April 4, 2009

March 28, 2009

  • writing in a new place

    my hiatus and intermittent posting on xanga has been due to a lot of thing. i haven't had the physical or emotional will to write more than just within the limits of Twitter (you can find me here: twitter.com/crystal_theresa or just read the widget at the top) until recently.

    it hasn't been too often that i've logged on because a lot of the people i subscribe to here have abandoned their xanga pages (or just log on to read nowadays?) or switched to myspace or facebook or their own sites. but there are a few of you that i still come back for (Bizzy_mamma, soobee72, avenuetothereal) because i'm not connected to you elsewhere.

    anyway, the need to process and express and share what i've gone through with losing my baby has given me the impetus to start writing again. you can find that here: blog.louielovescrystal.com.

October 16, 2008

October 4, 2008

August 11, 2008

  • the places to where i've disappeared

    i don't want to say that i've fully moved on from xanga... i don't think i could ever do that. but i have been away for a really long time. i think i need to make use of the whole emailing posts things because i have a couple sites going now, and it makes it hard to keep up with everything. i was double posting here and on myspace for a while. i know some people do that - double or triple post on all their various social networking/blogging sites. some just post links to post to the main one they are using. i think i'm going to have to look into that whole post by email thing and just set it up, because there are people i would like to stay in touch with, but they all reside on different sites.

    i've recently jumped on the facebook bandwagon - yes, a few years late, i know, but i never really felt the need to join. the games are fun! i know myspace has apps now, but i don't feel like re-adding =/.

    so i know that some of you know about chubbymelon - i have a blog on that site now. i also have the wedding website: LouieLovesCrystal - planning has been crazy, and I've decided that I should start sharing about that craziness, so i created a wedding blog for that.

    i need to figure out a better way to integrate... maybe after all the wedding planning .

    i miss you guys.

April 19, 2008

  • It's been way to long

    since I've posted, and though it's my fault for not making the time, I'd like to think that I'm not fully to blame for my absence.


    I had believed that making the change from 2 part time jobs to 1 full time job would give me more free time, since (I figured) I wouldn't be spread so thin. Teaching, as I've learned, however, is more than just 1 full-time job. I spend an average of 45 to 50 hours just at school each day, and more hours at home preparing, planning, assessing. I knew it would be a lot of work, but I wasn't prepared for the exhaustion. As I've been told many times, you have to build up the "teaching stamina."


    So, first, I'd just like to apologize to those with whom I've neglected to stay in better touch. I know that I've basically disappeared into my job, but now that summer is drawing near (6 weeks left of school!), I'll be out of hiding very soon.

August 31, 2007

  • 174 Days to Go...

    First, thanks to everyone for all there well wishes and helpful tidbits and hints !

    On a side note, people have been asking, so I'll just put it out there that I have not decided to change my name. So, it's still Ms. Zapanta.. although it's no longer my college professors calling me that, but my students ^_^. It's not like I'm strongly opposed to the Ejanda name. It's just that when I see Mrs. Ejanda, I see Louie's mom, and when I see Mr. and Mrs. Ejanda, I see Louie's parents. Heheh.

    The kids are still calling me Ms. Crystal, and I try to correct them, but it's gonna take a while to break a 3 year habit . A few call me Ms. Z. Some call me Ms. Zapanta.

    It's weird being at a school so long that I've actually seen children go through the stages of puberty and come back to visit with beards and mustaches or looking a little more womanly and less like a little girl. It's kinda neat, but also makes me feel older.

     This is actually the latest I've been up in a while. I've been in bed by 10pm, if not earlier. I went to sleep at 9 last night and got up at 4 this morning. The night before, I slept at 8 and got up at 3:30. I'm trying to rediscover my circadian rhythm. I used to be a late night person, until I started working a 9 to 5. Now that I'm at school by 6:30 (and don't leave until past 5 - at least today I got out at 4:15!), I need to get up earlier, which means sleep earlier. I used to feel like I'd be missing out by sleeping so early, but our high tech recording devices and the nice quiet of early morning is starting to make it ok.

    My first day of teaching, I was exhausted. It's hard having to command a classroom. My feet were aching, my throat was tired. I was almost ready to quit. . It's hard having to be a disciplinarian and a mentor and a role model and an educator, plus all the other stuff that goes into teaching. But honestly, each day is getting better. I work with such a supportive faculty & staff who are awesome, amazing resources. The kids are trying - sometimes I have to get stern with them, but they are good kids. Good kids whose hormones are starting to/will be starting to rage.

    I'm still getting the hang of lesson planning and pacing and getting all the things I need to get into the day. It's tough having to teach both 6th and 7th grade made. In 6th grade we are doing place value with decimals (someone write out the following in standard form: one and six hundred twenty-five ten thousandths) and in seventh grade we are reviewing expressions and order of operations. In the other subjects, we are working on building a paragraph (narrowing topics, beginning sentences, parts of a sentence - someone else tell me the two essential parts of a sentence!), Gary Soto's "Summer School," seeing connections between the past and the present, oral speaking, and there's that whole other area known as Classroom Management, which I'm still working on. I'm trying to integrate the different subjects as best I can, but it's an art I haven't get perfected.

    Okay, it's past 11 o'clock. I'm going to take a shower, print out the new schedule I want to try out, print out their vocab test, and go to bed. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get started on good notes home for each of the students.

    I'm so glad this weekend is a three day weekend! It give me more time to lesson plan and to finish going over the math diagnostic tests that I haven't finished going over because I've been getting 7 - 8 hours of sleep instead ;) .

August 17, 2007

  • a new start

    hey peoples,

    next thursday i am going to begin teaching my very own classroom! eep! i have to get used to being called Ms. Zapanta. I have to get used making the kids who have called me Ms. Crystal for the last 3 years call me Ms. Zapanta. =P

    if you guys happen to have any supplies, books, etc. you've been looking to get rid off without throwing it away, i'd be glad to take it off your hands ;) . anything from novels to binders to pencils to markers to vhs movies to old magazines to file racks to posters to anything else you think a 6th grade student or classroom or teacher could use would be so awesome. drop me a line and let's see if we can arrange a pick up/drop off somehow.

    any tips or words of advice for those with experience in education will also be gladly accepted (including those who remember what it was like being in 6th grade ^_^)!

    thanks!
    crystal

July 15, 2007

July 9, 2007

  • some pics

    i'll post about the wedding and other happenings soon! i've been busy with work & we just got back from our honeymoon in vegas. if you're on myspace, i'll add you to our couple page, which is a little bit more up-to-date;  drop me a line & let me know.

    for now, take a look at teasers from our engagement session on july 8.

    crystalandlouiecollage01

    our photography team is a lot quicker on the turnaround than we are .