Whatever happened to 9 to 5?

      Seriously.  Teaching is more like a 5 to 9 job.  My alarm goes off at 5:30 (I usually hit snooze a few times), I go to school, I teach and grade and plan all day, I come back to my apartment around 5, I keep planning and grading, and finally around 9:30 I take a minute or two for myself and get ready for bed.  The next morning, I do it all over again.  I don't mind being busy though.  It makes me feel accomplished and it makes the time pass by a little faster.  I do wish that I had a little more time to go out and see things.  By the time the weekend comes I'm usually too tired to do much.
      Over the long weekend, I spent Saturday afternoon shopping with my roommates.  I bought a new pink cardigan for Spring and wore it the very next day at church.  I did a little grocery shopping and a little more than a little skyping.  Monday on my day off I skyped some more, graded the tests my class took on Friday, and watched a couple movies.  Having something fun going on in the background makes it easier to focus.  I know it sounds backwards, but I've found that I work much better when there is something that I enjoy going on in the background.
      Last week was....a week.  My mentor was out of town on Tuesday, so I taught all day again.  That will be a regular thing soon so it's a good thing the student and I are getting used to it.  Wednesday I met with a parent about their student's grade on the test (she didn't do so hot).  Thursday I got observed by my supervisor and I felt really good about my lesson.  In fact, I kinda thought it rocked.  It wasn't perfect but I was so pumped afterwards.  Thursday was rough.  I've been having a hard time with the girl that didn't do well on her test.  It's not a recent thing, but it's gotten a lot worse since the test.  I felt like no matter how hard I tried and no matter what I did, I was never going to be able to respect me.  Friday I got a chance to talk to her and she admitted to not liking me. Um....OK but I still want her to respect me.  I didn't push the issue though.  Saturday I went back to school to help with the admissions interviews.  The best comparison for the process came from the parent of a child that we interviewed - speed dating.  The student would come in and the panel would ask them 5 questions, score them based on their answer, send them out, and call the parents in to ask them a couple questions.  The whole process was only supposed to take 15 minutes per student.  At one point, we were 15 minutes ahead.  I actually enjoyed spending my Saturday doing that.  I got to talk to some of my students more.  They even invited me to eat lunch with them.  How cute are they!  Sunday was Stake Conference.  I left the meeting pumped for General Conference from H. David Burton's talk and excited about being a woman from Richard G. Scott's talk.  April can't come fast enough for me now :)  I spent the rest of Sunday feeding myself spiritually.  I listened to a few conference talks, listened to hymns, and read Chronicles of Narnia.
      That brings us to today.  The girl that I've been having a hard time with starting talking back and swearing so I had to contact her parents.  I was busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest the rest of the school day.  It was such a weird Monday.  Everyone was surprisingly hyper.  Someone must have slipped a little extra sugar in their coffee this morning.  Now I'm back at my apartment getting ready to write a couple lesson plans and hopefully go to bed a little early. Three more hours and it's quitting time. :)

I made it......barely.

