No behavior problems, no talking back, all lessons went off without any snafus (ha- love that word), and the schedule change didn’t disrupt us one bit! Then I had my class (teaching reading strategies) and that was great too!
10/4: the Big E October 6, 2009
If you live in MA, you probably know what this is. If not, it is basically (exactly) a big fair. I don’t understand the mass appeal- it was just like any other fair I’ve ever been to (sans the elephant at the Topsfield Fair.) It was fun. I was on a field trip with the Special Olympics (hooray for letting Special Olympics in free, boo to $13 chicken nugget meals.) I had a bunch of kids from my class last year, who are just terrific, and a fantastic mom and sister of one of my previous students as my co-chaperones. We had a blast.
We did not get these, but we did watch people who did- gross (a cheeseburger with bacon contained between two donuts.)
Image from: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:LWAkSm9vhSjibM:http://www.scenicanemia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/donut-cheese-bacon-burger.jpg
10/2: wore a Patriots T-Shirt to work October 2, 2009
It was Patriots Pride Day so I took it upon myself to wear the largest (think elephant-sized) shirt that I could find in my home last night (when I remembered that it was Patriots Pride Day today.) Both Brian and I are regular-sized so I have no idea where this shirt came from. I feel ridiculous. In related news, I feel that wearing jeans to work makes me feel like much less of a professional. Not a fan.
9/22: went to a handwriting workshop September 22, 2009
They have recently (well, sometime since I learned it in the 80s) changed cursive writing so it is easier. There is no uppercase Q that looks like a 2 anymore. It looks like a Q with a loop. Also, there are no curlie qs on top of the M, N, and other letters anymore. Weird.
6/30: cleaned out my classroom June 30, 2009
I had no idea how much stuff I had. I am teaching summer school which is at a different school than the one I work at, so I had to load up the car with stuff to take there. BUT I don’t have my classroom yet so it is in my car. Please don’t break into my car to steal children’s books and markers. Thanks in advance.
Here’s an idea: if any strong person wants to make some money, get a CORI check and call your local school on the last day. I can pretty much guarantee that teachers will fall all over themselves to have you clean their classrooms and move their things. I would personally pay you a ton of freaking money to avoid this horrendous task. However, I truly enjoy setting my classroom up so I don’t know if you could make this a two season gig.
Also, I cannot even believe that this day one year ago I was zooming across the Atlantic to Spain. I am really sad because that was a fun adventure. But I am still working on the Spanish, so that’s good.
*Happy anniversary to Jill and Bryan- one year yesterday!*
6/18: researched student loan forgiveness June 19, 2009
As I am a complete nerd, I frequent a money message board. One of the people was saying how she is a teacher and qualified for student loan forgiveness for part of her loans. I am filling out the paperwork since I work in a low income district and am a special education teacher. Who knows if I qualify, but that would be awesome.
4/27: finished my licensure program! April 28, 2009
Whooooooo!!!!! After three years, one master’s degree, and seven additonal graduate classes, I have finally finished my second licensure program. I am now licensed to teach (pending processing) moderate disablities pre-k to 8th grade and regular ed. 1-6 grades. NO MORE SCHOOL!!! NO MORE SCHOOL!!! I have nights to myself. This is so freaking awesome. I worked my butt off so I am so so so excited to be done. PS- of course I mean no more grad school. I will certainly be continuing to teach.
1/22: tried Qwizard January 23, 2009
Time: one hour and fifteen minutes of a meeting, fifteen minutes of sheer terror and fear of judgment
For those of you who don’t know (which was me yesterday), Qwizard is this really cool tool that you can use in your classroom. It is interactive and can be programmed with all sorts of fun stuff. We learned about it at a staff meeting and they needed volunteers to try it out. The moderator acted like the teacher and a bunch of people volunteered to be students. The woman next to me (who is a lovely person and incredibly outgoing) volunteered, then panicked and threw the remote at me. I am quite shy and not an attention seeker in the least, so I was horrified. However, I will say that I did quite well, even in front of all those people. Consider that the questions were similar to, “Here are five fish. One fish is jumping. Look at the picture. Tell what number fish is jumping.”
1/20: watched the inauguration with my class January 21, 2009
Time: about fifteen minutes
It was fascinating to see this piece of history. My class wasn’t super interested (I believe this was because I postponed- NOT CANCELLED, JUST POSTPONED- recess so we could watch it.) Some of them were interested, but some were not at all. I was interested though President Obama and I do not share many of the same views. I think that the US needed a change and, though I am not confident in President Obama’s ability to lead our nation, I am hoping to be proven wrong. Either way, our president is now President Obama and I will support him as a person who is proud to be an American.
1/5: read the first book of the new year January 10, 2009
I challenged myself to read 52 books this year. I just finished the first one. It was called Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes. I had heard a lot of good things about it, but I didn’t love it. It wasn’t terrible, but I just couldn’t really get into it. Please send your book recommendations my way.
In other news, I returned to school today after what seemed like the longest vacation ever. I was so happy to be back in my class with my students. I missed them a lot! I am so lucky to have a job that I love so much.
