Extreme pain, Rushing, and Reviewing

I feel like the month of April has flown by! Somehow spring break ended and school just jumped into high gear. My algebra classes are now in two different places because the two different schools take the exams two weeks apart from each other. For the past few weeks they have been on the same schedule, but starting this week, until the end of the year, they will be doing different things, which means more planning for me and more balancing so that I know what day it is and what the heck I need to be doing. It should be interesting for sure.

The past few weeks at school have been full of teaching every last minute item under the sun! I think I relearned statistics in order to teach it. Some of the stuff they are expected to learn in Algebra 1 I didn't learn until AP stats, or at all, in all of my math classes, so it made for an interesting few weeks.

And then my head decided it would be a good time to attack me, literally. Starting a little over 2 weeks ago I got a migraine, that didn't go away, despite everything I tried. I'm at the point where I can handle pain. I've had a headache every day for 8 years now, this isn't anything new. But when it is a full blown migraine I take my meds, try to sleep it off and want to avoid any light or sound for a while. That is a very hard thing to do when you teach high school and are surrounded by fluorescent lights and loud children. So I spent the first weekend taking my normal medicine, getting as much sleep as possible, doing as little work as I could get away with, and being an overall bum. And when that didn't work I went to work on Monday and taught as if nothing was wrong. I spent a week trying to pretend that I was fine. I tried stronger medicine and when that didn't work I got a little worried but knew I had one more trick up my sleeve. So over last weekend, I took stuff stronger than morphine, granted it was a few years old, but this is strong stuff. It still had a bit of an effect on me. I was a bit out of it, not functioning well, but still in pain. It dulled the pain enough that I had one normal night, and then it came back. So I had another horrible week. What most people don't understand about being a teacher is that when you don't feel well and you take a sick day, there are 60 kids wondering where you are, needing questions answered and expecting you to be there to teach a lesson. So a sick day, especially this close to state tests, was out of the question. So I dealt with the pain and got through it. Thursday I finally gave in and went to see my doctor. I knew I had a neurologist appointment for next week, but figured I would tried my normal doctors office. Well, after having to wait for an hour just to be seen (despite having an appointment) the doctor I saw basically told me that there wasn't much they could do outpatient and I'd have to try to get in to see my neurologist sooner (good luck) or go to the ER. He gave me one thing to try (which didn't work in the past) and sent me on my way. So I'm now on another medicine for a week, that has annoying side effects, that is slightly dulling the pain but is not really helping. Overall I'm still in extreme pain and I can't do anything about it. I don't go to the neurologist until Thursday, and even then I'm not sure what he's going to tell me. I'm worried that he's going to send me to the ER and tell me I need an inpatient treatment, or IV painkillers. Both options do not fit into my schedule or life right now. Do I want the pain to end? Of course! But I don't have time to sit in the hospital either!

I am so exhausted from being in pain. I come home every night and just crash. I try to get as much work done at school as I can so that I don't have much to do at home. I can't seem to find the energy to grade or plan once I'm home because all I want to do is sleep. Just moving hurts and having to pretend that everything is okay at school makes it that much more draining. As if the pain wasn't bad enough, I have to hide it from most of the people around me just to function. It makes for a very long day.

And now I am done complaining. Given all of the horrible things that have happened this week I shouldn't be focused on me at all. I am so thankful that all of my friends in Boston, and everyone in that area, is safe and sound. It amazes me how much can happen and how quickly events can change.

The next few weeks are going to be as full as the past few. Hopefully they will be less painful and be a tad less stressful. I'm pretty sure that once the state tests are over I will be able to breathe a little bit better. Still have a lot of planning to do, but it will be a bit more relaxed. Thanks to everyone who has read this and is still putting up with me in real life and in cyber space.

Factoring "Hell", Different Pain, and Learning to be Social

I had forgotten how difficult it was to learn how to factor. Granted, for me it just kind of clicked when I learned it because that's how my mind works. But for the kids I am teaching, well let's just say that the majority of the time that is just not the case. I'm not sure why it is so hard to multiply and add, or for that matter know your multiplication facts at all, but it is! I've spent the past few weeks teaching, and reteaching, and reviewing how to factor (and add, subtract, and multiply polynomials). Their test is tomorrow and Monday and I'm slightly worried (actually terrified). There are a handful of kids that just shut down and decided not to do homework, or try at all, which meant they didn't get the much needed practice in. We'll see what happens!

Well I had a migraine this past weekend that decided to stick around for two days, despite medicine. That was not fun, especially because I was trying to be social and actually be a normal human being (more to come on that front). The pain was a reminder of how much worse it can get compared to the daily dull agony of normal life. 

The past two days of physical therapy have been a little rough. I realized how out of shape I was!! My physical therapist had me work balance on my "bad" leg for a while, which wasn't a problem since I can still stabilize pretty well. But then he decided squats in multiple forms would be a good idea. I understand the goal is the build the muscles around what isn't working correctly, but dear lord but the end of yesterday I was sore. I woke up this morning and was still sore and not sure how much I was going to be able to do today. I got through school and went to my appointment. I got through the warm-up, stretching, and balance exercises, I got through 3 sets of squats, but when I had to start doing a modified lunge I lost it! I was on my second set when my muscles started shaking and he realized I had to stop. It was sad!! Granted my hip and side of my leg were killing me, but my quads in general were just sore. Not a fun time. So then he manually worked the muscles that are not right, and now I'm bruised because they were/are so messed up he had to press so hard!! I wish I knew why my body was so messed up and how to fix it without causing more pain!

Learning to be social is an ongoing (and difficult) process for me. You'd think by the time I am 26 I'd feel comfortable meeting people and being around groups of people, but it is still something that I struggle with. I've gotten significantly better, especially since moving, but it is still hard. This past weekend I met my boyfriend's best friend and his wife and then spent the day hanging out with a handful of his closest friends (all with a migraine). It was a lot of fun. We got lunch, saw a movie, hung out at one of the guys places and then got dinner and hung out at his place a bit longer. It was a fun time and I enjoyed spending time with everyone. It was nice to get to know people a little bit better, despite being terrified. I'm not sure if I'm more on edge because of the implications associated with the people I'm meeting/hanging out with or if it is just because I don't know them well, but it was just hard. Not to mention being in extreme pain, super sensitive to light and sound, and not showing it to people is a lot of fun! NOT! It's difficult to hide and I'm sure I was acting differently than I would have normally, which annoys me a bit. 

The next day I was still in pain but had a lazy day and then went out with one of my friends and her boyfriend which was a bit easier for me because I knew them and had been out with them. I'm really just hoping that it gets easier for me to meet new people and feel comfortable. I might be meeting his Mom and brother this weekend, which makes me super nervous! 

We'll see how it all goes! This weekend holds a bunch of grading for sure! Not sure what else is really happening yet. 

School, Valentine's Day, and Pain

The three things in my title are luckily not related at all! I'm sure I could tie them together somehow, but for the most part I try to keep things slightly separate.

School has kept me pretty busy. In Algebra we are on to factoring, which honestly might be the death of me! I didn't realize it would be so difficult to teach, but for some reason adding to one number but multiplying to another is a very difficult concept for students to understand. I think part of why it is so hard for me is that it has been second nature for me for a while so I forgot what it was like to have to learn it. Watching my students go through those struggles reminded me of how painful math can be for some of them and how much they truly dislike it. I'm hoping that some of what is going on in class will stick, at least through exams.

