Been a long time....

Well, I guess I got tired of writing since I haven't blogged since last May. That's the thing about me....I often start something or have a very cool idea and i try it out for a bit, but it never lasts. I am a quitter! Boo.

This school year has been busy. If I let this year determine my future in teaching, I would run like hell to the woods and never return. It has been quite a journey (and not necessarily a good one) although hopefully it has made me a better teacher. I loath how our kids treat each other and adults and think that it is okay...and well, I guess we allow it and show them that its okay so it is our own fault as well. Taking on 7th and 8th grade has been a challenge; I still love the 8th grade curriculum, but I am not to hip on the 7th grade curriculum....yet. I felt like we spent way too much time in the text book - which I hate - and most of our kids can't read well anyway, so what's the point? But I do love doing the group activities, if only I could get my lovely students to participate more and give better effort and really learn something from the experience. I do hope to teach 7th and 8th grade again next year and make some changes to help make the program better.

This year also helped remind me how very important family is to me. I love my parents and moved closer to them; I get to visit them a few times a week and we usually have dinner once a week....it rocks! I also love spending time with my brother....we will be going to the zoo quite soon to visit the new baby rhino here in KC....who is soooooooo cute. I also love seeing my sister and Pete and the boys....my nephews are amazing and they make me laugh and I love to cuddle with them. I wish we were closer in distance so we could spend more time together.

I guess that is where I am right now. As many people know, I shaved my head in December and it is growing back now....I even had a faux hawk today. It was super exciting, but I don't think I'll ever need to do it again. It's not exactly my style. :)

I keep contemplating this blogging thing. I don't know why I bother blogging because everyone who subscribes to my blog is someone who I talk to/see often or am friends with on facebook which is how I really keep in touch.....but I guess I'll keep giving it a shot here and there since sometimes I just need to write. :)

12 More Wake-ups.....

I am ready for this school year to be over....and if next year ends up like this one has, I will probably be looking for a counseling job! People really make me mad! Grrrrr! I have said multiple times over the past school year that there will come a time when I am no longer happy at my school and no longer feel like jumping through the hoops; the question is....how soon will that happen?

Lazy Days...

Today might very well be the first day in two years that I have had absolutely no grad school homework, grading, planning, or school stuff to do at all. Whatever will I do with my life now that grad school is over?

Today my plans include.....
~cleaning the house (ick)! I don't think I've thoroughly cleaned the house in a very long time. It never gets too terribly bad, but I probably do some deep spring cleaning.
~organize my grad boxes and get all my books, papers, and stuff put away. I may need it again in the future....if anything, I may loan it to a friend if they go through the program.
~read......yep, lots of reading....
~work out - I took the last four days off and it is time to get back in to my routine. I can't blame being fat on grad school anymore....now it is just laziness and poor choices. Rats!
~play on FB....I tend to do that a lot regardless of my responsibilities. Oh well.
~enjoy life.....it may not be too entertaining today, but I am surely going to enjoy it.

Took my state Praxis yesterday and will find out in about six weeks if I passed or not. To be honest, it was rather easy. There were probably 10 questions out of 120 that I really struggled with....hopefully I did as well as I thought I did and pass it. It is a pretty expensive test and I'd rather not have to re-take it. I'm not planning on looking for a counseling job right now, but since I had already studied for my comps to graduate, I thought I might as well take this test too.

Well, time to get started with enjoying my day.... I should probably do the cleaning and working out first since those aren't the most enjoyable.....we'll see.

Happy Day....

Well, it is finally the weekend. It has been a really long, difficult week. My grandpa died last Friday night and the viewing and funeral were in Iowa this past week. I rarely miss school, but I took 3 personal days to go up and grieve. The funeral was nice and peaceful and it was good to spend time with my mom and grandma and family; I have accepted the fact that he is in a better place and is at peace, but it still sucks.

Once I came back to school, the kids were nuts. They are out of control and being really rude and shitty! I am trying to stay patient, but sometimes I just can't stand their callous behavior. They treat eachother and the teachers like crap just because there aren't any real consequences for them. They don't realize that the behaviors they develop now will follow them through high school and beyond; I hope they are able to mature quite a bit before high school. There are about 20 of the 200 that I will really miss next year....that makes me sad that I won't miss more of them.

