Today it’s raining…

…and as a result no one comes to school.

Apparently there was an assembly scheduled this morning too.  I don’t teach first block so I didn’t have a class to take to the assembly.  I also don’t have an intercom in my room and when I heard some sort of announcement in the hall I didn’t really pay attention.  Apparently I was supposed to go.  Instead of going, I got all of my grading done, my progress reports written and analyzed and got myself prepared for class.  My organization is slowly coming along.  My inclusion teacher tells me I’m doing great with it, but it definitely doesn’t feel like it.  Getting up at 3:45AM to grade papers and make progress reports doesn’t exactly sound organized to me.  I also fell asleep at 5:30 yesterday afternoon and work up at 9:30 last night.  I guess I was tired.  The nap gave me a boost of energy to work, but only for a couple of hours so I ended up awake in the wee hours of the morning finishing up everything that needed to be done today. 

And then I came to school in the pouring rain and had 80% of my classtime taken away from me for an assembly.  (Also, most students don’t come to school when it rains) I guess it’s nice to feel like I had everything prepared had they come to class today.  Oh well.  I’ll get a second chance in my fourth block class and I’ll have a fun time on Monday giving my second block the make-up quiz!  Some of them were dissapointed with their progress reports and I had to explain to them that in order to pass they actually have to TURN ASSIGNMENTS IN!  One of my students got a 92% on his unit 1 exam but is failing my class because he didn’t turn any classwork or homework in.  Hopefully the progress report was a wake up call for them…

Hopefully I can write more about what/whre I’m actually teaching, where I’m living, and how life is actually going here over the weekend.  I’m hoping to get ahead a little bit but I found out that I have my certification class on Saturday for 8hours that I conveniently forgot about until Wednesday so we’ll see how far ahead I get!  Until next time…

When all your students are fully engaged…

…does that mean they’re actually learning something?  I wonder sometimes.  I was observed today by a couple of people who work for TFA nationally and somehow that got me energized.  I’d been telling myself for awhile that I need to teach with more energy but that was defnintely some motivation for me!  When they were here I was all about doing my checks for understanding, walking around the room making sure every student was engaged, and picking my battles that I would ordinarily get into with students very wisely.  Amazingly enough, without my nit picking, students came right in, got right to work, stayed mostly fully engaged, and we didn’t run out of time for what I had planned for the first time in a long time.  I am perpetually feeling behind.  I know it’s only week three, but have already noticed so many things I’ve done wrong, could have done better, and I’m really hoping to organize all of that stuff before the spring semester comes and I have two different preps to worry about.

Anyway, back to the point of this post.  I’m still not sure if they “get it”.  Yesterday they seemed to “get it” on their exits slips so I did a quick review and moved on, but today they weren’t able to respond quickly to my questions and during their exits slips I realized many of them are simply copying from their notes.  That’s not exactly what the point of an exit ticket is.  I need to do some better time management things so that I give them enough time to pack up their stuff AND to finish their exit slip without the crutch of the notes so that I can see how much they are actually retaining.

I was up late late…like I slept about 4 hours…last night because I was motivated to get some sort of vision for where it is I need to go with this class before the mid-term.  As I said earlier I am already feeling perpetually behind but I do feel like I have a better vision now and at least some sort of continuity between my units and objectives that I can teach more fluidly.  I’m hoping to get a better handle on the overal purpose and the long term plan over the weekend.  We’ll see how that goes. 

Tomorrow I have progress reports to give out.  My students who didn’t do so well on their exams and who haven’t come to class or done any of their homework might be a little shocked.  Maybe it will motivate them to do some work for me…

better get to class, the bell just rang

I think this is week 3…

I haven’t been keeping up with this blog.  And to go back now to try and update on everything that has gone on that I haven’t written about – moving to Philadelphia alone for 5 weeks in July/August, trying to get an actual job with the school district in Newark, and where I go/what I get to do in my “spare time” – would take far too long, so I’ll just start with what’s going on now.  If I ever get back to what has happened I’ll write about it here but for now, on days when I actually get to each lunch, I’ll write and eat for a few minutes to keep everyone updated…this is about the only way that I can because I’m not even sure if I can find any phone numbers to call people on my cell phone anymore.