I've had a very relaxing weekend with my boyfriend and Valentine's Day was quite lovely. We celebrated over a few days just because work tends to get in the day of things during the week. Wednesday was our one month, which was just kind of sweet to think about. It shocks me that one month ago I didn't even know him, and now I can't really imagine my life without him. He has been a wonderful addition to my life and makes me smile more than I can even put into words. Alright, I'll stop with all the sappiness! To celebrate Valentine's Day we exchanged presents and then went grocery shopping together and then cooked together. It was a nice way to relax together and share in what tends to be a very one sided individualistic event.

As for pain, well I'm sick of it! This time it's my hip, and according to my physical therapist also my IT bands in my leg. I'm not sure what exactly happened to it, but it's weak and hurts a lot and hasn't gotten better over the past two weeks so the doctor told me physical therapy was next. So I started today and I will be fitting it into my schedule for the next month, twice a week. Not cool! My head has been up and down lately too. I can hide it pretty well and just put up with it, but mix that in with not being able to walk or stand easily and it just makes for very long days.

This week is full of more factoring, speaking at the faculty meeting (oh joy), and normal teaching stuff. I think I am meeting another one of the boys best friends this coming weekend which is slightly terrifying. I'm starting to get better at meeting his friends and/or being around them, but that doesn't mean that its easier for me to think about or actually do.

New Beginnings, Frustrations, and Funny Weather

It has been close to a month since I have written and I feel like a lot has changed in that month. There have been some ups and downs, a few constants, and few new things.

School kept me very busy. After winter break, I was back for a day and then went to a conference, which was packed with good information. Then we had a week before midterm exams. Exam week itself was super productive for me, but just reminded me how frustrating the "two school" situation can be. Having two different grading policies to keep track of and just making sure everything was getting done right at both schools was a little more stressful than I would have liked. This week trying to get grades finished and staying on top of normal planning and teaching I somehow couldn't keep it all together and brought some stuff to the wrong school, or left things at school that needed to come home. It was a bit of a mess and I ended up quite frustrated with myself. Usually I'm much more organized and better about things. Luckily I had planned about a week ahead in lessons during midterm week, so I did have a decent amount done ahead of time and I wasn't working super late all week.

I finally found a dentist and doctor to go to in town. Not that its a huge deal, but given that I've been here about 6 months, it felt like the next step in getting more settled and in making Virginia more of my home.

Towards the beginning of the month I decided to try online dating. It was kind of on a whim and I really wasn't sure what to expect. In all honesty I was kind of terrified of the whole idea of meeting people I had only seen a picture of and possibly talked to a few times online. I had heard good things from a couple friends so I figured it couldn't hurt to try, if nothing else I would meet a few people and talk to them and maybe find some new places in the area to check out. I ended up talking to a handful of guys online, just through messages, and eventually met a couple in person. Talk about being nervous!! It has been a great learning process for me, that is for sure!

I can honestly say that I have met someone who I really enjoy spending time with and who makes me incredibly happy!  We've been going out regularly for 2 weeks now and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything! He's a great guy and has been able to figure out how to make me smile, get me to talk and feel comfortable opening up about life, and can make me laugh very easily. I feel very lucky to have met him and I'm excited to see what the future holds.

As for the funny weather, well the snow itself isn't funny, it is winter after all. But the fact that we have gotten a 2 hour delay and a 1 hour early release due to what totaled 2 inches of snow just makes me laugh! I'm used to feet of snow during the winter so only getting a dusting is kind of sad for me. I mean don't get me wrong, it makes traveling a lot easier and it has been nice to see it the past few days, but it is hilarious to get out of school due to a dusting! Don't get me wrong, I'll take it!

I'm hoping that the next week at school will go smoothly and that I can get myself back on track with planning and grading. Maybe we'll be lucky and get a full snow day (hey a girl can hope)!

Roller Coaster Week

This week was full of ups and downs. Monday was a pretty normal day. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Tuesday was fine with students, but was stressful after a planning meeting. As much as working with other teachers is great, sometimes trying to balance things at both schools can be difficult when we are in different places in the curriculum. I stayed at school until close to 7pm trying to get caught up on grading. By the time I left I felt like I was in a decent spot.

Wednesday was a very long day. Within 10 minutes of getting there I was asked the question (Which school do I want to be at next year?) I've been dreading for a while, because I don't yet have an answer. I was asked it again later in the day. It just added to the stress of the day.  I had students come in for extra help starting at 8am. Then I taught 4 blocks in a row with the exception of lunch (40 minutes without students from 8-4). Right after that I met with the principal to finally talk about my observation from right before Thanksgiving. The meeting went really well and he was very positive. It was a good conversation and I felt great about the whole experience.

Thursday and Friday were both pretty typical. After school Friday some of us from the math department got together to wrap presents for the family we adopted for Christmas. It was a fun night to hang out together and get into the holiday spirit.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling kind of sick. Just really congested and gross with a worse than normal headache added on top. I made my to-do list for the weekend and it was a little overwhelming. There was a handful of stuff to do for school, and then a lot of stuff I wanted to get done around my apartment and to get ready for the holidays. Between Saturday and Sunday I've gotten almost all of it done, which makes me feel pretty good.

This week I'm giving a test to start off my week, and then it should be business as usual. The other principal said he was going to come in and observe on Friday, so we'll see how that goes. This coming Saturday I'm hosting an ugly sweater party. I'm excited to see who comes and how it goes. Hopefully it's fun!

December already?!

I can't believe it is already December. I think the fact that it isn't really cold and I haven't seen snow yet is throwing me off a little bit. It feels weird to be getting ready for Christmas and not have snow everywhere. It is kind of nice not to have to drive through it though.

This week was pretty good. Nothing too out of the ordinary. There were a few late nights grading, and making sure things were ready for the next day, but for the most part I've been relatively prepared.

This weekend was a blast! Friday evening was the holiday get together for one of the schools. We were up at a beautiful winery relaxing and enjoying each others company. After that I went out with a few people from the other school. It was a late, but very fun night!

I've decided that as much of a hassle working at schools is, it has given me the great opportunity of meeting some great people. I've made some good friends and I think it would have been a lot different had I only been at one school.

Saturday I was slightly productive, and did a little bit of decorating, and made some brownies. That night I went to a friends house warming party with some great people! Another fun night for sure.

Today I graded a bit, and did some laundry and just tried to relax a bit. My headache has been ridiculous since Thursday night. I was super bad all day Friday and still not great Saturday. I did my best to ignore it and work through it. I'm grateful for medicine that takes the edge off, and drinks that will help relax me and take some of the pain away. Luckily today was a little bit better, but these are getting difficult to deal with regularly. I know it's life, but it's annoying.

This coming week should be pretty normal. Starting the week off with quizzes and going from there. We'll see how it all goes.

Thanksgiving and a Weekend Away

The short week at school was quite enjoyable. Only 2 days of classes, and I gave tests in every class so it made for a very easy week. It did make for a couple late nights grading, just so I wouldn't have to do too much at my parents house over the weekend, but I'd rather plan and grade at school/home than when surrounded by family.

Wednesday morning I drove to my parents place and made it in just about 3 hours which was quite nice. There wasn't too much traffic, just a normal amount of congestion to keep everything steady. By the time I got to my parents place my Mom's parents were there already, they had gotten in Tuesday from Georgia. My Dad and grandfather were at the airport picking up my brother but my Mom and grandma were at home so I hung out with them for a bit. Once all the boys got home we had lunch. It was good to see everyone. I hadn't seen my grandparents in a few years, and it had been a few months since I had seen my brother. After lunch I got my hair cut at the place where my mom gets hers done. Once we got home after that we had dinner with some of my parents friends, and after dinner my aunt and uncle got in. We had a full house for sure.

