Welcome Back!

Hello my friends! I am sitting down to update my blog while my baby boy is trying to climb behind the TV and play with the wires. “This Is Us” is on in the background, and I’m sipping on my iced Americano while I ignore the pile of essays that I eventually need to grade. Life has changed quite a bit since I first started Too Cool for Middle School!

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Let me reintroduce myself. My profile read “second-year teacher,” but now I’m in my sixth year of teaching. I work at an amazing middle school in Southern California with students from all over the world. I’m currently teaching 6th grade history, 6th grade English, and 8th grade English. I coach volleyball, softball, and I’ve acquired a little collection of clubs including a Human Rights club, a Hamilton/Harry Potter club, and a fashion club. Clearly my students and I share a lot of interests!

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This is a new season of life for me. For the first time since Kindergarten, I’m not a student. I completed my Masters degree in US History last May (at thirty-nine weeks pregnant!). I wrote my thesis on Rothschild Francis, my husband’s great grandfather, who fought for citizenship and civil rights in the US Virgin Islands in the 1920’s. Research, writing, and telling the stories of unlikely heroes truly fulfill me. I’m sure that I will find myself in the world of academia again soon.

Last June my husband and I began the most incredible journey we’ve walked together yet–parenthood! Our son Jenson was born on the last day of school in 2016, and we spent the summer learning all about diapering, nursing, swaddling, and functioning on two hours of sleep. Jenson is a year old now and he’s an absolute joy. He is THE cutest child I’ve ever seen in my life (I’m biased, I know), and he keeps us laughing constantly. He fills up my Instastories, so for his daily antics, check out my Instagram!

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Speaking of social media, my YouTube channel has grown slowly but intimately. I’ve made genuine friends through both YouTube and Instagram, and I love the sense of community from the subscribers who comment and engage with my posts. I want to write more about my lessons and classroom strategies, and offer resources to middle school teachers. This blog is a useful platform for those goals, so I am going to be more intentional about creating blog content in addition to YouTube videos.

I’ve always written and spoken about fashion, and these days I am even more invested in fashion than ever. My fashion goals are to purchase only fair trade clothing, or clothing made in the US. I am becoming much more minimalist in my style, and I want to invest in pieces that truly make me feel like my best self, and that will last for years to come. I am learning about sustainable fashion, eco-friendly fashion, and the effects that fast fashion have on human rights, the planet, and even our sense of satisfaction. I will continue to share with you amazing companies that are making the world a better place, while also offering beautiful products. I have a few fair trade fashion posts coming soon!

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Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I appreciate this online community of teachers, and I hope to make this Internet world a more positive and encouraging place. Thank you for the opportunity!

Photos by Joyetic

Top (similar)

Jeans  (made in the USA)

Bracelet

dressember style

Whew!  31 days of dresses and selfies is complete!  It was not easy, but I’m proud of myself and all the other “dressemberists” for completing our goal.  The days isn’t quite over, but so far we’ve raised $404,000 for the International Justice Mission to use to rescue girls from sex trafficking and to prosecute brothels and pimps.  It’s an amazing cause and I love that so many women have come together to simply wear a dress and share photos to raise awareness for the campaign.  We are powerful, beautiful, stylish and effective.  We are world-changers!  Participating in Dressember is always a great way to end the year focused on global issues and social justice.  In case you catch this in time to participate, the website to donate is http://www.dressemberfoundation.org/toocoolforschool 

Dressember is also a fun fashion challenge, so here are all of the dresses I wore this month.  I wore about 20 different dresses, but you could definitely re-wear the same dresses more often than I did.  After participating last year I made a conscious effort to stock up on a few affordable dresses throughout the year because December is a terrible time to buy dresses for some reason.  They are all sparkly and New Year’s Eve-y and nothing that I would wear on a regular basis.  I buy almost all my clothes from Target, Forever 21, Old Navy and Marshalls (I should really branch out), so every outfit in this post is affordable if not downright cheap.  Scarves, boots, sweaters and tights really complete the looks and make them more interesting.  Scroll through and hopefully you will be inspired to join me in Dressember next year!

