Overwhelmed and excited

I am both overwhelmed and excited at the same time. I am super excited about starting my new job in less than 2 weeks. I mean, technically, I have already started, but according to the school system my first day is July 29th. I am so glad that I have been able to meet with the staff, get some resources, and have a meeting about my curriculum over the past few days- but I am still overwhelmed. The more I get into it, the more work I realize needs to be done. I am such a perfectionist and am so thorough in everything that I do, especially those things that relate to work, that I am just bogged down with it all at the moment. There is so much to be done over the next week and a half, and I just dont feel like I have enough time to get it all done.

What I really think my problem is is the fact that I need to just chunk this down into more manageable pieces. I am currently so swamped because I am thinking about the entire year and what this is going to look like, when in all honesty, I have no idea what this whole thing is going to look at it. A more realistic approach would be to look at it and take the first few weeks and attack those first. Once I have a realistic, working expectation of what is to come, then I can worry about the rest.

Expect a lot of job update posts to come in the next few days/weeks, because that is all I will be thinking about.

All over the place

I know its been awhile since I have actually taken the time to really BLOG- but life has been pretty crazy and when I get a spare moment I like to CRASH! So without further ado, here is a very random post to update on my life.

1. I sort of started running again. I have been like 5 times over the past two weeks, and I wanted to go today but I had a very strange pain in my foot. boo. I looked for a race to train for again and I found several that I feel are too soon to try for, but there is one in July that I could do either a 5k or a 10k. Obviously with that sort of time frame (approx 18 weeks), I would try for the 10k, but if all else fails I could always run the 5k? I think this is a very realistic goal. Once going over in my head, that means I would need to add a mile every 3 weeks- which is a VERY workable frame I think if I work at it. I'll play around with the idea a little bit more and get back to you.

2. I really need to do SOMETHING about my weight. I have an endocrinology appointment at the end of March to see what the heck is going on with me. Hopefully getting back to running will help, but I really think I need to be SUPER strick about what goes into my mouth and my liquid intake. I know I am not drinking enough water, I know that I eat things I probably shouldnt, but I have really been trying to be "good." I am just very afraid that if I dont find out what is going on and SOON that I will become diabetic or have a host of other problems that my family has a history of. I mean, I havent really GAINED any weight, but with the efforts that I have been putting into it, I havent LOST a whole lot either. A few pounds, but not enough to justify the means I guess.

3. My internship is in full swing. I spent my first full day alone-alone with the classes on Friday and I think it went well. I have one full week (out of three) under my belt. I have been exhausted this week, but not quite as badly as I would have anticipated. I have really started to tighten the reigns on my class that I have been working with this entire semester, but that is a post for another day.

4. I have started my teaching blog, but I think it will have to wait until this "full time" internship mess is over with to really get it started. If you would like to follow- the blog is here. I plan for this to be a blog to catalogue the funny moments, the challenges, the a-ha moments, and everything else that comes with the territory of being a teacher. I also plan to include some of my brilliant (if I do say so myself) plans. It should be good stuff.

5. I know I am super behind on posting my project 52 pics as well. I have some of the pictures taken, but I just havent had the time to upload them to my computer and all. Soon!

6. I am taking the praxis II next weekend for middle grades English- I really need to start studying!

I think that's about it right now-

Just a few thoughts....

~ I am thinking about starting a teaching blog to archive some of my lesson/classroom ideas. I think this would be a good way to have a place to come back to for a refresher on some of my finer ideas and hopefully serve as an inspiration for other teachers who may be struggling or need a small dose of inspiration. Thoughts?

~ I have nothing on the books this weekend and I LOVE it! I am going to use this weekend to hone some of my lesson plans, work on my resume, work on my portfolio, and relax with the pupster- all while watching movies and/or Friends. It should be a productive, yet restful weekend. I may even have a sleepover with my little cousin Jon because he has been asking and asking me to have a sleepover. We'll see how that goes!

~ The more I am here, the more I like the high school that I am at. I am really getting into the groove of things here, meeting new teachers and forging professional relationships with the faculty and staff this semester.

~ Last night I tasked my Dad with making me something similar to those office mailboxes for my classroom. I have seem them as a way of organizing, passing back papers, and keeping materials in the classroom in several classrooms and I.want.some! Granted, he has time because I won't have my own classroom until at least August (and hopefully that is the latest!), but I want to get him started on it so he can make them to my exact specifications :)

~ I want to plan a vacation for the end of this semester or the end of my program (about a month and a half apart). I dont know where I will go or who will come with me, but I want to go somewhere!