Thursday was busy. My grandparents get up early (3am early) so we were lucky to sleep in until 7:30-8. We had "Grandma's Waffles" which is our family tradition of homemade waffles with vanilla ice cream and strawberries on top, for breakfast. They are delicious and my brother and I would try to make anything a holiday just in order to have them for breakfast. Once we all ate more than we should just for breakfast, we got dressed and relaxed around the house. In the afternoon my Dad's parents and brother came over as well. So the house was even fuller for dinner. We had both sets of grandparents, 2 uncles (both named Mike), an aunt, plus my parents and brother. Dinner was amazing!! My parents make some of the best food ever! I may be biased, but my Mom makes gluten free food that tastes delicious, and I've always tried to cook like my parents! We had all of the regular Thanksgiving foods, and my Mom even made gluten free stuffing! My favorite!! We have gluten free pies and carrot cake too! I always gain weight when I go to parents place just because they feed me so well. We spent the rest of the night just vegging out watching football! It was wonderful!

Friday my grandparents left in the morning to go back to Georgia. After my parents left to bring them back to the airport, I got some grading done and the rest of us got breakfast and ready for the day. Once my parents got back, my mom, brother, aunt, uncle, and I went out shopping. We found a bunch of stuff with some great sales. We had another great dinner and just vegged out again at night. It was a relaxing day.

Saturday my aunt and uncle left, and then my brother and dad went to the casino with my grandfather for a little while before my brother flew out. My Mom and I did a little more shopping and relaxing around the house. It was a good day, nice to be out and about and not have a lot of structure.

Today I drove home, made it in 3 hours again which was a little surprising given that it was a holiday weekend, but the traffic wasn't too bad at any point. I got home and was super productive. I did lots of laundry, finished planning for tomorrow, did dishes, and cleaned up around my apartment a bit. I even did a little bit to get ready for Christmas (making my card list, and decorating). It felt like a very productive afternoon which was helpful after not getting a lot done personally this weekend.

This week I've got a decent amount of planning to still do and will have to do some grading as well. I think the principal at the other school wants to observe me at some point this week, so I'll have that to contend with. We have a meeting/conference for new teachers this week which should be interesting. Another busy week as always, but hopefully a good one!

Teacher Work Days, Normal Classes, and Girls Night

This week was short for the kids, but a full week for teachers. It was nice to have two days to get work done. Monday was full of parent teacher conferences at both schools. I started at one school early, and met with a few parents and then went straight to the other school where I met with a handful of other parents and trying to get some work done at the same time. Most of my meetings with parents went well, only one was a little confrontational. Tuesday were a few more meetings in the morning and then almost a whole day of grading and planning. I got a decent amount done, planned almost through this coming week, which felt good.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. My head was still "attacking" me most of the week. It wasn't getting back to a normal pain level for more than a few hours at a time which made it a difficult week to get through. Most of my classes were taking a test so the week was pretty easy overall.

Friday night I went out to dinner with a friend and just had a lazy night. I was in a severe amount of pain and wanted to curl up in a ball for most of the afternoon. On my way home from school my back car windows decided to go down and not come back up and I couldn't pull them up all the way. It was a complete mess! Saturday was girls night with my friends. I did almost nothing during the day. I made brownies, did laundry and cleaned up around my house a little before taking an unintentional nap on my couch. Then I went over to my friends house and met up with the girls for dinner, drinks and board games! We played Quelf, and a game where you had to answer the questions wrong in order to win. It was a really fun night and thankfully I was feeling a little bit better compared to the past few days.

Today I made up for my laziness and had a very productive day. We got up at 7, got breakfast, and fixed my car windows (or at least made it so I can drive with them), and then I came home around 10:30. I studied for my next certification exam which is weekend, and then ran a bunch of errands, finished up some school work and planning, and then had a good dinner and talked to a friend from home for a while. Then I just crashed and vegged out. I got most of the things on my immediate to do list done and it felt quite productive. My head is still bothering me more than I'd like it to. I really wish it would just go back to "normal" pain. Eventually I'm going to need to find a doctor here, I was just hoping I'd have some time. Oh well, life happens.

This week should be pretty normal. Just school as normal and then my certification exam on Saturday afternoon and hopefully something fun with friends that weekend as well.

Short, Full, Painful Week/Weekend

So much happened! Even though we only had a 3 day week at school because of Sandy, everything felt off all week! Each day was pretty typical, reviewing material and then taking pretty comprehensive quizzes on lots of material. Friday was the end of the first quarter for there was a lot for the students to finish up.

I was starting to stress out a bit with my test on Saturday, and figuring out grades for the end of the quarter, especially with there being a decent amount of differences between the two schools that I'm still trying to keep straight.

Then I woke up at 3am Friday with a horrible migraine. I immediately took all of my medicine and tried to sleep again. Which of course didn't really work. I eventually fell back asleep and got a few more hours before getting up to go to school. Usually teaching with my normal headache isn't a big deal. With a migraine is doable, not enjoyable, but I can handle it. Friday was miserable! My medicine was still wearing off when I was coming into work so I felt groggy, but being sensitive to light and sound is not helpful in a high school, not to mention extreme pain. I ended up skipping the pep rally at the end of the day and just helped out another teacher by watching one of her students take a quiz. I wasn't going to be able to handle sitting in the gym with all of the students. I felt horrible for not being able to fully do my job, but it was as much as I could. I was hoping that if I had a good dinner, took some more medicine, and slept well it would go away and I'd feel better in the morning. I did all of that, woke up in the middle of the night to take more medicine, and lost a few hours of sleep in the middle of the night, and then woke up to take my exam. And I was still in significantly more pain than I would wish on anyone. Taking an exam in that much pain is never fun!

Holy moly that exam was difficult!! I walked in feeling pretty confident with what I knew. I walked out not being sure if I passed or not. There were a few questions that I had absolutely no clue how to answer at all. At the end I ran out of time to even fill bubbles in on the answer sheet. We'll see, it's going to be close.

After the exam I ran errands and then came home and just vegged out on the couch. One of my friends came over and we watched a few movies and played a game and had dinner, drinks, and dessert, and just enjoyed our night. We both wanted a low key night, and it's exactly what we had! I was hoping that maybe the drinks would help my head instead of my medicine for the night, and it took the edge off enough that I could sleep, but I woke up still in a massive amount of pain.

So I gave in. I did a little bit of grading this morning and realized that I was in too much pain to function and that if this continued (like it has before for weeks on end) that I wouldn't be able to make it through the busy week. I broke down and took the really strong medicine I have. I don't like it because of how strong it is, and how much it effects me, but it has been the only thing to break week long migraines in the past for me. So far I've been in significantly less pain today. I spent most of the day on the couch not able to do much of anything. Hopefully by the time I wake up tomorrow it'll be back to "normal" pain.

This week is going to be busy. We have teacher work days Monday and Tuesday to do parent teacher conferences and get report cards and grading done.Then it is a normal three days of class. I just have a lot of back and forth to do between the two schools and a lot of policies and differences to keep straight. If I can keep it all together until Wednesday I should be good.

Surprises for Mom and Sandy

The past week has been busy as always. Lots of planning and grading. A few late nights making sure I was ready for the next few days. I was observed by my lead mentor and my instructional coach during the same period on the same day. One left and the other came in a few minutes later. It ended up going pretty well, despite the fact that I was quizzing and had to teach quickly. The comments were good so I felt good about that.