If you can’t already tell, school/life has been overwhelmingly busy for this first year teacher.  In an attempt to not make this entire thing sound negative I will say that I love my students, love being in my classroom, love spending time planning for them.  However, it is completely exhausting to get up between 4:30 and 5 every morning and go to bed around midnight that night….repeat for the next 5 days and then do absolutely nothing but sleep an entire weekend away.  But this has been my life in the two and a half weeks since school has started.  So if you’re thinking of me, pray that I get some sleep and somehow learn how to be a more efficient teacher.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m teaching two classes of Chemistry.  I teach all seniors.  My largest class has 17 students in it when they all come, which is often.  They have made it all the way to their senior year and they are motivated, if by nothing else, just to get out of here.  The biggest problems I have are a little bit of chatting during my “SILENT” do-now and students who are motivated to just get by but not go above and beyond that.  I gave a unit 1 test today.  In my Block 2 class the average was a 61%.  Bummer.  Apparently I’m not doing as well as I thought I was.  We’ll see how things go in my 4th block class…

oh the joys of diagnostic testing…

This is just a super quick post to say

 

What is a teacher to do when she gives a diagnostic test and finds out that one student can’t read and the only thing another student doesn’t know is the definition of ENDOTHERMIC

 

Should be a fun year of differentiation!

I promise to post more about the joys of teaching as soon as I’m getting more than 4 hours of sleep a night!

Rebbeca

Wedding pictures!

Sort of anyway. You can view the album our photography designed as well as browse (and order) your own prints from his website. You can contact him and request your own album tailored to your side of the family/relationships too! Exciting and WAAAY late. Sorry. The Thank You cards are still on the To Do list so keep an eye out for those!

http://www.approvemyalbum.com/albumphotos.asp?won=1502210&accountid=99595

Password: lonetreephoto

http://www.weddingimagesonline.com/categories.asp?won=1493216&accountid=99595

Settling In

While Rebbeca has been in Philadelphia struggling against all odds in the name of equal opportunity education, I have been struggling against….well, pretty much nothing.

John, Rebbeca, and I left from Duluth on a Saturday, we drove straight to Philadelphia and got Rebbeca checked in on Sunday about two minutes before she was late. By the time John and I made it to our apartment in Newark and got everything unloaded, it was just shy of Monday morning.

It was dark by the time we started bringing everything into the apartment (second floor) and we were grateful. Even at that hour it must have been pushing 100 degrees. The clothes I had been wearing for the last three days became soaked as if I’d fallen in the ocean from all the sweat. Having only caught little naps here and there since I awoke at 7 AM on Saturday, ate pounds of various sugars, and drank gallons of caffeinated beverages, my body was less than pleased with hours of getting moved in. Granted, I live in a safe area of Newark, but leaving a ready-to-roll trailer full of everything I own (and married into) until morning seemed unwise.

It was these conditions which caused a very unfortunate chain reaction of events. Few people are aware of a slight condition I have involving exercise. I myself didn’t even know about it until I joined the Marines. It turns out, whenever I begin pushing my body beyond it’s comfort zone, I vomit. Usually it begins with dry heaves, but eventually progresses to something being ralfed. After I get it out of my system, take two deep breaths, I am fit to return to the task at hand. I’ve grown quite used to it and have learned to manage it. In the past, as I began to push my body past its limits, the vomit tolerance would increase in regards to it’s allergic reaction to exercise.

However, I don’t push my body like it’s a young enlisted man anymore. I treat it with dignity and respect, something I’m gradually starting to regret. On this fateful night, I lay on the hardwood floor in sopping clothes fighting the “allergic reaction” and sipping water. I succeeded and decided to change into something dry, like pajamas (because I was going to pass out).

However, as I passed my face through the t-shirt, I nearly lost the battle. The horrific smell of my clothes and body invaded my nostrils and my mind nearly exploded with my stomach. I managed to keep my innards down until I was wearing my shorts and in the bathroom. At this point, it was mostly under control, but I knew from experience the slightest thing could put me over the edge and it was best to get it over with on MY terms.

