Shouldn't I be more excited?

By this time tomorrow, my college graduation will be over. It seemed so far away and it's hard to believe it's finally here. Sure I'm happy to be graduating and starting a new chapter in my life, but I don't seem to be as excited as people think I should be.

For years I, along with most other people my age, was told that there was going to be a huge need for teachers when we were older and if we chose this occupation, we would be guaranteed a job. Well guess what, after busting my but to finish collage and owing a whole years salary, there are very few openings for teachers and after recent announcements made by the district I want to teach in, it looks like there will be even fewer positions next year.

But I refuse to let it get to me (too much). I know that something will work out. I have been subbing over the last few weeks and hope to do a lot more next semester. So, maybe I won't start out in the district where I want to end up...But something will work out. God will put me where he needs me, if that's subbing then so be it.

I hope y'all have a wonderful Monday and think about me while I'm walking across that stage. A lot has changed in my life over the last six months and tomorrow it will change even more.

JoAnne

First Day of Vacation

So, today was officially my first day of "freedom." Friday was my last day with my kids.

I had a pretty busy weekend. Saturday was our big Thanksgiving meal with all the girls and their families at scouts. My sister-in-law was supposed to have her baby on friday but he's not cooperating so, to give her a break, my mom and I took my two youngest nieces to the mall after scouts. Sunday was my youngest nieces 6th birthday so we did a little birthday shopping.

Sunday we were late leaving the house and didn't make it to church. We met up with my grandparents for lunch before heading to their house to do a little work (we replaced their screen door last week, but the latch didn't work so we needed to fix that). Then headed back to my bro's for cake and ice cream. (still no baby)

Today I came up to campus to help run the FEA Scholastic Book fair. I was really excited to be spending some time with two of my best friends who I just haven't had much time for this semester. Well, I woke up with a little sore throat that I thought was from the dry air in my house. By the time I got to campus I felt worse. As I sat listening to my friends, I begain to feel like I could barely sit up. After lunch I walked to the nearby drug store and bought some pain reliever and a thermometer. My fever was 100.2 :-0.

This is just great, I have a million things to do this week, including packing up this bookfair tomorrow, thanksgiving with my fam, and SHOPPING on friday. I can't be sick! so...I've canceled my movie plans for tonight, Harry Potter will have to wait, and I'm going home at five to get some sleep, we'll take it from there. In the mean time, I'll be leaving detailed notes on what someone should do with these books tomorrow if I can't come tomorrow.

The good news is, now that I am unemployed and don't have class, I will have time to blog more :-/

Watch for a blog about the thanksgiving activities I've done this week and other helpful (i hope) items.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Monday!

November and saying goodbye

I can't believe how quickly this has flown by. It has been busy to say the least but it's also been a blast. As I write this post I am preparing for my LAST WEEK of student teaching. It's bitter sweet. I have waited for this day for so long but I have come to love my school, students and coaching teacher. How do I say goodbye?

So, here is my question for you (if any of you actually read this) what is a good gift for my coaching teacher? I've already bought a book for the class and will be giving each child a gift when I come back to visit for Christmas but I want to get something special for my teacher. She has been teaching for many years so she doesn't need much for the classroom, and I want to get her something she will actually enjoy using so...any suggestions?

In the meantime, I will be teaching tomorrow morning while my CT is observing at another, Tuesday night is my last seminar class, Thursday I am presenting my research project to the principal (Yikes!) and lots of stuff is due. Friday is my last day.

I hope y'all have a good week!

JoAnne

Life as a student teacher

Well, obviously by the amount of posts I have made in the last 5 weeks you have probably figured out I am staying pretty busy. To top things off I am sick. Monday night I was really stressed out because I had a LOT of stuff due on Tuesday. It never fails, when I get stressed I get sick so when my throat started to hurt that night I didn't think much about it. Tuesday as I began turning in assignments and checking things off my list I began feeling better. By Wednesday morning my nose was runny and i really felt awful but I thought it had to just be allergies. Right? When it was worse on Thursday, I began to worry that it may not be just allergies, normally I would suffer through but working so closely with my coaching teacher, I was scared she may catch it from me. Her High School Reunion is today so I REALLY didn't want her to get sick. When I left the school at 5:30 on Tuesday I headed directly to our local CVS Minute Clinic. I love the minute clinic for things like viruses and vaccines. It is way cheaper than going to a doctors office or Dr's Care and no appointment is needed. She was able to take me right back and guess what...it's a Sinus infection. It's really hard to catch a sinus infection from someone so I was able to go to school on Friday (on three types of medicine). Just to be sure I brought my handy Lysol wipes and a can of Lysol and went to town before my coaching teacher arrived. She was so happy that I had been so considerate. I'm not feeling much better today but I should be back to normal after a day of rest in bed tomorrow.

Did anyone else notice, by way of their students behavior, that it's a full moon? We sure did, our kids have been off the charts. Wednesday it was so bad I was second guessing my career choice. After school we looked it up and sure enough, full moon...as the teacher next door says - Even the good ones go bad. I never used to put much stock in people acting weird during full moons but it was obvious this week. Hopefully this too will be over by Monday.

I have lots more I could talk about, but I'm sure most of you quit reading my babble long ago so I'll stop now. I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

-JoAnne

If anyone's actually reading this...

I'm sorry it's been so long between posts lately. I've been spending about 10 hours a day at the school and I busy working on projects when I get home. I'm getting ready to begin the big research project that seniors are required to do at my university. I am focusing on literacy for my project and it will require reading lot of student papers. I will tell you guys more about my project later but I can tell you it's something I'm very excited about starting. Although I am excited about it, it will be taking up a lot of my time.

In other news, my girl scout troop has tripled in size over the last three weeks and could grow even more in the near future. As excited as I am that we now have enough girls to register as a troop, I don't know what I will do if anymore register. Our meeting space is not very big. I've spent my entire weekend trying to duplicate the supplies I bought for my troop. Unfortunately, stores only ordered some of the supplies as seasonal for back to school and they are now out :(

Well, I'm off to write lesson plans, I have a big observation on Tuesday and I need to be prepared.

I hope everyone has a great week!

-JoAnne

Schedules

The past week has been crazy. I think I posted before that the teachers were furloughed and only got two work days before school started this year. One of those days was open house so of course things have been super busy. The kids started last Tuesday. I never realized how hard it was to nail down a schedule. It seems like the kids spend very little time in the classroom and after adding in bathroom breaks and allowing for children who are pulled out for various programs it's not easy to find time for all the "learning." A week later and we're still working out the kinks.

On a slightly different note, I have completely fallen in love with my school. I hope that sometime in the near future there is an opening and they will considering hiring me. Everyone is friendly, welcoming, and helpful. Walking down the hall, I frequently find myself smiling for no reason :)

Bloggiversery

One year ago today I started this blog. So much has happened since then it is almost mind blowing to think about it all. I find it very fitting that today would be the first day of my student teaching.

I had such a great day with my coaching teacher and I don't think I stopped smiling once! This is a big turn around from my first internship where I spent the first day fighting back tears.

My new coaching teacher is TEACHER OF THE YEAR! I feel soo blessed! Our classroom theme is going to be Bees. She has lots of cute decorations and I spent today helping her create a giant honeycomb for the hall. It turned out perfect and she added two "queen bees" to the middle. I am so lucky to have a coaching teacher who is so willing to share her "throne" with me.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I know Monday will be a long day with open house but I will try to post again very soon. Please think about me over the next week as I embark on this new chapter of my life.