Being New

May

This year really did whiz past. With all of the field trips and other end of the year stuff, there's almost no time left to teach. I feel like there's so much I forgot, or ran out of time for, or did wrong, but there's not much I can do about it now. I'm going to finish up immigration in social studies, and then try to do some economics. In language arts we'll do some writing, and try to read the lion the witch and the wardrobe. That's it. All the cool projects I thought I'd get to...oh well.

We went on a field trip yesterday. It was a reward thing rather than anything educational. We played putt-putt, raced go-carts, and drove bumper boats. The kids completely soaked me in the bumper boats. They took way too much delight in shooting me with their water guns. Way too much. I promised them all F's then went to drown my sorrows in a scoop of chocolate chip ice cream.

Some of them do love me, though. This week was teacher appreciation week and our PTA spoils us. Breakfast, catered lunch, afternoon snacks, presents, gift certificates, dessert raffles, cards and signs, every day this week we got some treat. Our doors were hung with paper and kids came by and wrote little thank you's.

Also this week I took my first sick day. It was hard. I kept looking at the clock all day, wondering if everything was going ok. I had to stop myself from calling to check in. And of course I was being ridiculous, everything went smoothly. But you know me, I'm only really content when I have something to worry about.

April

So it seems like it really is once a month that I update. I think about it all the time, but the thinking and the doing don't always cooperate.
I passed my praxis exam. This means I am now able to apply for a 5 year license. The next hurdle is my master's. I should start that in the fall, but I don't think I will. I'm also considering an online degree. It doesn't really matter where I get my degree from, so I might as well find something inexpensive. I also want to find something unique to study. The two main options seem to be technology and administration. I considered administration, I think I'd be good at it. I don't think I could handle all the other stuff that goes along with that job, though. The administrators in our building don't even seem to have 5 minutes of quiet time to themselves. I know that every time I've gone to ask them for help they drop whatever they're doing and help me out. I'd be too tempted to lock my door and hide under the desk every day. So I think I'll look for another course of study.
Work is not as wonderful as it used to be. The shine is wearing off a little. Not a lot, and I still love what I'm doing. But I'm realizing that not all coworkers think like me or are interested in being friendly toward me. Apparently I can annoy people with my mere existence. Oh well, what can you do?
The year is almost over. That seems unreal. I still have so much to do. I need them to extend the school year another month or so for me. I'm excited about summer. I will be getting a paycheck throughout the summer, I know for sure I have a job next year, I can work on improving all my lessons, and I can relax a lot. And. The boat will be in the water all summer so I can go on it a ton. I'm happy.

Monthly Update

I didn't get the grant. But as you know I was already preparing myself for that, so I'm ok. And, only one person from my building got it, and only 12 out of 60, or 90, or 500 or something in the whole district got anything. I mentioned that I'd be interested in housing one of our new Smartboards. The whole school shares them, but they need to be kept track of by a teacher. I didn't think anything would come of it, but this afternoon the tech person came into my room, wheeling the Smartboard behind her. I'm very excited because I'll get to use it all the time. Until someone complains about the new girl having all the technology that she doesnt even know how to work, and they take it away. But I'll enjoy it until then.

It looks like the staff is going to be stuck with me again next year. I got the unofficial word that I get to keep my position. I came very close to getting bumbed to a kindergarten class. Can you imagine me in a kindergarten class? It's so weird how they just move people around, on a whim. I know it's a very specific process and not really a whim, but it seems that way sometimes.

We're just finishing up Bridge to Terabithia. We took all the kids to the theater to see the movie, which was cool. I cried, of course, and admitted crying to anyone who asked. I was surprised at how many of the kids admitted to crying, too. One boy told me that it takes a real man to admit to crying. They crack me up. I had to make one student stay back from the field trip because of behavior. I hated doing that. It really upset him and I'm afraid he's giving up on school. I hope I'm wrong.
We just finished a unit on government and are now watching National Treasure. I don't feel too guilty showing a movie, it's only the 2nd one this year. Plus the quarter ends this week and spring break is next week. We might not even see the whole movie, with field trips and assemblies and tornado drills that are scheduled. And then when we come back we can really focus on the achievement tests. Yay.

I have a whole bunch of stuff that I want to do over spring break. How much of it do you think I'll get to? I'm a little jealous of my co workers. I keep hearing about vacation plans. They'll all come back nice and tan and I'll still be a big fat beached whale. Oh well.

My desk

Does my desk look messy? I can't believe how much stuff comes across it every day. This is what it looks like when it is clean. It gets much messier throughout the day.

I was complimented the other day on my simple, uncluttered room. It doesnt feel uncluttered to me though, it feels as if its always on the verge of complete chaos.

In case you were wondering, that is a dead baby shark in a glass in front of my desk, next to the red homework bins.

February, in a nutblog

I have a student with a cochlear implant, and a student with a deaf parent this year. This week they gave me my ASL nickname, which has something to do with nature. I'm not quite sure why the parent refers to me as nature, or always greets me with 'nature' in e-mails, but she does, so that's what my nickname is. It's better than 'sleeping', which my student considered calling me, since sleeping is my favorite free time activity.

We're reading Bridge to Terabithia this month, along with every other school in the nation. It's cool though, because my kids are excited about it and it's one of my all time favorite books. It's turning into their favorite as well, because it has swear words in it and I let them say the words as we read if they want. One kid got very excited and put a ton of enthusiasm into his 'damn!'. We're hoping to plan a field trip to see the movie when we're done reading.

Along with the book we've been doing some methods of elaboration in language arts. We've been doing poems and the personification poems turned out pretty well. I'm trying to get the poems online, to a web page I set up, but it's so time consuming, and I never seem to get around to it. In social studies we are starting government. But behind everything is THE TEST, looming, reminding me what I have and haven't covered yet.

I got a copy of the official letter my principal sent, recommending that my contract be renewed. It's mostly just a formality, and they would have let me know long ago if there was a problem, but it was still nice to see it. I think later this month I will find out for sure if I have my same position next year or not. It seems likely, but you never know. The whole seniority thing is crazy, and I am way down at the bottom of a long list. At the top of the list are teachers who taught me years ago. There are also all these teachers who were on leave (usually maternity) and can come back at any minute.

I don't think I got my grant. We were supposed to hear Friday if we got it, and I didn't get any phone calls. I've been carefully building up my arguements for why the grading process wasn't fair, and how I don't want their stupid grant, anyhow. That way it won't be my fault that I didn't get it. My biggest excuse is that I'm new and wasn't sure what I was doing. But I'm sure I won't be the only one. Over 60 people attempting to get technology, each one wanting anywhere from $2000-$20000, and only $75000 to go around. I think I might try for a different grant this month.

I keep feeling on the verge of being sick. I get achey, tired, my head hurts. I feel as if a major cold is about to erupt and then it goes away. I have to take better care of myself. Exercise more, eat better, the usual.

Today, we might not be moving. The thought of a much higher house payment doesn't seem too appealing, even if it comes with a brand new big house. But we're still thinking. We walked through a beautifully decorated model home today. One of the bedrooms was decorated in black and white and pale pink. I think that would be a good color scheme for Cali. In 6 months from now my life could be drastically different. Or, it could be exactly the same. I wonder which it will be.