Hello Summer!

Ladies and gents, year one of teaching is in the books! My kiddos had their finals June 15-17th, my friend Ronny graded all of them on the 18th (I graded all her French 7 finals plus I had to grade 8th & 10th grade state exams for her too!). I only had two kids not pass for the year and only one kid not pass the final....both of which I knew was going to happen. I am going to miss these kiddos a bunch (some more than others!) but I am so grateful to be on vacation....because I need to study more for the CST.

But here's what I have been up to this week.

Monday was the 8th grade & 10th grade proficiency and Regents tests for foreign language. Needless to say, a big day for the LOTE department! My poor chair must have been a nervous wreck all day. I graded all the 8th and 10th grade Regents tests. It's some rule that you can't grade your own set of exams that are tied to a state test (but then it doesn't make sense that you can grade the SAME test for ANOTHER teacher...whatever). After the 8th graders took their tests and we had graduation rehearsal, I graded all of them. I actually went over to the HS because I needed the "read to write task" that is new and couldn't grade without it. 

Overall, the other French teacher's kids did well! Some of the 10th graders had me cracking up with their essays on Tuesday (22 kids X 2 essays each = 44 essays plus all the 8th grade with 2 each). I was snorting so hard at one of them. Looking forward to see what they come up with next year!

Monday night I chaperoned the 8th grade dance. I only knew a handful of 8th graders from the Academic Center this year so I was surprised that I got chosen to chaperone. Apparently its uber selective. I figured if I could make some extra money, why not. Plus, they fed us. It was interesting. Black was the girls' color choice for dresses that night. And I know I am getting old when I didn't know half the songs they played. Especially that "whip" one. 

Tuesday was Fun in the Sun and Chromebook collection. In our district, all students grades 4-9 have a Chromebook that is issued to them by the district. They have it for the school year and return it in the summer (to repair, etc). Teachers can do assignments on them in class and its great for Google Classroom (which I want to use more of next year). I only went to two activities in Fun in the Sun because I was excused to go grade at the HS. Apparently we need to rename it Misery in the Sun. In the span of 2 hours, we had one kid dislocate her knee (within the first 15-20 minutes), one kid barf from the heat, one girl get stung by 4 bees, one girl cut her leg. Glad I missed that!

Wednesday I chaperoned graduation at the HS. It was a really nice ceremony, paying tribute to our awesome security guard who is retiring and an aide at the middle school who passed away in December (her family lives in the community and she worked at the school for over 40 years). So sweet. It makes me sad for next year when I get to see my 7th graders from this year graduate.

Wednesday night I also went out to a retirement dinner for the lady Chere I shared a room with this year. What a sweet tribute. We went to this fantastic Italian restaurant, drank some wine, and just spent a memorable evening together. Chere was one of the first people to welcome me to JFK, could EXACTLY tell when I was having an off day and just wanted to offer that hug a mom would give their upset child and was just a lovely person. 

Myself, Chere, and Ilana, who was Chere's TA and is now replacing Chere. Sweetest girl! Wish I was sharing a room with her next year!  

My lovely co-workers...

Phyllis, Julie A, Julie H, Chere, Dina, Ilana, SueAnn, Myself and Deb

(This would be a perfect picture for the slideshow next year!)

Hard to believe year one is over. Thursday was our faculty meeting and saying goodbye. I am the nutcase that signed up for a 6 hour class on Thursday at school to get credits. Oops? I am also going to take online classes towards my steps. 

Other than that, I have nothing really stellar planned for a few weeks. I am only working Saturday and Sunday next week...perfect time to study for my CST that is in two weeks. And than I am seeing Taylor Swift in two weeks! Here's to the summer of 2015! 

Halfway through the first year of teaching

Yesterday was the end of second quarter at school. In a way to me, that seems super late but we just did midterms at the high school. The end of the second quarter symbolizes a lot of things for me and has made me reflect upon the first half of my first year of teaching.