     I can that weeks like this one that try teachers' souls.  I've been frustrated, let down, discouraged, disrespected, and worn out.  I've burned the candle at both ends. I feel like I have been trying so hard to fit the several different molds of the teacher that everyone else wants me to be that I've had to give up on being the teacher that I want to be.  I've dreamed of being a fun teacher that students love.  Instead I find myself being strict and cross because the students are disrespectful and whose favorite teacher is the grumpy one?  I know that a lot of how I'm feeling right now has to do with being stressed with a busy week.  Hopefully next week will be a little better. It's bound to be because, well for one thing it can't get much worse (knock on wood) and secondly it's a short week because we don't have school on Monday. Happy President's Day to me!!!
      Thursday was actually quite nice.  There was a little chaos and mayhem at school over drug/alcohol use and possession.  The principal had assemblies with each of the classes. I was teaching during the Freshman and Sophomore one and then I had planning during the one for Juniors and Seniors.  My mentor teacher didn't go so I just stayed back with her.  It was the talk of the school though.  The kids were all worked up about it.  My fourth period wanted to spend some time talking about it, but I didn't think that was a very good idea.  The last thing anybody needed was to get even more worked up.  So we learned the Binomial Theorem instead :) When I got back to my apartment after school, I made dinner and settled down with a good movie. I was giving a test the next day so I didn't have any lesson planning to do. I took the opportunity to have a night off.  What movie did I watch? I'm glad you asked. I proudly say on my couch and watched "Winnie the Pooh" on my laptop.  My roommates made a few comments that suggested their disapproval, but clearly they don't understand the joy that comes from Winnie the Pooh. I laughed out loud through most of it and enjoyed every minute of it.  I don't get a chance to laugh that hard very often out here.  It felt so nice to really let loose and have a good laugh for a change.  It felt so good in fact that I kept laughing even after the funny part ended.
      Today was the roughest day at school by far.  The test went great during period.  I haven't graded the tests yet but the students were angels and I wasn't even nervous. Second period was Pre-calculus. Since my mentor went out of town again, I was covering the lesson for her.  It was just a review for their mid chapter test.  We had a really good time.  We were cracking jokes and having fun.  I really liked it.  It was a great day...then I went to third period.  I don't want to dwell on it so let's just leave it at this: a student mouthed off and called me disrespectful for talking to another student trying to get him on task while she did a problem on the board, I had to take a girl's cell phone and ipod away, and that same girl tried to run out of class and then laughed at me for stepping between her and the door.  At that point I had had enough.  I put the marker down, reminded them all that if they wanted me to respect them, they had to respect me, gave them an assignment to do silently at their seats, and tried not to cry the rest of the period.  It was awful.  It took me awhile to not be upset about it anymore but by the end of lunch I was feeling better.   When the day was over, I beat half the students out of the building.  I all but washed my hands of that place today.
      But it's the weekend and the weekend is no time to be down. So, I went back to my apartment,had some ice cream, had a little nap and watched a movie with my roommates and Anna.  I'm so glad Anna came.  I would've been miserable without her.  We watched "Breaking Dawn", not the movie I would've chosen just because of what I've heard of it.  I can say I've watched it now though and I don't ever have to watch it again.  I feel like they spent too much time focusing on all the wrong parts, but it was fun to watch together and have a good time with my roommates and Anna, AND I only had one piece of chocolate.  After the week I've had, I find that impressive. :) I'm not sure what adventures I'll get to go on this weekend, but I can't wait for them! I'm ready to do a little exploring! :)

busy. Busy. BUSY!

      As you might have guessed, I've been really busy. I've been so busy that busy doesn't seem to be a strong enough adjective.  Things have been a little on the crazy side.  My mentor teach went out of town last weekend so she was gone Friday of last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week.  Because she wasn't going to be in school I had to prepare lesson plans for Algebra II AND Pre-calculus.  In that time, I got observed by my supervisor twice.  I've been teaching all day at school, staying late to help students, going back to my apartment, planning lessons and grading papers, going to bed, waking up before the sun so I can get to school early and do it all over again.  Needless to say, I came home on Friday after a long and stressful week at school, put on my sweats and hunkered down for the weekend.  I was too pooped to be overly social and just felt like a little down time would do me some good, so I stayed in and enjoyed the me-time.

      This week it's been more of the same. Going to school early, teaching all day, staying late, grading papers, and planning lessons.  This week I've also written my first test.  I'm giving it on Friday.  I'M GIVING MY FIRST TEST EVER ON FRIDAY! and I'm terrified.  I'm worried about my students.  I don't want them to do poorly.  I'm so nervous for them. A little piece of my heart breaks when they don't do well on their daily quizzes. This is a test.  It's a much bigger kettle of fish.  I have a feeling I'm going to need to have a little ice cream handy when I'm grading them this weekend.  My mentor teacher is going out of town again this weekend, so I'll be back behind the big wheel Friday and next Tuesday (thank heavens for a 3-day weekend!).  I guess in this case the test is a good thing because it gives me a little extra time for lesson planning so I won't feel too swamped...I hope. Wish me luck!

Yesterday? Don't ask. Today? Much better.

