Living The Dream

For two years now, I have been applying to the "Institute for Literacy Coaching and Whole School Reform" at the Columbia University Teachers College. I have been to Teachers College twice before for institutes on reading and writing workshop, and they basically changed my life. The Literacy Coaching institute was a dream of mine, but I never got in since they only select 50 people from the whole country. This year, I applied, and I got rejected (again). I just an email saying: "You're not accepted." I was like, "NO! This is ridiculous! I am getting in!" So I proceeded to email and call the NY office and ask them why I wasn't accepted because I really wanted to attend. They said they would get back to me. One day later, I got an email saying, "You have been accepted." Haha... I jumped up and screamed. Maybe the squeaky wheel gets the oil?

My first day in New York was rushed, freezing cold, and rainy/snowy. Thank goodness I stumbled upon the cutest French bistro for lunch. I had to take a picture of this lunch because it was so beautiful and SO GOOD. I got onion soup and a prosciutto sandwich. It came with the cutest little dish of grapes and iced tea! It was a great start to my stay in NY.
Basically, the institute was about learning how to coach teachers and lead school-wide reform in the areas of reading and writing. I knew we would be visiting New York schools, but at our very first session, they informed us that we would be teaching a class and coaching teachers at a middle school in the Bronx. I was SO EXCITED. Below is a picture of me after my first day of teaching in the Bronx. It was crazy and fun at the same time. I had never seen a New York school, so it was really an interesting experience. I rode the subway by myself to the Bronx and found my way to the school in the snow. When I arrived, it was about 7:30 and kids were congregated outside the school. As I pushed my way through to the door, the kids were saying, "Ooooh... a white girl!" This made me smile to myself. The school was actually pretty cool. They have a very dynamic principal and lots of young, talented staff. The kids were doing good work, and it was fun to be in classrooms and talk to teachers. Here is me outside the Bronx school:

We also got to visit a school on the East Side, which was a totally different story. SAME population of kids, but I could not wait to get out of there. I spent two days teaching small groups in a seventh grade special education and behavior modification class. Wow. On the second day, I fought back tears as I left the room. It was so painful to see these kids and try to work with them, but to no avail. The culture of the school was such that these kids were not set up for success. As hard as I tried, I could not imagine them going to college. And believe me... I can imagine LOTS of kids going to college. As I worked with one group, they refused to even pick up their pens. They glared at me and smacked their gum in my face while laughing and playing and mocking me. Several students even got up to wander around the room while I was teaching. Granted, I'm some "white lady" they've never seen before, but it was apparent that this behavior was an everyday occurrence. I tried my best to be patient and kind, but I seriously wanted to throw something out the window. What a frustrating situation. It made me so grateful to be in a school where everyone is focused on the same goal and there are systems in place to help kids and teachers be successful. My hat goes off to the teachers who can bear that every single day. I certainly couldn't. When I saw my real kiddos agian on Thursday, I cried. I have never been so glad to see them!!

Here is a shot of the Columbia campus. It is really beautiful and regal looking. I love the old buildings and sense of hisotry. There's something about it that really gives a sense of importance to learning.

We started each day with a keynote speaker inside Riverside Church on campus. It is absolutely beautiful. Not bad for a classroom, huh?

One night I ate at Shun Lee Cafe, a dim sum restaurant right across from Lincoln Center. They had these carts that Asian ladies pushed around the restaurant periodically. The lady would say (all in one breath), "You want some ginger shrimp? pork spring roll? sesame chicken? crab dumpling? vegetable tempura? chicken spring roll? shrimp dumpling?" and so on. Then you can just pick what you want. So fun. Here's what the restaurant looks like:

I was really enjoying myself and having fun being alone in the city... until about Saturday. That's when I realized how long I was going to be there (six nights!) and how much I kind of wanted to see Brent and Blazer and be home. I was really excited, though, because Saturday night I was supposed to have dinner with my good friend Katie Bailey who was in NY for buisness. We planned to meet at 7:00 at China Grill. I made my way over to Midtown and walked in the revolving door to China Grill, scanning the restaurant to see where Katie was waiting for me. Before I could even get in the restaruant, I looked through the glass door and saw:

