Sunday, November 23, 2008

1st Semester Update


I can't tell you how exhausted I am. It has been a fun, but rough start to my teaching career. I still have a lot of self-doubt that I am actually teaching my students enough or anything. I have also had many frustrating days where I am not really sure this is for me. Thankfully God provides me with some really great teaching days along with the bad. I really enjoy my students. This 9th grade class has some serious behavior and respect issues. It seems as if half of my students are always in In-School Suspension(ISS) or Out-of-School Suspension(OSS). I have to send work down to the students in ISS. I have had as many as 6 students in ISS at one time. That puts a lot of extra work on me.

My classes have just finished reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. They really enjoyed it. I have now read the book 4 times in the last month. Once on my own and then with each of my classes. The students will take their test over the novel on Tuesday -right before Thanksgiving holidays. After the test, I am planning to share Mr. Alan's Thanksgiving Carols with my classes. I hope that many families throughout Dublin will participate in singing and spreading the joy of the Thanksgiving Carols.

My apartment is coming along. I purchased a dark wood round dining table and chairs. I have also hung additional artwork around my apartment. After I finish the office area, I hope to tackle the space that I am calling my craft room. I need to get my Cricut machine set up in a more permanent place so I can continue to make things for my classroom. I got my hair cut into a bob style. I am enjoying it. Chloe is doing well. She loved seeing Emily and Ms. Jan when they came for a visit earlier this month.

On a sad note, my mom's dad, Granddang, passed away on November 7th. Yesterday would have been his 89th birthday. It will certainly be a hard Thanksgiving this year b/c he loved this holiday. His wife, my grandmother, is home from the rehabilitation center and hospital, but can not do anything for herself. My Aunt is in Florida taking care of her on a full-time basis right now. My mom is going down to FL for Thanksgiving and then she is going to stay the week after to give my Aunt Net a break and a chance to go home and see her husband in NC. I can't even begin to imagine the stress that my mom and her siblings are feeling. Thankfully there are four of them so they are trying to share in the responsibilities. So far no major disagreements have erupted between the siblings.

I am on the last push to the end of this semester. After Thanksgiving, I have 3 weeks until Christmas break and then 1 1/2 weeks after Christmas before final exams and the end of the semester. We are going to be finishing our research paper projects, reading and discussing Romeo and Juliet, and completing a public speaking project. My students also want to see the movie based on the novel The Outsiders and I told them we would try to work it in near the end of the semester. I still have two more formal evaluations coming up. I am looking forward to meeting a new group of students next semester. Some things will certainly be done differently next time. I learn a little bit everyday and overall I still love it. Just be glad you didn't ask me on Friday if I loved teaching or not....you would have gotten a different answer.

Love you guys! Give me a call sometime!

1 comment:

Margaret Knox said...

Cute house! I hope next semester will be smoother for you.

We missed singing Thanksgiving carols with you. I don't think we sang even one this year. You need to come up for Christmas caroling.

Sorry to hear about your granddad. We will pray for your family caring for your grandmother and for your grandmother.

We need pictures of your new hairdo. Some of Chloe, too.

We miss you!

Love always!
Margaret