Work Your Wear (& a Freebie!)

Happy Wednesday!

I've had this post ready to go ALL week. I'm so excited to share!

Shoes to Shiraz | A Lovely Little Wardrobe | R Squared | Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy |

 I like Design Stuff | Positively Learning | Quilty Joy Joy |
Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After | Looks Like Lauren

Haha, I ♥ the linky button!

I'm participating in Get Your Pretty On's third style challenge!
You can read more about the previous challenges here. This time, I'm fully committed to posting my outfits, plus it's extra fun linking up with other bloggers to share how we are interpreting each outfit.

Here's my Days 1-3:

Which one do you like the best?

Days 1 and 2 are WAY out of my comfort zone
(& that's a good thing!)!

Day 1 - I never EVER wear oversized tops. This is an extra small and I was swimming in it! Next time I'll pair it with skinny jeans for more contrast.

Day 2 - I own more than 10 sheath dresses - my fave ♥!  However, I've never even dreamed of wearing a crisp white shirt underneath and I had serious doubts. I went with it though & ended up really liking it. I own four button down shirts that I've NEVER worn.
Now I have some new ideas :)

Day 3 is pretty much a go-to outfit, not stretching my style. The flats are supposed to be bright, but I'm still breaking in my new fall shoes and just needed a more comfortable choice today. I'm not a tan-pants-girl, but I like the variety of colors between the three days.

It's been a lot of fun to check out other outfits!
Please click the links above to see everyone's variation :)

I also linked this "fashion snap" with
The Pleated Poppy
Tucker Up

I also want to share a freebie that's helping me keep it altogether during this busy time of year:

When I think about my work week, "overwhelmed" seems to be an understatement. I teach special education at an urban public city school that has extended hours. I sit down at my desk by 6:30 am and leave at 5:00 pm...usually to catch up on more work! Since the school day goes by in a flash, I set aside time before and after school to get paperwork completed and then spend the weekend doing more "creative" prep work (printing, laminating, assembling). It's a great thing that I absolutely LOVE what I do, but I also need to maximize every minute to get it all done!

Working at school is an area I really need to "tighten up." My lunch and planning times often disappear due to tantrums, jammed copiers, and impromptu meetings. But if I have a plan, I'm hoping I can still crank out the majority of my paperwork. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail...right? :)

Here's what I've come up with for my to-do's I need to accomplish every week:

I've designated time for copying and printing. This will hopefully eliminate the need for finding the time DAILY to deal with those temperamental machines. My plan is to keep a running list of what I need to print (weekly activity pages, lesson plans, meeting notes) and copy (Reading A-Z books, activity pages, homework packets).

Throughout the week, I have several meetings I attend. Darn - I forgot to add "Team Meeting" to that awesome open space on Friday afternoons :(

I'm a Teacher Development Leader, so I spend 1-2 hours in meetings and conducting observations. I'm also taking a course through December with modules due every Friday. This role also includes checking and providing feedback on 35 lesson plans every week! I also create differentiated homework packets for our first grade friends who need a little boost and fill out pages of SpEd paperwork/documentation every week.

At my school, we upload our lesson plans two weeks in advance. My weekly plans are differentiated lessons from the general education curriculum. They are 16 pages per week and take me
f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I really need to brainstorm (quickly) the accommodations my students need to access all the information. I set aside two hours to accomplish this. Currently, the quickest I've accomplished this in 5 hours during the weekend, but I have high hopes I'm going to get this done during the week!

Must.Type.FASTER!

I didn't fill in evenings because that's the time set aside to"put out fires" from the school day. For the past few years, I usually work 10-12 hours on the weekend doing everything I didn't accomplish during the week! I'm hoping this schedule will help me carve out some R & R! Weekends are when I like to do more creative work, like customizing student materials and perusing teaching blogs for more ideas. I'd love to find more time to spend on that!

How do you get it all done? Please comment and leave some helpful hints! I will be forever grateful :) Please click here to download the schedule freebie above.

I also wanted to quickly share a fabulous linky host by Primary Inspiration 

(thank you Linda!).
I just added FOUR freebies from my store: Week-by-Week Sight Word Work for the Entire Year, HOTS Question Stems, Hey Batter Batter Making 20, and What a Smart Cookie! Positive Notes :)

(Please ignore the strange links above...Blogger and I are having way too many issues lately!)

 I'm headed back now to check out all the awesome ideas.
Have a wonderful week!