A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 5 (10/1 - 10/5)

It is all about Homecoming Week! Even though I'm in middle school, our Student Council wants to celebrate our feeder high school. Just like in high school, it is a week of themed dress-up. What made this week even more interesting was that my daughter's elementary school (we're not in the same district) also was doing a Homecoming Week! We have a small community, so the Homecoming game is one of the biggest events! There's a parade and everything. My district is quite a bit bigger and there's two large high schools. So this is what our first week of October was like. I'm hoping the rest can really channel from Halloween flavor.

Week 5: 10/1 - 10/5

Monday, October 1, 2018
Our first day was 'Merica Day. Um... so... I am already opposed to 'Merica... It's A-merica. America. Next time please just call it Red/White/Blue day. Anyways. I didn't feel like going traditional, so I pulled out my shirt from the 2016 election. If only. From TeePublic.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018
I really pushed myself with this particular theme day. I have very few sports shirts. It was sports apparel/jersey day. I dug out my X-Men jersey (a nod to 1963 and the originals) from LootCrate and tossed on my Timber Rattlers hat to represent some sort of sport. Plus it's kind of a Brewers throwback jersey and you know they're rockin' things at the moment. The reason this was a stretch for me wasn't that it was sports, but that it was yellow and I didn't have a shirt over the shirt. I had to double-up the shirt with a long sleeved navy shirt and I felt bulky. I mean... everyone knows I'm not a skinny flower, but my anxiety was high wearing this. I did it though. Go me! Come to think of it... maybe I felt a little bit like a mutant that day. Ha! This is from the Marvel Geat + Goods: Danger Room (April 2018) crate. You can find the shirt on ebay and other places if you google for it.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018
This particular day was Disney day. I failed to remember to wear my Star Wars Disney ears, because they're in my daughter's closet. Poor planning on my part, even though I did wear my WALL-E and Groot shirt. It's all good. I got to be unique. I don't remember where I got it, but it's currently available through TeePublic and Naolito. 

Thursday, October 4, 2018
I had a sick day today. My school had tie dye and my daughter's school had Red, White, and Blue day. She came downstairs saying she was going to wear her tie dye shirt, because it had red, white, and blue on it, even though it also had green. Since I wasn't dressing up, I took a picture of her to represent both of our theme days. Too adorable for words. This particular shirt was homemade at Girl Scout Camp.

Friday, October 5, 2018
I can't say I was feeling 100% better for this last day of the week, but I know I needed to tough it out and go in. Luck for me I was feeling great by the end of the day. Probably because my students are so adorably amazing! Our day was West Colors. West has this blue as their color (and white). Since we've been working hard on making sure our students are using proper writing conventions, which include capitalization and punctuation (we aren't in the business of writing texts up in here), I wore this shirt to remind them. Fridays are always Vocab Quiz day and they have to write a sentence that demonstrates their understanding of the word, so we started out with some fun to remember the expectations. This shirt is much loved by many. I, shockingly, bought it years ago when I first started teaching. Since I've been able to organize all my shirts, I finally had the opportunity to wear it and it fit me. That particular piece was thrilling. I bought it at Woot! Shirt. 

This weekend I'm going to try to get the rest of my October organized so that I don't miss out on cool stuff. I promise no Pumpkin Spice.

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 4 (9/24 - 9/28)

This week's theme was exhausted. I was operating under a constant cloud of physical and mental exhaustion. I had been preparing for our District Family Game Night since the summer and, what I thought I would have help with, I was doing 95% alone. Between the promotions and wrangling up raffle prizes, to organizing permission slips for my club kids and fielding questions from parents... I don't know how I survived. I even had another mental slip-up day where I forgot to wear one of my planned shirts. But things came together to provide a unique week of dress-up.

Week 4: 9/24 - 9/28

Monday, September 24, 2018
Today my students were going to start to investigate how to create a better energy source to help emergency respondents when they go into rough situations. Why worry about their battery running out? Since we had used the Because Science video on the how Captain America's shield works, I decided to wear my blueprints shirt. This shirt came in a Loot Crate.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018
I can't remember exactly why I chose this shirt. Maybe because of our small moment stories and mine has to do with Peter Pan? I was too tired to try to figure out the connection. Maybe I wanted to take a trip so that I didn't have to deal with all the stress building on my plate. You can purchase this shirt through WootShirt!

Wednesday, September 26, 2018
I was extremely exhausted from prepping for the district game night alone, to finding out I was duped by a coworker regarding co-curricular support, then all the normal kid stuff, and also my outside of school. So I felt I needed to remind myself that Goonies Never Say Die. This shirt came from a Loot Crate.