During the second quarter, I covered a high school class for one of the HS Spanish teachers. She was due on Nov 8 to have her baby and I was suppose to "shadow" her on 11/3 to see how she ran her class. I met her 10/30. Halloween she went home from school, went into labor, and had the baby 11/1! They had a sub for that Monday and I started the day after election day. I still don't understand why they just didn't hire one person for all her classes (instead, 4 teachers at the HS and myself all took one of her classes over). My chairperson asked if I would do it and as the newbie, you just don't say no.

Teaching the high school class was definitely an experience because it was the first time I taught high school! Ha! I am certified to teach Spanish 5-12 but all my student teaching experience and the last two years when I was a TA, I worked in the middle school setting. Trust me, after the last quarter, I will gladly stay in the middle school setting! Don't get me wrong, the high school kids were definitely interesting and you get to teach more advanced grammar concepts. But my first love will always be the middle school setting. I only saw them Monday this past week (Tuesday-Thursday was suppose to be midterms but Tuesday we had a snow day and yesterday I went on a in-district field trip with my department) but it was definitely an experience. I am super happy to be going back to my normal routine come Monday!

The past few months have definitely taught me some things:

-No matter how many times you proof read a quiz or packet or SOMETHING you make to send to the copy center, there will always be that one (or few) students who finds something wrong with it. "Isn't there suppose to be an accent on here?!" Sometimes they make me want to pull my hair out with that and then there are times that I think "Well at least they know that there should an an accent there." (Sometimes when I make stuff on my Mac compared to using the school computer, the accents disappear or the page alignment gets messed up. It's all trial and error, folks!)

-Planning ahead is my biggest problem. I feel in my methods classes in undergrad (because we definitely didn't discuss this in grad school), unit planning was only briefly touched upon. One of my colleagues said that they generally teach a topic a week, introduction Monday, quiz Friday. She gave me the first 12 packets that they had made up and were on the share drive so that saved me about 3-3.5 months of work and all I had to do was make the quizzes. I think my biggest problem is just having everything made.

I feel like once I get everything made this year (and guinea-pig test it out on my classes) I can improve on it over the summer! Everyone always says the first year of teaching is the worst because you're just getting your bearings and as you continue on, it gets easier. Let's hope that holds true.

-I feel truly blessed to be working in the district I am in. I have a great department who is so helpful. By doing that one class at the HS, I got to know everyone there and it made me feel like this place was the right fit for me. One teacher saved my behind with sharing everything she did for the 2R class with me so in regards, I only had to make the power points. Any time I have questions, the other teachers are willing to help me out which is so wonderful. And my chairperson is super awesome. I was saying how I didn't have any of the teacher resources for the textbook that we use in 7th grade and that I was buying the unit resource books on Amazon. He went into the closet and gave me a TON of books!! Maybe I should have asked him earlier, ha ha. It's just so nice to be in a district where I work with such friendly people who are extremely helpful.

-I have never been more tired in my entire life than I have these past few months. There are some nights when I get home from school and just want to go straight to bed. Last night, I came home from working my second job and fell asleep with the dog on my lap on the couch. At 10:30. Real winner here! I don't know how I am surviving working at the school and the restaurant on the weekends, but I guess it is thanks to my good old friend coffee. Let's see how many more months this can last.

-My 9th period class is SUPER CHATTY!! People say 9th period is the worst class to teach. For the most part, they are good kids. There are a handful that no matter WHAT I do, WHERE I sit them, how OFTEN I call home/email parents, they don't stop TALKING. Yesterday, I was just about ready to lose my marbles. We share classrooms and the classroom my 9th period is in had a test in the other class so the kids were in rows. The kids in my class came in FREAKING  out ("We have a quiz today?!!!). They think they can just come in and do whatever they please and not follow the classroom routine "Do Now/Have homework out, Review hw, lesson, practice, closure" and I am tipping at my breaking point. I just may have to have the dean come in 9th period and talk to them (one of the Spanish/Italian teachers told me she did that for her 9th period class of 20 boys and 4 girls and it worked!).

