I'm Back

I'm back from visiting my grandparents and Kyle and Gretchen's wedding. I really enjoyed having the week off, but now it's back to the grindstone. :-) Student teaching is such a mixture of stress and excitement, good and bad. Whew. It's a rollercoaster. Short update. Pictures coming sometime...

Break

This past week was very stressful. I now have all 5 classes, and I am learning and figuring out a lot. Things are going well, but it is very busy and stressful nonetheless. I am enjoying my job. It is a job, but I pay to do it. :-) We now have mid-winter break, which is wonderful. I thought they might cancel it because of all the snow days, but they didn't, and I really need it. I was able to catch up on sleep last night, which was much needed. I'm going to see 27 Dresses with a friend tonight. It looks cute and good as chick flicks go. We'll see. Anyway, back to school. That's pretty much all I think and talk about anymore. I need to find a balance. I am too easy with some classes and too hard with others. My teachers are very good, though, and they are helping me figure things out. The principle will be observing me sometime, which is nerve-wracking to think about, but he seems nice and helpful. With break this upcoming week, I am going to visit my grandparents and then go to Kyle and Gretchen's wedding! I am so excited. It will be good for me to get away from campus and school and think of other things.

I know this may be a "boring" blog without pictures, but I don't take many or upload them very often. Some may come in the future. Who knows.

Work

I am getting more acclimated to teaching and learning as I go. I've been told that my content is very good. My delivery, however, could use some work. Yesterday went very well. I am nervous about this next week, though, because I will have all 5 classes and it will be my first full week, unless we get more snow days, of course. They said it would happen, but I am so tired after work. It is the adreneline. I'm pumped on the way home, but then I crash later. I really need to break my procrastination habits. Staying up late=very bad. I need my sleep, so I need to start working on things earlier in the day. I also have movies I need to see, which is hard because they are very different from movies I want to see.

I went swimming today, and the pool has a dry sauna. It was amazing. All warm and toasty.

I went to the marionette show with my friends yesterday. It is amazing. I saw it 2 years ago, and it was the same show, but definitely worth seeing again. The scenes are so poignant. Some are funny, some are sad. The puppets are so expressive and really do seem alive. During the first half of the show, there was a really annoying kid. The whole audience could hear him or her. They had a loud, forced laugh. They even laughed at a really sad puppet. I think the whole theater was not impressed. At intermission, a child pulled the fire alarm. That was an experience as well. We all had to evacuate and the fire department and police came. Most of us kept sitting because we didn't know if it was real. We probably should have set a better example for the children in the audience. For the 2nd half, the loud kid was gone. Popular belief is that they pulled the alarm, but we don't know.

Sleep is starting to become very important. It may start overshadowing social life. But I hope not. :-)

Weather Days

Today is my 3rd weather day off from school in a row. It is also my 5th day without school, counting the weekend. The extra days have been a blessing because I have been sick and am now able to talk again. I was wondering how I was going to make it on Monday. I'm sure the students are ready to be back. It is their homecoming and they tend to get bored with too many days off. They probably won't admit to liking school, but it gives them time with their friends and something to do during the day.

Hello

Today is another snow day. Yay! Tuesday we didn't have school due to ice. I'm really glad for the day off because I'll be better prepared for the lessons on Monday. I have taken over 5th hour juniors and will take over the sophomore classes on Monday as well as 6th hour juniors. Whew. It's a lot of work, and I need to be diligent and a better time manager than I am. Also, I think that I am getting sick, which is not good. My throat is scratchy. School/student teaching is my life now. That's about all I can really talk about. :-) My first lesson on Wednesday did not go very well, but yesterday was much better. I'm not quite sure what the difference was. Maybe I loosened up a bit. I went in with a "be tough" attitude and I realized that there is a balance and I will find it. I'm excited for the sophomore classes. They have spunk, though maybe too much at times. :-)

Wearing jeans is becoming a thing of excitement, as I cannot wear them at school. Also, on Wednesday I had the most wonderful sandwich. The bread and meat were amazing. It was really thick bread with the seeds and stuff in it and smoked turkey, the good stuff. Yum!