      Yesterday was the roughest day of school yet.  I had to reteach synthetic division because there was some miscommunication and misinterpretation last Thursday.  The kids weren't happy and I could tell that some of them just don't like me at all.  My mentor teacher even pointed out that she could sense a mutiny brewing.  That was less comforting.  When I asked her for suggestions of what I could do to avoid a catastrophe she had nothing.  It wasn't that she didn't have suggestions.  It was that she didn't think they would work.  I left school feeling discouraged and very low in spirits.  I felt like a failure in every sense of the word.  I went up to Anna's for a little therapy session with Ben and Jerry's and Edy's.  We both vented about our days and encouraged each other and then changed the topic to happier things.  I decided to pray a little harder that night about being a better teacher.
      Sometimes, the answers to our prayers is "No" but this time the answer was "Yes".  Things still were far from perfect but there was much less tension in the classroom.  I even felt like the kids that didn't like me yesterday were on my side today.  The pace of the lesson was much slower than I am used to, but it was more of the pace that they are used to and more comfortable with.  So after a fairly successful first period, I was able to breathe easy.  We had a school-wide field trip to the GWU Women's basketball game.  The game was a nice break.  It made me miss the Marriot Center and Jimmer-mania a little bit but I enjoyed myself.  From that field trip we went back to school and reported to fourth period for which we went on another field trip to Georgetown and measured the height of the Old Stone House, a historical building in the middle of Georgetown.  We walked to and from Georgetown in the rain but I didn't mind.  It was fun to be outside and it gave me time to bond with the students and with my mentor teacher.
      I came home from school and went to my seminar meeting.  We all shared our successes and our concerns and gave each other advice.  It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one that was having hard days.  From the seminar I went home and started working again.  I wrote a quiz and graded some papers while I watched a movie.  I got a lot of phone calls from home which were greatly appreciated.  It's nice to know that I'm not forgotten.  Plus talking with loved ones just makes the distance between us seem so much smaller. Ten more weeks and I'll be home!

The weekend and Parent-Teacher Conferences

      Saturday ROCKED!!!  Really, it was one of my favorite days since I've been out here.  I spent the whole day with Anna.  We met a very cute black boy on the Metro on our way to see some sights.  He was adorable.  Almost as soon as we got on, he started trying to talk to us.  We were playing with him and laughing the whole time.  He even came back and sat on our laps.  He stole a little bit of our hearts with his smile, his laugh, and his friendliness.  His parents joked that we were too old for him.  I wish he could've stayed with us the whole day but alas we ended up going in different directions.
      Our first stop after we got off the Metro was the White House.  We got a little lost but we eventually found it.  We took pictures of both the north and south sides of the building.  What  I wouldn't give just to be important enough to go inside there for lunch one day.  I bet they have the best lunches.  :)  From the White House, we walked to a park where we found a huge statue of none other than Albert Einstein.  Many pictures were taken here to demonstrate our love and admiration for good ol' Albert.  Once the photo shoot was over we went the the War Memorials in the Mall.  It was overcast, but it was a beautiful day to be outside seeing the sights.  When we got home we grabbed a few not-so-healthy snacks and watched "The Devil Wears Prada".  After the movie, I went to the temple with our ward.  That was a really cool experience.  There we were driving along the dark road in the fog and rain and we came around the corner and WHAM there it was, glowing above the darkness of the trees.  The lights lit the fog around it so the air around it looked like it was glowing.  I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful sight to end a wonderful day of sight-seeing.
      Sunday seemed really long.  I went to church, came home took a nap and still had half the day left.  I tried to be constructive in my time use but it still felt like the day was dragging on.  I think it was just because I was inside all day.  I was super excited that the Giants won the Super Bowl, even though I didn't win any money from the family pool.  I was glad I could watch it on my computer and feel connected to them as they watched it together at my grandparents house.  I don't like missing out on things, but this made it feel like I wasn't missing out on too much, just the food...and being with each other of course.
      Today we had Parent-Teacher Conferences which meant that I got to sleep in again.  That was FABULOUS! but I'm not gonna lie, I was really nervous about meeting the parents of my students.  I thought for sure that they wouldn't like me.  They all turned out to be really nice though.  It helped me understand my students a little better and get to know them a little more by getting a small glimpse into their home lives.  There wasn't a single parent that came in that wanted to point the finger at me or my mentor teacher.  They all had positive things to say about what we were doing which was very reassuring to me.  Because Parent-Teacher conferences didn't start until noon, I was at school until almost 7.  I hurried home, ate a little dinner, gave myself a little time to unwind, and jumped right back into lesson planning.  It never ends!! That's alright. I'm really excited for tomorrow. I really hope it goes better than last Thursday. Oh and I got a letter from my lovely pen pal in Indonesia, my dear roommate Leah.  I love getting mail! :)

