2011 In Review

After reading Erin's review post, I wanted to do the same. 2011 was a pretty good year for me.

JANUARY
STUDENT TEACHING FIASCO: Two days before we are supposed to start student teaching, about 10 of us still haven't heard where we'll be student teaching. Luckily the great Snowpocalypse of 2011 struck, and we weren't allowed to start on time. I finally heard about my placement: back at DMS with a 7th grade life science teacher. I didn't particularly want life science, especially since another girl was placed in an earth science class like I wanted, but it all worked out. I was a bit intimidated when I got to my classroom, but I liked the kids and loved my mentor.

FEBRUARY
2 YEARS DOWN THE DRAIN: After my breakup with Rylan, my depression got much worse. Zoloft became my best friend. I eventually weaned myself off of it, and I was so happy to have control over that. However, after a few weeks with my kids, I fell back down that hole. I felt like such a failure. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but I was not thrilled to have to go back on my medication. Ever since then, I've gradually gone from 25mg to 100mg. The life of a middle school teacher...

MARCH
SBXI: I went on my first and last official spring break. I went to Destin with Katie, Jenny, and Emily. It was the greatest trip of my life. SO much fun! We stayed with Katie's grandparents, so all we had to pay for was gas and food. So many great memories were made on that trip.

APRIL
SO CLOSE TO THE END: Nothing super eventful happened in April. Student teaching came to a close [thank GOD, because I was losing my mind] and I started looking for jobs. I went to a critical needs job fair [math, science, and special education] and met a principal who offered me a long-term sub position that day. It ended up not working out because my paperwork didn't process quickly enough, but it ended up being my foot in the door. I also had my last week of classes with my cohort. I cried so much on that last day. That's my family, and I'm not going to see them altogether like that again. I made it all the way to the end of the last day, but when I hugged Dr. A, I lost it. Then when I hugged Gretchen, I lost it again. Two years with these people. I miss them.

MAY
GRADUATION: I am officially a graduate of The University of Georgia. Five years later. I got to walk across the stage [twice.. I was a little over-excited and went too early the first time lol] and shake hands with my teachers. I also got to go onto the field in Sanford Stadium and stand with my cohort in my official graduation. And then proceeded to take off my shoes and walk across campus to our car.

EMPLOYMENT: Just before graduation, I got a call from the principal that I interviewed with at the critical needs job fair in April, asking if I wanted to come in for an interview. I said, "YES! I can be there in 45 minutes!" His secretary was amused. We set up an interview time. I went in for the interview and thought it went well. A week later, the Science AP called me and offered me the job, which I immediately accepted! Two weeks after graduation, I am officially employed. Such a blessing.

JUNE
AWKWARD TURTLE: I had a date with a great guy. The date wasn't great, and apparently he was more into it than I was, so it was hard to tell him that I didn't want another date. Things were awkward for a few days, but luckily we've gotten back to the old friendship we had. I nearly had another date with a cool guy, but he ended up bailing on asking me out, so whatevs.

BAHAMAS: We took a family cruise to the Bahamas. It was great. I had a great time, though it was hard at times to not have anyone to hang out with. I hung out with my parents, but I felt like I was interfering with their alone time. I hung out with my brother and his friend.. but who wants their older sister messing up their fun times? But it still ended up being great. And if anyone goes on a cruise where there is a QUEST adventure, DO IT. Single-handedly the best part of the vacation. I have NEVER laughed so hard in my LIFE.

JULY
GOODBYE TRU, HELLO NEW LIFE: I finished up my life at Toys R Us and began my new career as a teacher. I have to say that I don't miss TRU at all. I miss a few of the people, but the important ones I still keep up with.

AUGUST
FIRST YEAR SPARTAN: My first month was rough. I didn't know if I could do it. But I had no choice but to continue. Things gradually got a bit better. Reading back through my blog, it's amazing how far I've come. My favorite part was getting my first paycheck and going out to celebrate with the other first year teachers.

SEPTEMBER
DETENTION BONANZA: I gave out more detentions in this month than all other months combined. Pretty sure I've given out the most for our grade level. But I was so over my kids that I don't even care.

OCTOBER
RED RIBBON WEEK: I enjoyed dressing up for Red Ribbon Week. My kids have learned that I will do anything for school spirit.

