September 09, 2008

The sun is shining again

As it turns out I did survive last year.  The summer wasn’t really anything special.  I spent time looking for a job and hanging around waiting for someone to call for an interview.  The interviews never happened.  I applied to every school in district 25, 26, and 28 and didn’t hear from one school.  So it was pretty frustrating.  Then I got a call from my principal a week before school began and as it turns out she has an opening for me.  So I am teaching fourth grade again.  I am teaching an inclusion class with both special education children and general education children.  I am teaching with a special education teacher.  So as it turned out, I got the class that I wanted.  So I got pretty lucky.  So this is week 2 of school and I am loving it.  I have never been so happy. 

The students are absolutely fabulous.  They are just nice, kind, considerate children.  I have a good feeling about this year. 

June 25, 2008

So

So this is it, tomorrow is the last day of this awful school year.  I can’t believe I’ve actually survived it, if I can make it through tomorrow, of course. 

I can’t even describe all of the crap that I had to deal with this year.  I’m not even going to try.  I will say this, I know that I am a better teacher because of everything I dealt with this year.  I know how to deal with many issues with students and I can handle any parent problem.  I feel like I really learned a lot this year. 

In other news, I found out two weeks ago that I am being excessed from my school yet again.  So now I am taking home all of my stuff, sending out resumes, and trying to find a placement on my own before the city places me.  It’s not looking good, because of all of the budget cuts.  I will do whatever it takes, to try to get a new school before the first day.  If I don’t I will have to go back to my current school and substitute there.  I would pretty much rather do anything than that.  I think I might be ready for a change. 

April 08, 2008

Update from me

I wonder why going to Graduate school is so expensive.  I wonder why they don’t offer more courses for graduate school study.  I’m trying to figure out what I want to go back to school for, but I can’t seem to figure it out and $800 a credit is so much money, I definitely, don’t want to make the wrong decision. 

Right now, I’m leaning towards going to Hofstra University and doing a dual program in Literacy and Special Education for inclusion birth- grade 2.  I’m not really interested in Literacy, but I feel it is important and that it will help me.  I’m interested in inclusion, but I’m not sure if I was teaching in this setting, I would want to be the special education teacher.  Although, it may help me to teach in this setting as the general education teacher. I’m waiting to hear back from a few other schools for more information, but from what I can tell, Hofstra has the program I’m most interested in. 

Other than looking into schools to better my education, I am also updating my portfolio and my resume, just in case, you never know what will happen. If a teacher comes back from maternity leave, and/or they close classes because enrollment has dropped, if coaching positions are eliminated.  I may not have a job at my school next year.  I don’t think this will be the case, but you never know.

I can honestly say, that the school year is coming to a quick end.  I can only hope it continues at the pace it has been the last month or so.  I am so ready for my summer vacation.

In two weeks, I’ll be on Spring Break and on my way to California. 

March 31, 2008

Ugh

3 more months until Summer vacation! 

I’m going to California for Spring break....

January 31, 2008

Can it get worse?

If I get moved to fifth grade next year I don’t know what I will do....I’m starting to get a little scared.  If I have to teach science for more than 2 periods a week next year, I don’ t know what I will do.... I’m starting to worry. 

Did you know that I am apparently an awesome science teacher?  Who would have thought, being as I hate science and all.  Not to mention I’ve always failed science and struggled with it my entire life. 

I thought things could only be better next year, but after meeting with my principal, I think there are ways it might be worse.  Then again I don’t really know what she is thinking.  I guess I have to wait and see what the future holds. 

January 24, 2008

Just so you know....

It’s definitely not getting better.  Five more months to go, feels like it’s too far away. 

December 07, 2007

Maybe it's getting better

I had the best day yesterday at work.  I think it may have actually been the first day this year that I enjoyed being there.  I was helping DM do his essay, I’ve been helping him write essays for about a month now, and he just wasn’t getting it.  I was getting very nervous about the ELA test in January.  So I helped and he looked at me and said, “I get it now.” I believe he has said this before.  So later in class I gave an essay to the class and off they went to write.  I went over to DM to see if I could assist and he told me again, “I think I get it now”.  So I went to help other students.  I went back to DM and sure enough, he got it!  I was dancing around the room I was so happy.  He really did get it.  Granted, he didn’t answer the correct essay question, but he did write an essay on the story we read.  Now I just have to teach him how to answer the question.  I had a teacher pushing in to my classroom to work with three of my students.  KB who can’t read well or write well, I was working with that teacher.  I was called over to read her work, and sure enough, I was able to read what she wrote.  She made a break through.  Again I was so excited.  I don’t know, it seemed like things started to click for them yesterday or something.  I also have been doing a read aloud with them, and they are so interested, that they would love it if I just read all day to them.  Every single one of my students is paying attention and with mouths opened waiting for what will happen next, a few even have tears in their eyes, I love it!  Not to mention, their behavior has been better, so I can accomplish so much more in the day. 

This was a busy week at work.  Every day this week, we had visitors come into the classroom to talk with my students.  They didn’t mind it so much in the beginning, but I think they were glad to see this group go away today.  I know I was. 

November 18, 2007

Looking forward to thanksgiving

Open school day was actually a success!  There was only about 7 parents in all who showed and no one really stayed very long.  Again the parent who I was worried about for parent teacher conferences, didn’t show up this day either.  It’s all very strange.  I only had two parents there during one of my “real” lessons.  It was a test prep reading lesson, which was actually very successful.  It was actually much better than I anticipated. 

Now I just need to make it through the next three days. It should be a pretty easy week.  I was told that I will given a substitute for a few periods to do some grading.  The good news is I have about 10 of the tests graded, which means I will probably have free time. 

November 15, 2007

stress

One more day of hell and then two wonderful days.  This was one stressful week and the most stressful day is yet to come.  Parent teacher conferences actually went pretty well.  The one parent I dreaded the most didn’t even show, she says she’s was “sick”.  The other parent who I thought it was possible, I was going to have to ask her to leave, actually was overly nice.  I heard today she’s been on her best behavior and staying away because she yelled at a teacher and was given some kind of a warning.  This is the kind of crap I am dealing with everyday.  I had four parents not show so now I have the pleasure of rescheduling.  It’s very annoying. Yesterday, one parent came and I was with her for about 45 minutes.  Everything this year is so time consuming.

Tomorrow is open school day.  It think I have about 9 parents coming.  I just hope they didn’t take the day off of work and plan to spend the whole day with us. 

November 04, 2007

Hello November and goodbye too.....

My report cards are almost done!  I typed up all the comments and pasted them on the backs.  Tomorrow, I have to write in the attendance and the number of books read.  Other than that, they are finished!  (Unless of course, my principals sees something she doesn’t like and I need to make changes.)

I’m pretty excited, Tuesday, the students have the day off for Election day. It would be much nicer to have the day off, but a day without students is pretty stress-free too.  Next Monday we have off for Veterans day. Next Tuesday, I think are the parent teacher conferences (which sucks).  Next Friday is open school day, where parents are allowed to invade the classroom for an entire day.  Then before we know it, it is Thanksgiving. 

I’m living month to month.  I just try to make it through the month and look forward to the following month ending, just waiting for June to arrive.  This is by far my worst year so far.  Everyone tells me that this is the year that I will grow as a teacher and this is the year where I will learn a lot.  All I can think is, this is the year that I wish was over.