Thursday, September 27, 2018
This day ended up representing how I was feeling, which is reflected in my pathetic face. I felt like I had been broken down into pieces and being hauled off for scrap. I just had so much going on and the exhaustion just doesn't get any easier. Sadly, I also forgot to wear my "literal" shirt, because I was so stressed the word wasn't on my mind when I got up. Oh well.  I got this shirt through WootShirt!

 The Rainbow Dash headband came from the Target $1 area. I was just trying to brighten my day and contemplated a look for Picture Day.

Friday, September 28, 2018
Today was Picture Day, so I had to get at least a little bit fancy. I packed a few shirt options, though, because this was the night of our first District Family Game Night. I had to have a shirt to wear for the event and I wans't sure if I wanted to wear my club shirt or a different game shirt. But before all of that, I had to rectify the mistake from Thursday. I wore my "literal" shirt in honor of the quiz. Sadly, I never changed my shirt and wore my "literal" shirt for the rest of the day. I got the shirt from Snorgtees.com 

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 3 (9/17 - 9/21)

While I was incredibly excited to break out all of my game club shirts, I made one misstep this week which broke my heart. The school year is getting intense, so sometimes it's easier to forget the finer things in life... like International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Either way, there were several wonderful and glorious t-shirt moments that really made my week that much more interesting and... provocative is not the correct term, but... like... engaging?

Week 3: 9/17 - 9/21

Monday, September 17, 2018
Today was the first day of Game Club. So I wore my N.E.W. Game shirt, promoting one of the exciting events my club kids will have a chance to participate in. One of the highlights of Game Club. It's a staff shirt, so it's super elite.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018
I was so excited to take this shirt to a whole new level in Literacy. We're working on small moment stories. Taking a tiny seed or a tiny event in our life and turning it into a larger story to really enrapture the reader. I told them the story of how Rogue One started as one line in a Star Wars movie and they turned it into a Blockbuster. I'm keepin' it simple here. We're not going to go into the lore, we're going to stick with the basics. So I loved being able to wear this. I got this through TeePublic.com.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018
We are studying energy forms in Science. Without thinking ahead of time (um... it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day....), I thought it would be fun to wear my minion Star Wars shirt, because of the Science and energy implications. What kind of energy is the Force? Potential? Kinetic? Energy? Light? You get it. The discussion was somewhat interesting, but at least it got a few wheels moving at 8:45AM. I purchased this shirt through TeeFury.com, but it is no longer available.

Thursday, September 20, 2018
I had to go present my District Family Game Night to the district's Parent/Teacher Organization. So all the PTN's from all the schools in the district. I wanted to promote the event and hope that they would all take the information back to their schools. I had already had the head office send out fliers and had done some other things. So hopefully it'll be fruitful. GO SPTGC!!!

Friday, September 21, 2018
It was tornado drill day! How could I NOT wear my Sharknado shirt. Now that made my day happy. Sadly, only a few people got it, but still... I'm the only one who needs to be happy about it. I got this shirt SnorgTees.com, but apparently it has gone missing from the site since the other day when I checked. Demand the shirt be renewed.

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 2 (9/10 - 9/14)

My giant closet threw me some curveballs this week. I had some moments where I was at a loss for what to wear, but I figured it out.

I also suffered a chastisement by my husband for a sneaky shirt purchase. Yes... shame and consternation, but I don't buy anything else! I just wish shirts weren't so expensive. I have a friend who is obsessed with socks and I'm like... gosh... wish my obssession was cheap like that.

Regardless, here is this week's offering of shirts that I was really just happy to wear, because the heart was, once again, insane and I have no A/C in my classroom.

Week 2: 9/10 - 9/14

Monday, September 10, 2018
Today I was scheduled to teach one of my favorite Literacy lessons: Wooing Literature. I compare the choosing of a book to finding a relationship. There's the love at first site, then you get a little closer to try to learn a little more, then you ask questions, get their digits, and then go on your first date. Then I talk about the relationship that is formed or maybe there's a break-up. What happens when it's a series? Well, you're in it for the long-haul. It's really a great lesson. I had a few shirts picked out for this but 1) one had a spot and 2) the other had these two black Miyazaki style soot sprites kind of right over my boobs. I know this shirt will probably come up again, but I wore my Satellite of Love shirt and dorkishly giggled at my idea that I'm riffing relationships by comparing people to books. (From TeePublic.com)

Tuesday, September 11, 2018
I feel like, to some degree, there are still many people who hold onto this tragic image and this tragic day. What I've been learning, though, as a teacher, is that the generation that doesn't understand or know or even liked during 9/11 are quickly becoming adults with no context for the inciting incident that made their world the twisted place it is right now. I brought out my 9/11 shirt and then had my students make a slide sharing what they knew about 9/11. (From 911Day.org, but no longer available.)