NOVEMBER
ALMOST DONE: Thanksgiving break was SO needed. I also took my first personal day before my birthday. I never take days off, so it was great. Also my memory is slightly failing now that I have 120 kids to watch out for. So, sorry this is boring.

DECEMBER
FINISHED: I made it through my first semester. I don't know how I did it. But I did! Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way. Also, this month I've struggled with some personal stuff. I'm a little too overwhelmed and lonely. And paranoid. But I'm working on it. So here's to fixing that in 2012.

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Ten on Tuesday

10onTUESDAY

1. What colour are your toenails painted? teal with flowers on the big toes
2. What colour are your fingernails painted? teal
3. What is your favourite brand of nail polish? OPI
4. As the norm, do you DIY your nails or get mani/pedis? DIY
5. Have you ever had a gel mani? Do you recommend it? I haven't, but my mom and sister have, and they LOVE them
6. What is the last movie you watched on television? (TV, Netflix, Redbox, etc.) Casino Royale
7. What is the last movie you watched in the cinema? HP 7.2
8. Is there a movie that everyone talks about as if it is a classic but you haven’t seen? The Godfather
9. What is your favourite movie soundtrack? ooh tough one. um.. for a musical: RENT. for a non-musical: A Walk To Remember
10. Have you ever seen a movie and thought it was better than the book it was based on? I actually liked the movie A Walk To Remember better than the book.


In other news, I set up a new teacher blog! Check it out: First Year Spartan

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Life is coming together quite nicely...

Friday Five! I haven't done this in AGES!!
Cooking Ingredients

1. What is your favorite condiment? ketchup
   
2. What is your favorite spice? I don't particularly like spices
   
3. What is your favorite cooking oil? (Canola oil, sesame oil, butter, etc) olive oil
   
4. What is your favorite starchy food? (Bread, rice, potatoes, noodles, etc) mac & cheese
   
5. What is your favorite flavor for candy? generally it's cherry, but lately I've been obsessed with blue raspberry

So, ladies and gentlemen... I have a job. A real teaching job. I'll be teaching 7th grade [life] science at a middle school in my county, so I'm really excited. I had an interview last Thursday, and they called me on Wednesday and said that they wanted me! The AP that I talked to is actually the mom of one of my sorority sisters! Small world! So she gave me a great recommendation :D thanks Kristen! I have to wait for the county to approve my position, then I'll start the paperwork to get started! I'm hoping to end up in another grade [earth or physical science] in later years, but I do have recent practice teaching life science as well as tons of resources! I haven't ever dissected a frog.. literally ever. So that will be interesting. But I'm very excited! I felt very at home when I walked into the school, and I'm very excited to be a part of that school. Can't WAIT to get spirit wear and support my school!

Brother graduated from high school on Friday night. We were literally waiting until the last minute to find out if he'd make it. He had a 35 in calc at the midpoint, and if he didn't get a 70, he wouldn't graduate. He worked his butt off and pulled it up to a 72 with only the final left. He ended up making an 80 [!!!] on the final, so he PASSED. Watching him walk was incredible. I didn't know I could be so proud. It was a great day.

I'm going to Mercedes's house later for the race. We're picking drivers at 12. Her mom actually told her to invite me over! I wasn't sure that she liked me, but I guess I was wrong!  We'll probably swim later too. I've gotta go shower and maybe pick something up even though she said I don't need to bring anything but myself.

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countdown: 14 days!

14 days of student teaching left. I am so STOKED. I can't even describe it! I am ready to be done with this and done with classes and GRADUATE ALREADY. My victory lap quickly got old about halfway through our less-than-stellar football season.. but yeah.

I'm starting my unit, and it's going really well so far. I feel so much more comfortable in the classroom than I did last semester, which is a sign that I'm heading down the right path for me.

I went on my first [and last] ever Spring Break trip last week. I will blog about it [along with pictures] sometime soon, hopefully this weekend. I've gotta work on my unit for now, but I wanted to update since it's been a month. Student teaching doesn't allow for much "fun-time" haha I'll also try to finish the 30 Day Challenge soon.. it took a back-burner once teaching started. But I'll finish it soon! Once student teaching gives me my life back..

