School

I've been busy busy with my class. My cooperating teacher found out she is pregnant and due at the end of the school year so I have a 6 week leave position in the bag if I don't get a job. This will also make for a few sub days with my usual kiddos. When a door closes, God always opens another or at least a little window.

The first cool snap down here in Louisiana came and went and I'm just sitting here waiting for it to return again. We have a field trip this Friday so that should be interesting. We are going to the aquarium. It's an all day affair that requires charter buses and the kids are mostly excited about watching tv on the bus.

I'm going to miss my kids so much when I have to leave them. There are a few that just crack me up. One in particular, I'll call him Gman always has something interesting to tell me. I try to circulate the room in the mornings and let my talkers get a few things out before we get started so they can stay quiet during lessons. The other day Gman approached me with the most serious face and asked me if I was ok with what he had to say. I said, "of course, whatever you need to tell me will be fine." So, he gets even more serious and says, "are you sure you're ok with this?" I was thinking oh Lord, what now but I told him I'd heard lots of things in my life and whatever he had for me, I would be ok. His face got even more serious (which I totally didn't find possible until then) and he lifted his foot and said, "I have dog poop on my shoe." It was dried up and mostly gone so he informed me that he would stomp his feet on the concrete at recess to get rid of it. Today Gman had a story about a farting pony at a birthday party that apparently was so impressive, it could sneeze and fart at the same time. If only our end of the day language lessons were as impressive as the farting pony.

Life or something like it

Student teaching is going great, just wish it was over already. Tomorrow I start teaching reading which means I'll have math, language and reading. In two weeks I begin teaching social living so that will have me teaching full-time with the exception of 15 minutes for spelling. We are using the Spalding method for reading and spelling and while I've been trained on the reading portion of it, I don't know anything about the spelling part so I get to skip it. Depending on where I end up teaching at, I will be sent to Spalding training at some point so no worries there.

I'm just ready to have my life back. My weekends consist of beer and football but I don't get to participate in it. Next weekend, I have to work an LSU game with a UFC fight right after so that will kill my Sunday as well. I've been neglecting church for the past few weeks and I need to start going again. Being exhausted is not an excuse.

I did my Sunday night usual and headed to Target. I didn't score anything of particular interest except three long sleeved layering t's. The mornings have been pretty cool this past week but it warms up fast during the day. For once, I'm actually ready for the colder weather. We haven't had rain in forever which means outside recess duty twice a week. It's been so long since it rained, there is a statewide burn ban in effect. My poor grass is just about dead but at least I'm not out there mowing it every week.

I hate to complain but...

I'm thinking that maybe I should've just gone to hair school. I'm having some issues with my cooperating teacher and it's making my student teaching experience miserable. She is very controlling, it's mostly her way or no way and she interrupts me in the middle of my lessons constantly. I've tried talking to her about it but she seems to get her feelings hurt really easily an doesn't want to see anyone else's point of view. I've heard horror stories about cooperating teachers and I've been pretty lucky up until now. Tomorrow, I have to attend an inservice that no other student teachers have to go to because she insists that I be there. On my birthday no less. I'm trying to make the best of it because I only have a few months left. The only solution I have so far is to keep kissing ass and move on.

Student Teaching

So I'm student teaching and working at the house of beer and sports for another 3 months. I started last week so I've gotten all of my bitching out of the way. I love my cooperating teacher and I was placed at the elementary school I attended (which btw is flip flop friendly as long as they're a little dressy) so I can't really complain too much. I got the class to myself for a few hours on Thursday and had a sub Friday so I've really gotten to know the students well. We have 23 which is a pretty big class and it's gonna make for an interesting 3 months.

I'm gonna get back to some regular posting for the whole 2 folks that read this. I just need to get caught up on life for a bit.

Rollercoaster

I'm on a rollercoaster at the present moment and I want to get off. On Thursday, I got a phone call saying that the school board had finally opened the federal class reduction positions. There were 4 I could take so I ran off to drop resumes and actually got to speak to a principal. Now, we're playing the waiting game of the school board actually giving the official word that all certified teachers have been placed and practitioners can be hired. Monday is the absolute last day I will be on this ride. I either get off at student teaching at the elementary school I attended, or having my own classroom at one of two schools.

I've been doing a lot of praying and I have the entire Trinity Baptist older ladies Sunday School class praying for me and I definitely can feel it. I don't pray for things to go one way or the other anymore, I just pray to survive the weekend without a full blown panic attack. I've been doing a lot of sleeping in and I have to also mentally prepare myself for the fact that on Tuesday morning, I could have a class of K, 2nd or 3rd graders looking to me for guidance. Life is not a fairytale but either way I will survive and wherever I end up, will be the place for me.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school and it wasn't how I imagined it was going to be at all. What I had in my head since January was my freshly decorated classroom full of my students for the year. Sadly, I don't have any students and still don't know if this is going to become a reality for me. I worked tonight at the house of beer and sports and enjoyed my rather large piece of humble pie. I try not to think about it or let it get to me and I know it's not over yet. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be even though I did shed a few tears.

The best way to describe how I feel right now is to imagine walking through a dark house that you know well but it's not your own. You can somewhat make your way around and you kind of know where the light is, but it's just a matter of finding it and turning it on. You may bump a shin on the coffee table or trip over a rug, but when the light comes on it'll all make sense. I'm just waiting for the light to come on.

Faith

I can't help but to feel jealous of the all the teachers who are setting up their classrooms right now or attending an inservice. I have several friends that are complaining about long inservice days when I would give anything to be there with them. It's not over yet, and I don't know what the next few weeks will bring but the uncertainty is killing me. As each day goes by, I loosen up a little and gather a little more faith.

Tonight was an especially hard night at work. Whatever could go wrong went wrong and I had to remind myself to be thankful I have a job at all. I also realized that this is the end of the carefree and reckless days of being a student.

I have a picture on the wall of my living room that says, "faith is not believing that God can-It is knowing that he will". When I was going through the Spring semester, I lived by this picture and it became my mantra. I took it with me in my heart when I taught a lesson or took a Praxis test.

It went with me to a tattoo shop after work with some friends who just decided to get a tattoo on a whim after a stressful shift. I wanted something but I didn't know what.