a 70 hr work week) to get on a bus with a bunch of chatty teens and then spend the entire day with them through the triumphs and tragedies that encompass so many of their lives in just 12 hours. It’s the best.

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