-Getting to know your students helps so much. One of my students LOVES to watch Dance Moms. As soon as he (yes, he) found out that I like it to, he asks me every Wednesday if I have seen it. I know one of my 6th graders has a semi-acting gig. 3 of my other 6th graders are very talented. I enjoy getting to see what they like to do outside of school. Next week is our school play (Beauty & The Beast Junior) so I am excited to see some of them in it.

-There are just some days that require a glass or two (or a bottle) of wine. Enough said.

-I would not rather be doing anything else. I love that I can be creative and do fun things (I get paid to play Simon Says in another language....you can't complain at that!). While there are days that are frustrating, meetings to attend, paperwork to do, grades to calculate (I'll be doing that tonight), I would not change it for anything.

And now I am off to go create the rubric for my French class's family tree project and the webquest for the weather units!

{Surprise Baby Shower!}

Last Sunday, my co-workers and I threw my one co-worker Anjelica a surprise baby shower! Back in the fall when she told me she was pregnant, I came up with this novel idea that we, as a team, should throw her a shower. Anjelica is one of the SWEETEST people you will ever meet. She is a true genuine person that is always concerned about those around her. 

I approached my manager and he thought it was a great idea. He said he would cover the cost of the food and let us have it at the restaurant. I got two of my other co-workers, Danielle and Meaghan, to help me collect money from everyone to get decorations and drinks, etc. We thought we would have a hard time getting it from the guys but everyone forked the $$ over once we told them $10 would get them lots of food & booze!

We invited Anjelica's parents & her brother to see her reaction. Figuring out how to get her there was a bit tricky since she doesn't work nights. One of our managers Alyssa said we should tell her it was the high five meeting and we had to hype it up. 

We TOTALLY pulled off the surprise. Her fiancee brought her there and when she walked in, we ALL yelled surprise and she immediately started shaking. She had no idea that her work family could keep a secret from her for two months!

Danielle & Meaghan's friend make the sign for the baby's room and Danielle's mom made the diaper cake! 

Under age had to drink from baby bottles

 

The work family. We may be one big dysfunctional group but we work well together. <3

 

 

{moves like jagger}

Let's be real....this song has been stuck in my head the past few days. Tonight I was humming it at work. I was humming it in the shower. I was humming it as I heated up my dinner when I got home from work at 10pm tonight. For realz...."Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera is my new jam. Get it on your iPods, stat. You need to listen to it. It's just so darn catchy.

Last night was fun...I went to my friend Olivia's mother's 50th birthday party. I love her parents! They are seriously some of the nicest and genuine people I have ever met. Her parents make you feel so welcome in their home and her dad loves to throw a good party. I mean, her graduation party was catered and we were being served drinks in the pool. This time, the caterer had watermelon shots (SOOOOO GOOD) and a full bar. I had myself a little fun. Originally I stopped drinking at like 11:30 so I could drink water and drive home in a few hours. Then, my friend Shannon and I ended up going in the pool with two of our friend's brother's friends.....til almost 5am!! I think I got home and it was 5:15-5:30. HOLY CRAP. I was doing a happy dance I did not have to be at work til 5. It was a lot of fun though.

Work was incredibly slow tonight. I mean, I have been at my job for almost a year now (wow, really?!) and most Saturday nights we're on a wait. Never went on a wait. It just got to the point at 7:30 were all the servers were like "Really? This is what this shift is like?" I am just thankful I do not have to go to work tomorrow. I normally work Sundays and the occasional random Sunday off is spectacular! I do have to work Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat nights and Sun morning in this upcoming week...but thats okay because two days later, I am off to DISNEY WORLD!!! :) I just realized when am I going to find time to pack? I also informed my mother to not make fun of the amount of clothes I bring...it's going to be SUPER hot in Florida...we're going in August...yeah. Awesome.