... That's right. My husband. My wonderful, sweet, amazing, (somewhat liar) husband... who I had just talked to on the phone an hour earlier! And he told me he was walkling Blazer at the park! NO!!! He was in NYC!!! The look on my face must have been pretty funny. Brent said he's never seen me more confused. My brain simply could not process it. I could not believe my eyes that he was there when I thought he was across the country in Houston! So I cried, and it was probably the most surprised I've ever been. He proceeded to tell me the details of his surprise while I had a cocktail to calm down :-) My friend Katie wasn't even in town - he had her set it all up for his surprise. We had a super fun and amazingly delicious dinner. We ordered the Chef's tasting menu WITH the wine pairings. It was amazing!

We had fun in NY together for a few nights after I got out of class. We ate at another delicous Italian restaurant. We also walked around Midtown and the Upper West Side.

Here is Brent standing in front of the building where it all started: The New York Four Seasons where we got engaged. We have some special memories in NYC!

And finally, on my next-to-last night, I made my way to the Magnolia Bakery. I have been reading my friend Tiffany's facebook updates, so I know that she is obsessed with the place. So I had to try it. The cupcakes and coffee were awesome! The picture is me with my coffee because the cupcake was long gone by the time I thought of taking a picture!

... So there you have it! It was a wonderful week. I learned a ton and felt like I was going to explode with possibilities for my teaching when I came home. I also had a blast exploring New York again. It's a fun place to visit, but I still love Houston more :-) When I got back, I hit the ground running and life has been a blur ever since. I think the blur is just going to get faster since we are also moving in about three weeks. I guess that's our life from now on! I'll try to update more frequently!

And then you wake up.... and try it again

When I was trying to decide if I wanted to be a teacher, I went and observed a teacher who is now my very close friend. I will never forget what he said on the first day I ever observed him. I had spent all day with him and witnessed just how much work and frustration went into being a teacher. I was thinking, "Can I really do this? How can he do this?" As we were walking out of the school together that day, he said, "Well, there you have it! And then you wake up... and try it again." Five years later, that rings true.

Today after class, one of my students pressed a folded up piece of paper into my hand and ran out the door. When I opened it up, I found the letter below. Yes, the grammar is deplorable, yes, it's all one sentence, and yes, I'm a writing teacher. But at the sake of my own reputation, I have to show you this letter. It just about melted my heart. To her credit, Fernanda is an English Language Learner who is trying very hard. I taught her sister in seventh grade four years ago. Her sister is now nine months pregnant. It's hard to realize what we're up against, but things like this make me want to get up... and try it again!

Dear: Mrs. Norwood

I couldent wait to right you diz letter I want to tell you how amaze I am that you are my teacher to be honest I love how you teach us miss you'r also a teacher that I trust your a great teacher your pretty, funny, smart, a caring person thats all I have to say miss I got a lot of other great facts about you & there a lot I will probably will right 100 pages of facts about you well thats all miss love you oh also your one of my favorite teacher.

4rm Fernanda

Idol Infatuation

I am obsessed! I freaking LOVE American Idol. I go through phases. When the first American Idol came on back in 2003, I was all about it. My mom told me I should watch, and I was hooked. Then I fell off the wagon for quite a while. I just didn't care. But lately I am BACK ON!!

The trick is to watch the auditions. If you watch the auditions and Hollywood week, you're hooked! They've got you! You can't escape! That happened to me last season and definitely this season. Tuesday nights are the best nights of the week.

Last season, I was glued to the TV. Last season was awesome. I literally cried through the entire finale because I was just so happy for the contestants that they were living their dreams! The "Idol Gives Back" show was one of the best shows. Getting to watch the contestants sing duets with their singing idols... are you kidding me??? They got me!!

