Time Keeps on Slippin...

I am running out of time. (Due in large part to my terrible inclination towards procrastination). Although this move has happened pretty suddenly, I still felt like I had plenty of time to get my life in order. This feeling has vanished. Tomorrow is my last day to pack. But in order to pack I have to go through everything I have accumulated in the last 23 years. I only have so much space in my car, and my parents are understandably tired of providing me with a free storage unit. I am slowly throwing things away, but it seems that no matter how much stuff I get rid of, I find another stash in the next corner of my room.

This morning as I was going through the mountains of paper on my desk, I unearthed my student teaching box. Inside that box I discovered all the letters of advice written by my students and fellow teachers. Despite the fact that I had a million more piles to sort through, I stopped, and reread every letter. In the time I have been out of the classroom, I have been doing my best to forget how much I loved teaching. Since I am not able to teach this year, it became my coping mechanism. I felt that if teaching didn't mean as much to me, it wouldn't be so hard to have another kind of job for a year. Reading through my letters was a much needed reminder of where I belong. I found myself laughing when my students told me that I needed to be harder on the other kids in the class, but to be easier on them. Another student said I should joke around more. Many of my 7th hour students reminded me not to make my class a prison, and that they couldn't wait for me to leave. I couldn't help but smile at these notes, because 7th hour was usually the class I looked forward to the most. We did joke that English class was a prison, but I know that my students secretly liked my class, even if they hated it sometimes. (I made them read and write after all...clearly a form of torture)

After I boxed up the letters, I decided that I wouldn't waste any more time. I trust that the path I am on happened for a reason, but I will not let another year go by without teaching. If that means moving to Alaska to teach, that is what I will do. I am on an adventure, and I am ready to take back control of my life. So no more procrastinating...starting tomorrow morning...when I really will finish packing!

Turns out, I am BAD at blogging

This isn't even half of my books

I did teach after my last blog post. I actually had a lot of funny stories too. Most school days I would think of something good to post...but then I never got around to it. This is a side effect of being a procrastinator. But, I am not a quitter, so here I am...eight months later.

In those eight months I figured out that I am a darn good teacher, and that I absolutely LOVE teaching. I also figured out that being good + loving it + successfully graduating college = not always getting a job. Yup. I am one of lucky college graduates living at home without a job. This created quite a mixture of emotions including, but not limited to: denial, frantic searching, laziness, apathy, depression, and failure. Sounds pretty bad, I know, but this story has an upside. The upside is that I took a hard look at my life, realized that even though this is NOT what I was expecting when I reached the ripe old age of 23, it is an experience that I can learn from...in other words, get a job; any job.

And I have. One catch: it is in Arizona.

So, in a few weeks time, I will be packing up my much loved, 10 year-old car and driving 22 hours into my new life...with a lot less stuff. I drive a Corolla. My bed will not fit. Nor will the entirety of my library. (So far I think I own close to 250 books).

I am ecstatic. This is going to be an adventure. I am also lucky that I happen to like ramen noodles. So now I have a couple of weeks to seriously downsize my crap, go to the doctor, dentist, hair salon, and get my car checked out...so I'm not stranded in the desert.

My life is veering a bit off the track that I thought it was on, but I am willing to make some detours. For now I am a teacher without a school. And an adult without a real bed. (And also without a couch in the living room, since that is being commandeered as my "bed" [Although technically it is neither a couch or a bed, it is a futon. Which is what I get for wishing I could go back to college; the college kid's two for the price of one].).

Here's to revising expectations!

P.S. On a totally unrelated note I found a blog that I am in *love* with. I wish I was as funny as she is. You should check her out!

First Day of School...Take 3

At long last I had my first day of school. Those two snow days were great, don't get me wrong, but it was nice to feel like a real person today, instead of the bum I was for the past two days.

As any of my former roommates can attest, I struggle getting up and out the door on time in the mornings. I snooze. And not just the five or ten minute snooze, oh no, I am the snooze for half an hour, and then squeeze out five more minutes kind of person. Every morning I find myself rationalizing, "I have ten more minutes, right? I mean I don't really have to have breakfast...I mean, I know I set my alarm this early last night for a reason...but I must have been crazy. Night time Amy doesn't realize the importance of these next ten minutes!" and on, and on. Last night I vowed that this would not happen today. I had a lot to do to prepare this morning, not to mention I needed time to scrape and warm up my car, and plenty of driving time so I could be early on my first day. In order to trick morning Amy into compliance, I set my alarm a half an hour early, and told myself that I had to be ready NO LATER than ten to seven. Obviously I was not completely ready at ten to seven, but I started my car, and had ten minutes to finish packing my lunch and collecting all my bags. I left my house at exactly 7 o'clock and was ten minutes early to class! We shall see how long this will last...my guess is that I will be running late, possibly skipping breakfast tomorrow morning.

While I know my morning routine is super interesting, most you are probably wondering how class actually went. (And by most of you I mean my grandma...) Well Grandma, I really just observed today. I do have my own school email account, laptop, parking pass, and a key fob coming tomorrow. I got to meet a lot of the other teachers, and we discussed the new show Million Dollar Drop during lunch. Very intellectual, I know. I really like all of the other teachers, as well as the students in my classes. Everyone seems super friendly. A fun fact I learned today is that there is an unwritten rule at my school; no homework on Wednesdays, and no tests on Thursdays. Why, you may ask? Well, because although this is a public school, some students have church on Wednesday nights, and therefore, no time for homework and/or studying. Despite my heavy sarcasm, I do understand. I had church on Wednesday nights in high school...but it just seems odd to have this rule in a public school. Ah well, welcome to a small town. I'll just have to get used to it sometime!

And on the bright side, it means I will never have anything to grade on Thursday nights...so nothing will interrupt Grey's.  :)




Picture from http://greys-anatomy.download-tvshows.com/category/tags/greys-anatomy

 

First Day of School?



Photo courtesy of Holley Booze

So tomorrow was supposed to be my first day of student teaching. Unfortunately the weather was not on my side. We finally joined the east coast, and were given mountains of snow throughout the day, with more expected tomorrow. In other words, SNOW DAY!

While I was really looking forward to going to school, I will somehow find the silver lining in this situation. And the silver lining is this: I will get to enjoy snow days for the rest of my life! While my other working friends have to dig out their cars and slide to work in the morning, I get to cuddle up on the couch and watch a couple of movies. My CT (cooperating teacher) wished for the snow day so she would have more time to grade papers, and luckily, I don't have to worry about that quite yet. Fortunately for her though, chances are good that on our next snow day, I will be the one with the papers to grade!

Tomorrow would actually be a great day for me to get some work done around the house, and/or start planning for this coming semester...but we'll see how I feel about that in the morning!

The Journey Begins

In exactly 24 hours I will be officially done with college in the traditional sense. Tomorrow I will hand in my final portfolio, and spend my last day in my practicum. Next week I will head up to my new school and meet my CT and future classes. It will be official; I will be a student teacher.

My practicum CT and my students all wrote me little notes and gave them to me today. Their confidence and kind words has more than anything else, helped me to believe that I am truly ready for this next phase in my life.

This time last semester the thought of student teaching turned my legs to rubber. I was great about preaching my theory of teaching, and my own personal philosophy, but all of that goes out the window the first time you stand in front of 24 teenagers. My practicum this semester has shown me that I actually can teach, and that teenagers aren't as scary as they seem. As I enter this new phase in my education, and my life, I stand tall, confident that I know almost nothing, and that that is okay. It is more than okay actually; it is how I should enter my classroom--knowing that I have so much to learn from my students.

Wish me luck!