This past weekend I drove to my parents in NJ to surprise my Mom for her birthday. It was a lot of fun. Her birthday is today but my Dad planned a nice dinner with a bunch of their friends for Saturday night. I drove in Friday night and met a couple of their friends at a restaurant and made it there before my parents did. The look on my Mom's face was wonderful! The weekend moved fast. We did a little shopping Saturday afternoon and then had the surprise dinner at night. Sunday morning I left around 11 to try to get out before the weather got too bad.

Hurricane Sandy left us we two days off of school. We got hit with a lot wind and rain but I've still got power and it hasn't been too bad. The time off was nice. I was able to finish grading papers, make bbq sauce and sugar cookies and study for my certification exams a bit. My parents in NJ had more wind and rain than we did here in VA but last time I talked to them they still had power but had a few leaks as well. There is snow falling in West Virginia just a little ways away from here. This is just crazy! Weather changes do make my headaches worse. It's been a rough few days, luckily having some time off has given me a break. It's been nice to not have to work through the pain but it's still never fun to have to have to deal with it.

The rest of this week will be a bunch of quizzing, reviewing, and testing since it is the end of the quarter. It will be interesting for sure! Having a short week will be nice.

Where has all the time gone?!

So much has happened in the past few weeks. Most of it has been really enjoyable, I've learned from a lot of things, and I found that sometimes you just have to stress out for a few minutes and take a deep breath before moving on.

Columbus Day weekend at the beach with my girlfriends was awesome!! We all needed some time away from home and away from school. We drove down Friday night and Saturday we spent relaxing! It was sunny and kind of warm so we walked along the beach and sat outside as much as possible. Sunday was rainy and cold so we were productive and got some grading done before we relaxed in the afternoon and then went out for fun at night! We came home Monday and then I had to get ready for the week ahead. All in all it was an amazing weekend!

The next week went pretty well. It felt long for only being 4 days long but nothing too out of the ordinary happened. I remember the days themselves feeling busy.

That weekend one of my friends from home came to visit me here. It was an interesting weekend since he was on crutches and couldn't walk much so our options were slightly limited but we still found things to do. It was good to see a familiar face. I realized that I don't know the area very well, just the few places that I always go but not much beyond that. It was nice to play host, even if it was an odd weekend.

This week was first time that I truly felt stressed by being in two different schools on different days. It was homecoming week at both schools. We had spirit days to dress up for each day, but they were different for each school, so knowing what to wear each day when I woke up was a challenge on its own. On top of that my planning seemed to be lacking and a tad behind the curve of where I would like it to be. I kept feeling like whenever I made it to the correct school in the morning half the battle had been won, but that I still had no clue if the schedule was different (the PSAT's were also given this week, and we had a pep rally) or if my students would be able to focus on the material past despite everything else going on. I just felt on edge all week with school related activities. We did have one really fun activity... faculty flash mob in the pep rally on Friday!!

Every night I came home and just collapsed. It was nice to relax, although some nights I still had school work. Or I was studying for the certification exam that I have to take in a few weeks. One night I had some fun, which was then crushed by a difficult conversation with another friend. Life really is a balance and you can never expect anything to last. I've been reminded that the simple things really are most important!

Friday night I went to the homecoming football game with a few friends. Luckily the team won so everyone was quite happy. Saturday I went to chaperon the homecoming dance. What an interesting experience! Just taking the tickets in the beginning we got to see quite the array of outfits. My goodness dresses have gotten short and heels have gotten high. And girls do not know how to walk in either part of that combination which made if kind of scary and kind of funny! At one points there was a girl who said her friend got hurt on the dance floor so I had to go into the center of the "clump" of kids with a few other teachers looking for the girl. Let's just say that was terrifying and an experience I'd never like to relive!! It was funny as we were walking through, they realized we were teachers and their hands slowly starting coming into sight and and they just stood still and backed away from us. It was a fun night. Afterwards my friend came back to my place and we relaxed together and just enjoyed the night.

This week will be another busy one. We've got 2 weeks until the end of the quarter which means quizzes and grading and plenty of planning! Plus I will be getting observed at least twice within the next two weeks so it'll be interesting for sure.

Manageable Week, Horrible Pain, Long Weekend!

This week felt calmer than last. I have no idea why. Some days I was slightly ahead in planning, others I was just ready as I walked into class. It was a total mixture of things that I just can't explain. For some reason it all seemed to work out well though.

I had my first "lost stuff" scare. I walked into school this morning and had no idea where I left a whole folder worth of graded quizzes and homework. I was almost positive that I hadn't taken it out to work on at the other school, but that is always a possibility, and it wasn't in any of the rooms at that school which meant it had to be at home. It was a terrifying feeling because I couldn't visualize where I had left it. Luckily when I got home this afternoon it was sitting by my desk. I have no idea why it was where it was, but I'm glad I found it all.

The horrible pain came Tuesday. Talk about a weather change! I got home from school on Monday around 5:30 and didn't feel great, just a worse than normal headache, and eating dinner didn't really help, so I crawled into bed at 8 pm. While going to bed extremely early was nice, it was also weird. I guess my body wanted the sleep though. I woke up at 10, rolled over and fell right back to sleep, until I woke up a few minutes after 2 am in the most pain I've been in since the 2 week migraine I had a few months ago. I'm telling you it woke me out of a dead sleep. I went to the bathroom and just turning the light on was enough to make me curl up and feel sick. I immediately took all of my migraine medicines and crawled back into bed. The soft sounds from the air conditioner outside my window sounded like they were blaring, so I put ear plugs in. I haven't been this sensitive to light and sound in years! I mean usually I can function through things, but man am I lucky this happened in the middle of the night! I got a little bit more sleep, just kind of tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 5:30. At that point I wasn't quite as sensitive to light or sound and could function better. I headed into school and somehow made it through the day. I honestly have no idea how I got through the day. I wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep. I would say cry but that makes it worse! To make matters worse I wasn't planned for the next day so I needed to stay and grade and work on plans. I got everything done and made it home by 7:30ish. Boy it was a long, hard day. I would never wish that experience on anyone! To anyone with frequent migraines, I really do feel for you. These experiences remind me how lucky I am to have my daily headaches under some sort of control, even if they are still there, at least I can function.

Today was my first taste of "vacation excitement!" I haven't been so excited to go away in a long time! I felt like a small child counting down the seconds until school was over. Don't get me wrong, little trips to see my parents are great, but I'm spending the whole weekend at the beach with some great girls from work! I feel so lucky to have gotten to know them and joined their group. They are a lot of fun, and we are just planning to hang out and enjoy the long weekend.

All in all it has been a busy week, as always, but a decent one. The weekend should be great! Next week will be busy again even though it is only 4 days, but a friend from home is coming to visit so that will make for another exciting weekend to look forward to!

Thankful for wine and football

This week felt insanely long, as if each day just kept getting longer than the one before it. Most days went well for the most part.

Monday was busy. I had a goal setting meeting in the morning with my principal which was very nerve wracking but went better than expected. Teaching that day went well, tests and quizzes galore! After school I had to go over to the other school for Back to School night with the parents there. Oh it was a long day. It went relatively well. I met a handful of parents, most of which seemed supportive so we'll see.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all pretty typical days, just teaching during the day and planning at night. Luckily Thursday and Friday I was testing in all of my Algebra classes so the fact that I was physically exhausted it was a little easier to get through the day.

Friday night I went to the high school football game with a few friends from school. It was interesting. Our team didn't do very well which was hard to watch since they had been dominating the past few weeks. I was mistaken by a parent for a student which was kind of weird, especially considering that I was standing with a bunch of other teachers, granted we are all young.