A Whole New Week

      Whoops!  I got a little busy, a little sick, a little tired and forgot to write. Sorry.  I'll try to make up for it now.  Let's go back in time to last Friday.  School was school.  I taught first and third period.  My supervisor came and observed me during first period.  My lesson was decent, but I did recognize a few things that I could do better.  I think third period went a lot better.  After school I walked to CVS, bought a few snacks for our trip to Gettysburg, and jumped on the Metro to go to our supervisors house for our weekly meeting and a sleep over.  I got to the pick-up point an hour before everyone else and about five minutes after the wind.  So I spent that next hour getting chilled.  I started putting on all the clothes I packed for the weekend just to stay warm.  We finally all got there and got picked up.  We ate dinner, had our meeting, watched "The Great Debaters", and went to bed.  I got to sleep in a big, comfy bed, and tried my best to not snuggle Anna too much.

     Saturday we all got up, got ready, loaded into the cars and drove to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.  It's the site of John Brown's rebellion.  It's also the place where the Shenandoah River meets the Potomac River.  The historical part of it was neat, but the scenery was beautiful.  I could've spent all day just looking at the river(s).  From Harper's Ferry, we drove to Gettysburg.  We hit the museum first and then did an audio tour in our cars.  We got to the battlefield just as the sun was setting and my camera and I went nuts.  We had the radio playing on the way back home and naturally I was singing along.  I tried to sing quietly.  Anna joined in for a lot of it too.  She's a girl after my own heart.  A few times we were harmonizing with each other and other times I was belting a solo of Celine Dion songs.  It was great fun!

      Sunday, my cold started to hit.  I was just feeling a little congested and really tired.  Our home teachers came after church.  They're swell guys.  I'm excited to get to know them better.  Monday was a little rough at school.  I woke up feeling even worse.  I got observed during first period again and it wasn't my best lesson.  I ran into a few speed bumps that I wasn't expecting and it really slowed us down.  It got better as the day went on though.  I went home and took it easy until FHE.  We made homemade donuts.  Yum!

      Tuesday, things were a little better at school.  I gained a little more confidence and tried really hard to apply the things that I learned the day before.  My cold had settled in by this point, but I stuck it out.  The weather was beautiful!  The sun was out and shining brightly and the temperatures were in the 60s.  It was great!  I came home from school, went to the grocery store, did my laundry and discovered the joys of Skype.  It very well might be my favorite form of long distance communication.  It makes big distances so much smaller.  I'm hooked!  Wednesday was a pretty easy day.  I only had to teach first period and it didn't seem to go to poorly.  I wasn't feeling very good at all, but I made it through the day.  I went home from school, took it easy, and spent some more time with my new friend Skype.

      Thursday was just a rough day all around.  The kids were disrespectful and they didn't understand synthetic division.  I left school feeling like I caused more damage than I did good.  The storm of disrespect and misbehavior wouldn't have been a problem if they would've learned it.  I knew that bad days were inevitable but I really took this one personally.  I felt like it was my fault that things went wrong.  Luckily my cold was getting better.  Otherwise I fear it would've been the straw to break the camel's back.  I came home from school, took a mini nap and prepared myself for a 3-day weekend.  The idea of having a day off made everything a little easier to bear.  I went to the gym, watched the BYU basketball game and went to bed.

      And that brings us to today.  There was no school for the students because it was professional development day and my mentor teacher told me I didn't have to go.  So, that meant no school for me either. Yahoo!  I took the opportunity to sleep in and have a personal day.  I ate my breakfast, found out I'm going to have a niece at the end of June, ate lunch, painted my nails, watched a movie, and ate strawberries with cream and sugar.  For dinner, my roommates and I went to a theater that serves you dinner while you watch your movie.  Why haven't I seen more of these?! It's dinner and a movie in one stop.  We saw the new Muppets movie.  It was hilarious!  Definitely a must see for every inner-child.