So as I bent over the toilet, I flexed my stomach to try and push it out. Unfortunately, what got pushed out was the raunchiest flatulence I’d ever experienced in my life. That was the “slightest thing” I needed to get this over with. As I puked up all the Mt. Dew, Reese’s Pieces, and water from the last few hours, the smell was more than just lingering. It hung so heavy in the heat and humidity that you could have politely asked it to go on it’s way and it would have replied, “Nah.”

So this evil cycle of the smell making hurl which makes me fart which makes me keep hurling which makes me keep farting went on for eternity. Eventually I realized that, since I’ve been dry heaving only the last few minutes, I could just go in the other room and dry heave a bit and pull the plug on the cycle.

Once I was out from under that blanket of stench, I was all better. It’s neat like that sometimes. John also commented on the smell when he entered the bathroom…twenty minutes later with the fan on and window open…

Exercise 2 – Set Big Goals

So, I’m pretty behind on the pre-institute work. I think planning a wedding, getting married, going on my honeymoon, and preparing to move might have something to do with that. My husband has been gracious enough to take over most of the planning and packing for our move – with the exception of everything I need to bring to institute so I’ve got most of the next several days to do nothing but read for TFA. I don’t like putting it all off to the last minute but with no other choice the silver lining is that at least it will all be very fresh in my mind come next Sunday! I’m getting excited!

06-07-08

Now that I’ve actually had some time to reflect, I better post a few pictures from the big day!  The week before was absolutely insane since I’d been traveling up until then and I ended up doing a lot of things at the last minute.  PTL for friends who stayed up late and did EVERYTHING for me that I needed!  It truly was amazing and we had an amazing day!  I’ll post the rest of the day in pictures:

Many thanks to wonderful friends for these great pics!  Sorry about the size and quality of some but I have a lot of  pre-institute work to finish up by next week so I don’t really have time to fix all of it!  It was a perfect day!

May Days – In June

So, I believe I have some updating of this little blog of ours to do and you should be seeing several posts in the next few days regarding everything TFA and life!

In May I spent 5 days out in Newark for what is affectionately known as May Days among the Newark Corps.  It was so great to be there and finally put faces to all of the people that I’d been communicating over the past several months.  One benefit of being a first deadline corps member is that you have a lot of time to get to know people and get as much information about Newark as you can!  The daily session consisted mostly of learning about the achievement gap in Newark and about what we, as teachers, can do about it on a daily basis.  There was also all manners of paperwork, testing, and figerprinting to get done in order to be a teacher in New Jersey as well as plenty of time to just hang out and get to know one another before the intensity of institute hits us all like a ton of bricks.

After my classroom observations (an entire post in and of itself) ended on Friday afternoon I met up with my then fiance, now husband, and a current TFAer and her husband for dinner and a little league baseball game as well as some house hunting.  We spent all day Saturday house hunting and visiting with my mentor for the fall and WE FOUND A HOUSE!  We were so excited when we walked in and looked around, realizing that it was exactly what we had been praying for and at the way that God continues to provide for every one of our needs, even the little “requirements” I had for a place to live!  Sunday was spent relaxing, eating local neighborhood foods, hanging out with the mafia, and flying home relishing in how excited we were to begin our life in Newark!

..for the work to which I have called them…

“In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” Acts 13v1-3

Throughout the process of pre-marital counseling, planning a wedding, and preparing to move across the country to start a new life, it is easy to lose focus.  It is easy to forget the perspective with which we are called to walk this Earth and to forget the purposes behind the mundane and the stressful times.  It is easy to get wrapped up in needing a place to live, needing a car to drive, needing clothes to wear, needing to meet people, that we forget who the provider of all of those needs is in the first place.  This process of learning wisdom and discernment, of seeking counsel and truly discovering the life to which God has called us is not an easy process but as we know, it is quite the adventure.  Our life may not look like the cultural norm and everyone may not agree with what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, but we remind ourselves often that it is God who has called us to live this sacrificial life, it is Him who has placed His blessing on our lives and given us the greatest opportunity of a lifetime – to give up everything for Him. 

When we need encouragement we look to the words of Luke in the book of Acts and remember that we are not the first ones to leave everything behind or to face trials of many kinds, but that we have the love and support of those who sent us.  The joy and blessings that come in following God’s purposes and callings on our life far outweigh any comfort zone or box we might find ourselves trying to fit within.