sight-seeing in London

Welcome to Big Time Literacy and the #BTBC14! We're celebrating the one year blog-o-versary of Big Time Literacy with a month long blogging challenge. Link up with me each day and network your blog with all those participating, including the seven new D100 bloggers!

It's really been great seeing everyone comment on one another's blogs... If you post at the very beginning of the day, you can always go back to the previous day's blogs and comment on the bloggers who posted late in the evening! Comments are such great encouragement and make blogging really worth it! :-)

Just came back from my first trip to Europe and it was amazing! I went with Education First (EF). They plan trips with teachers and students, and I went with my best friend, Heather, and five of her students.

EF books trips so that there are about 40-45 kids all together, since we share a coach as we travel around some of the cities. Our group included me, Heather, and her five kids from San Diego, a group from Texas, and a third group from North Carolina. Then, all of us together got a tour director to guide us at each city and from place to place!

Rosaria, our director, and our group!

We began our trip in London. Because of some baggage issues, we got off to a late start, but on our first day there, we took a brief walking tour by Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings. We saw the London Eye and then walked to Trafalgar Square. Here's a few pics:

It's Big Ben! (I am pretty sure that name is because of the bell at the top...but maybe I'm wrong!)

Selfie with Big Ben!

And, seeing Big Ben from the London Eye:

Speaking of the London Eye...

It's now actually called something else, because a different company bought it. Kinda like the Sears Tower is now the Willis Tower? (It will forever be the Sears Tower to me, though!) HA --->

I was seeing a lot of red in London!

Mailboxes are easy to find!

And Trafalgar Square:

Okay, going to try and decipher some of the notes about Trafalgar Square in my phone...This is a plaza with a few water fountains and a bunch of statues of monarch type guys - and one big statue of a blue chicken...do you see it in the pic above?

Well, in the square there is a statue of the first monarch of England, Charles the First. This guy ended up getting beheaded, I think when the monarchy was overthrown? So they took his statue down while that was so, but then when the monarchy came back, the statue went back up. Now, the statue faces down the street to the place where King Charles was beheaded. Interesting, right?

So then the blue chicken story --
(Got this pic from Google!)

Not sure who started it all, but some artist was upset that all the statues around this town square were of the monarch-government guys, so this platform now rotates artists who get to display there. Pretty sure they display for a year at a time, and this is the current art that is up there. Not sure why it's a blue chicken or any significance of it, but it's a good meeting place. "Hey, meet me at the blue chicken in Trafalgar Square!"

I guess there was one artist who thought lots of people should have access to the platform, so for his year, he let different groups of people do dance or do similar forms of art each week. Kinda cool, right?

What I didn't know about Europe that I think is so cool are all the town squares. Every city we visited had squares all around for people to gather and hang out or share a picnic or even watch the World Cup! I love the town squares and think it would be cool if we had something like that over here!

Anyways, enough about me. Time for you to link up! Hope you had a great holiday!

An InLinkz Link-up

bring this, not that

Happy fourth of July! Are you linking up early before you head out for picnics and fireworks? Glad that you made time, even on the holiday, to stop by and connect for #BTBC14! I've been loving reading all the posts and seeing all the camaraderie with comments among all the bloggers! Be sure to link up below and don't forget the rule of 3!

If you've been following along this month, you know that I just returned from a great trip to Europe with my best friend Heather and five of her high school students. If you had ever thought about going to Europe, there's a handful of things you're going to need to make your trip run smoothly!

First thing's first: Pack lightly!
In Europe, you're going to be walking around on cobblestone roads, carrying your luggage up steps, and moving it around, a lot. Because of this, you'll want to make sure you leave your ginormous suitcase at home!

I bought a small, carry-on size suitcase to take (actually, my moms got it for me, thanks mama!) but it's one that expands. My best friend couldn't believe how lightly I packed, but I had 10 days worth of clothes, two pairs of shoes (plus the ones I wore) plus all my cosmetics and makeup and a blowdryer and flat iron in that thing. (I used to take a suitcase that big just for shoes!) I also took a backpack - I knew I'd need that for walking around every day and I'd need to have some things with me. I was packed to the max, but Heather had my EF bag that I got with my trip, so that was perfect to bring home the loot I bought. So, I recommend: small suitcase, backpack, and pack an extra bag to bring the things you buy back!

Undercover Neck Wallet
Definitely invest in a wallet that you can carry under your clothes to keep all your important docs and money safe. Too many pick-pockets in Europe who can't wait for the unassuming American tourist to be engaged in their travels and not realize someone was taking their things.

The other great thing about this is that your money and docs will be right there in front of you, so you don't have to go into your backpack every time you need some money for a cup of coffee!

