My first week as a teacher

I have now been a teacher for 3 days now! I can say my experiences have been, well, for lack of a better way of explaining them, learning experiences. The first day went great, the second day was not the greatest, and today- aside from a few classroom management problems, was great. I am really enjoying the teaching part and really hating the classroom management part. I am not very good at being a disciplinarian... Maybe this is why I have no kids (just kidding- but an interesting thought!). I am excited to see how things progress as I get deeper into this whole experience. I am grateful for an STE (site teacher that I am working with) that is VERY supporting and encouraging... and at the same time I am grateful that my other (I have 2) STE has pretty much given me the reigns and let me run with it. I never realized- ok, I got a bit of a clue last semester but only a small clue- how time consuming it all is. I teach only 4 periods a day and yet I still have a TON of grading and planning to do every night... Guess I know what my life is going to be like for the next few years as I really get into this profession!

Anywho, so far so good... I am really happy it is Friday though! I hope you all are doing well and I will post again soon! Ciao a tutti!

Question of the day...

Ok, so I am not really posing a question I just needed a catchy title for the crazy story about my morning. I woke up this morning and was actually in a great mood and excited for the week- which honestly, never happens.. really- NEVER! I hate mornings... and Mondays... Anywho, so got all ready to head to the Jr. high today and I go out to my car and start it up hoping it would be nice and warm by the time I got done scraping off the windows... Boy was I wrong! It was freezing! And because the heater was actually an air conditioner, I had a nice layer of frost on the inside of my car by the time I got back in... So I sat and waited for the frost to clear at least enough that I could kinda see out and left on my merry, freezing, way. I no sooner made it up the hill to the capitol building when I realized that the temperature gage was on the red and about to over heat. What luck... so what do I do? What any daddy's girl would do... Called Dad with the question of the day! We figured we just needed to add more antifreeze (which I had just added a whole bottle last week) but just to be safe, he decided to meet me in Salt Lake and follow me back to Bountiful. So after waiting at the nearest gas station for a good 30 mins, Dad arrived and we put antifreeze in the car and headed to Bountiful. By this time I was already an hour late for school/work (whatever you want to call it). My poor car! So after dropping the car off at the shop and all that jazz, I finally made it to the school. Luckily Mrs. A is great to work with and understands that life happens. Crazy day that is for sure! Thanks Dad- you are the best. I don't know what I would do without you! Man, I am going to be in trouble when I move to Indiana!

Anywho, I thought it was a great story for a Monday- but you would all be pleased to know that the rest of the day went great. I got a lot of planning done for my student teaching which I start doing full time next week. I am pretty excited about some of the lessons I have planned. I just hope I can manage a class full of 30+ 14 and 15 year olds! That is going to be tricky! So wish me luck!


Ciao a tutti!

So, yesterday was the big day. Test day. After a week of studying/ freaking out, I can finally say I have taken the PRAXIS. It was so hard knowing what to study for these exams because they cover such broad topics. I think I lucked out though. I have a great roommate that made me dinner almost every night and he cleaned the apartment "so it wouldn't be a distraction to my studying". I thought it was really nice of him. Debbie and Tessa surprised me on test day. When I went out to my car I found a cute card in the window.
Thanks chicas! That was really sweet and much appreciated! Thanks to everyone rooting for me!

I'm not sure how I did I just hope and pray that I did well enough to never have to relive the experience. It was brutal. My first exam started at 730 am and I was not done with the last one until after 4pm! By the time I got home I wanted to do nothing but sleep. Which is pretty much what I did- and it felt great! Now we get to play the waiting game- 4-6 weeks till I find out my scores... Lets hope and pray for at least a 160!!!