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10 o'clock bedtime

I.

Am.

Exhausted.

That is all.

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student teaching finally begins!

first, let me preface this by saying, I'm sorry for the lack of capitalization and possibly grammar. it's an email I typed to a friend who is student teaching at the same school, and I get lazy in non-formal emails, and I'm too exhausted to fix it to be a proper blog post. the things in italics are things I'm adding for ya'll.

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so. lemme just tell you about my ridiculous day.

started off by waking up late {7:45, had to be there for an 8:15 meeting} [oh, and left my lunch that I'd made at home on the counter.. at least I had some cash!]. then sat through that super depressing meeting {about budget cuts at the school} but we're gonna get jobs, so let's not think about it anymore lol

went to class, met a student who apparently is one of the big problem kids. my team gives out citations before giving out steps. 3 citations = 1 step. he's on step #4. not good. {students get 3 steps before a referral to an administrator}

I had to yell at my class for the first time today. my mentor teacher stepped out into the hall to deal with a student, and the class went crazy. I told them to settle down and told specific students to sit down, but nobody was listening. then the class started yelling at the student that I'd told to sit down, so then I told them forcefully to let me handle it. that shut everyone up. then I told the kid to sit again, and he wouldn't. so I stood up, looked him straight in the eye, pointed at his seat, and said "SIT. DOWN. NOW." and he plopped down. and I felt terrible. I'm just not used to that yet. I know we have to, but I don't like it.

anyways, we played with mirrors in class today, and some of our kids were acting up and had to go out into the hall. they came back in for a few minutes, then classes changed. turns out that one kid had stolen one of the small mirrors. he has a history of stealing things from these teachers. THEN he went to Mr. S's class, and long story short, he ended up cutting himself up his arm. not super severely, but still. and we found out later that day that he had pretended to cut himself in the same place with a pen at first, but that teacher didn't see any marks so she just told him to stop holding his pen like that.

my teacher stopped this student on his way to the bus and asked him if he had stolen the mirror. he said no. lied STRAIGHT TO HER FACE! then she asked to see his arms, so he had to roll up his sleeves and we saw a few minor cuts that *could* be attributed to a cat or an awkward paper cut or something.. but it wasn't. so we went back to my teacher's room and were talking with the rest of the team, and Mr. S says that he thinks that he saw the kid throw the mirror away, so he went to check and found the mirror in the trash. so we collected it as evidence to show the 7th grade counselor on Monday.

GAH. It was unreal.

OH. and this has nothing to do with my team, but apparently a teacher found a 7th grade girl in the bathroom with a thermos full of some super strong vodka. what the heck? 7th grade!

also, this was the kicker. there's another student who has been absent since before Christmas break. he has SEVERAL absences from throughout the year, so Mr. S finally called the kid's mom today to see if he was sick or they'd suddenly moved or something that would've caused the kid to miss school. All this time, she thought that he'd been going to school. He'd been leaving like he was going to school, coming home at the right time, WRITING IN HIS AGENDA AND SHOWING HER so she thought he had all of his assignments.. so Mr. S said something about how the only excused absences he had on record was from a week that he missed last semester. He excused the absence since he had gotten the email from her.

"what email from me?"

the kid hacked her email account and emailed an excuse note to Mr. S! OH MY GOSH. where do these kids learn this?!

but here's the best part. the mom said that she would deal with the kid, but "my husband got tickets for the Blue Man Group tonight, so I'm gonna play dumb tonight and deal with it tomorrow."

give that woman a prize! what great parenting. wow. Mr. S told us that, and we all just dropped our jaws. unREAL. wow.

I am still in shock. but despite all of that, I still had a good day. is that crazy?

oh, the life of a middle school teacher.
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Also, I found out that my granddad has been in the hospital all day. He fell and hit his knee at work, which they think somehow pulled some muscles in his heart or something? he was reporting chest pains, but the EKG showed no signs of heart attack or anything, which is a huge blessing. His knee is pretty messed up though. but at least he's safe. but pray for a quick recovery. this is the last thing he needs right now.

What a day. I'm exhausted. It's only 7, but I'm seriously considering heading to bed. I'm so tired.

2 days down, 58 to go.