Saturday and Sunday I was super lazy!! I stayed home most of the day and just relaxed. My head was bothering me both days significantly more than I'd ever like to deal with. It was great to just watch movies and then football and grade at the same time. I enjoyed some wine at night and just tried to relax as much as possible.

I'm getting to know people here more which is nice. I'm feeling more and more distant from the people at home or originally from home and I'm trying to find a balance with the amount of effort I put into those relationships when people are not returning that effort. This has always been difficult for me. I'm not sure how to balance relationships and the types I have. I have always put other people before me and lately that has lead to me getting hurt. It's been a rough couple of weeks socially based on a number of difficult conversations.

This week is starting new material with kids and then going to the beach with the girls for Columbus Day weekend!

2 weeks and a lot going on

I try to write once a week, but for some reason last weekend I just didn't get a chance to write. The past 2 weeks have kept me really busy, mainly with work, but there has been some fun mixed in as well.

I made it through my first back to school night with parents on the 10th, and other than it being a very late night, most of the parents were nice and things went well. That whole week just felt never ending because of having such a late night on Monday. In general it was a good week, but busy. I had a few meetings but for the most part it was a typical week.

That weekend I spent Friday night at the high school football game with a few of my friends/coworkers. It was a good time. The team won and did really well and it was nice to be out for a bit. Saturday I spent the morning at the DMV, and pretty much the whole morning. Luckily I had all of the paperwork I needed and everything went smoothly. I had a relaxing weekend and spent the rest of the time at home working on planning and grading and just relaxing and cooking.

This week was busy and for some reason it felt extremely long and stressful. I gave a few of quizzes which meant there was a bit of grading to be done, and that is going to continue into next week as well. I also had a variety of meetings which always makes it interesting. I also found out that I need to take 2 certification exams here in Virginia because New York won't write the memo that Virginia is asking for. All they want is a memo stating how I got one of my certifications, but because they won't do it I now have to take 2 more exams, by mid-November. I'm very frustrated by that whole situations.

The end of the week was tricky. I woke up Thursday with a pretty bad migraine. It got worse throughout the course of the day, because working through pain never helps it go away. By the time I went home I took my medicine hoping it would help, and sadly it didn't. I work up Friday in just as much pain. I drank significantly more caffeine than I should have just to function, but I made it through school, and working with a student afterwards. By the time I got home I ate dinner, enjoyed some wine and crawled into bed early while taking my medicine again hoping it would help this time. Luckily it did. By the time I woke up Saturday morning (I'm sure sleeping in until 7:45 instead of 5:30 helped too) I was back to my normal pain level and no longer sensitive to light and sound. I was glad that it didn't last longer than 2 days.

Saturday I ran a few errands in the morning, got some cleaning and grading done during the day and then went out with some friends and coworkers. It was good to go out around here, and to be out with new people and to get to know them better. Today I had a lazy day, was productive at the same time, but got to watch some football at the same time which was really enjoyable.

This week hold the second back to school night which I'm sure will be interesting. I've got a meeting with my principal to discuss goals for the evaluation process for the year. And I'm giving tests and quizzes in everything. It should be another busy week.

Another week of school and another year older...

I made it through another week of school and I celebrated my 25th birthday right along with it. So much gets packed into each day that everything seems to blend together. It was honestly a pretty stressful week because I didn't feel nearly as prepared as I wanted to be going into it.

Tuesday at school went well, nothing really out of the ordinary, but I had to drop my car off at the shop to get some work done about an hour after school ended which meant that I didn't get to stay for my normal few hours of planning at night. That just threw me off a little bit, I was able to plan once I got home, but I quickly realized that I plan a lot better at school and that I'm just more successful and more focused there.

Wednesday I thought I was going to be able to pick my car up after school but it turns out they found more things that needed to be fixed (as usual) so I had to wait until Thursday. Classes and everything went smoothly though. I gave my first quiz and got everything graded quickly which felt like an accomplishment.

Thursday I had a bit of a melt down after school. I'm so thankful for good coworkers and friends to support me. Before I get into that I have to say that my coworkers rocked my birthday! They got my a great card, a beautiful picture frame, some fun colored pens, and 2 pretty bracelets. Not to mention delicious flourless chocolate cake!! We had to celebrate early since I wouldn't be there on my birthday but at the other school, but I felt so welcomed and part of the team! Classes went well with the exception of my last period which was just talkative but still got their work done and was manageable to an extent. But then I found out that I would have to wait another day and pay even more money for car stuff because it needed even more work, which just stressed me out. And I was feeling very on edge about some of my plans. I felt behind, which I wasn't, I just wasn't as ahead as I wanted to be. I had been fighting a migraine all day and I was dealing with a bit of sleep deprivation because of a screaming child somewhere near my apartment which woke me up at 3am and I couldn't fall back asleep. My minor break down happened when all of it culminated and I just felt lost, mainly because of the car stuff making me frustrated. I just went into my friends classroom and cried and vented for a few minutes. She listened, teased me, and gave me ideas for my lessons and I felt so much better. It was like I instantly knew I could handle the situation again.

Friday was really good as well. I was at the other school and classes again went well. They got me a hilarious card and cake. It's nice to feel included. My car was finally done so after school I was able to pick it up (and pay an obscene amount of money for the repairs). And when I realized I forgot my flash drive at school I drove back there to get it, and then finally went home quickly before going out to dinner with a friend to celebrate my birthday. It was a low key night but it was a nice way to celebrate the end of our second week teaching and my birthday.

Saturday was when the real celebrating happened! I went out with a few girls from school and it was a blast! We were planning on going to a festival but it got rained out, so we just hung out at one of their apartments for a while before getting dinner out and going to a really fun store with super cute and cheap jewelry. After that we went back and played board games and just hung out. It was an awesome night.

This morning we got breakfast and then did a little shopping. Then I came home and lesson planned.  We've got back to school night with the parents tomorrow night and then a full week with the kids. It's nice to feel a little bit ahead of the game. We'll see how long it lasts.

Now for those of you who remember, or who don't know I'll fill you in. Last year right before my birthday I made a list of 25 things I wanted to do before I turned 25. I didn't accomplish it all but I'll copy and paste it below and update what I did end up doing. My new comments are in italics.

1.) Make something new (food, crafts, etc.) at least twice a month. - I will say that I tried to do this but I don't think I actually got two things in each month. It was a bit of a lofty goal. 

2.) Read for fun a little everyday.- I would say that I read about 75% of the time. Not great but better than what I was doing before. 

3.) Take a vacation- just for fun!- This I can say with certainty I did. I spent a weekend in Boston with some great people, just on a whim for the heck of it. I also just went to the shore with my parents over Labor Day for fun. 

4.) Write letters consistently to friends out of town.- While it is still a goal of mine to get better and stay on top of this, especially now that more of my friends are further away from me, I have stayed in touch with a good number of people through snail mail and I love it!

5.) Go at least one day without unnecessarily saying "I'm Sorry" (as many of you know this will be harder for me than it sounds.)- I have gotten significantly better about not apologizing for things that I do no need to actually apologize for. While I haven't consciously paid attention to whether I've made it through a full day, I'd like to think I have. I know that I have stopped apologizing for others as much. 

6.) Do logic puzzles or challenging word problems regularly (I have to keep my mind sharp somehow)- I love my logic puzzle book, and I am now teaching math so I've got plenty of word problems to keep me busy! I did spend the past year doing logic puzzles regularly for fun. I know I'm weird!

