Today’s guest blogger and I first introduced ourselves through the Lose A Marathon online community, but I am so fortunate to have crossed paths with her. We are so ridiculously similar and I know I have a ton to learn from her – as I’m sure you’ll see through this post. Please welcome Laura from Spicing Up My Life! =) 

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Hi there!  I’m Laura, guest posting from www.spicingupmylife.blogspot.com!  It’s my first ever guest blog and I’m so excited for this awesome opportunity!  Thanks Divya!  Divya and I are both teachers, both trying to “Lose a Marathon” of weight and both LOVE to eat!  Divya is beating me with her 3 lb weight loss.  Great work girl!  I’m down 1.8.  My blog is about everything from weight loss to battling migraines to new recipes to running to life.

Since most of the country is experiencing some serious heat right now, I’m sure you understand that feeling of “ugggggh” as soon as you step outside.  Well the 4^th of July was no different.  I woke up at 5:30am to get ready for my very first race.  This girl decided it would be a GREAT idea to run the Firecracker5000, a sunny 5K that runs along the Illinois River…ha! It was hot.  Hot doesn’t really cover it…it was sweat dripping from your knees hot even at 7:30 in the morning.  But I had trained HARD for the past 8 weeks with the Couch to 5K program so I wasn’t about to give up.  My biggest fears:

1)     I would get run over (Yes, now that I’ve actually run a race, I know this is silly)

2)    I would have to pee or something worse in the middle of the race (I visited the lovely port-a-potty twice in the half hour before the race to ensure this fear DID NOT materialize)

3)    I would be last (This wasn’t even an issue because there were lots of walkers)

There was no order in which to line up…everyone just crowded towards the starting line and all of a sudden I hear the quietest little “poof”, which apparently meant that the starting gun had gone off and we were supposed to move out!  I was a little disappointed at how anti-climactic the start was, but it’s all good.  Thankfully, I found a fellow Sole Sister (the AMAZING running group I’m a part of) who was running at the same pace as me right before the race started so we decided to run together.  She has one of the fancy dancy watches that indicate the pace and mileage and so on.  She told me that our first mile was supposed to be the slowest…well she looked down and we were keeping a really high pace that neither of us ever run and we still had 2.5 miles to go!  Whoops!  It. Was. Hot. I just kept thinking “Ok, I can DO this. You trained for this.  You WILL do this.”  And I did.  I wish (really wish) I could say that I ran the whole thing without walking, but that’s for next time.  I walked twice just a couple minutes on the way back and ended up finishing 3.1 miles in 41 minutes.  Whew!  I am so proud of myself…I went from not even being able to run 1 minute at a time 2 months ago to running an entire 5K!

Now that I’ve checked that off my list, it’s time to start thinking about school starting in August.  Since Divya is starting her job this fall, I’ve compiled a Top 10 list of things I wish I knew before I started teaching.

10) Get organized.  File cabinets, files, binders, dividers, thumb drives, planners, whatever you want to use.  Have a place for all kinds of paperwork.  Always write the date at the top of any paperwork you get and file it so you know where it is.  Someone will ask for it again and if it’s organized you will be able to find it, give it to them and smile because you are an organizing GENIOUS!

9) Students will not be enraptured by your teaching every minute of every day.  They just won’t and that’s okay.  This was hard because I had HIGH expectations of 24 smiling faces every day thoroughly enjoying every word I said.

 8) You can’t please every parent, colleague or student.  Not everyone will like your decisions or choices but knowing you did your best and stood up for what you believe will make it all worth it.

7) Don’t vent in the teacher’s lounge.  I know it will be VERY hard to resist and VERY easy to succumb to the negativity if you start.  Don’t do it.

6) Your plans will change-if the lesson isn’t working, STOP!  Do not pass GO!  Stop and try a different strategy or stop and move on to the next lesson.  There’s no point in continuing if the kids aren’t getting it.  Revamp the lesson and try again tomorrow.

5) Your first year of teaching you will try to be GREAT at EVERYTHING and you will be really sad when you are not GREAT at everything.  That’s okay.  But don’t be too hard on yourself.  Take on one thing at a time to be GREAT at each year (ex. Classroom management, guided reading, or parent communication) and by the time you have been teaching a few years you will be GREAT at many, many things.

4) You will cry.  Probably more than once.  It’s okay.   It’s all worth it.

3) Trust your gut.  If something doesn’t seem right with a student, ask.  Be a detective.  We are mandated reporters.  Remember this.

2) Earn the trust of your students.  Would you be able to learn much from someone you didn’t trust?

1) Put yourself in the shoes of your students.  If you wouldn’t want to do it, then your students won’t want to either.  If you don’t want to sit in a desk for 7 hours a day they won’t either.  If you like to get comfy when you read, the students will want to get comfy when they read too.  Think like a student…act like a teacher.

**Most importantly, remember you are so BLESSED to be entrusted with the lives of these students.  What a privilege! J

Before I sign off, I want to leave you with a yummy new recipe to try at home.  It is super easy and great for summer because you don’t have to heat up the oven.

Skillet Parmesan Crusted Tilapia (serves 2-easy to double or even triple)

2 tilapia fillets (or fish of your choice)

2 tbsp  breadcrumbs

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

2 tbsp olive oil

*Combine breadcrumbs with parmesan cheese in bowl.  Dip fish fillets in mixture and coat evenly on both sides.  If there is extra mixture, put it on the top of the fish when they are in the skillet.  Coat a medium skillet with olive oil and heat on medium for 1-2 min. Carefully lay each fillet in skillet.  Cook on medium heat for 4-5 min. and flip.  Cook the other side 4-5 min. Voila! Side with spinach salad, edamame, brown rice and enjoy!

Thanks for having me as a guest blogger today!  I hope you will head over to www.spicingupmylife.blogspot.com for some more running escapades, recipes and teaching adventures!