Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there! Whether you're a mother, grandmother, godmother, aunt, sister, expectant mother, you're a mother figure to someone and they love you dearly for it. :)

I have a wonderful mother who I would not trade for the world. Granted, there are some times when she can be annoying, but isn't that a rite of passage? (At least that is what my mom tells me...I'll get to be annoying whenever I want as a mom when I have kids). And yes, there are times when we will fight over stupid stuff. But, my mom is probably my biggest support system. I will have days where I just cry because NOTHING is going right and she helps remedy that in some way. She knows I am so busy with my last few days of student teaching, the end of the semester, working, that I barely have time to do my laundry. While I was out at work yesterday, she not only did my laundry for me and put it in my room, she also took out my garbage that has been sitting in my room behind my door for like two weeks, no joke.

So to celebrate today, the family went out for brunch. It was an interesting scenario because we had to go early enough so my brother could be at work by 11:45 and so we ate at the Airport Diner. It was pretty good food considering I felt sick to my stomach from going out last night. It was my mom, Mark & my SIL Laurie, their kids Sara, Steven, and Emma, my brother Eric, my brother Brian and myself. My brother Scott did not come. I gave my mom her present when we came home and I got her a spring Vera Bradley purse in the Watercolor pattern. She loved it and thanked me that it was NOT blue (She has 3 other Veras and they are all blue).

Right now, I am taking a quick break from my lesson plans to blog. I'm so busy I cannot WAIT for school to be over. I need to register for my CST [still!] so I can eventually get certified. I need to register for the two summer special ed classes. I need to register for the fall as well because if all goes according to plan, I'll get the special education extension by February. I picked up my cap & gown Thursday with my hood. It is ROYAL blue! The hood is black with the school colors [blue and gold] on it. I graduate on May 21st....exciting and thankful I will be done!

Well, time to go back to lesson plans! Have a happy mother's day, y'all!

Mom & I in my apartment in Spain when she came to visit me back in March/April 2008!

It's Wednesday Love

Show what you're loving today! Heading on over to Jamie's blog for WILW! :)

#1 - I'm loving that in three weeks I will be in Georgia visiting my best friend, Steph. I've mentioned her several times. But seriously, I haven't seen her in two years so it makes me SOOO excited to see her. And when I say I need a vacation, I can't wait. Three more weeks!

#2 - I'm loving my new student teaching placement. I am still in a middle school environment, just in a different district. I'm actually in the district where my brother teaches, so I have a lot of his old students or athletes (he does girls tennis and baseball and at one point basketball). Plus, one of his friends is my cooperating teacher and another friend teaches in the building. Hopefully these connections will help me when I apply for a job!

#3- I'm loving that my friends and I are visiting New Paltz this weekend! I believe we are only staying for one night to go out and play in town on Saturday, but seriously, I'm excited. If it wasn't for my feeling that I had when I walked on that campus, envisioning myself there for 4 years (well 3.5 since part of a year was spent in Spain), I would not have met these AMAZING people.

#4- Her new album! I am a big Britney fan and saw her in concert at MSG in NYC two years ago. Seriously, it's on my ipod. Thankfully, I rarely have anyone in my car with me going from student teaching, to work, to school, home, etc...so I'm gonna BLAST this for the next few days. Also, she is playing at Nassau Coliseum this summer and even though its $115 with taxes for the CHEAP seats EACH, my friend and I are going!

#5 -
Jodi Picoult's new book! I'm reading it when I have free time [like when I eat lunch during my lunch period at school although I feel guilty]. I seriously only discovered her when I was in the Madrid airport, trying to spend the last of my euros and bought her book "Nineteen Minutes." Finished it in two days! She is a fantastic writer and I really like this one.

Now, tonight is my only night to go relax really so off to go shower and go read more of "Sing me Home" before I go to bed!! Happy Wednesday all! :) Almost done with this week!

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.

Winter break OVER?! :(

This past week, I was on winter break with the school I'm student teaching in. I loved it. Not getting up at 5:30am, sleeping and having somewhat of a relaxed schedule. Although,I still had my other school obligations for grad school and worked, it was nice to have a break from the daily grind.