7.)Watch all 6 Star Wars movies in one weekend (Anyone have these that I could borrow, and want to join me for this adventure?)- I sadly did not watch all of them in one weekend. I do now own them all, and I watched 3 out of the 6 while at my parents over Christmas vacation, so do I get partial credit? 

8.) Learn to cook on a grill- I totally failed on this one! I still don't know how to do this one, so hopefully I can learn sometime. 

9.) Cook for friends once a month (can we say dinner parties with me cooking!! Who wants in?!)- This one I did relatively well at. I only missed 2 months, January and August. We all seemed to be busy January for some reason, and August I moved and started a new job and didn't know anyone to cook for yet.

10.) Play new board games (this one I can't do alone!)- I have played lots of new board games, thanks for all the help on this one!

11.) Hike a mountain (or two or three...)- Sadly in the last year I haven't done this... another fail. 

12.) Go at least one day without complaining (about anything, and hopefully more than one day)- Again, not sure if I was conscious of actually going a full day, but I'd like to think that I've done this at least once. I know that I've stopped letting my headaches rule everything in my life completely and I do my best not to complain vocally about them as much. 

13.) Take a gymnastics/Pilates/yoga class- Another fail, I haven't done this within the past year.

14.) Find a church community I feel comfortable in- I have visited a few churches since getting here in Virginia and there was one that I went to which I enjoyed, but I've only gone once, so it will take more time for me to make the leap to say I'm comfortable there. 

15.) Go one month without buying anything materialistic that I don't need to survive (ie. food)- I did do this. Granted I picked February because it was the shortest month, but I went the whole month only paying my bills, and for food and gas and the necessities to keep me alive. I didn't buy clothing or anything "fun". It was quite a learning experience.

16.) Read some of the "classics" - I got sucked into more of the "fun" new books lately, another fail

17.) Talk to my family (immediate and distant) more often- I've gotten better at this, and now that I am busier I make it a priority and it feels better.

18.) Go to a wine tasting- Another fail, but some friends here want to do this, so I'm hoping it happens because I really want to go!!

19.) Lose 15 pounds- Did this one, and more than just 15, partially because my medicine makes me not hungry, but I've also eaten better lately.

20.) Go one full day without technology (phone, computer, tv etc.)- Another fail, which is sad, considering I spent a couple summers working in the woods. I wish this was easier to do.

21.) Not let my headache get in the way of being social or doing something I want to do.- I've gotten better at this, mainly because I just say "screw it" and deal with the consequences of the pain later. 

22.) Go out dancing or to a club (I have never done this and it kind of scares me, so someone please drag me with you and promise not to leave me!)- Thank you to my friends who brought me out oh so many months ago! I had a lot of fun!

23.) Create and stick to a monthly budget (someday I have to be an adult)- Not done yet but I am working on it, it's changing drastically with this new job. 

24.) Pay for someones coffee behind me in the drive-thru- I did this just the other day. It was a fun surprise, even the lady at the drive-thru smiled.

25.) Blog about these goals as I accomplish them.- I guess I didn't blog about them right as I accomplished them, but since I'm doing it now it has to count for something right?! 

So in the grand scheme of things I only missed 6-8 depending on how you count the partial credit! Haha yes I'm a teacher and I'm being generous to myself! It was a fun experience, much better than a new years resolution, and a lot easier to maintain. Not to mention I had a few people to help me along the way. Thanks for all the support!

Surviving (and Thriving) Through the First Week and then Relaxing by the Beach!

This week was a blur! It was great but it sped by quickly and each day just blended into the next one.

The first days of school at both schools went well. I was super nervous as students came in and had to change things a little bit to adapt to time constraints and other changes in schedule but for the most part things went well.

Getting everything planned after school and making sure it is ready for the next day has been the biggest task. Most things don't take too long. I've made it home most nights between 6 and 8 and actually feel prepared for the next day, no matter which school I'm walking into. It does help that what I do on A days I repeat on B days, so if something doesn't work well I can tweak it before doing it again. I'm slowly starting to pick up on a few students names, I need to get better about that, but the seating chart is helping for sure.

I have found which class with be my challenge, and I'm hoping that they will becoming easier. They are going to need more structure and possibly different seats than what they have now.

I've also made some friends which is nice! I got coffee with a teacher I met at orientation on Wednesday just to catch up about how our weeks had been so far. And then on Friday night I went out with three girls from one of the schools I work at. We were celebrating one of their birthdays and the fact that we made it through the first week! It was a blast!! They knew each other previously but welcomed me in and it was nice to have people my age to hang out with. We went out for a late dinner and then out to a few bars for drinks! I hadn't stayed up that late in quite a while, and we all commented on how hard it was to go out on a Friday night because we were so used to going to bed early during the week. It was worth it though! We are planning to do it again next weekend for a festival going on.

The next morning I drove to my parents house. I got there and sat down for a few minutes while my parents finished packing a few things up and then we went to their friends shore house about an hour away. It was so nice! It wasn't too hot but still sunny. We spent a few hours out on their boat and then relaxing on their deck. I even got a little bit of a tan. The next day we went to the beach for a few hours before having an early dinner and then driving back to my parents place for the night. I had a lazy morning at their place today and then drove home so that I could do laundry and get ready for the week.

I can't really believe we have another week of school. This weekend flew by so quickly, probably because I spent so much of it in the car and not at home, but it was really nice to relax and not think about school and lesson planning and all of the details that go with it.

I'll be back to the grind tomorrow. I have to bring my car to the shop tomorrow night and then pick it up the following evening, hopefully everything goes smoothly and nothing else gets added to the one part that they need to fix for the emissions inspection (that just came in after being ordered). If I'm lucky I can get everything taken care of with my car and maybe even get to the dmv sometime this week.

Excitement, Nerves, and Being Overwhelmed

What a week! I have felt so many different emotions and while I came home on edge and feeling very overwhelmed multiple times this week, I think I am finally feeling as if I might be ready for the first day of school (tomorrow). Now don't ask if I am ready for the days that are after that, because that answer would most likely be no.

Almost every day this week we had a meeting for part of the day and then we spent the read of the time working in our rooms or on our own materials. This is with the exception of Tuesday which was spent working on just our content areas and talking about how we can make our classroom assessments better. I spent most of the week at the high school that is further from my house and out in the woods. I have been feeling a little more comfortable at this school and I'm not sure exactly why that is. The staff seems to be a little bit more cohesive, or at least the math department, and there is one teacher there who is close to my age and has kind of taken me in and helped me out quite a bit. I was at the other school on Thursday and while it was still a good day and I was able to get a lot done I ended up leaving feeling overwhelmed and terrified that I was going to screw so much up because of the fact that I'm balancing the two schools. I want to do what is best for the kids and only having me there every other day could get interesting. I think it will be fine, just an adjustment. I need to make sure that I stay organized, and on top of life!

Whether or not I'm truly ready for what I'm getting into, we shall see. I feel like I am ready for the first day (really 2 days since it is block scheduling). After that, I will need to do a lot more lesson planning and grading and go from there. Things will get busier and I will learn the true meaning of finding balance between work and "life". Considering I've been at school until 5 or 6 most of this week, I'm hoping to limit it to not too much later than that most nights, but we'll see. I also hope to not have to bring too much of my work home with me. These are all of my hopes and dreams, we'll see what reality has in store for me as the next few weeks play out.

Friday night the Woodgrove Wolverines had their first home football game and did amazingly! They won 52-7 and it was a good game! It was fun to go and watch the students play with a few new and a few veteran teachers. I will have mainly freshman and sophomores there but who knows, some of them might be football players and it is always good to show support!