Universal Electricity Plug
You're also going to need a plug so you can charge up your phone and camera. This one is similar to the one Heather brought and it was a really good one! You can't see it in this pic, but it has two USB ports on the front, so we were able to do both our phones on this one and then my camera on my converter.

Notebook and Pen
You're going to want to remember what you did, and if you're on a super busy tour like mine was, you're going to need to write things down. I did write some things in the notes in my iPhone while I was on the go during the day, but when we returned at night, I almost always sat down and wrote everything we did that day. Now that I'm going back and trying to remember everything, it really helps jog my memory when I look at my notebook!

Water bottle and snacks
When you're on the go with EF (or any other travel tour company) you will not necessarily have time to pick up a water bottle and snacks all the time...so best to bring your own. I actually didn't bring a water bottle and then ended up buying one, but I did bring a bunch of protein bars and some almonds. These snacks were perfect just to tide me over to our next meal.


And a few things you *shouldn't* bring...

Blowdryers and Flat Irons
On day one, I had already fried Heather's electricity converter with my blowdryer. On day 2, using a new one that I had bought, my flat iron got so hot, it melted the plastic on it, causing this awful (more than likely toxic) smell in our room and across the whole floor of our hotel. My hair looked great the day I got there, and then every day after that, it air dried and was put up in a bun. Just leave the styling tools at home and know that you're not having your best hair days on your trip!

Too many books
I bought three books on my iPad and then bought 1984 in London. I only read one of the books on the iPad before I started 1984. If you're traveling with a company like EF, you're not going to have tons of time to read lots of books. Bring one, that's sufficient.

iPad
Like I mentioned above, there's not lots of free time. I didn't use my iPad hardly at all - on the plane and on the trains, really. Of course since I brought it, I had to schlep it around with me and worry that someone in the hotel might take it. My advice? Just leave it at home. Bring your phone, that's enough to have you do a few things when you can get on wifi! Plus, you'll carry your phone around with you everywhere you go, and so you don't have to worry about leaving it in the hotel!

An InLinkz Link-up

ignorance is (was) bliss

Today is day 3 of the Big Time Blogging Challenge. Glad you're here to participate along with us! Remember to link your post at the end of this one and don't forget the rule of 3 - comment on the two posts before yours and the one after!

Also, Kerry over at Learning out LOUD, created a hashtag for us. Use #BTBC14 if you post your blogs on any social media platforms and all our posts will be collected together! Happy Blogging!

I can't get this image out of my head:

I found it through Larry Ferlazzo's twitter feed - he writes a great blog and then has his "best of" posts that go way back, and this image was in one of them.

When I got on Twitter, I followed Diane Ravitch right away, which led me to the Badass Teachers Association (BATs). The BATs just turned one year old and already have close to 50,000 members! The Badass Teachers Association is "for every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality, and refuses to accept assessments, tests, and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning."

And so reading all the articles and news I get from the BATs and Diane Ravitch, I feel like that little guy in the image up top that originally prompted this post - because now that I know what I know about the attack on public education - I can't get it out of my mind. Everywhere I look is colored by what I've learned!

I sat with a group of Chicagoland bloggers on Monday at lunch, and teachers were asking, "Why are there so many tests?" PARCC twice (or more) each year, plus the district benchmarks as a formative on our progress, plus the others we do because they give us good information about kids - like the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking for reading levels.

Don't misunderstand me: I'm all for accountability. But the feds who impose these tests and the labeling and dangle RTTT money at us (when we're facing budget crises) for rapid implementation of CCSS and all that goes with them act like, we, as professional teachers don't care about the progress of our students. We are professional educators! Of course we are going to use assessment to inform our instruction! Of course we want our students to achieve at high levels!

And all the attacks on our due process rights and the unions? It's really just too much. Read this great article about why we need to have due process - in education it protects our professional decisions to educate our students in the ways we believe are best. And another article here that will remind you about how the unions work for better working conditions for it's teachers, which in turn leads to higher student achievement.

So readers, if you want to stay in the blissful state of unawareness with with the attack on public education and the push to privatize, do not read Diane Ravitch and do not follow the BATs. But, if you have any interest in learning more, check them out. Even though we don't have as much money as the 1% using their large bank accounts to lobby for education reform that is opposite of what is best for kids, we can speak truth to power in our numbers, in our 99%!

Now it's time for the challenge!

Don't forget to use our hashtag: #BTBC14!

An InLinkz Link-up

currently late to the party!

Hey y'all!

I always want to write that but I'm not from the south (obvi) so I never do...but today I guess I'm feeling a little feisty!

Excited, as usual, to link up with Farley for her Currently party!

Listening to...
New fave song is Latch by Disclosure featuring Sam Smith. You can look up the official video (a little too racy for this blog!) but here's a lyrics only version so you can hear the song!