Wednesday, September 12, 2018
We had our yearly training for how to handle concerns over people who we think are depressed or who might want to commit suicide. It is a topic close to my heart, so I wanted to stand in solidarity, even if it was just for myself, to helping others who are in so much pain. So I wore my "Always Keep Fighting" shirt, which was part of a campaign that Jared Padalecki (Gilmore Girls, Supernatural) made when he came out as suffering from depression. I bought it for the motto, because it is a constant battle. (From Represent.com, but they reprinted it, so it's not the exact shirt.)

Thursday, September 13, 2018
Today my students had to do their research for what we call a On-Demand Writing Assessment. We provide them with resources and then they write an informative essay about the topic. Many years ago, my district colleagues chose the topic of "Eating Bugs." Too often, it does not turn into an informative essay, it turns into an argumentative essay, but either way. It was on the docket for today. Additionally, we were doing our first lab in Science. Nothing grandiose, just making little fans using different types of energy, but an experiment nonetheless. So I wore my AntMan shirt from LootCrate, which is no longer available through LootCrate.com, but you can find it in various places online if you must have it. I'll leave the connections for you to ponder, though.

Friday, September 14, 2018
This was the day that gave me trouble this week. I almost wore dress clothes, but I didn't want to yet. I genuinely really had nothing I wanted to connect with and some of my shirts I wasn't ready to break out and show off. So since the students were actually doing the writing of their On-Demand (they get a day for research), I figured it's collecting data about the truth of their understanding about informative writing. So I wore my Punisher shirt. I had my typical black shirt over it, plus I'm realizing no one REALLY notices my shirts, but that's okay. I don't wear them for the attention. I wear them for the love of my shirts. They make ME feel AMAZING and that's all that matters. SO TAKE THAT DATA!!! TAKE IT I SAY! (From TeePublic.com)

Goodness.... it just dawned on me that I put quite a bit of thought into my shirts, but that thought is like two minutes in the morning. That's gotta be some kind of talent, right?

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 1 (9/4 - 9/7)

I have a giant collection of t-shirts. I have officially started calling myself a t-shirt addict. As I was organizing my shirts this summer, I joked that I should take a picture of a day with the shirts that I wear. The joke turned into something I became serious about doing and here we are.

Start with this first week of school, I'll be taking a picture everyday of the shirt that I'm wearing. Preferably t-shirts, but there are just some days you cannot wear a t-shirt to work. Additionally, I'll only be posting for school days, unless something else comes up. For instance, last year I wore a piece of Star Wars clothing everyday for 30 days up until The Last Jedi was released. If something like that inspires me, there might be more days, but for now, it will only be the days that I have work.

Week 1: 9/4 - 9/7

Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Our first day of school, we are asked to wear our Panther Way shirts. That way the students know who the teachers are and can ask for help.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018
On the second day of school, my sixth grade team was walking students through orientation, so I wore another Panther Way shirt.

Thursday, September 6, 2018
It was so hot this week, I thought I'd wear some sort of camp t-shirt, so I pulled out my Welcome to Endor shirt. Available through TeePublic.com.

Friday, September 7, 2018
The first theme dress-up day of the year was for Wisconsin Sports. I  have one Packer shirt and that is what came with me.

The Joy of Gaming: GenCon 2018 - Wednesday

We arrived Tuesday night in Indianapolis, because on Wednesday (today) I participate in Trade Day. I present as an educator. I'm presenting my unit on how to incorporate games into, specifically, literacy. Too often I feel like people, or gamer minded people, tie games purely into math or history. I always make the argument that tabletop games ARE literacy. The reading, the writing, the understanding concept ideas, etc. Literacy is Life is what  I say. It's in everything we do. Speaking and sharing ideas. Listening to what others have to say and processing it. Reading for comprehension, and that doesn't just mean books. As an adult, think deeply about all the things you have to read and try to understand. 

After much confusion and watching other people get confused, I was finally able to share my work. Lucky for me, we were in a pretty awesome room with a projector already (that was better than mine. I brought one from home, because last time I presented I had to). I had wonderful attendees. I talked really fast, because it's a lot of information.  

I made packets of my presentation and materials for people so that the could follow along and if they had to leave, they could leave.  I also know how much educators appreciate things to work with. As for the presentation, I have never been so confident. I tried to turn on my teacher charm and we'll just hope my humor persona won out. My husband set up the games in the back for people to look at. I was proud. At the end I felt good and figured people mostly appreciated the presentation. So after my husband and I patted each on the back for making it through another presentation (which I seriously have to tweak), we abandoned all inhibitions and headed over to Burger Study.