Brent is totally hooked, too. He might tell you he's not, but he is. We have rules for watching American Idol:
1. No judgements until 3/4 of the way through the song
2. Claim it! You have to claim your judgement loud and proud before the judges comment.
3. If you concur with the judges, you win. If not, you lose. Until the next performer! This can cause some pretty intense disagreements if one of us is right and the other is not. (I'm sure you can guess who is right most of the time.) We are getting kind of good. (That might be a sad comment on our life.)

Here are my current faves:

Lil Rounds: Her name is hurtin' - no doubt. Lil Rounds? But she blew me away tonight. Amazing voice.

Scott MacIntyre: He's blind. He's sweet. He's a good singer. I mean... come on!!!! I LOVE this guy. Did his story get me? Yes. Doesn't he deserve a little something????

Mishavonna Henson: She didn't make it through. But I'm holding out for the Wild Card round. I really like her personality.
Allison Iraheta: This girl is not my usual cup of tea. She is a bit punky for my taste. She is also quite awkward in conversation. HOWEVER - the girl can sing. If you heard her singing "Alone", you know what I mean!

Danny Gokey: Again, did they get me with the story? Yes. His wife just died and he is living his only remaining dream. And, he is a good singer. You can't deny the guy his dream, right??? This is Brent's fave.

Matt Giraud: This is my boy. He was one of my absolute favorites to start. When he sang "Georgia" at his piano in Hollywood - I got chills. Like David Archuleta "Imagine" chills. He did not make it through (sad), but I know he'll be in the wild card round.

Anoop Desai: The dude is just flat out likeable. He is so cute! Again, he did not make it through, but I hope he makes it in the wild card round. I think people love him and he just barely missed the cut.

In short... you should watch. Fox has found the magic formula, apparently, to keep a show going for so long, yet make it so good week after week. I heart American Idol!!!

TAKS and Building a House

You thought I was going to make some elaborate metaphor about the TAKS test and a house... Not so much! I have just enough energy to write about tomorrow's TAKS test and the progress on our house. They're really not related. My life is eating me alive!

Tomorrow is the writing TAKS test for my little muffins. They are prepared, but they always insist on giving me a few sleepless nights and the threat of a heart attack or two in the preparation. Pray for a good writing prompt, alert kids, editing passages with grammar rules we've practiced a million times, and sanity for me since I have to circle around my classroom all day like a airplane in a perpetual landing pattern. No reading allowed. No computers allowed. No sitting allowed. No writing allowed. No talking allowed. No thinking allowed. Thank you, standardized testing.

Anyway............

We are super excited about our house! It is going up so quickly. I believe the last house pictures I posted were of DIRT, so you will be quite amazed at the transformation! Below are pictures from the last two weeks. (We visit our baby each weekend.) We are scheduled to move in at the end of April! Isn't she pretty???

Pictures from TWO weeks ago: Brent on our patio

Our kitchen and breakfast area

Framed front of the house

Pictures from ONE week ago:

The kitchen and breakfast area

Bay window in the master bedroom

Fireplace!

Front of the house - notice the brick, ready to go!

More to come when life slows down. When will that be?!

Loves It

It's been a while, friends, and I'm sorry for that! February is C-R-A-Z-Y. It's the month of our big TAKS test and the month where the program I run gets evaluated by visitors from all over the country. It's been stressful and non-stop.

I really want to post pictures of our new house - it's framed!! So I'll try to do that tomorrow. For now, I thought I'd show you something funny at our school right now. One of the teachers started a "Healthy Living Challenge" where every staff member is supposed to exercise, eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, and drink 64 ounces of water four days a week. We are tracking our progress on a chart in the teacher's lounge.
My friend Craig (picture the class clown all grown up) decided to start his OWN challenge. He posted the following sign above the copier yesterday. I can't stop laughing every time I look at it. I'm glad he is progressing well on his "Live Like There's No Tomorrow" challenge by eating Reece's Cups, playing video games, drinking Mountain Dew, and pooping. Nice. I do love the people I work with so much. Where else can you work this hard but have this much fun?