So good, right?

Loving...Summer Vacation!
I've been a busy girl! Ran the color run:

Went painting with teacher friends:

Went to Europe!!!

Just the Mona Lisa, nbd :-)

Ran a Mud Run. Yes, I paid money to do this. (Super fun!) (Once a year super fun status!)

Met up with Chicagoland Bloggers:

I guess I was due for all of this after the crazy cold Chiberia winter we had!


Thinking...about the awesome teachers in D100!
Today I taught a PD about setting up teacher blogs. Teachers all got blogger accounts, we set the themes and layouts, did at least one post, added a page or two, and went over BlogLovin and growing your network with social media. Great day, and I'm so excited for the new blogs I get to follow!

I feel like this is off center but I'm going to be imperfect and let it go! :-)

Wanting...another European Vacation!

I so want to take my former students to Europe. Earliest would be summer of 2017. It was awesome to go with Heather's students, but would be even awesomer to take my own kids who are kinda like my little family. Love teaching. Love kids. Love travel. Let's put it all together!

Needing...My car needs a serious detail. Stat.

Some things I'm good at. Others, like keeping my car clean, yeah...not so much. I still haven't cleaned my car since the winter ended. There's leaves on the floor and my doors don't seal right, so when it rains, tons of water leaks in. The exterior is pretty gross, too. I'm hoping by the next time I link up with Farley I'll have a super sparkly car!

4th of July Plans

Nothing set in stone, but probably going to the suburbs with Hektor's family for cooking out and fireworks. Sounds about perfect in my book!

That's all for Currently, but wait! There's more!

Well, now that you're here, you may as well hear about the BigTime Blogging Challenge! I'll be posting a linky every day this month and I'd love to have you join! Blog as much or as little as you'd like! Check out the deets here and download a calendar of prompts here. Hope you can link up with me!

That's all for July! Have a great month and I'll catch'ya on the flipside!

An InLinkz Link-up

and we're off!

Good morning and welcome to the BigTime Blogging Challenge! I've received lots of positive feedback so far on the challenge and am excited to have some bloggers - new and experienced - participating with me!

Remember, the only rules of the challenge are to write every day during the month of July! It can be about any topic you'd like - ones that follow the prompts on the calendar or your own ideas! (If you're just hearing about the challenge now, head over to my TpT store to check out the deets!)

Write your blog.

Post your link.

Leave some love for your fellow bloggers!

I know I wrote one post about my trip to Europe and now I am feeling super overwhelmed as I try and think about where to go next with it. And, I just had an awesome weekend celebrating the boyfriend's birthday, so I want to share with you some pics from the charity cruise we attended on Sunday!

A friend of a friend is on the board for the Gift from the Heart Foundation, so they planned this awesome event for us to attend. Tickets included the ride on the Mystic Blue Yacht out of Navy Pier, plus dinner and drinks. We had a beautiful day on the lake, too!

I've lived in Chicago for five years now and the skyline *still* takes my breath away...I look at it and think, "omg. I live here." It's awesome, and so cool to see from the lake!

I went on the cruise with my boyfriend, Hektor. His birthday was the 25th, so we've been celebrating for a few days now, and it was a great way to end the weekend!

 Of course, I wouldn't be on the cruise without a great friend, Anita! We met each other in Phoenix and have been friends for about ten years. She was a teacher and now she's a marriage and family therapist with Relationship Reality 312 - the practice she started all on her own. I've learned so much from her and I'm so proud of all that she's accomplished. (She's an amazing person to talk to about your relationships! She loves working with singles and couples...check out her link!) Anyways, here we are with her sister, Bernadette:

Bernadette, Anita, and I

So yeah, that was Sunday. Sailing on a yacht, soaking up the sun, taking in the beautiful views of our city. And of course, it would not be complete without a selfie:

Hope you all had a fab weekend and your new week is off to a great start!

Now, here's where the fun begins: Link your post with me here at Big Time Literacy. Just click the link below and it's super easy! Then don't forget the rule of three - leave a comment for the two blogs ahead of you and the one after you. You might have to come back later on today or tomorrow, because we all know how much comments mean to us bloggers! Looking forward to reading your posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

bigtime blogging challenge announced!

So sorry for the delay...Yesterday I mentioned the Big Time Blogging Challenge on my first post about my Europe trip and have since been busy preparing! Yesterday and today I was drafting and sending it out for feedback and revising...but good news! It's ready to go!

I hope you can join me in celebrating the first anniversary of Big Time Literacy with a month-long blogging challenge!

On July 1st, I'll be holding a PD in my district with a handful of teachers who are about to embark on their own blogging journey, and in an effort to get their feet to the pavement with writing, I've created this month long challenge! The bigtime goal: to write every day.

