Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Whine whine, I'm a teacher, yay.

In the past two days I've learned that being a beginning teacher involves a lot of "hurry up and wait"...and I know that this means I'll be working straight from Thursday morning until Tuesday morning when the kids walk in. Let's talk a little bit about how my first two days as a "teacher" went.

Yesterday:
- Joined the county high school staffs for a workshop put on by Jason Dorsey who discussed generations working together in the work place. I went through a similar (in that it was the same topic) at Bridgewater when I started working there, but this was much much better. Both more entertaining and more informational than the crap that we had there. It probably helps that Dorsey is a member of my own generation so he didn't constantly make our generation look bad. So that took up our morning.
- Lunch with ladies from the science department. I am a novelty to them as I am the youngest in the department by 25 years. They are hilarious and crazy and I'm exciting to work with them.
- After lunch, my mentor teacher had to go somewhere for some training and I really had no idea what to do. Really. You go through 5 years of school to get to this point and then you walk into an empty classroom and you wonder what you're supposed to do first. I went to my department chair -- who is the most wonderful person ever and gave me a hug and told me how glad she was to have me there when she saw me yesterday morning (for the first time since interviewing me) -- and said "what do I do first???" And I quote, "oh you poor thing, I'll help you." ... Oh thank the lord, she's ok with me being completely lost!! So she got me started on stealing school supplies, I mean, stocking my classroom with necessary supplies and showed me where to get bulletin board paper, ok, now you're talking my language!
Today:
- First faculty meeting. Many points made by the administrators were preceded with, "And we'll do this the same way that we did last year.." Oh hey, if that's the case, you might want to have a meeting with the new teachers to catch us up, we're not magical, we don't know what happened last year. Many other points were mentioned that the caveat that "an e-mail has gone out" or "and e-mail will go out within the week", funny thing about that, I don't have [school] e-mail yet and no one can tell me who can help or when. Yet the other new teacher (and my new BFF, let's be honest. She went to JMU and she's the other brand new teacher, and a runner...TRIFECTA!) has her e-mail up and running. She's going to set me up tomorrow, screw waiting around for people, our generation is supposed to be magical with technology so we might as well prove it. Also, I won a ski lesson, ski rental, and a lift ticket in a raffle at the end of the faculty meeting. Not exactly on my list of things to do...oh wait... here goes #94 on my 101 in 1,001!!
- Lunch
- Set up the rest of what I can set up in my classroom. I've seen classrooms before and I know that teachers have a lot of stuff. I always thought it was magic, but now I know. I don't have any stuff. Where the heck does it come from?? All my drawers and cabinets are empty (except the ones that have school supplies from the supply closet in them) and my walls are empty, soon to be filled with assorted, discarded ones that other science teachers don't want anymore. When does the teacher stuff fairy come? Gosh, I hope it's tonight!!
- Listened to my mentor teacher say no less than 5 times, "we really need to find time to sit down so I can tell you what to teach." I got all the time in the world, I'm sitting here wondering what to do...what the heck, lady...you volunteered to be my mentor, c'mon!!
- Went over and over in my head if there was anything else I could do. I can't access the documents which tell me what to teach/generally how to teach it. The system which includes all our communication with parents and are websites are down. I am one of a few classrooms left that did not have my projector installed as planned this summer. I have a Promethean Board but nothing to attach it to and since I can't get into my account (same as e-mail issue), I can't get on the computer to even create things to use on my Promethean Board, even when I do have it attached to something. Hope my students enjoy my high-tech chalkboard and overhead projector on the first day :)
Tomorrow:
- Morning - County-wide science training/staff development.
- Afternoon - School-wide staff development.
- Notice that this doesn't include figuring out what to teach or classroom set-up because obviously those things aren't important.
Thursday:
- By 6 PM, I have to essentially be ready. 6th grade orientation and Back-to-School Night.

I know it sounds like whining, most of it isn't, it's really just word vomit. I was offered this job on June 25th and since then, I've been very excited about it starting, I moved August 2nd and sat around getting even more excited so it's really difficult for me to not get to get in there and do things. For once I don't want to be procrastinating, I want my career to just get started already. And in 25 years, I'll hear myself saying what my colleagues have said to me many times just in two days..."I can't believe I've been teaching all that time already." I'm incredibly optimistic about it, so let's go already!!!!