Also, I have this strange desire lately for one of my friends to get married...mainly because I either want to be in the wedding...or go to it! So odd. So many people I went to high school with are now engaged. A good friend from college (she was a senior & friends with the RA in my suite my freshman year) just got married yesterday. I just love weddings. PEOPLE - get married so I can attend/be in it.

And speaking of weddings, have you ever thought of who would be in yours? I am almost pretty set on who I would want to be in my wedding. The MOH (maid of honor, duh) would be a REALLY hard decision to make...so essentially it's April (BFF from home) and Steph (BFF from college). Joining them along in my imaginary wedding party line up are Shannon, Heather, Olivia, Amanda, my nieces as the flower girls (or at least the youngest one...the older one will probably be a junior bridesmaid by the time I get hitched! HAHA) and nephew as the ring bearer. Why do I know this? I don't know really. I am just fascinated with weddings. Hence, why you will usually find me watching "Say Yes to the Dress" "Four Weddings" "Bridezillas" or anything wedding related. My friends all think I'll be a bridezilla when I have my wedding.....oh on the contraire, I think not!

Also, people are just dumb. I do not understand who puts a dog in a bag and takes them out to a restaurant. Now, I am all for dogs. Love them. Want another. And hey, if you have a small dog you can put in a carrier or something, more power to ya! I just dont get why you would wanna bring it to a restaurant. I saw this couple tonight walk from across the street to the side where my job is at the mall. In the bag I saw a furry white creature...aka their dog. Next thing I know, the man comes into the restaurant from the patio and goes "My wife and I are two outside. We need a table cleaned." Well this loveeeeelyyyyy people decided to sit themselves on our patio. Hello, I'd be more than happy to put you out there...if you are a NORMAL human who comes inside and asks. And why on Earth would you sit down at a DIRTY table? I know they have a dog out there and you are not allowed to bring a dog into our restaurant unless it is a service animal. We've had this happen a couple of times. I send my manager out there because I know I'm right. And off they went to go somewhere else. I honestly don't get it. I see people bring their small animals to the mall all the time. What is up with that?

Also, I sat through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 on Thursday. For the second time. Why? Because my boyfriend wanted to see it. And it was in Imax3d. His end thoughts? "It was all right." It was awesome...and makes me want to actually read the books now. I tried to read the first one way back when but couldn't get into it. Now I need to read them all.

Jersey Shore season 4 premieres on Thursday. The one where they went to Italy. So MTV is playing reruns of all other episodes all weekend. I am addicted like its not funny. Snooki is such a moron but it's really funny to watch. Who remembers the beach arrest incident? Tune in for a laugh if necessary.

This was so random. And so long. I want to add a pretty picture to my header. Do I have ANY idea on how to do that? Nope. NONE. Clues/tips/hints? They'd be GREATLY appreciated!

Happy Sunday!

Disaster Zone..

I'm usually a pretty organized person. I mean, when I applied to colleges, each college had a separate manilla folder with all the requirements for each school (SAT or ACT, Average GPA, deposit amount, deadline, essay or no, etc) on a post-it note on the inside. I live by Post-It notes so it worked wonders. The folders made the whole process of applying that much less aggravating.

Well, enter in student teaching. My life/organization got thrown for a loop and no joke, I ended almost a MONTH ago....and there are STILL clothes I have not put away. Why is changing your wardrobe from winter to summer (and even summer to fall, etc) such a DAUNTING task? I feel like it takes forever. Maybe it is because I get easily distracted....thanks Facebook & blogger, haha! I took all my sweaters from the closet where they were hanging (why I hang my sweaters i don't know) and threw them in a pile on the floor. No joke, I am so tired (explanation coming) and have to leave for work in an hour. It won't get finished by then. Whatever, Tuesday or something it'll have to be done. At least my two hampers of CLEAN clothes were all put away. :-D