This is where I break away from my Keto diet. But Sarah.... why would you do such a thing? Well... they have a Stranger Things burger that needed to be eaten, because YOLO. The burger was two thin burger patties with cheese inbetween a thin layer of peanut butter on one side and blueberry jam on the other and then all was settled between two perfectly toasted Eggos. Peanut butter burgers are overrated, but this was just right. The portions for everything were absolutely perfect and the blueberry jam really made it. Totally worth it! Only available for GenCon, though.  To add to this #genconfoodie moment, I decided to have a drink and it had BACON. That counts as keto, right?

Burger Study was a delightful eating experience. 

When we had left Burger Study, we headed around the corner so I could get my traditional GenCon pin from Hard Rock. See, I collect pins. Organizing them in display boxes is one of my next projects when I get home this summer. The pin this year was interesting, but didn't feel really GenCon-y. I'm not sure why I keep getting the pins, though, because they're kind of disappointing, but I hold a special place in my heart for them.

We saw, though, across the street from where we were walking, a game shop that had never been there before.  So on our way back to the convention center, we stopped in to see what it was all about and to see what kind of neat GenCon things they were doing. It's called Good Games. 

Tonight they're having an IELLO event and then during GenCon they're having late night hours and, I can attest to this, they have amazing air conditioning and a wonderful assortment of games. The were even hording copies of My Little Scythe.

My husband bought me Mr. Jack New York and I saw a copy of HABA's Dino World for our daughter. I also saw the Undead Expansion for Marrying Mr. Darcy, so I tossed that on the pile. We like to support local and small game shops, because what they're doing is creating an environment for gamers, as well as selling games, but at the heart of every game shop is giving people a place to game and a gathering place for people who want to game.

After this stop, I had taken note of this really interesting meter. It was a fundraiser meter for an organization that helps homeless people in Indianapolis. We pulled out some change and deposited it. 

It reinforced the task I decided to take up when I can to Indianapolis. I remember seeing homeless people on the street when we have been to GenCon before. Not long ago, I saw something online about taking old bags and filling them with toiletries and things and handing them out the the homeless. Since I was purging my house, I organized some bags. Even this evening, my husband got into the charity spirit and we went and bought some water and food bars and found some amazing toothbrush travel kits for cheap. I organized 4 women's and 4 men's bags. 

Each day I'm going to take one of each, but we're going to store them in our car during the day so that I can run and get one if I run out. We park in a lower level garage, so it doesn't get extremely hot. We're also going to keep a couple bottles of water on us to hand out to people we see, instead of money. 

Our day wound down relatively early. I still had to review the game I was teaching for ConTessa Thursday night. So we were heading home, but not before I found out about Pin Bazaar 2018! It's like a pin treasure hunt-trade-set-collecting thing! Different places have different pins. Some you might need to purchase or make a product purchase to get. Some you could potentially trade for. It's pretty cool and worth checking out. I had to laugh, because I had just been writing about the Hard Rock pins and now there's this. I've made a list of all the ones I want, because I really need to curtail excessive spending. We have a budget.

We spent the rest of the evening prepping the bags to pass out, going over the game I'm going to be running and just catching up. A few calls with our daughter (she's having an emotional time away from us) and just tried to prepare ourselves for tomorrow, which is always the most intense. It's the official Day One of GenCon 2018!

Happy Geek Pride Day 2018

I love celebrating Geek Pride Day and since things are really looking up for me, I was able to find joy in this celebration.

For my Geek Pride Day today, I posted this picture on my SmartBoard:

I made sure I wore my new TeePublic Tabletop shirt!

I brought my Avengers Towel (double getting all in one) I took my obligatory selfie (see towel in the background).

I wrote an e-mail to my coworkers about Geek Pride Day (and included Wil Wheaton's video). It was only responded to by the hardcore geeks.

Then, of course, I had to talk about the towel to my kids. Goodness knows I needed it today. We don't have AC at our school and being in the 100-year-old part of the school, on the third floor, and the unblocked windows of the rising sun, will make you sweat so bad.

I, of course, did all my geeky little things that I would normally do and I ended my evening with a Geek Pride meal of a Bob's Burger's recipe for "One Horse Open Slaw Burger." We couldn't do the bun, though, because of our whole Keto thing. But boy was it yummy.

We wanted to do so many more geeky things, but the heat from being up at school really did me in. But I did get to do something geeky with my Literacy classes. Our tabletop game unit in Literacy has wrapped up, so we decided to geek it up with playing some games. We book the Maker's Space (which has AC) and shared in everyone's games! While not perfect, we were still able to have fun.

If you're like to know more about these games, please check out my students' BoardGameGeek list and give them some thumbs up and/or feedback!

No games at home, though, due to severe exhaustion from the day.  Nevertheless.... Happy Geek Pride Day!!!