My Five Minutes Of Fame

A few weeks ago, the recruitment director for YES (an Aggie, of course!) asked me if he could record my answers to a few questions about teaching. Next thing you know, I'm the unexpected star of our district's new recruitment video! It's on Facebook, YouTube, iTunes, and our district site. And it's here for your viewing enjoyment! When I first saw the video, I was embarrassed/excited. Mostly excited. Hope you like it. Wanna come work with me????

Feels Like Home

Sometimes I think about how much I would have liked to live in another decade. I know that all time periods have hardships, and I do love me some modern conveniences, but… I also love housewife-y things, so maybe a previous generation would have suited me better. For one, I’ve become fascinated by old cookbooks. I love to look at old recipes – especially the ones that don’t have any measurements for ingredients. They just say “add some of this and some of that and put it in the oven”. My mom was kind enough to give me her old Norman Rockwell Christmas Book when I told her I wanted it and couldn’t find one online. I just like to browse the recipes for old Christmas dinners.

I’m always making new recipes, but there are some recipes from my childhood that I am still obsessed with. There are some smells and tastes that bring me right back to 9203 Moss Farm Lane in between homework and bedtime with Peter Jennings on the TV. I can smell some of these dishes and just feel like I’m in that kitchen again. I’m hoping my sister will back me up on some of these, but the things that bring me back are beef stroganoff, Swedish meatballs, homemade chicken noodle soup, yellow rice, clam spaghetti, beef stew, lime chicken, and Old El Paso taco seasoning. To this day, I will ONLY use Old El Paso taco seasoning, and when I open up the package, I have to close my eyes, smell the contents, and linger for just a moment to remember nights when mom & dad went out and we had tacos with our babysitter who let us watch TV until 9:30 at night!!

Another one of my old favorites is Loin of Pork in Red Wine. Growing up, my mom had a Helen Corbitt cookbook. I don’t know when it was published, but I’m pretty sure the pages were yellow even when I was a kid. When I got married, she copied a lot of her old recipes for me to make. As far as I know, the smell of this pork roast in the oven can cure whatever ails you. For me, it cures the Sunday night blues and makes it feel as if all is right with the world. Since we’re not big Super Bowl people, I wasn’t down with pizza and wings. I made this roast tonight, and it did not disappoint. The recipe does not exist online, so I scanned my mom’s original copy for you. We always add more wine than the recipe says, and I go ahead and put potatoes and onions right in the roasting pan with the pork. I love my mom’s assessment of this dish: “excellent”. She’s so cute.

Norwoods for Hire

Brent and his good friend Tom have known each other since middle school. They have really been through a lot together and have kept a loyal, close friendship all these years. They still talk multiple times per week and will literally do anything for each other. Tom has taken me in as his friend since I'm married to Brent, so now he will do anything for me, too!

Tom asked Brent to help coordinate and pull off his proposal to his girlfriend, Gina, this Friday night. The proposal was to take place at The Grove restaurant at Discovery Green in downtown Houston. It was kind of exciting to be a part of a proposal, and I have to say it made me really nervous! This was someone's big moment, and I didn't want to mess it up! Brent says I'm really good at finding things to worry about, but if you're a girl, you know what I mean! This is big time! The catch was that the proposal was to take place at 11 pm, which as you know, is WAY past our bedtime, especially on a Friday. But we pounded down a few Diet Cokes and powered through. We rewarded ourselves with champagne when it was all over and felt really proud of ourselves for staying out past midnight. Anyway, here are some pictures of the engagement - it was really beautiful, if I do say so myself. And I do say so myself because I did the decorating. Congrats Tom & Gina!

If you're wondering how we got most of these shots, we were crouched in a corner like paparazzi. I'll leave you with that image in your mind.

The Only Thing Constant Is Change

We have some news to share here at the Norwood Nest! We are moving! Yes, I know. You're thinking to yourself: Those Norwoods are always moving! And the answer is yes, we are. Brent & I have been married for three and a half years, and this will be our fourth time to move! You would have thought by now that I would just stop trying to plan my own life down to the minute and let God move me wherever He wants! I know from experience that God always puts me exactly where He wants me, and He has been faithful to bless me more than I could have ever imagined or planned.