Today I had to get up at 6am for work. The LAST time I got up anywhere remotely that early (usually it was between 5 & 5:30) was student teaching! We had a mandatory work meeting at 7am for the new menu rollout. I work at California Pizza Kitchen so in order for us to all meet, they made it that early. Oh, mind you I am NOT a morning person. We are taking a bunch of things off the menu and they're adding some new stuff to it. So, we got to taste it. Yes, we ate fried mac n cheese, bang bang shrimp (who doesn't love that name?!), habanero pizza at like 8am....waaaaaaayyyyyy too early for that. At least we got paid for the 2 hrs we were there! And since they want to advertise the new items and such for two weeks once it starts, we all get t-shirts to wear that advertise a new menu item. I think half the staff wants their's to be the bang bang shrimp one, haha. I know I do! At least I did not have to work after it. I do have to be there at 5 and I want to straighten my hair beforehand.

I saw The Hangover Part II on Friday and it was pretty funny. I swear the guy that plays Alan had probably the funniest lines in the movie! I had heard mixed reviews about it and people were basically saying it was just like the first one, just moved to a different city. And it was, but still a good laugh.

I have a unit plan due next Monday for one of my summer classes and I majorly need to work on it this week. Thankfully I dont have to work til five the day before it's due so I feel if I can get my massive closet organization done...or the majority of it done....then I'll be good.

Well, time to go move some of the disaster zone of clothes strewn across my room and get ready for work. Ciao!

It's the Circle of Life!

I am currently writing up my lesson plans to turn into the department chair tomorrow and to motivate me to work, I have my itunes playing in the background. "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King came on and I just love that song. We watched that movie the night before we went to Disney almost two months ago (man, it feels like FOREVER!)

Ever have one of those days where it seems like it is not going to be a good day when you get up until you go to bed? Yeah, had one of those days. After a not very good night of sleep, I had a long day of teaching. My 7th graders are usually well behaved. I have no idea what was into them today but they would not STOP talking. I dont think as a teacher you should really yell (or ever have to) at them but I was starting to get aggravated asking every 5 seconds for people to be quiet. Enough was enough. I think it aggravated my cooperating teacher too because he gave them a discipline homework assignment of copying all their vocab words 5x and if they don't, they get a lunch detention. Let's see how many of them did it.

The 8th graders on the other hand were actually more pleasant to teach. They weren't happy with their quiz grades but clearly, they did not study nor pay attention to the review I did right before the quiz which was the SAME FORMAT as their quiz. We went over all the concepts, then gave them their quizzes back and then they did a classwork ditto. Now, I want to teach all the 8th grade classes in my next placement.

Work was not super busy. The only Monday night it was actually busy was Valentine's Day. We have a revolving door as the main door in our restaurant (we do have another that only opens from the inside for strollers/wheelchairs/other instances) and little kids love to play in that door. It makes me sick watching them spin and spin and spin. And believe me, those doors are not the best...I have seen kids smack their hands on it, their heads, etc. I told this one little girl to not play in the door because she could get her because her fingers were really near the edge. Apparently this did not please the mother I was just looking out for her safety because she was such a snot saying something along the lines of "Well she was holding herself up in it so she wouldn't get squished." Umm....WHAT?! Lady, you're crazy. Okay, so next time your kid gets hurt, blame it on yourself, not us. Sorry. I don't mean to rant but you meet the CRAZIEST people working in a restaurant (like the ones who seat themselves because you're seating someone else).

I found out today I was accepted into the National Education Honor Society at my grad school. As a grad student, you have to have a GPA of 3.5 or better (combining your undergrad GPA and your grad GPA), and two full-time faculty recommendations. Yay, I'm excited!! I was inducted into the National Spanish Honor Society and National French Honor Society as an undergrad. Just another awesome thing to have on my resume. :)

I've got so many things to look forward to in the next few weeks/Months:
~new student teaching placement on March 28th...wow! I'll be sort of sad to leave this one.
~trip to New Paltz with the friends!!
~induction into Education Honor Society
~visit to my BEST FRIEND STEPH IN APRIL!!!!!!!!
~My mom's birthday :)
~My niece Emma's birthday
~graduating GRAD school!! (May 21st!)