Saturday I spent most of the day at school getting things ready and then came home and relaxed. I was hoping to go out for drinks with a friend but was fighting a migraine all day. Between stress, the crazy changes in weather/pressure, and my neck muscles fighting against me I ended up being stuck at home trying to calm myself down. I ended up taking some of my migraine medicine and sleeping. It was frustrating but I got a decent nights sleep and I felt a bit better in the morning.

Today I had an amazingly lazy day. I finished up stuff for school tomorrow and then just relaxed and watched tv shows, did my nails, made dinner (for the week), and tried to forget about how nervous (and terrified) I am about tomorrow. I know things are going to be fine. They are just students and I've been working in a high school for two years now and teaching math for even longer than that, but that doesn't make it any easier to get over the fact that I am now a "real" teacher and that I'm now the one in charge of these 115+ kids walking into my (5) classrooms. I think I'm capable and that I will be able to handle it, I know I have done a lot to get to this point.

Another church, More orientation, and lots of learning

It has been another long week, and while I am still feeling overwhelmed I'm doing my best to keep things in perspective and not worry too much.

Last Sunday I went to a local Presbyterian church and I was immediately welcomed. It was quite a different experience from the week before. When I came in one of the members walked me into the worship space and introduced me to a few other people who talked with me for a little while and invited me to sit with them through worship. The worship service itself was more contemporary and casual than most Presbyterian services I have been to but I really enjoyed it. The sermon was about David and Goliath and how we all face giants in our own lives and it all comes down to where we turn for support and strength to overcome those giants. It was a very applicable telling of the story and an eye-opening reminder that we can't do things by ourselves.

All week we had different types of orientation meetings. Everyday was different, and there was a lot to learn from each session.

Monday the new teachers met with the technology resource teacher and learned how to set our grade books up online as well as our classroom webpages and email and a bunch of other little things. In the afternoon we met with our mentors. It was awesome to finally meet with the person that I'll be working and meeting with regularly. We spent a few hours talking about first day of school procedures as well as what I am most nervous about and how to combat that. Then she drove me around the area that kids come from for that high school. One of the schools I am at is further away and out in the woods more. Some of those kids have to sit on the bus for close to 45 minutes. We drove to both sides of the region, and saw the extremes the giant houses that the very rich families live in and the small historic villages that are out by the farms. It gave me a good perspective for that school, and it helped me to compare it to the other high school I'm at which is right in the middle of a suburb and in neighborhoods where most students can walk to school.

Tuesday we had math standards training. This was especially helpful since I am coming from out of state. Learning about the state exams here and the standards that go with them was wonderful and the activities that we did were hands on and enjoyable. In the afternoon we were able to go back to our schools and work on our own. It was nice to finally have some time on my own to work on things for the first day of school. I met another math teacher who is close to my age and teaching geometry as well. It was really reassuring to hear from her experiences and get some materials from her. That evening I went out for dinner and drinks with another teacher that I had met on the first two days of new teacher orientation. It was nice to go out with someone to relax and talk with someone who would understand.

Wednesday was the first day with all of the staff back at school. We had an opening staff meeting to introduce ourselves to each other, hear about procedures and policies, and then after lunch we all went bowling as a team building exercise. It was great to meet other staff members and do something fun with them.

Thursday I went to the other high school so that I could try to split my time evenly. We had a meeting about unpacking standards and going into them with more detail. It was long and drawn out but helpful none the less. During lunch I was able to meet with the other math department staff and get to know them a bit more and get some materials from them which was really helpful. After lunch we had orientation for the students. They ran through their schedules and they were in each class for 3 minutes. This gave me the opportunity to meet two out of my five classes (all of the ones at that school). It was short and I didn't even have the time to be nervous beforehand. It was felt good to see kids though.

Friday was a full day of "classroom preparation" but since I don't have one classroom, I share 5 different ones I live in the workrooms at the two different schools and will move around on carts. I spent the morning at one school meeting with teachers to plan our first 9 weeks and to continue working on things for the first day of school. After lunch I went over to the other high school and had a meeting with the math department and talked with a few of the teachers there. I ended up staying until 6pm working on different things for the first day of school. It was super productive and felt good.

Today I went school supply shopping and got materials for my classrooms. I finished preparing a few things and made some sugar cookies (from a box from Wegmans!). It felt like a semi-productive day, despite not doing quite as much as I hoped for.

I'm still feeling overwhelmed but also know that I still have a whole week before students come. Physically my body is still adjusting to a school schedule of waking up early but that should become normal this week. Emotionally I'm still struggling with being alone most of the time and trying to figure out how to overcome that. I know as school starts and I have a routine that will get easier but right now it is difficult.

New Teacher Orientation

The past few days have been quite a whirlwind. I have come home exhausted and feeling a little overloaded with information. Each day was different, so I'll give you a short rundown of what they looked like.

Wednesday was our first day and it was meant for teachers new to the county without any experience teaching (beyond students teaching or subbing). So we came in, had a light breakfast (we all looked like the new kids at school in the cafeteria trying to figure out where to go and who to sit with), and then went and sat in the auditorium. We listened to a few speakers talk about the mentor program that the county has for us and then we met in groups with a bunch of the lead mentors in our schools. This was nice because we were able to at least meet one person in our school who we will work with and it lead to us meeting the other new teachers in our school. We spent about 2 hours in these groups talking about general procedures within the program. Then we had lunch, and about half an hour question and answer time with a panel of second year teachers. I really like this panel time. They answered the questions well and were able to ease some of our concerns since they were all close to our situation. After that the new teachers from each school went and met with their lead mentor again individually at their school. Since our school was a ways away (30 minutes) and we all lived closer to where we actually were, we decided to just go to Starbucks and talk there. So we went over more procedures and she was able to answer a lot of our questions about our school specifically. It was a really informal conversation which was nice.

By the time I got home around 3:45 I was exhausted! I had been awake since 6am and talking to people  or listening to them since 7:40. It was a lot of good information and there was a lot that I needed to know. It made me feel better to start to ease into things.

Thursday was another day just for new teachers without experience. This was a little more content and classroom based than the day before. We had a small group session in the more about delivery of instruction where we were "re-taught" different strategies of instruction and teaching. Some of them were helpful to review, some of it was just a lot of review of "book-work" from college. After lunch we had a really great session on classroom management. The three women that led that session had some great ideas and just kept us engaged the whole time. Not to mention they put us at ease about the first few days of school and gave us some concrete ways to make them go smoother.

It was another long day and I was definitely tired by the end of it but I was encouraged after it. I had a positive outlook and despite information overload, most of it was good.

Friday was crazy! This was for all employees new to the county, whether they've been teaching for twenty years or just started. There had to be a couple hundred people, it was nuts! Anyway, when we showed up, there was a red carpet rolled out, all of the administrators from the most of the schools, and the cheerleaders from that specific high school were outside cheering for all of us as we entered the building. It was kind of awkward to say the least, but at the same time it was nice to feel appreciated. We spent the morning listening to presentations from different vendors and sponsors. They gave away a lot of door prizes and raffles which was kind of cool. After walking around the gym talking to some of the sponsors, the group from my school went to lunch. Then we headed back to our school and met with our assistant principals. We then went over the handbook quickly and talked about specific school procedures in more depth and got a tour of the school. I will be in three different classrooms for my three different classes at that school. It should be rather interesting.

I finally got home around 4:45 and was truly exhausted. We had gotten so much information in the afternoon that I know I won't remember when the time comes. Physically I was fine, although I did find out my b12 level is dangerously low to the lowest end of the "normal" range even with the monthly injections which is not fun. That might be accounting for why I'm feeling as tired as I am recently. Mentally I really was just feeling a bit overloaded, it's the only way to explain it. I just felt like I needed to shut down.

