Returning to the classroom

Monday morning I went with eager anticipation to my new classroom.  Due to some portable shifting and new building projects, I was able to vacate my portable last year and move into a “real” classroom.  Now, there are several reasons this was exciting:

1.  There are cabinets in the real classrooms!

2.  All of my friends at work were in real classrooms, and I can now wave at them instead of beg them to walk all the way to the other side of campus to see me!

3.  The staff bathroom is right around the corner!  I will have time to run there during passing period rather than wave down a campus supervisor out of desperation.

4.  The office and copy room are right next door.  I will no longer have to make a trek every time I want to copy or need to talk to the secretary.

5.I am next to the quad that is actually lighted.  The portables were in the dark, and I was always sure I’d get jumped over there one day.

Now, the reasons why I am not as excited about this new classroom:

1.  I has already been broken into.  5 computers were stolen, but have no fear, they were returned as the hooligans left them and ran when the cops came.

2.  My windows line the hall to the lunch area, therefore, everyday during 8th-grade lunch, I will battle for attention.

3.  Because my windows line the hall to the lunch area, I will be putting contact paper over 90% of them.  This means that when Mr. Admin comes to check on me, I will not have the warning I used to have.  Though I’m not really worried about it, it was always nice when the kids would freak out and become immediate angles when they saw him coming.

4.  I will not have supreme control over my a/c & heater as I did in the portable. The district tries to save  money by regulating this stuff.

5.  Though my room does not have a sink (which I wish it did), the others in my pod do.  Therefore, we attract roaches.  So, I have the roaches but none of the perks.

Oh well.  All in all, I’m happy with my new classroom.  Went in and did about 4 hours of decorating and arranging desks.  Didn’t open any of the stuff I really care about yet, seeing as I have already been broken into.  I’ll leave the really good stuff until school actually starts.  Since I don’t even really want the computers that are in my room, I didn’t really care that they were stolen.  It’s just the thought that someone broke into the area with all of my stuff.  And though I now have cabinets and a file cabinet, nothing in the room locks.  I’ll be buying something to keep the cupboards locked up (right now I’m using a really stupid bike chain that I don’t like).  Anyway, I’m going to a big teacher supply store tomorrow with a couple of friends from work.  I’m sure I’ll find lots to spend money on =).

I hate grad school

You’ll have to excuse me, but this is just going to be a brief moment of crying about the “horrible” situation that is my life for (hopefully) only the next six months.  If you don’t want to hear whining, skip this blog until I can come up with something more positive.

Alright, I know I am blessed.  God has given me a husband, a job, a house, a cute little dog, a loving family, and an infinite number of other blessings.   I even have the privilege of being in graduate school right now.  I know there are others who do not have such an opportunity and would like it.  I also know that I have been blessed with the mental capacity to complete a Master’s program.  I even go to a Christian school and am learning from one of the greatest people I have ever met…but she is a slave driver…and I say that with all the respect possible.

It is my summer “vacation,” and I easily spend 5 hours a day doing homework.  I was supposed to be virtually finished with my thesis at this point of the summer.  However, I have taken the Greek Mythology class from Tartarus!  Thankfully, I am plugging through my final term paper for this class this week.  Though it is one of the worst papers I have ever written, I don’t care.  I just need it to be done.  As long as I can get the required “B” for the class, I don’t even care about grades anymore.  They don’t count at this level unless you plan on going for a terminal degree, and I’m sure we all know by now that I am clearly not doing that anymore!

I will finish this paper by Thursday, go camping this weekend (where I will need to do some reading for my thesis), send it for review next week, and work furiously on my thesis all of next week to send for review again before we go to Colorado.  In Colorado, I will answer all of the freaking discussion questions for Greek Myth class as well as read some more books for the thesis.  When I return, I’m sure I’ll have lots of comments on how much more work I need to do for this chapter of my thesis before I can be yet another month behind…oh, the joys of grad school.

Getting Ready for the New Year!

So, here’s a question.  How much time do you spend in your classroom before the year starts?  Also, what do you do in your room during that time?  Since I’m still pretty new at this, I’m looking at how to better streamline the process.  My first year, I didn’t know anything, and only went into my room when I was told to.  I quickly found out that those “teacher work days” at the beginning of the year are full of meetings and I was not able to finish what I needed to in my room.  Last year, I went in a couple of days early and got everything decorated, but I still didn’t feel quite mentally ready for the first day.  As husband and I are going on the impromptu trip to CO, I’m going to go decorate my room next week and then have about 3 days when I return to prepare other stuff.  So, what’s your pre-school year ritual?

IPhone in Education

Ok, I’ve got a question out there for all of you on the very edge of technology.  What could I do with an IPhone in my classroom?  I know I could put my grading program on it and give out credit as I checked off student work, but other than that, I don’t really know.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely know I could use it a lot.   I’m just trying to justify saving money for and buying one for the next school year.  We are saving for a move after all, and I kind of want a tattoo…

A Practice Trip

So we’ve officially “planned” an impromptu road trip to Colorado to check out where we want to move.  The fact that we have the freedom to do this makes me love my job.  Who else has the vacation flexibility of just up and going on a vacation?  My husband is still a student, so he’s got the same vacation as me.  I’m sad that this is his last quarter in school because he will soon join the rat race that is the workforce, and next summer I will enjoy the freedom of no work on my own.  Anyway, we’ll be going to CO for one or two weeks in early August and come back about a week before school starts.  I’m SUPER excited! Since I’ve only lived in my parents’ house and next door to my parents’ house, the though of moving a few states away is huge to me!  I’m not even sure of really how to move.  This being our first trip out there with the intention of moving, we’re not really sure what we should accomplish.  I’m in the process of applying for jobs and getting to know the school districts, but it really won’t be until after I get a job that we start seriously looking at places to live.  This will be just a great exploratory mission, and I look forward to sharing it all here!