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30 Day Challenge: Day 24

Day 24: Something You've Learned

Something I've learned over the past year is that my dreams have changed. Since I was a little girl, I wanted to teach math. The age group that I wanted to teach has changed, ending up at middle school, but math has stayed constant. I have always loved math. It makes sense to me. There is [almost always] a right or wrong answer, but the beauty is that there is generally more than one way to get to that answer.

On the flip side, I always hated science. The irony here is that I took more science classes in high school than any other type. I took gifted biology in 9th, gifted chem in 10th, AP chem in 11th, AP Physics B in 11th, and AP Physics C in 12th. With the exception of biology, there was enough math in each of the other courses for me to figure my way through the class.

And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with science.

I took another physics course in college, and it was no surprise that I excelled in it. Labs were hard, but I succeeded. Then I got into my major, where we have to pick two subject areas to focus on. I'd applied with math and social studies the year before, but my social studies grades were rough, so I tried again with science the second time, since they were all A's. I also took chemistry over the summer and made over a 100 in both the class and the lab. It was a 4 week long course with a quiz every day and a test on Thursday [no class on Friday]. The catch? IT WAS OPEN NOTES. And people STILL failed! How in the world do you fail when it's open notes AAAAANNNNNDDDDD she GIVES. YOU. THE. NOTES.

But alas, I digress. It was after taking this class that I realized that lots of sciences weren't so bad if I could incorporate the math. In fall 2009, we took physics for middle school teachers as well as a methods class to teach us how to teach science to middle schoolers. Basically we got to pretend to be middle schoolers in that class and see different models and experiments that we could use for our students. As someone who'd had several physics classes, I was not stressed at all. I was the only one, however. People were having a hard time with the class, so I tried to help them whenever possible.

They got to pay me back the next semester: earth science. No math whatsoever. I was freaking out. But it ended up being alright. Not just alright.. it was interesting. Fun, even. That was when I decided that I wanted to teach 6th grade [earth science] or 8th grade [physical science] rather than math. I was too afraid that it would screw up my placement in Gwinnett since I would be living at home the next year, so I didn't switch my specializations, intending to just take the GACE in math and science and apply for science jobs.

Then I got into the math classroom in the fall of 2010. What a culture shock. I've struggled with depression and anxiety throughout my life, but it has been under control for the past year and a half: no medicine, no episodes. That all changed. I had a mild panic attack the first time that I got in front of the kids to explain a concept. It was not the "being the center of attention" thing.. I was stressed that I was not explaining myself well enough. Unlike science, it's really hard to vary the way in which you teach math. It is the way it is, and that's that. My teacher said I did fine, my supervisor said I explained things extremely well, and my class's grades were higher than my mentor teacher's other two classes on the test at the end of the unit that I taught. But I can't handle that kind of pressure every day. I won't survive. I wasn't happy. I was stressed and unhappy, eating too much and sleeping too little.

One morning, I arrived before my teacher, so I went next door to the science teacher's room. I felt an immediate peace as I looked around her room at the different signs, diagrams, and objects related to earth science. That's when I knew what I needed to do.

I emailed Dr. Andrews that day and asked what she thought I should do. [background: the way our program is set up, we are ideally supposed to stay in the same classroom from our fall experience during our full-time student teaching in the spring. that way we already know the teacher, some of the student, etc. if I switched specializations, I would need to switch teachers, which would possibly mean that I would have to switch schools. Which would require me to switch counties, and since I'm living at home, this was NOT something I wanted.] Dr. Andrews said that I needed to do what would make me happy. I told her that science would make me happy. So she told me to switch my specializations and that she would do her darnedest to keep me at the same school or at least in the same county, even if it meant teaching in an elementary school.

The whole thing has been a mess ever since, but none of that is my fault or even because I switched specializations. Gwinnett has a lot of red tape to go through, and the contact person at UGA kind of dropped the ball, which has put me and another student teacher WAY behind. The snow week hasn't helped AT ALL. So we'll be starting about 7 days later than we should have, if not more. I still haven't gotten my confirmation about my placement, but I know that everything is working out; it's just paperwork at this point.

I'm gonna be a science teacher. After YEARS of claiming "this is my last science class EVER!" and throwing a mini party. God sure has a sense of humor.

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