End of another week

Last week was rough. Between meetings almost every day (before school and sometimes during my prep..grr) and fearing that my laptop died I am glad that it is over, and there is a new week starting. This weekend I set goals to get more unpacked, but teaching got in the way. Saturday I spent 6 hours grading, and tonight I went into work to get stuff done. However I did just get my last box of books unpacked (yay!)

This included my first phone call to a parent. It was not an overall negative experience, but it will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

Friday was payday..thank God! After work I went out with some teachers for an early dinner (like before the early bird special early) and some drinks. There are two groups of teachers at the school, the group I tend to hang out, and then the older teachers. I have nothing against the older teachers, but some of them are just plain mean. They are mean to students and other students. Right now I am trying to stay away from negative Nancys, and some of those teachers just need to move on with their lives. Not all of the older teachers are mean/grouchy. There are a few that I like, and enjoy eating lunch with them.

I picked a mentor teacher. She has been teaching one year longer than I have, but she is the teacher that I go to more than anyone else so I figured that she should be the one getting paid to listen to me. We are both teaching English. She has only eighth grade, where as I have a mix. We are planning on meeting at least weekly to coordinate what we are doing in class. I should also say that she is older than I am, and has three kids. So it is not like I am choosing someone that is only a year older than I am.

Okay well I need to pick a book to read during class...any suggestions?

my new place

I have recently relocated to a small town in Indiana. I have a great apartment that I can decorate as I wish. I have never been able to decorate just the way I want to, which is very overwhelming. The bedroom is already painted Boilermaker Gold. It isn't my favorite color, but for now I am not focusing on my bedroom, but the rest of the apartment that I spend most of my time. My awesome landlord is allowing me to use a love seat until I move out or by one of my own. The love seat is an olive green color. I really love the color green, and I am growing very attached to the color brown. I am using these two colors as the base for how I want to decorate. There is a little arch way between the living room and dining room that houses a closet and I want to paint that teal.

Above is the bedding I found at bed bath and beyond today. The bedding is from Nautica, which translates to more money than I wish to pay for pillows, or sheets. Since the rooms have hard wood floors and dark wood trim I am not going to paint anything brown in those two rooms.

In other news I now have a nice queen size blow up mattress for guests. Yay! My parents came up this weekend to help me unpack, and we got a lot done. There is still a lot to do such as my office and the rest of my clothing. I have chairs for my patio, which is awesome.

Okay well "Planet Earth" is on so I am going to watch that, and maybe write some lesson plans.

I guess I need to up date

Well I got the job. My position is going to the school board this morning, and then I will sign my contract. This was the end of my first week of full time employment. I am very pumped to continue this year. This first week has been me struggling to tread water in the deep end of the pool so to speak.

The schools are redoing their English curriculum which is causing the three middle school English teachers (including myself) to try to figure out what they want. Luckily the school is open to helping me and I am trying not to stress out too much.

The students are great. The community is small, which is also different for me. When I first drove downtown to see my new apartment I thought of the towns in the UP minus the lake. I literally have a Main St. address which I love. In other big news I got cable this week and internet so I feel reconnected with the outside world.

I have opened up and unpacked like 6 boxes. Mom and Lynn are coming up this weekend to help me unpack and bring up more of stuff. The place has hardwood floors how awesome is that?! The one down side is that there is now AC, and until last week that wouldn't have been a problem. But of course once I got rid of AC the temps hit the 90s. Today it is beautiful outside, and I wish I was sitting out on my balcony, but alas the door knob fell off the door and I can't get out there. Did I mention the building is on the older side?

I really like the staff at the middle school. They have been really nice and welcoming. I am making friends with other teachers, and such. I am hoping to get involved with extra curricular soon.

Well I've to get stuff done!

Avoiding

So I might possibly have a teaching job, but nothing is set in stone. Regardless I have the text books and the curriculum mapping and I need to start writing lesson plans. I hate writing lesson plans. I know I make them more difficult than they need to be. For example I have everything timed out down to the minutes. Each activity has very detailed instructions, because one never knows when they are going to call in sick. Instead of writing lesson plans I have decided to blog.

On an really exciting note I bought the complete collection of "School House Rock." Now I am not old enough have seen them new, I am most definitely old enough to see the repeats on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup. I miss cartoons in the morning. They had some great shows, like science court, and Pepper Anne. Where did those shows go?

And here I go again talking about TV....back to real life...

In preparation for this possible job I started looking for a new place to live because I would have to relocate. I found a great place to live should this all happen. And it was a garage that I can park my car in. It is a very cute place, a "Juli" place. If this happens I will post pictures of the final project because I get to paint and decorate as I wish.

In one of my education classes we had to write a paper about our "writing processes." Which involved thinking about what you do to start writing, what you do while you are writing, editing and then the final product. I never thought of myself has being picky about how things are done, but I definitely have some quirks when it comes to writing papers, lesson plans, short stories etc.

1. I need the TV on or my iPod. I cannot work in silence.

2. If my room is messy I have to clean it before I write. This is probably more of an avoidance, but it is just part of it.

3. I have to be in comfy clothes.

4. I ALWAYS handwrite my first draft. I know a lot of people can just sit down and start typing, but I have to start by hand writing. This comes in handy as an extra editing step as I type it out. I prefer to write in a notebook so I do not lose pages. Today I had to run out and buy a notebook to put my first draft of lessons plans in.

5. Regardless of what stage I am in the writing processes I have to have something to drink, and usually something to munch on. While I was at Purdue this usually involved a trip to the Discount Den. Any of you (even though I am pretty sure I have no readers) that have been a student, or lived in the West Lafayette area know all about the Den Pops. They are giant sodas on the cheap, and on the walls are different recipes for mixes students do. Basically if you like soda that is the place to get them. I deeply miss the Den.

6. This is my last step I wait until the last minute to print off the paper. Yes I am that person winded in class clutching my paper. I could never find an open lab to print off my stuff, and I refused to use my printer unless I had no other choice.

Okay well I think I have avoided lesson writing more than enough for today.

My First Friday Fill In...because my night life is that exciting

(the words not in bold are my "fill-ins"

1. Ice water is my favorite summertime drink.

2. My favorite John Hughes movies is "Sixteen Candles." I first saw it way before I was 16, and I have loved it ever since. "Breakfast Club" is a very close second.

3. Walls are something I love to touch, I have a very OCD habit of running my hands along walls as I walk in public places, or if I am in a clothing store I run my hands along all the clothes. It's a weird habit that drives some of my friends nuts.

4. The full moon is okay I guess. Sometimes I think the whole "Full Moon" can be a little cliche, plus isn't there a "Twilight" book titled "Full Moon?" I really dislike those books.

5. I'm watching "Friends" right now because there is nothing else for me to do on a Friday night.

6. When daylight fades I turn on the lights because I am afraid of the dark.