~ I received my I Heart Accessories package yesterday and I love it! I can't wait to post about my goodies and link up with other swappers!

I think that's it for now!

Teacher Talk Thursday

I am linking up with Snyder Stories this week in the "Teacher Talk Thursday." I was so excited to see this link up start up last week, but I dont have a classroom of my own quite yet so I had no awesome organizational tips to share. This week, the theme is "Show and Tell" and THIS I can do :) My Show and Tell is geared more towards high school because, well, thats what I teach, but I can still play along!

Last year, I was working with 10th graders. In North Carolina, 10th grade is the year that students focus on writing because they have a standardized writing test at the end of the year. I let my 10th graders watch "The Freedom Writers" and read them a few excerpts from the actual book to inspire them to get creative with their writing. As an extension to the movie, I gave them an outline of a person. On the outside of the person, the students were to write 5 prejudices/outside forces that could negatively affect their lives. On the inside of the person, the students were to write 7 things that they LOVED about who they were. Some of them turned out great!

This one isn't much in the way of color per-se, but the student obviously put a lot of thought into the assignment!

I'm looking forward to other people's show and tell. Even though most of the participants are elementary school teachers, I still got some great ideas last week!

Internship

So yesterday I went the entire day without facebook! (It's ok, you all can gasp now...) and you know what? I did not miss it one bit. Granted, yesterday as a crazy busy day between the internship and then high tailing it to Greenville for a meeting and class, but thats ok! I think maybe I should restrict FB to the weekends (at least for now while I am in this internship), but we'll see how THAT goes!

I "taught" my first class yesterday. I know I talked entirely too fast when going over the Course Outline and I am sure the kids were resentful of the fact that I gave them a reading assessment on the first day, but what can you do? I wanted to go ahead and get that mandatory assessment out of the way so that we can move on to bigger and better things in our class. I hope that I did a good job of explaining that I want to have fun with our class, but there are certain things that we *have* to do which aren't so fun. I tried to emphasize that, when possible, I would make the activities fun and relevant. We will see how today goes because there will be actual instruction instead of all that housekeeping!

Happy Tuesday!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Rain, Rain Go Away,

Come Again Another Day

Today is day three of rain- incessant, non stop, lousy rain. I was sick this weekend and into yesterday morning, another tonsil flair up and now that I am better and eager to get going on my running, it is RAINING! On the running note, I found out a group of faculty from the high school that I am interning at have also entered the Bridge Run that I am doing in October and they invited me to join their team :) Yay!

I am teaching my first lesson next week. I am teaching a lesson on theme and am having lots of fun coming up with ideas about how to present it to the kids. I will keep you updated on my strokes of brilliance when it comes to teaching the youth of NBH about theme!

1st semester of grad school almost complete!

This weekend was full of homework and even fuller of avoiding homework :) I had to do a massive amounts of work on my unit and plan for my stimulated teaching today. Let's just say had I actually paced myself with this unit, it wouldn't have been so bad, but my procrastinating ways got the best of me (and I had been doing so well with the whole keeping myself ahead of the game thing). I had three lessons to do, two lessons to correct, a unit rationale to write, a pre-test, a post-test, worksheets, assignments, and so on and so forth... blah blah blah. I found myself often doing everything BUT working on my unit: going to the movies, cleaning, doing laundry, going for a run, lunch with my parents, orientation at AE, watching the boys, etc.

Even though I procrastinated a LOT this weekend, I did manage to successfully get my unit completed last night and then this morning I worked with a fury to make all of the copies needed for my stimulated teaching

For my stimulated teaching, I did a lesson on existentialism. I had my "students" do part of a webquest, then I did a prezi presentation (a pretty awesome one if I do say so myself), and then began The Stranger with them. At first I know I said waaaay too many "uh"s but I got the hang of it again eventually. I think overall it went well and I am REALLY glad that this semester is almost over. I just have a behavior project to do, some computer work, and two tests and I am DONE until August 24th. Summer break, here I come!

I am on the hunt

for new "teacher" clothes. I was instructed to dress like Charlotte from Sex and The City because she is both modest and stylish, qualities admired in teachers.

( ok so maybe not SOOO modest here, but still very cute)

So I am very excited to find this online boutique called Shabby Apple that has very stylish, sometimes modest, dresses that appear to be of very good quality. My favorites are

The Nine to Five

The Frida K

and

Fifth Ave

Of course I like others on their site, I am not sure that I have come across one that I DONT like, but I am trying to be practucal for both my wallet and my career.