PS - If you want to hear whining, ask me about Verizon lately...
Posted by at 3 comments:

Sunday, August 29, 2010

The rest of the photo tour of my home

So, I said I'd blog about it a room at a time and that just didn't happen, considering I've shown the bathroom and the closet so far. So...on to the rest!

As you walk in my front door:
To the left -


To the right - 
Inside the pantry -

From the living room into the dining area -

And if you continue to the right of the dining area, you get to the bedroom:
Looking straight in -

To the left -

On the wall where the door is -
And lastly is the washer/dryer closet -

I really love this place and I'm quite happy with the fact that I found it. I'd say that it's quiet here, but I feel like after living with college freshmen for 6 years, that's kind of a given. Tomorrow is the first day for teachers and I'm pretty anxious. I can't imagine the mess I'm going to be next Monday when it's the night before the kids come. I also have 6th grade orientation/6th grade back-to-school night on Thursday so I'm sure I'll be pretty crazy during the day on Thursday. I might need a tranquilizer come next Monday in order to get some sleep before the first day of school. At least it's mostly excitement and I'm not dreading it at all...just nerves!

Lots more the blog about...all the cooking I've gotten to do lately and to talk about the great family heirlooms that I've gotten lately....but, who knows when I'll have time again to blog!
Posted by at 5 comments:

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hit the Ground Running

I created and began my 101 in 1,001 project at the perfect time. Tomorrow I start THE JOB...well...tomorrow is the county-wide new teacher orientation. Although my assistant principal assured me that Annette Breaux, who is the presenter tomorrow, is actually engaging and worth listening to, so it shouldn't be too bad. Granted, I am the person who has been through five RA and three HD/RD trainings and enjoyed them all, so I love this sort of thing, but I am excited to actually get into my classroom (officially on Monday but will probably go in on Friday).

I figured since I have gotten a pretty great start on my 101 things, I should probably update about it since life is about to get REAL!!

  • Completed:
    • Cook a Thai dish (Ok, I made a good attempt and I do plan on trying at least once more before the 1,001 days are up, but in case I don't, it counts. It was edible, I swear!)
    • Go to the cinema on my own: I went to see Eat, Pray, Love on a complete whim by myself last week. I ran an errand and got caught in some very heavy rain and hell if I was then going to drive back home through that rain!
    • Make bread from scratch: Again, I plan on doing this again because although edible, it certainly wasn't something I'd brag about. Not so sure about these food-related goals...something's fishy and usually I'm a good cook!
  • In progress:
    • Watch 26 movies I've never seen (1/letter of the alphabet): A, E, K, N, S are completed. It's easy to watch movies when you're living in a new place and not getting out much!
    • Complete a 365 day photo project: check Facebook, although I do need to update with the pictures on my camera/phone from the last few days.
    • Read 100 books: 1 down. 99 to go. I read the book The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski, which I saw at the library and very much judged that by the title -- perfect for the beginning of a list of goals! I recommend it, but keep in mind that there are very few books that I DON'T like...
    • Do one thing a month I've never done. Some might say that counting something twice on this list is cheating, but I'm going to say that August's "new thing" is that I went to the movies by myself. It's my list, I make the rules!
    • Try 20 new restaurants. 4 out of 20 done. I picked a relatively large number of restaurants given that I just moved to a new place. I think for one week, I've done pretty damn well! And I've enjoyed it. Especially Comfort where the food is simple yet delicious and the bartender knows your name after only one visit. Seriously, come visit me in Richmond and demand that I take it, it might be a little pricey but it's so very worth it!!
    • Live by myself for a year.
    • Listen to 26 new bands, 1/letter of the alphabet. itunes free download of the week is going to help greatly with this. I've listened to two so far. Nothing super impressive, but I really enjoy finding music this way and usually they go straight to my ipod before I hear it while driving and they make me go "hmm...where did you come from?"
    • Listen to Rolling Stone's top 500 Songs of all Time. I am at #462: 'Respect Yourself' The Staple Singers. I'm working my way from #500 to #1. I do own some of these songs and the rest I have been searching for on youtube. I have been successful so far, so hopefully this luck will continue. Buying 500 songs on itunes is a little unrealistic...not to mention the fact that not all of these songs are on itunes, ever heard of a band called the Beatles?? OF COURSE they are all over that top 500 songs, luckily I own many of their songs, at least most that are on the list.
    • Put $2 away for each goal completed. There is $6 in my 101 in 1,001 jar. 
As I began furiously making my list of 101 things to do last week, I didn't realize the extent of these things that are multi-step or over a long period of time. Obviously the list isn't meant to be easy, but just look at the comparison between those things that I completed vs. those things that I have begun. I am having fun working on this already and it's kind of cool to be working toward a goal just by picking out a movie at Redbox. I've already watched movies outside what I usually pick because there are a bunch that I've already seen and that's just not allowed! Woohoo for getting outside the box.