On a positive note, I passed my comps for grad school and it looks as if I will in fact be graduating May 1. I am super excited. I have to finish my portfolio, a portfolio paper, my practicum - 3 videos with 3 papers for each of them, and a social/culture paper. I stayed at school until 7:45 tonight with the plan to complete some of this, but I worked on planning instead. My jump drive wouldn't open on my school computer....un-oh.....could that be a major problem?????? I'll be fuming! It will all work out though. I can finish all my menial tasks this weekend, study this week for the Praxis this coming weekned, and graduate May 1.....then I am done for a while....woo hoo!

I guess that is all for now......enough venting and ranting and raving....life is too short, right? I'm sure I'll be back on the graduation note.....maybe I should be doing that now instead of blogging? :) Hmmmmm....

The Future

So, my teacher came by to see me at school today to touch base about my practicum in counseling.....and she thinks that I should really be searching for a counseling job for next year. She says I am good with the kids and that I can get them to open up and they trust me. I agree, but I don't want to leave where I am. I brushed it off and just said that I wasn't ready....life has been too hectic this year, but in reality, I LOVE my job! I teach amazing kids who make me laugh and cry and get angry and feel love for every day! Seriously....every single day there is someone who makes me laugh - usually a lot of those - and a few who make me cry (their lives suck sometimes and sometimes they are just awful people to others) and someone who makes me angry (usually the last hour of the day when I am exhausted) and someone who I love (because so many of them just need someone who cares about them because their home lives suck!). So, because I love my job, I don't want to change jobs.....I want to keep doing what I am doing because I think I am good at it and I am making a difference in their lives right now.....so why stop? I've also worked for administrators in the past that were less than supportive and didn't love their jobs or the kids.....and frankly, I am scared to leave a good job for something that could potentially be awful...especially with this job market. For now....I am staying put! It's been may years in the making where I can say I am blessed in many ways....including my job! Today - I love my life!

How to change a background.....

How in the world do I change my background to something not offered by google? Everyone I follow has such cute backgrounds...I want one too! How do I do it?

Happy Easter

Well, here I am again.... BIG NEWS! My sister and Pete adopted my nephews on Thursday. As it was April Fool's Day, I was worried the entire time that the birth mother would show up and change her mind....but that didn't happen. We are very blessed with the two boys in our lives. Dawn and Pete had a big party Saturday night with all of their friends that live at the lake and all the boys friends came over to play. It was a good time, but as I am not much of a partier anymore, I had to head home early. I could only handle so much.

Today for Easter, Dawn and Pete and the boys came over to my parents' house for lunch and family fun. I coaxed my sister and brother to play a little bit of Frisbee....and who knew my brother would love it. Every time he would throw the Frisbee to me he would use all of his might and I would have to run after the Frisbee. I don't think I actually caught it once....but it was a new experience that was a lot of fun. I love this beautiful spring weather.

On a sad note, I have decided to postpone my trip to Europe. I was planning on going for three weeks this summer, but with the economy, summer school might be cancelled and I will be nearly $2000 short for my trip. I will try to put what I have into a new savings account and add to it every chance I get....next year will be a for sure deal. I am so excited to venture out and see the world. I figure, as a history teacher, I should see some of the places that I teach my kids about. Personal pictures come in handy and capture the attention of 12-14 year olds.

As we are losing 5 positions in our school next year, I am looking at the possibility of teaching 7th and 8th grade Social Studies. I wasn't sure how I felt about that at first, but the more I think about it the more I feel eager to see what all I can learn. It will also be exciting to teach two different subjects to help avoid burn-out and boredom. I love teaching US History to my 8th graders, but I notice by my 4th and 5th classes of the day I forget what all I have said and start to get bored with my lessons.....if I am bored, aren't they bored too? If I get to mix it up and teach a few classes of 8th grade US History and a few classes of 7th grade World History, it should be quite interesting. It will also help my department do a lot of planning and grading together....which is what the district wants. We'll be quite cohesive. :)

I am still looking at graduating on May 1....I had to take my comps and I am not sure I passed. I should find out in a week or two. They were awful; half of the questions on the test were never covered in class. They were not in the psychology language that we were used to either. My teacher said she would take our complaints into consideration; hopefully it will be enough to boost my score high enough to allow me to pass. I am ready to be done with grad school.

As for this summer, I am still planning on taking a vacation somewhere. I'd really like to make it to a beach, but my parent's are offering their timeshare in Colorado. I guess I could go hike and white-water raft for a week. It's no Europe, but it would be a nice getaway. We'll see.

Hope you all had a happy Easter; He is Risen. God Bless.