We do love our apartment, but for a variety of reasons, we have decided to buy a house in Humble. Although the address is no longer "Houston", we will only be 15 minutes from downtown. We will also ironically be only 10 minutes from my school. This will be a welcome change since now I am driving 30 minutes one way to work each day. We decided to build a custom home in a neighborhood called "Fall Creek". We were not looking to move until April, so building a home is a perfect option. That's right! The high-rise city folk are moving to the suburbs!

Here is a picture of the lovely dirt we currently own. Isn't it beautiful? But really, in three short months it will be our house!
Here is a picture of another house in the neighborhood that looks very much like our completed house will look. It is a three bedroom, two bath house with a huge kitchen (yay), fireplace, patio, backyard (yay for Blazer), study, and jetted tub (yay).

The most fun part about building a custom home is that we get to pick out pretty much everything. One night last week, we went to the "design center" to pick out EVERYTHING in 4 hours. I'm not a very good decision maker, so the designer had to push me along, but I think we did it! We now have counters, a backsplash, cabinets, floors, paint, bathroom fixtures, tile, and lots of other stuff I can't think of now! Here is a shot of our table at the design center at one point so you can see how much is going on.

This is a picture of our future backsplash that I am totally in love with. It is really modern and almost Asian looking. Brent & I saw it at a restaurant once and decided we had to have it. Well, now's our chance, so we got it!So that's that! We're packing our bags come April! I'll keep you updated with pictures of our house as it materializes from nothing over the next months!

Can YOU Help One School Transform a City?

The Answer is YES!

Will you help me change the trajectory of a child's life?

If you're not familiar with my school, I'll give you the ten second overview. YES Prep is a charter school system that exists to provide a free college preparatory education to Houston's most under-served neighborhoods. We believe that a zip code should not determine educational opportunity and that every child can and will learn. We guarantee that students who graduate from our high school will be accepted to a four-year college or university, so we have a 100% college matriculation rate. The average rate in HISD is around 51%. By 2020, YES will send THREE TIMES more low income students to college than ALL of the Houston Independent School District. Our high school has been named one of the top 100 high schools in America by Newsweek three years in a row, so people are starting to notice what we're doing!

However, with our successes come challenges. We receive very little funding per student from the state and no funding for facilities. Though we have enough to get by, we have a very small budget for supplies and instructional materials such as books. For example, our English department has enough to purchase only one book per child per year. If we need more books beyond that, they are purchased by the teacher or the students.

Each year, I explore ways to get more books and resources. As the leader of my classroom, it's my responsibility to advocate for the things my students need. In order to have a thriving reading and writing workshop, we need enough books and supplies to keep kids engaged and challenged year-round. One book does not quite cut it. In fact, my students have made a goal that we will each read 50 books this year.

Last year, I decided to try a website I heard about called "Donors Choose" that matches teachers in need of supplies with donors who are interested in helping kids learn. I had a fantastic experience with Donors Choose last year, so I decided to post more projects with them this year. I currently have three project proposals posted on Donors Choose. Each of my three proposals are for books.

I'm wondering... do you know anyone who would be interested in our mission of changing the face of education in Houston? If so, I would be so very grateful if you would pass along this message or the links to my projects below. Donors can donate any amount of money to projects. Projects are usually not funded in full by one donor, so small donations are appreciated as much as large ones. Each and every donor will be personally thanked by the kids in my classroom. Donors will receive letters and pictures of their dollars in action. A donation to Donors Choose is tax deductible and all transactions are handled directly by Donors Choose.

I hope you'll check out a few of my projects and pass them on to anyone else who might be interested. Thanks for all you do to support me and my kids!

Please peruse my three proposals by clicking on the linked titles below:

Books of Hope : Later this year, we're partnering with an organization called "Books of Hope" to create picture books that will be sent to orphans in Uganda.

Hot!Hot!Hot!: My kids need hot new award winning titles!

It's a Tween, Tween World : We'd love some new "tween" books for ages 10-12 to add to our classroom library.