And, sorry, no new tattoos to report. Yet.
Posted by at 2 comments:

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

On the 101 in 1001 Bandwagon

Yesterday, after seeing one friend's post and hearing another friend talk about their 101 things to do in 1001 days, I was inspired to create my own. The concise version of this is that I have created 101 goals to complete in about 2.75 years...some goals are easier and done in a few hours (#20 - go to a drive-in theater), while others will obviously take more time, effort, and commitment (see #s 1-5). For more info about this, please go here to the Day Zero Project. I'm going to go ahead and post my full list of 101 things to do on here and as #92 says, one of my goals is to "Regularly update regular blog about dayzeroproject" so I'll go from there.
So, here's my list, in no order whatsoever:

1. Donate hair to Locks of Love
2. Run a half-marathon
3. Run a marathon
4. Run a Disney rac
5. Adopt a dog
6. Cook a Thai dish
7. Cook an Indian dish
8. Eat at an Ethiopian restaurant
9. Eat real sushi
10. Visit California
11. Use my passport
12. Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the Alphabet
13. Make 10 new friends
14. Complete a 365 day photo challenge
15. Read 100 books
16. Influence a person to make a day zero list
17. Complete a coloring book
18. Buy a car
19. Go to 5 different museums
20. See a drive-in movie
21. Get over my fear of riding bikes
22. Take my parents out to dinner and pay
23. Eat breakfast everyday for a week
24. Ride on a motorcycle
25. See a shooting star and make a wish
26. Attend a midnight movie premiere
27. Visit Georgia to meet Jack
28. Make Christmas cards for my friends and family
29. Research/start investment plan; start retirement fund
30. Make a gingerbread house
31. Do one thing a month I have never done
32. Visit a national park
33. Go to a fireworks show on the Fourth of July
34. Try 20 new restaurants
35. Live by myself for a year
36. Go a whole day without saying anything negative
37. Donate money to charity
38. Carve a pumpkin for Halloween
39. Get an aquarium
40. Learn to decorate cakes
41. Take surfing lessons
42. Go to an amusement park
43. Go for a whole week without using Facebook
44. Get Water Safety Instructor certified
45. Coach a swim team
46. Buy a work of art
47. Attend a photo exhibition
48. Make a blanket fort
49. Listen to 26 bands I've never listened to starting with each letter of the alphabet.
50. Find a poem that means something to me
51. Sing in the shower
52. Write down every dream I have for a week.
53. Dance in an elevator
54. Make homemade ice cream
55. Read ten literary classics
56. Take a trip to NYC
57. Be a member of the audience in a TV show
58. Go to trivia night at a bar
59. Send a handwritten letter
60. See a musical
61. Stay at a B&B
62. Do the 200 squats challenge (www.twohundredsquats.com)
63. Attend 10 concerts
64. Spend one whole day at the cinema
65. Finish writing another 101 things list by the end of 1001 days
66. Visit a brewery
67. Go to a flea market
68. Do something for charity
69. Listen to Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
70. Host a cupcake party
71. Take a zumba class
72. Visit at least 5 states I haven't been to before
73. Go on a vacation
74. Go to an art gallery
75. Build a sandcastle
76. Write a short story
77. Go to a winery
78. Get a new pair of glasses
79. Go to the cinema on my own
80. Pay off all credit cards
81. Eat a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich
82. Go to a food festival
83. Blog at least once a month
84. Have a little red dress
85. Get CPR certified
86. Learn to play poker
87. Make bread from scratch
88. Finish a crossword puzzle
89. Complete the 100 pushups challenge
90. Go to a Redskins game
91. Learn to drive a stick shift
92. Regularly update regular blog about dayzeroproject
93. Go camping
94. Do something adventurous
95. Visit Sea World
96. Make tiramisu
97. Send a secret to PostSecret
98. Become a vegetarian for a week
99. Get a more visible tattoo
100. Put away $2 for every goal completed
101. Create a budget and stick to it
Posted by at 2 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)