Okay, for now, for real, going to finish my plans.

sleepless

Why is it, that when I have to get up early, I can't fall asleep? I'm like WIDE AWAKE and I have to get up in 5 hrs for school. UGH. And, when I can sleep a little late (like Sunday morning), I get up every hour?! My body needs to learn to deal with when I wanna sleep. :)

3 more weeks left in this placement of student teaching. And it's sort of a shame because I was just getting used to the school/kids. Now if ONLY my brother's friend would answer my email back. I'll have to ask my brother what is another way I can get in contact with him.

Speaking of student teaching, I sent my middle school Spanish teacher an email last week and was wondering if she'd ever respond. Friday at school during 9th period, I logged into my email to print something off for this week and she replied! I was soooo happy to hear from her as she was from me. Mrs. Reith was my Spanish teacher all three years of middle school (what a lucky duck I was!) and is the reason I want to be a Spanish teacher. In fact, I wrote my college admissions essay about her inspiring me to go into this profession and when I brought it back to her, it made her cry! I had hoped I would be able to do my student teaching with her and I wasn't able to...and in her email, I found out why. She told the chairperson (my other favorite teacher) that she would gladly take me on as a student teacher...but the chairperson couldn't find a high school teacher who would. I think the chairperson misinterpreted the memo because for my school, we don't have to do two placements (one middle school, one high school). We can if we want to, but for our certification, it isn't required. So I was kind of crushed when I read that. But, we're going to hopefully meet up this Friday at the Panera near the middle school/my house for coffee. :) It'll be SO nice to see her!

And in other news, my right thumb is still kinda swollen-looking. I worked again this weekend (gee, what else is new?!) and one of the servers (who I'm not fond of but whatever) turned around from one of his tables and ran SMACK into me with the stack of menus....and more like smack RIGHT into my right hand....bending my thumb. I thought I was going to cry it hurt but I kept shaking my hand and just holding it. I took some medicine (ibuprofen) and iced it when I came home and went to bed. It still hurt today and kinda hurts when I bend it. At least know I can use it to change gears in my car (I couldn't last night). I hope it's not broken or anything!

Now that my August trip to Disney with my brother's family is booked, we need to figure out a hotel. Anyone have suggestions for one that is not extravagant? It's the kids first visit and they are 6, 4, and 2 at the time of the visit.

Well, not an exciting entry but I promise to have one soon! I better get off to bed!

Not enough hours!

To me, there are simply not enough hours in a day to accomplish everything I need to do and everything I want to do. I knew student teaching was going to be a lot of work and even though it is only two weeks in, I'm just starting to plan now because I was observing for the first two weeks. Nothing is more refreshing than having no clue what you're doing, haha. i'm trying to think how I can make tomorrow's lesson fun (while still incorporating workbook pages)...and I'm at a loss...hence why I am up before 9AM on a Sunday when I don't have to be at work til 1. And I'm procrastinating. I'm the master procrasinator. Give me a prize, please. I know it will all work out. I have faith.

But, is it sad that part of me can't wait til it is Friday? I know it's pathetic but Friday is diversity day at school, so it will be presentations/no "teaching". It's also the last day before February break! :) That means the week after (President's week), I can sleep in as late as I want, even though I still have work at night, tutoring two nights, and class one night. But hey, I'll take it over getting up at 5:30/6 every morning.

This weekend is making me almost wish I didnt work as much. I need the $$ but seriously, worked Friday 5:30-10, all day yesterday and 1-9 today. They have two hosts because it is Valentine's Day weekend. Hopefully we made good $$ last night in tips. The servers were saying their sales were outta control. I work tomorrow night on actual Valentine's Day so let's hope it is busier than the normal Monday night.