Monday - Worked. And I'll be back at work tonight.
Tuesday - Relaxed, tutored, went into the city to see April and spend the night.
Wednesday - Went to the MET, came home,went to class, came home.
Thursday - Did a ton of errands I have been putting off for weeks. I basically changed my dentist appointment, scheduled an appointment to get my ID badge for my second student teaching placement but their machine is broke so they have to call me back, scheduled an appointment with the lung doctor as per my mother's request (now I just have to get a copy of my chest xray), went to the bank,did a little shopping. I also tutored for an hour, did lesson plans, tutored again and then went to the movies later that night. I saw "Just Go With It" with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston...it was pretty funny!
Friday - I hung out with Allison and went shopping before I had work. And then again, as usual, my friends and I went to our favorite Fri night hangout, Dave and Buster's. We'll be back again this Friday.
Saturday - I worked a double and seriously, by 7pm, I was ready to smack people. Some people that come in are just so rude it is not funny. I am really looking forward to when I finally get a Saturday off in the near future. I also got to see my friend Amanda who I haven't seen since Christmas.
Sunday - Worked and then came home and did lesson plans. I'm excited I have them all planned out for the week for the 7th graders, but no idea when he wants me to take on the 8th graders and I have to do that this week sometime because I only have a month left in this placement!

Seriously, I am dragging today. Already. It looks like it is going to be a 3 cups of coffee kind of day. Boo. Considering my plans are done for tomorrow and my PP for my lesson is done, I'm gonna seriously eat dinner and go to bed when I come home tonight. WAY too tired.

And now it is time to go hop in the shower and get ready for school. Considering tomorrow is March 1st, and I graduate May 21st (May 22nd if it rains), I am ready for school to be over! Haha.

And yesterday marked 25 years in heaven for my father. He went to heaven before I was even born, before my parents even knew they were expecting me. I've been told that I look like him and have his wits, personality, organization skills, etc. I know he would be proud of where his little girl is at now. I'm proud to know I have at least one angel in Heaven watching over me. :)

Life as we Know it

Today, I was kind of feeling blah. But not really til, I got home. My lovely cooperating teacher lets me come in at 8:30 so the extra hour I sleep is a HUGE difference. Although, I must buy creamer soon for my coffee because regular milk in it with my Splenda (I'll admit...I put a lot in! :X) does NOT do it for me. And as soon as I got in my car this morning, I realized I needed to get gas. It was starting to go below the 1/4 of a tank line. I didn't get it until AFTER student teaching. Whoops.

School is going good. I definitely need to speak Spanish to myself in places...the shower (haha), car, my friends who are also studying to be Spanish teachers, etc. I almost feel intimidated because my cooperating teacher is a native/speaks it perfectly. Today, we reviewed more time with the 7th graders and they get a quiz tomorrow. I'm a big dork but I love grading papers. When I have my own classroom, I can't wait to put stickers on them. HAHA. I did the "Hagan Ahora" aka "Do Now" with 5th & 7th period (2 eighth grade classes) and gave them the new chapter vocabulary to look up. I had to tell them more than half of them because they don't listen or don't want to do the work. I am suppose to be observed next week on Thursday. Here's to hoping it goes well! I hope I have that "natural look/feeling" that my cooperating teacher last semester said I had! (Part of me wishes I stayed, part of me is glad I moved on.)

I am a little annoyed about my seminar class last night. It goes along with student teaching and is suppose to meet 7-9:41(why 41...it is such an odd time!). However, the professor wanted to move it up to 5 which is fine because I have my thesis class before but it is really only when you need "help" with the last two sections of the paper. So we go there and my professor from my part-time student teaching seminar from last semester is there with her undergrad student teachers. Why am I annoyed? Because this woman made class like a therapy session last semester, kept cancelling it ALL the time, and I feel like I learned nothing! Put 8 grad students, 5 or 6 undergrads and 2 professors in a room and it was LOUD. I really learned diddly squat last semester. Hopefully it won't be too bad (I'm trying to be optimistic) but I honestly don't want to spend another $3000 for a class that doesnt benefit me!

So after school and tutoring today, I went to Target. I was looking for dress pants and any nice tops they might have for school because, I love Target & their prices. I needed new mascara (mine always clumps so fast!), dry-erase spray & eraser for my white board. As always, I browse the entertainment section. When I saw this movie, I had to buy it. I saw it on a date, loved it and love the actress in it. It definitely brightened my day. What movie is it?..........
If you haven't seen it, you must!

Time to go to bed. I am wiped.This weekend will be insane with work because of a tomorrow night, double Saturday and double Sunday. My brother (who has been teaching for like 15 years) said I am crazy for working while I student teach. I literally have 5 periods of the day I could plan (first - sit in the room & do it or go to the computer lab, 3rd during APP aka study hall, 6th during lunch, 8th during common planning and 9th when my teacher is free). My job isnt that bad (4 hour shift on Monday night) and then the weekend. I do have a money in the bank but I want some extra cash. I'm a bit of a night owl and can deal with a lack of sleep. Hopefully now that they hired a new host I wont have to work doubles on Saturdays anymore. But if I get Sunday evenings, I'll be happy because I can sleep past 12. I know I should focus more on lesson plans but I just took a look at the student teaching handbook and it doesn't seem that hard. All I know is after tomorrow, there are five school days left and then Feb break!! :)