day1dress: target

jean jacket: forever 21

scarf: charlotte russe

boots: ross

day2

dress: target

boots: ross

jacket: urban outfitters

day3

dress: forever 21

cardigan: target

tights; target

boots: ross

necklace: wantable

day4

dress: target

cardigan: jcrew

necklace: forever 21

pumps: marshalls

day5

dress: ross

cardigan: marshalls

necklace: target

leggings: target

day6

dress: sport chalet

jean jacket: forever 21

booties: toms

day7

dress: target

sweater: windsor

boots: ross

purse: forever 21

day8

dress: marshalls

jacket: boutique in long beach

scarf: charlotte russe

day9

dress: h & m

cardigan: jcrew

belt: target

booties: toms

necklace: cost plus world market

day10

dress: marshalls

cardigan: target

flats: jcrew

necklace: forever 21

day11

dress: urban outfitters

skirt: loft

booties: sole society

day12

dress: old navy

tights: target

boots: ross

necklace: kohl’s

day13

dress: target

converse: target

scarf: wantable

day14

dress: target

cardigan: forever 21

leggings: forever 21

earrings: wantable

day15

dress: old navy

sweater: boutique in san luis obispo

boots: styles 4 less

day16

dress: boutique in fullerton

cardigan: target

tights: target

boots: ross

day17

dress: target

hoodie: target

jean jacket: forever 21

day18

dress: target

cardigan: marshalls

tights: target

booties: sole society

necklace: target

day19

dress: target

ugly sweater: wal-mart

booties: sole society

day20

dress: forever 21

cardigan: forever 21

boots: styles 4 less

day21

dress: target

boots: ross

necklace: target

day22

dress: target

cardigan: target

tights: target

booties: toms

day23

dress: tj maxx

cardigan: target

necklace: wantable

booties: sole society

day24

dress: target

sweater: tj maxx

boots: styles 4 less

day25

dress: target

shirt: target

boots: ross

day26

dress: target

scarf: wantable

jacket: urban outfitters

leggings: target

boots: ross

day27

dress: old navy

cardigan: jcrew

scarf: target

day28

dress: target

cardigan: forever 21

leggings: forever 21

day29

dress: old navy

jean jacket: forever 21

t-shirt: sweet nobody

booties: sole society

day30

dress: target

sweater: target

booties: sole society

day31

dress: target

sweater: charlotte russe

booties: sole society

book review–Cherokee Women: Gender & Cultural Change, 1700-1835

While I am a teacher, I am also a graduate student in the top-rated History department at CSU Fullerton.  I am privileged to read some outstanding monographs, some of which have been very useful and relevant to my teaching.  I’ll do the heavy lifting of reading 500 pages a week, and I’ll share the best of what I find with you here.  If you teach 8th grade US History, this book provides some great background knowledge for your chapter on Jackson’s presidency.

 

Theda Perdue. Cherokee Women: Gender and Cultural Change, 1700-1835. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

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In traditional Cherokee culture, the sun represents woman and the moon represents man. The two serve separate purposes, yet they balance each other and are both necessary for survival. In Cherokee Women: Gender and Cultural Change, 1700-1835, Theda Perdue highlights this separate, but equally essential, aspect of women’s status within the Cherokee community. She traces the persistence and adaptations of Cherokee women as their tribe became increasingly intertwined with Americans. Perdue argues that Cherokee women had always maintained a significant and distinct position of power within Cherokee culture, and while contact with Americans threatened women’s status more directly than it threatened men’s, Cherokee women were agents of cultural conservatism, persistence and adaptation.

Perdue is dissatisfied with the historiography of Native Americans, and Native American women in particular, as they are often hidden in the shadows. She intends for this book to influence gender history, and ethnohistory as well. Perdue applies the strategy of upstreaming in order to follow cultural patterns from the present to illuminate this shadowy history of Cherokee women.

From oral histories and Cherokee legends (to which Perdue assigns equal credence as explorer diaries, missionary school records, and trade correspondence), it is clear that Cherokee women operated and controlled the agricultural realm fairly independently. Lineage was traced through mothers, and women had complete control over households. Men would move in with their wife’s family, and were often away from home, hunting. The Cherokee placed great emphasis on balance between the genders, and there was no hierarchical structure of men over women.

The Cherokee’s first significant interaction with European settlers was through the rapidly growing deerskin trade. Perdue asserts that in order to fulfill the challenges of this new contact, men entered a modern sphere of commercialism and a market economy, while women, who still maintained the farms, were the conservators of traditional values. Soon, however, women adapted to using European iron farm tools, and for the first time they became dependent on men to hunt successfully (for deerskins or slaves) and trade for those items. In this new trading structure, Cherokee women maintained their traditional duties yet modified some of their practices.

Perdue shows how elements of Henry Knox’s plan to “civilize” Native Americans through land ownership and farming also forced Cherokee women to simultaneously preserve traditions, adapt to new realities, and give up political influence. Because all aspects of agriculture were the women’s domain, they became responsible for animal husbandry, while the men continued to participate in wars and trade. Cherokee women incorporated their new task into their culture, but simultaneously began to lose their governing power as male warriors rose in political status. Again, Perdue underscores the agency that women demonstrated in fighting to maintain essential gender balance, while also adapting external changes.