They held my future in their hands.

Today was the day I have been dreading since the beginning of the year. The one day where someone (unknown to me) would walk into my room, watch me, and then decide if I had what it takes to be a teacher. For the past few weeks, I have been stressed and anxiety ridden, just waiting for this day to arrive.
Would my lesson show the assessor everything they needed to know? Would I answer all the questions with the right teacher jargon? And last but most importantly...Would my students behave like normal, rational, non 8th grade like students? My life/career was basically in their hands...


They were the GREATEST!! Although I am certain that their bodies and minds were abducted and replaced my aliens...but WOW! were those aliens impressive.
This is the one lesson that I would have loved to have video taped, so that there is evidence that YES, they can behave like the students teachers dream they could have in class.

Is your hair natural??

There are five days in the school week, and at least three of those days does not pass by without students saying one of the following phrases:

"When are you going to straighten your hair?"
"How long would your hair be if it was straight?"
"Why didn't you straighten your hair last night?"
"Is your hair naturally curly?"

Yes, after a few weeks this sing song of hair comments really gets on my nerves. The years I spent trying to avoid all discussions of my hair, what it looks like, and why it doesn't look normal, to then go into teaching where I am the center of the students focus...is a little strange.

One of these days though, when the weather permits (i.e., no humidity, rain, etc) I will give in and spend the two and a half hours to straighten every last curl, that will freak them out!

Rorschach v. 8th graders

We are reading Flowers for Algernon in class. Charlie (the main character) is subjected to many different tests including the Rorschach Inkblot Test. I thought that it would be a great idea for the students to make their own inkblots and then make up a story about what they see. Sounds great, right? I gave each student white paper, they folded it down the middle, and I went around with black paint. A few drops on the paper, they fold it back over and "rub" the paint, open and voila you have an inkblot. My first class does pretty well... the whole "rub" the paper thing was a little too much for them, as it was for my second hour class. However in second hour, one poor girl opens her paper and what to our eyes appear.... a piece of the male anatomy! Oh yes! The class was in hysterics. You would think that a real live naked person had just walked into the room. AND then... when I told them that they would have to write a story about their inkblot...again the class rolls with laughter.
Hormones... really they provide so much day to day entertainment.

I survived the first TWO days!

Two days into the week, and there (thankfully) have been no castastrophes. WOO HOO
The schedule is pretty messed up because of mounds of paperwork, schedule changes, and generally just trying to get everyone where they are supposed to be. I can't wait until I can actually focus on teaching English, and not doing the latest warm body count. :o)

What a little Elbow grease can do!

Well... After a couple of weeks, my room finally looks like a classroom. Don't worry... all of those boxes are not mine. My room was lucky to become the storage room for teachers transfering to the school. As a new teacher I would never have THAT much stuff to put in the room.

So this my room now. The desks are facing each other for now... it gives me a little runway to walk down. It might not stay that way forever but for now it will be easier to learn kids names if they are in assigned seats and in rows. I teach 8th grade English. Its my first year and I am a little nervous. I wanted to make my room fun but not in a childish way, I mean we are working with kids in the 8th grade... to them they are practically adults. We'll see.... I let you know if they say anything. According to the rest of the teachers on my team... I do have a pretty fantastic room!

I saw my classroom!

It was really the moment I had been waiting for.... to have my VERY own classroom! I went by the school today to check it out, and for a first year teacher I feel extremely lucky. I have two windows, multiple whiteboards, and the room itself is quite large. There is a lot to be done before school, but I have pictures and a diagram of the room, so I will be prepare and walk in with a plan!

I also found out last week that I will be teaching 8th grade English.... I am SUPER excited! I have tons of ideas and look forward to the fall.

No More Interviews!

After worrying for what seemed like FOREVER... it finally happened! I got a job... and one that I can get SUPER excited about. I will be teaching in one of the four main school districts... and teaching in a middle school!
For the past couple of months I have been stressing, second guessing, and wondering if going back to school was such a great idea... Along with those stresses... I would hear teacher horror stories about how they got their first jobs.. and basically not to worry until the end of July. Yeah Right...

But alas... I had one and only ONE interview... it went fantastically... and was with a school district that I really wanted to work for....

So now the rest of my summer can be spent relaxing.... planning... and now stressing about the First Day of School!