Top Three Tasty Teacher Lunches

I am ALWAYS looking for snacks. Here's a sample I got.

English teacher note: I tried but my Ts fell short in the title. I guess I could have said, "Treats" but that makes me think of sugary desserts. Update After publishing this post I realized I unintentionally spelled tasty wrong! I fixed it, but the web link will forever verify that when I am hungry.... I don't spell well :)

Poor writing aside,  I am all about the snacks and goodies. When I was in Mexico I taught three times a day and had office hours Tuesday and Thursday. Pretty much all day Thursday I would be grading. Occasionally students stopped by for help. They would often ask why I was always eating nuts. I explained that if I don't eat, I get cranky...and they want me to be happy when I was grading, right? Though my intention was not for them to feed me, I usually found anonymous gifts of snacks found by my office door on Thursdays.Students can be very lovable sometimes :) The point being I do not work well on an empty stomach, and I am not sure any of us do.

Snickers gets that a hungry mind makes a troubled brain

In Mexico I had three hour lunches (WOW). Now I have just thirty minutes, and once a week I have to chaperon at lunch meaning I need to eat standing or grab a snack and go.

In an effort to fuel my body better (and keep me happier and the best teacher I can be), I am going to try to get in the habit of making better lunch choices. Mainly, I am going to try really hard to eat lunch. This was one of my new year resolutions, and I did get better at easting something instead of starving all day. Now I want to get better at what I am eating.  I've tried a bunch of different lunches and snacks during the summer. I was looking for five things.

1.  I wanted things that I could make the night before so in the morning I could just grab them and go. 
2. I have to be able to, "grab them and go." Portability is key!
3. It needed to be "healthy." I don't care about the type of diet, but I knew I didn't want to have recipes that called for five cups of butter or three cups of sugar. 
4. I had to feel "full." I can spread peanut butter on celery. It is delicious, but it takes about an entire stalk of celery before I feel like I am not starving... so that's not gonna work.
5. Delicious. If I don't enjoy it, then I don't want it.

These are my top three winners.

NON SOGGY SALADS

I've seen tons of versions of the Mason Jar Salad (there are cookbooks dedicated entirely to this topic). This one is simple and yummy.

• Step 1. Make your favorite Thai salad dressing, or skip this step and buy one you like. 
• My favorite is about 4 tablespoons lime, 5 tablespoons oil, 1 table spoon soy sauce, fresh ginger (a teaspoon), a garlic clove (minced), 1 thinly sliced chili pepper, 3 tablespoons cilantro and about 1 twist of freshly ground sea salt with 2 twists of freshly ground pepper... YUMM. Makes enough for a salad meant for four people, so you'd probably only use a fourth of it for lunch.
• Step 2. Put the dressing in the bottom of a mason jar
• Step 3. Open and drain a can of chicken
• Step 4. Put this in the mason jar
• Step 5 Add chopped mushrooms, bell pepper, bean sprouts and celery (crunch!)
• Step 6. Add sliced almonds (optional, but I love these)
• Step 7. Add spinach (the stuff from a bag works fine)

When you get to school you shake it and then dump it on a plate! The greens were on the top so now they're on the bottom and everything else should have stayed crunchy and delicious.If you have a pepper grinder you can even top it with some freshly ground pepper at school (it's all about the details!)

HEALTHY CHIPS

Another option is zucchini chips. I used to make them all the time! I have healthy in italics because I am not going to pretend I am a nutritionist... but i have to believe they are healthier than me buying a bag of potato chips.


Step 1. Cut zucchini into thin and even slices
Step 2. Coat with olive oil and freshly ground salt / pepper
Step 3.Arrange on a cookie sheet
Step 4. Bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. Flip them and bake for another 20 minutes.
Step 5. Remove and let cool (they should be golden brown. If they aren't you may want to leave them in the oven a bit longer)
I put them in Tupperware with a dip (powdered garlic in plain yogurt) during break or prep periods. If you want something with more protein (or less garlic) you could dip them in hummus.

CRUNCHY CHICKPEAS

I found out about baked chickpeas on a road trip a while ago. I have made them at home numerous occasions.  This is one that is pretty basic but I love.


Step 1: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
Step 2: In a bowl combine two tablespoons of live oil and two cans of (drained) chickpeas. Stir to make sure the olive oil coated all of the chickpeas.
Step 3. Add your favorite spice to the mix. My mom makes a "Mexican" seasoning that is dried cilantro, peppers, cumin, and I don't know what else it is amazing though and I use that.
Step 4. Arrange the chickpeas on a cookie sheet
Step 5. Add freshly ground salt and pepper (I add more salt than pepper)
Step 6. Bake for 30 minutes

These are SUPER crunchy and addicting. They are the perfect snack to tide you over before lunch, or during the after school staff meeting (you may want to bring enough to share!).