Friday before work, I went shopping for more clothes for student teaching. It is ridiculous how long it takes me to find a pair of pants that will fit! I did find one in gray from Ann Taylor Loft (used my student discount!) but they need a little hemming...so just another thing I have to do on my vacation. I also found a cute peach colored shirt with little ruffles around the neckline. At NY&Co, all their shirts were buy one, get one 50% off. Plus, I had a promo code in my email spend $100 or more, get $50 off. So I ended up with 4 shirts, a necklace and earrings for like a little over $100 after the coupon! I was happy.

I have been wanting to re-dye my hair for months now and my mom finally did it for me when I came home from work last night. Here's a pic of it. Sorry for the silly face, it was late when I took it and thats how I felt after dealing with weirdos all day long at work! Kinda hard to tell the color because I used my webcam on my MacBook Pro but its a chocolate caramel color :)
time to go make my bed and hope it'll make me feel inspired to do my lesson!

Screaming Children = No Bueno.

I love children. I really do. It's part of the reason why I want to be a teacher...except I can't teach Spanish to kindergarten...not at least in NY! I absolutely ADORE my nieces Sara & Emma and my nephew Steven. They are three of my favorite people ever.

But I do not like screaming children! My job holds birthday parties in the AM before the restaurant opens and they are a hit. Kids get a tour, make their own pizzas, eat ice cream, lalala. Good $$ for the server who works it and for the restaurant in general. I walked into work today to 26 screaming children. Not at the top of their lungs but they had to be like 3 or 4 years old. TWENTY SIX. Plus all the parents spread all over the restaurant made it a fun task for seating people. Eventually, 45 mins after people started coming in they left. Of course they left the bathroom a mess but hey, thats the joys of being a child. I am sure I was not the most easy-going child when I was little. I mean, who is perfect? I was so happy when they left I did a little jig behind the host stand.

I do like my job because my co-workers are all awesome and the bosses are super nice. I'll miss being there during the day when I start student teaching.

In other news, I burnt my left thumb making SOUP. How is that possible?! I am an impatient person and can't make my soup in a pan on the stove. I want that instant gratification in 2.5 mins so in the microwave it goes. When I took the saran wrap off, heat somehow burnt my thumb. It really hurts and just proves I can't cook for myself. Oh, and that I am a spaz.

I have had this blog for a few days now and while I dont have many followers, I welcome anyone! I have discovered some blogs and want to be a follower but don't want to be "creepy." So if that happens, you can remove me or whatever but I want followers. Who doesn't love internet friends?! I am also finding this to be a GREAT outlet for my thoughts, knowing I'll use it a lot in the coming weeks when I start student teaching!

Student teaching...SCARY! I am excited and nervous. Prepared? As well as I can be! I originally had my major as secondary education/Spanish with a French minor in college. However, the school of education decided it'd be fun for the people in my major to pass 2 tests in order to student teach - 1 - a $150 phone interview to determine your proficiency in the language and 2 - a departmental assessment test for grammar, culture, and literary analysis. Clearly, they did not do that great of a job teaching us if all of us failed it. I tried it twice and the second time missed passing by 16 points on two sections. Everything was within reach. I cried and really thought I was a failure. All that legwork and they basically denied me student teaching. I dropped said major and just graduated with my bachelors in Spanish/French minor and didn't get to walk at graduation. No big deal...yeah right. That sucked missing it with my friends. However, now in grad school, a year from when I started, I'm going to be doing my student teaching and will be finished in May!!

My first placement is 20 mins from my house and my 2nd is with a friend of my brother's. I emailed him last week but haven't heard back so I'll resend him an email. I have an interview with the first district on Friday @ 9:30. Do I know what I want to wear? NO! I'll probably wear dress pants, a dress shirt and a sweater. I'm so nervous!!! I can't wait to meeting my cooperating teacher and my students. Hopefully I dont run for the hills after it!