Today I took a little time to rejuvenate. I slept in until 8:30. It wasn't much but it was all my body would let me do. I had a lazy morning, just watched a few tv shows online and then I ran a bunch of errands and got things for the apartment that I needed and went grocery shopping. Then I made a delicious risotto for dinner because the recipe looked delicious and it seemed like a good idea to have real food around the house, even as left overs. Not to mention cooking felt good. The recipe is below.

Emotionally I'm in a weird spot. It's been nice to start meeting people who I'll be working with, at least some of the other new people in the school who are in the same boat as me. I also met another new teacher who lives close by to me and we are planning to get drinks sometime soon which will be nice if it happens. I'm trying to stay occupied because I've never been good at being alone and not over-thinking everything. I'm hoping that once I get into school I'll have more to do, or at least more to do with people. I'll be able to start planning lessons in a few days, I haven't been able to much because we do a lot of common planning and I need to talk to the other teachers that are teaching the same classes as me to see what is being taught when and how certain things are going to be taught so it has limited what I could do at night and on the weekends. I'm trying really hard not to miss home (Rochester), and everyone there, and the life I had built there but sometimes that is just really difficult.

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to a different church and seeing what it is like. Then I'm going shopping with my friend from high school. I need to get some more teacher clothes before the year starts. I'm hoping between retail therapy and being out with a good friend it should be a very good time! The rest of the week I'll be off and running with more orientation and training. The next two days are still for new hires and then the end of the week is for everyone. It will be a lot of professional development, curriculum, technology, and planning. I've got 2 weeks to get ready for kids!

Tomato and Sausage Risotto (Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food)
Ingredients:
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes in juice
1 Tbls olive oil
3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic chopped (not in original recipe but I added it and enjoyed it)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio Rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4-6 oz. flat lead spinach (the recipe called for 10-14 oz. I used significantly less and liked it a lot better) wash well, removed touch stems, chop
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbls butter

Directions:

1.) In a small saucepan, combine tomatoes (With their juice) and 3 cups water. Bring just to a simmer; keep warm over low heat.

2.) In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add sausage and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up sausage with a spoon, until sausage is opaque and onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes. 

3.) Add rice; cook, stirring until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.

4.) Add about 2 cups of the hot tomato mixture to rice; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue adding tomator mixture, 1 cup at a time, waiting for one cup to be absorbed before adding the next, stirring occasionally, until rice is creamy and just tender, about 25 minutes total (you may not have to use all the liquid). 

5.) Remove pan from heat. Stir in spinach, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately (risotto will thicken as it cools), sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired).

New Job!

The moment I've been waiting for, for about 3 years now, has finally come. I've accepted a full time teaching position for this coming school year in northern Virginia/suburban DC. I'll be teaching at two different high schools, every other day because it is a split position, but it works because they are on block scheduling, and I'll be teaching Algebra 1 and Geometry! Needless to say my life is about to drastically change!

The story leading up actually receiving the offer is kind of crazy. I've written about it a little before. The phone interviews leading to a call about wanting to do a face to face interview but not having clearance to hire. Well at that point I was pretty discouraged, granted that was 2 1/2 weeks ago. I decided to try calling the school this past Tuesday to check in, which was 2 weeks after I had gotten the news that they weren't sure the status on the position. When I tried to call, first I got a busy signal, then a recording from Verizon telling me that my call could not be completed, and then another busy signal. I got a little worried, I mean it's not like a school just up and moves, but I figured I would try calling the next day. Well the next morning I received a call from another department head at a different high school in the same county. Which led to yet another interview in which she told me they are looking for someone to fill a split position between the two high schools. So she was asking if I was still interested, and then continued with a bunch of different interview questions, granted she didn't even have my resume in front of her because she had just gotten my information from the other people who had interviewed me at the other school. As we were ending the conversation I asked what the next steps would be, and if they would like to meet me in person. At that point she told me I was in the top two and that she wasn't sure if they would want me to come down or not but that she was going to talk with everyone involved and try to give me some indication of where we stood before the weekend. (This was Wednesday). Thursday morning I had a message from her asking me to email her my resume, so I did. Thursday evening after I got out of work I had a message from someone in the personnel department asking me to call her back. Of course by the time I got out of work it was 7:30 and too late to return that phone call, so I was left guessing what it could be about. I returned the call in the morning, and still hadn't heard anything in the afternoon and was getting antsy, so I tried calling again and left another message. She finally called me back as I was on my way to work. I answered the phone and lo and behold she was offering me a job! I was shocked! After 3 phone interviews and a few weeks of waiting I was being offered a position! They didn't want to meet with me in person, which was a little surprising, but I'll have to go down to fill out paperwork and start the whole process, but I have a job!!

I pulled into a parking space at work, wrote down all of the important information she was giving me, and then quickly called my parents as I was walking into work at Old Navy. It was ridiculous! I had 7 minutes to call both of my parents and tell them what happened. I'm pretty sure my coworkers thought I was crazy, but once they heard what was going on they were excited for me as well. My parents went out to dinner and celebrated (I think they were just as excited for me to have a real job as I am). Once I got through work (hardest 4 hours to make it through of my life) I went out and had a low key celebration with one of my girl friends and then came home and just sat in awe of what my life is about to become. What was hilarious was that we also had evaluations at Old Navy... I was On Target in all of the areas, and I got a whole .19 cent raise!! What a day!!

So now starts some craziness! I have to figure out how to move to Virginia! The first day of new teacher orientation is August 8th, which means my life is going to be uprooted pretty quickly. I'm going to become an adult quickly. I need to go down there to fill out paperwork, sign my contract, transfer my certificate, get fingerprinted (again), and all of the other lovely things that go with new jobs. Not to mention I need to find a new place to live and get to know the area. I did just find out that the assistant principal at the school I've been working at the past two years used to work in the county, so I feel like the stars kind of aligned (he was one of my references) but also because he will be able to give me a lot of valuable information on both the schools and the area itself. My parents are being super helpful and have already started looking into things with moving and the area itself. My mom works in a school so she has the summer off and I know having her help will be invaluable. I am still in shock about all of this. Absolutely excited, thrilled, and terrified all at the same time! It's wonderful!

Other information in my life: This week is day camp!! So on top of trying to figure things out, I'm helping to run a day camp with close to 30 kids here in Rochester. It will be interesting for sure. There will be some staff coming down from Camp Fowler where I used to spend my summers. Plus some great volunteers from the church. I'm not sure what the week will hold, really I never am, but I'm sure it will go well, it almost always does. It's always a little stressful but fun! I get to play with kids all week, what can be bad about that?!

Oh I also went to the neurologist this week. What a waste of time! My appointment was at 10:30. I didn't see the doctor until 11:15. And then we hemmed and hawed about whether to up my dosage or keep it where it was (we left it alone). And the one concern I had (seeing stars), I was told "Well it's not glaucoma, I can tell you that, but other than that I'm not really sure, I don't think it's a side effect of your meds though so I wouldn't be too worried." Great!! Luckily I don't have to go back for a year... oh wait I won't be here, which means I don't have to see her, I'll either have to find a new doctor or just stay on these drugs! Sometimes I get frustrated with doctors... can you tell?! Oh well, my headaches are stable and better than they have ever been in the past so I guess that's all I can really hope for. We'll see what happens.

I think that is all for now! I'm sure there will be more exciting life changes as things progress!