What about you?
All this gets me wondering. What's your go-to for lunch?
Do you buy something at school? Make meals Sunday night? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?
Do you skip lunch altogether but snack voraciously during the school day?

This List Price is $39.90, but it could be yours for free!

To entice you to share your favorite recipe, I'm having a giveaway! The prize is a dual pepper and salt grinder You could keep it at your house, or even in your classroom to add a touch of class to your lunchtime (because freshly ground pepper always sounds fancy!).

This grinder can be used for any spices technically, but as a boring person, I use it for salt and pepper. It retails at $39.90 but is currently on sale for $23.97 on Amazon.

I was lucky enough to get a free product and was given the chance to give a free one to a fellow teacher. As a result, here we go! If you want your own just leave a comment with your favorite lunch time recipe for school and then fill out the form below. Your recipe can include a link or be written in the comments directly. I'd love to get some more ideas.

You can earn bonus entries by following me on Twitter, or answering a quick poll about your lunch habits.  The winner will receive an Amazon code which gives them the salt and pepper grinder for free! While this blog is directed mainly towards teachers, you don't need to be a teacher to apply. Just keep in mind meals you think would work best for a teacher!

Good luck!

Teacher Fashion- Back to School Shoes

Try wearing the same color in public

This isn't my normal type of post, but I am starting a new job in August. Therefore, I've been thinking a lot about what to wear on my first day, and what teachers tend to wear day to day. Thus here's a post about my favorite footwear to wear when teaching. For the next few weeks on Friday I'll post a quick post about my opinion on teacher fashion. These will probably stop after August, but who knows I may feel inspired :)

I think everyone knows teachers spend a lot of time on their feet! We move around the class, run from classroom to classroom and don't spend a whole lot of time sitting down.

Usually when I teach I am in flats. I wear heels the first day of class because I find that helps students take me more seriously. After that, I am usually in flats.

I think my ankle looks weird here.

I discovered these shoes when I was home for the holidays. I had forgotten to pack a pair of black shoes and borrowed a pair of my mothers. It was just a boring black flat and I didn't really think it looked that cute. However, once I tried it on, I felt like Cinderella.

Since then I've been doing my best to brag about these shoes to every teacher I meet. I am pretty excited. These, "dexflex comfort" shoes are amazing. The company line is that they are, "happiness for your feet," and I couldn't agree more! Normally they run for $30 at your local Payless. While this isn't a lot, I try to hold out until I can find them for less. Payless often has BOGO (buy one get one free) sales making the shoes only $22.50 each. You can also normally find them on sale. I just picked up three pairs for $15 each!

For those without a Payless near you, you can always shop online! If you do shop online, I have an easy way for you to get 6% of your bill back! Just join FatWallet. FatWallet is an easy site to join, and I've been a member for a while. Before you shop at a website just stop by FatWallet to see if they offer CashBack. If they do click through their link and shop as usual. At the end you'll get your goodies (as usual) and cash back from FatWallet!


 

If you shop as much as I do (check out my shoe collection on the right), you'll be getting significant savings!

Basically, I feel these shoes are worth the investment. They look professional (my conservative father tells me they look nice which is a win!), come in many different colors (so you can find a match for any ensemble), and are pretty affordable (especially when combined with sales and FatWallet).

So that's my all time favorite teaching shoe... what's yours?

The pleasant suprises a blackout brings

I hadn't seen my students in over a week (class was cancelled for a bit due to hurricane Manuel in this area).

The beautiful campus!

Their partial exam (originally scheduled for last Weds) got rescheduled to today! Worse still, they didn't tell the teachers until 8pm yesterday. Despite my e-mails and tweets, many of my students didn't know until they got to school their exam would be today.

Regardless once we got to class they dilligently started their exams.

The lovely lit class.

My school has a beautiful campus with mostly great classrooms. Awesome windows, green views, space to try out different chair layouts, etc. This class is held in one of my less favorite rooms. It's a big room with all the technology I could want, but very dull. It has no windows and those tables that are heavier and harder to move around. Since I am only in there three times I week I don't get to decorate it.

Picture of the dark room

Halfway into the exam the lights flickered and went out.

Well...shoot!

I ran to the lights and helplessly flicked them on, and off, and back on ignoring the fact this was doing nothing to the lighting in class.

I opened the door and asked a loitering student if he could get a maintenance man. In the meantime my students just kinda sat there. "You can move to the front row if you want to grab the light from the hall." I stated still standing at the door keeping it open.

The dark room with the door open

Eventually one of the maintenance men came and explained that there was a problem with the power of the whole school.