Head on over to my TpT Store to download all the details. There is a calendar with prompts if you feel like using those, but you really can write about whatever you'd like!

Each day in July, I'll post a blog and a space for linking up - so write along with me and link your blogs! I'm looking forward to networking with other bloggers and getting to know some new people!

Hope you can join in on this 31 day challenge. Day one begins Tuesday!

Happy Friday!

no time for sleep with ef!

I'm baaaaack! Europe was amazeballs and I have learned exactly how much I love to travel.

#truth

I went on a this trip with one of my best friends, who is also a teacher. She took 5 of her students (and I was her sixth traveler). She booked the trip through Education First (EF) and this is the way I plan to travel from here on out!

EF is great because you don't have to do any thinking, planning, or really preparing, other than just showing up the the airport. They book every ticket - from the airlines, to the train tickets, to the metro tickets. They book the hotels and get you from one place to another, which is why I got to see London, Paris, Venice, and Rome in 10 days. This is not the kind of vacation to take to relax, in fact, I'm exhausted...but I learned so much! Most importantly, I learned that I have a very strong desire to see more places around the world!

I'm going to write a little bit about the trip each day in July, but here's a brief overview:

Day one was travel time...flew from Chicago to London on a nonstop flight. Spent two and a half days in London and saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, and the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We were actually supposed to see a lot more, but there was some missing luggage with someone else in our group and we just got off to kinda a slow start...

This is Heather, one of my best friends from high school. Crazy that we've already been friends for like 20 years, and we talked about our next 50 ahead on our trip. Here we were on the day we arrived London and in Trafalgar Square. I'll share more about that on another post! (This is also the only day my hair looked good.... had major problems with the electricity situation and blow dryers and flat irons!)

We left London on the morning of day 4 on the Eurostar to Paris. This train goes under the English Channel - I think it was a four hour trip. We spent our next two and a half days in Paris. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, The Louvre (the Mona Lisa!), the Latin Quarter, and Notre Dame. That was all guided by EF, and then Heather and I also tried to find some filming locations from Sex and the City's Series Final episodes. Even though we weren't super successful, we did have a great day!

This moment was one of the top two of my whole trip! It's so touristy, but such an icon that I'm so glad we got to see!

At the end of day six, we took a night train to Venice. The night train was an experience like one I've never had before (more to come on that!) but we arrived in Venice on the morning of Day 7. We only had one day in Venice but it was amazing. Venice is actually the one place I *need* to see again! There we met in St. Mark's Square and had a brief walking tour. Because we were running a little late, we had to miss the glass-blowing demo because we really wanted to take a gondola ride instead! We got to do a little shopping and I bought a beautiful quartz ring and then we had an amazing Italian dinner: prosciutto and cheese, followed by gnocchi, and then roast beef and potatoes, and tiramisu! (I'll blog about all the amazing food later, too!) The restaurant was awesome with live music and a beautiful outdoor seating area. I *loved* Venice!

on a Gondola, nbd :-)

We spent one night in Venice (in an amazing hotel after that night train!) and then we were on another four-hour train ride to Rome. When we arrived in Rome, we went straight away to a quick lunch at Piazza del Popolo (had an awesome pizza there!) We then took the coach to see the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. That night, a few of us went back out to see Piazza Navona, Castel Sant'Angelo, and Vatican City lit up at night. The next morning, we had our official guided tour of the Vatican, the museum inside, the Sistine Chapel (amazing, but no pictures/video allowed), and St. Peter's Basilica. We then had free time, so we ate at Piazza Navona, and then walked to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. Our last dinner was in pizza in Rome, and then we returned early to pack up to travel back to the states on day ten.

Travel back wasn't as nice as going out there! We were dropped off five hours before our flight, then I flew on a 9 hour trip to Montreal, was delayed there for an extra hour and a half, to finally arrive back at O'Hare at 10pm last night. I was definitely up for 24 hours straight yesterday!

But, that is no big deal and totally worth it. Love traveling, love EF, and I'm hoping to plan a trip back in Summer 2017! Definites are Spain and Italy again....have to see what EF has available and which of my former students want to come with me!

So my plans are to write a little bit each day of July for a BigTime Blogging Challenge! Do you want to join me? I'm giving a PD to teachers in my district on July 1st, and then providing them with a possible calendar of topics to cover. But the caveat is that you are encouraged to write about whatever you want for the whole month - the challenge is just to write every day in July.

I'll have the Blogging Challenge Calendar up in my TpT store as a freebie later today or tomorrow. You'll be able to link up with me every day in July, so I hope you'll write along with me and the other teacher bloggers from D100!

So many more stories to come from my travels....excited to share it with you all and also document all my memories!

Yes!