Awards Day

I have attended two awards days in the last two days. First was Son #1 in which every single one of the 216 students were recognized in some way. It was a three hour ordeal that ended with me checking Son #1 out and spending the next couple of hours shoe shopping for tennis shoes to take to summer youth camp our church is going to. Today was Son #2's awards day. Much quicker in by 9:45 out by 10:30. It also was followed up by a check out the last couple of hours shopping and lunch. Great two days! We have 3 days of school left.

I made it!

Saturday was THE day! I graduated cum laude from college at 33 and 3/4!!! It was a long day but one that I got to share with everyone that I love. It's amazing at 33 and 3/4 to see how proud your family is of you for something that they knew you could do all along, even if you didn't know it. So now, I'm looking for a job...which is a dismal task!

I'm back!

So, while I had the best of intentions of blogging while I student taught...obviously it didn't happen. I am now done - graduating Saturday. With the current situation teachers are being laid off like crazy so I have NO job options. I interviewed with a school about 40 minutes away and will hopefully hear something soon and have an interview with our local school board tomorrow so that I can start interviewing for jobs in the county I live in. Student teaching started out being a nightmare, so much so that I had to have my placement moved. I moved from middle school to high school and while I was a litte apprehensive, it proved to be a wonderful move for me. I loved the students and miss them tremendously. More so than I would have thought. Many of them asked me to get a job as an 11th grade teacher in their school so that they could have me next year. I went and saw them today, to take a picture to remember them by and they were so excited to see me and I've only been gone a week. I know that by the end of school, they won't remember who I am, but one of my students brought her scrapbook for me to sign before I left. I will try to keep more current as I begin my job hunt and I guess I need to change my blog name...any suggestion?

P.S. Hugh - thanks for checking in on me and nudging me back :)

So It Begins...tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first day of student teaching. I am going back a week earlier than I have to in order to have some built in days. My grandmother is sick and I have a feeling I may need them. Anyway, I have spent my morning doing laundry and getting things in order for the upcoming week. I will wake up tomorrow morning and jump back into life with both feet. I'm not sure if I'm excited or nervous but I'll be happy to have a sense of normalcy again. I don't do well at home - boredom kicks in rather quickly and I become a procrastinator.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not (probably not with my lax blogging habits) but in November I was inducted into Kappa Delta Pi which is the educational honor society. They are offering scholarships for 10 international all expense paid trips to Europe and the Middle East. You have to pick your top three places and answer some questions in 250 words or less how you think it would impact your classroom. I plan to get started on it this week since it's due on the 30th. My advisor has graciously agreed to write me a recommendation for it.

So I'm off to finish my errands while I still have free time to finish them and hopefully I will have some interesting stories to tell during my time. I'm planning on taking the GRE this spring so that if I don't have a job in the fall (very likely I won't) I can get started on my master's degree.

Have a wonderful day...and say a quick prayer for me tomorrow :)

Pictures

Here are some pictures of the boys that I took for a Christmas gift....

Student Teaching

I got the letter last week that I've been anxiously anticipating. I will be student teaching at the middle school that I did my observations in with the same teacher. I'm looking forward to going back to a familiar setting with kids I am familiar with but then again, it's a 25 minute drive with absolutely not opportunity for me to receive a job. But I'm excited about a couple of things:

1. It's my last semester
2. The teacher I'm assigned to will let me try anything.
3. It's only 4 months of slave labor
4. Did I mention that it's my last semester?

I was hoping to be placed in the same school as one of my dear friends, but she was placed in a high school setting. On the upside, the girl that I did my observations with was also placed in the same school. At least we will have each other, although I will be in the 8th grade and she will be in the 7th.

I have one week until I start and can't decide between being nervous and excited and anxious. My stomach does flips when I think of all of the reasons above. Anyway, I hope to keep my blog updated with my tales of student teaching but wonder if I will have the energy to do so.

To all my blogger friends, have a safe and happy new year! May you be blessed in 2009.

Free at last

My last official semester of taking classes is OVER! All I have left is to student teach. I'm anxiously waiting for my letter to tell me where. I finished with all A's. I can't believe that with the semester I took, I was able to pull it off. I did; however, brown nose a little with my international relations professor to get my A, but I don't care!

So, anyway, that's about it. I'm breathing a deep sigh of relief at finishing what I never thought I would finish. It's very surreal and frightening to be to this point.

So, if I don't get back on a blog again soon, have a wonderful Christmas and safe New Year!

Downhill Slide

Yep, I'm on the downhill slide of this semester. I have 3, count 'em, 3 weeks left. I am currently sitting at a 4.0!!! I'm so excited! Taking 18 hours, observing 15 hours a week, and living my day to day life, I have managed to keep a 4.0. I'm not getting to cocky because I still have some assignments to turn in that could drop me down(I'm sitting right on the edge in a couple of classes). But all in all, I'm proud of myself. This semester has taken its toll on not only me, but my family as well and I know that they will be happy for it to be over.....all except Son #1. Son #1 has been given a reprieve from riding the bus 3 days a week, and with only a week left of observations, he will once again have to ride.



Oh, about my observations. I'm vegetating in this class. Today, I actually fell asleep. I love history and I'm falling asleep in the history class. I feel so sorry for the students. You can see their eyes rolling up in the back of their heads. This next week will be the longest week of my life.

I have also gotten all my paperwork to get my sub cards. I'm waiting to see if my references are in and luckily my fingerprints are already on file with the state, so I shouldn't have to wait too long.

Happy Halloween

I wanted to be all educational and write some post about Halloween; however, the kid in me overruled. I love today! Next to Christmas it's my favorite day of the year. I realize the irony in that statement. I didn't dress up this year and I'm not sure why, it makes me a little sad prompting me to ask Dear Husband why we didn't. His response, I don't know.

We will be taking Son #2 around the neighborhood, possibly with the dog while Son #1 will be handing out candy. I know that he's 14, but this is the first year we've left him alone at the house on Halloween to do this. It makes me a little nervous. Just because, people tend to lose their mind on Halloween.

So, in good spirit, be safe - Have fun and Get a lot of candy. If you played tricks, I want to know.

HAVE A GREAT HALLOWEEN!

My Day

I can tell I'm on the downhill slide of the semester. Why you ask? Because my day consisted of passing notes in class. That's what I said. We are all so burnt out that me and my whine buddy, Brittany passed notes all day. In the middle school class we were acting like middle school students. It was actually fun and made me feel young. We made fun of some of the other students and drew pictures of the teacher. All completely inappropriate behavior for college students especially since those were all things we would not tolerate in our class. Today was basically the last class of testing material and the rest of the classes will be a waste of time. I'm not completely complaining, we just have projects due.

On a similar but different note, I'm excited about the end of the semester and a little scared at the same time. I never thought when I started back to school 3 years ago that I would ever actually hit this point. That I would actually be one semester away from graduating and it's exciting. What's even more exciting is that I'm already thinking of what to get my master's in, although my advisor has instructed me to to take at least 2 semesters off before busting into that. Advice that I think I will actually take. I'm scared because it actually terrifies me to student teach. I will hopefully get placed back with the teacher that I did observations with at the beginning of this semester since they requested me back. I feel comfortable in his class and in that school. I know that he will give me honest feedback and will push me to be the best teacher I can be. But it still scares me.

I'm off to my assessment class to learn about statistics (big fun). I'll have to pay attention in this class and won't be able to pass notes to my whine buddy. Hope the class goes by fast :)