He helped me wedge a trashcan to keep the door open; then at least I was free to wander a bit. At this point a student asked, "Teacher, can I take out my cell phone and use the flashlight?"

Within minutes my class was filled with students holding their cell phones over their tests.

I was pleasantly shocked and surprised. Normally students will whine and beg whenever they can, but this time they persevered and kicked butt!

Within the next 15 minutes I asked our secretary if she could call my boss to see what the procedure was. She couldn't get a hold of him, but she did look in my class, "It's actually beautiful" she commented. I agreed, and am a bit sorry I didn't take a picture (but I didn't want to leave then unattended to grab a camera). It wasn't just the soothing glow throughout the class that was pretty. It was the fact that my students were doing what they needed to do!

We managed to cram my students into a teacher's lounge (with big windows letting the beautiful day's sunlight fill the room) to finish their exam, and the fact that they happily moved rather than moaning and groaning filled my heart as well.

Have your students ever reacted differently than you expected and surprised you (pleasantly)? I'd love to hear about it! Drop me a comment below.

This will not be a rant

This is how I felt yesterday and this morning!

This post would love to be a rant, but I am determined to see the sunny side.

Because of a last minute class cancellation, I am now teaching a 7am class I am not prepared to teach... two hours earlier than I am supposed to teach. This means my leisurely Summer of getting to school at the late (for me) hour of 8:00 is gone as now I teach at 7am... meaning I leave the house at about 5:30 to get to school at 6:00.

This class that I am teaching..I am still not quite sure what it is, but it is TOEFL preparation, but not like the other TOEFL prep classes I give where students are taking my class to prepare for the TOEFL, no in this class taking the TOEFL is optional.

I had talked to the teacher who had my class previously to see if I could snag his syllabus, only to be told he hadn't made one. He was planning on doing a TBL type class involving anime with one student, and working on the other student's confidence... well that's great! But how do you give a grade to confidence?

So the first day's lesson plan? I cheated. I am giving them a diagnostic TOEFL test because I didn't know how else I'd be able to ad lib a 3 hour class.

Seven am rolls around and I meet my two students. They seem pleasant enough and speak to me in English (YAY good first signs). I explain that today will be boring, but I just want to know what they need to work on, so we'll do the TOEFL diagnostic test. At this point a student I used to have (and failed my first semester here) walks in and explains she's taking this class too.

She isn't on my list, but after talking to my boss she figures out she should be in another class, but she can't make the time, so she's joining mine. I am still not sure what to do about that.

However, as I said before, this is NOT a rant.

I am going to look at the numerous benefits this situation has given me:

1. I get to walk to school early before the sun comes out, so that prevents skin cancer!
2. I'm employed and will be receiving a pay check for June and July.
3. I get the luxury of tailoring my lessons just for my students and don't need to stick to a curriculum someone else made.
4. The girls seem very nice, and while there are the occasional lapses into Spanish, for the most part they are speaking English.
5. There are three students! I doubt I'd ever get a class of three students in the states.
6. My new work laptop's battery actually lasts the whole class meaning I don't need to lug the power cord around.
7. My classroom is now in the same building as my office which means less time spent walking around campus.
8. I won't have that week of being nervous while I wait for my students' TOEFL results.
9. My boss is being super chill and even said he wouldn't object if I wanted to hold a class or two at the nearby coffee place.
10. I asked my boss if I could leave early, so instead of working from 6:00am-6:00pm I'll have a shorter work day of 6:00am-4:00pm/5:00pm. (Of course leaving early won't help me if I have to stay late to lesson plan, but let's overlook that.)

So there we go, my Summer is looking to be a bit busier than I had originally thought, but I look forward the chance to try out new things.

Right now the plan is to: 1. Grade their diagnostic tests to find their weaknesses 2. Sort these in the order I want to teach them 3. Find a television show that I can use to teach these points (I am thinking Boy Meets World right now, but I am not 100% sure yet).

So there we go. My attempts at turning my frown upside down. This isn't the worst teaching situation I've ever found myself in, but it comes close.

If you think you have me beat I'd love some schadenfreude! Tell me about the last "last minute" teaching chaos you got thrown into in the comments!

Teacher's Pet - On Grading

I don't know about fellow teachers who own cats, but the hardest part about grading for me is that my cat has this tendency to eat papers if they have been left unattended.

I suppose this is his way of showing utter horror at the lack of punctuation and overuse of capital letters.


If I can manage to keep him from eating the papers then it turns to getting him off of the papers. He seems to want to help grade! Although I am not sure that him attacking the pen and sitting on top of the papers is really that helpful.

Any solutions to these problems with teacher's pet? Or should I just continue to take pictures and let everyone else think he's adorable