This week was relatively uneventful. I had my first observation from my assistant principal on day 5 of me teaching. I wasn't sure what I was going to teach until that morning, because I didn't know it was happening until the afternoon before. I think my lesson went well, but at the end the assistant principal pulled a kid out of the room for being disrespectful to me. I didn't think it was that big of a deal but he did, so he took care of it. I had a talk with the kid after class, and the next day he behaved much better. I learned a little about his situation, so hopefully that will help me know how to help him a little better.
My assistant principal said I did just a fine and he was pretty impressed with the way I was handling the kids. I had him come specifically at that time so he could help me with the classroom management of that group. They are in 6th grade and as big as I am, with attitudes to match, so it makes it pretty challenging. I am getting better at it, though.
Other than that there was nothing really out of the ordinary this week. I have been working out every other day and I am almost up to being able to do 2 miles in 20 minutes, which doesn't sound like much but it is my first goal. I have already lost 2.8 lbs! when I was working out every day I could do 2.5 miles in 24 minutes. I am quite a ways away from that still, but hopefully I will make it and really start losing weight here pretty soon. I need to get my eating under control, but it is really hard because I like food SO MUCH! My goal is to get down to 140 by June. I think I can do it but it is really going to take some work. Being in a swim suit is pretty good motivation, though, and that happens in June, if not before. Gotta get busy.
I'm really looking forward to this coming weekend because my best friend is coming to visit me! Her and her husband live in Lubbock and I haven't seen them since my graduation. They are going to come for the Firey Food Show. I am not sure what else we are going to do while they are here, but whatever it is I am sure we will have fun!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
I survived!
My first two days with kids went swimmingly this week! Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exageration, but at least I lived through them. My first day was more-or-less uneventful. I just met with the kids, explained the rules, played a game, and let them go a little bit early. I was really apprehensive about my 6th grade groups, and rightly so, because they gave me the most trouble. It wasn't terrible, I just get the feeling they are going to test me all year. Two of my students already got suspended for fighting. Another on told me to "make him" do something, then later he walked out of the class. I didn't really know what to do, but I figured it out and I will know what to do next time. I was just nervous because this kid is my size and it doesn't seem to matter that I am the authority figure. I think he enjoys the class, and if I play it right I think he will shape up, but it is just hard knowing what to do in that situation.
I haven't exactly figured out what I am going to teach them, because I have 7 different groups to plan for each day. The hardest part is planning for my group that is just 1 kid. He seems really smart and he can read/write really well. His teacher said he needs more help in his speaking, and just his vocabulary in general. I don't know how to do that in a meaningful way, though, so I am still working on it. Hopefully something will come to me soon.
I also had to go to two meetings this week. One on Wednesday all day and one on Friday afternoon. Sounds like I am just going to have a lot of meetings, even though I don't know what I am doing yet.
On a different note, I have started working out again. We bought a treadmill and I have used it three times in the last week. I know that is not a lot, but I figure it is a start, and I need to at least start of I am not going to do it at all. I hope I can keep up with it because I have to be in shape before the end of June (we are going to Lake Powell for a week on a houseboat with our families?). I am not doing so hot in the eating department, but baby steps, right?
Ok, gotta go finish cooking dinner. Hopefully this week goes well for me and I'll write about it later on.
I haven't exactly figured out what I am going to teach them, because I have 7 different groups to plan for each day. The hardest part is planning for my group that is just 1 kid. He seems really smart and he can read/write really well. His teacher said he needs more help in his speaking, and just his vocabulary in general. I don't know how to do that in a meaningful way, though, so I am still working on it. Hopefully something will come to me soon.
I also had to go to two meetings this week. One on Wednesday all day and one on Friday afternoon. Sounds like I am just going to have a lot of meetings, even though I don't know what I am doing yet.
On a different note, I have started working out again. We bought a treadmill and I have used it three times in the last week. I know that is not a lot, but I figure it is a start, and I need to at least start of I am not going to do it at all. I hope I can keep up with it because I have to be in shape before the end of June (we are going to Lake Powell for a week on a houseboat with our families?). I am not doing so hot in the eating department, but baby steps, right?
Ok, gotta go finish cooking dinner. Hopefully this week goes well for me and I'll write about it later on.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Conflicted
This post is a little different than some of the other posts I have done recently. This one is more reflective... just as a heads-up...
Since starting my job all of my co-workers have been trying to get to know me. There are a couple of teachers that I knew from before I started working, but others I am just getting to know. Through them getting to know me I have started wondering again about when Jason and I should have children. I keep thinking abot how badly I want to have a family, then I think about it a little more and realize I am not quite ready for children yet because there are still some things I want to do.
We keep vascillating between this year and next year, and I want to have kids in April of which ever year we decide, but that leaves the window kinda small. There is probably a good medium and a nice compromise so if we decide we aren't quite ready yet then we don't have to wait a whole year, but we haven't figured it out yet.
What are these things I still want to do? I want to get in really good shape, hopefully so I don't gain as much weight when I get pregnant. I would love to go on another mission trip of some kind before having a child. I want to work at least one full year before having children so I am more hireable if I decide to stay home after the first baby. We want to have some more of the house finished, preferably adding another room so we don't have to store so much of our stuff if we have a baby.
It is just a strange feeling. I really want to be pregnant, but I'm pretty sure that is not a reason to decide to have a child. There are a lot more reasons that Jason and I have decided to wait thus far, and we are going to have to reevaluate everything come this summer. I want a baby so bad, but we are not ready, and that is hard for me to wrap my mind around because we have been married for 3 1/2 years, longer than most couples before their first child. Several friends are having children (granted, several are not, too), and I want to experience that. I have to keep reminding myself that I just turned 23, so just because I have been married for a relatively long time doesn't mean I need a child, I have plenty of time for that.
I am just full of conflicting feelings and I am trying to rely on God for guidance in all of this. So far everything He has done for us has been amazing and perfect, and His timing is perfect as well. We are praying for guidance and we want to do His will, not our own. If you would pray for us as well it would be fantastic. We just need His guidance.
Since starting my job all of my co-workers have been trying to get to know me. There are a couple of teachers that I knew from before I started working, but others I am just getting to know. Through them getting to know me I have started wondering again about when Jason and I should have children. I keep thinking abot how badly I want to have a family, then I think about it a little more and realize I am not quite ready for children yet because there are still some things I want to do.
We keep vascillating between this year and next year, and I want to have kids in April of which ever year we decide, but that leaves the window kinda small. There is probably a good medium and a nice compromise so if we decide we aren't quite ready yet then we don't have to wait a whole year, but we haven't figured it out yet.
What are these things I still want to do? I want to get in really good shape, hopefully so I don't gain as much weight when I get pregnant. I would love to go on another mission trip of some kind before having a child. I want to work at least one full year before having children so I am more hireable if I decide to stay home after the first baby. We want to have some more of the house finished, preferably adding another room so we don't have to store so much of our stuff if we have a baby.
It is just a strange feeling. I really want to be pregnant, but I'm pretty sure that is not a reason to decide to have a child. There are a lot more reasons that Jason and I have decided to wait thus far, and we are going to have to reevaluate everything come this summer. I want a baby so bad, but we are not ready, and that is hard for me to wrap my mind around because we have been married for 3 1/2 years, longer than most couples before their first child. Several friends are having children (granted, several are not, too), and I want to experience that. I have to keep reminding myself that I just turned 23, so just because I have been married for a relatively long time doesn't mean I need a child, I have plenty of time for that.
I am just full of conflicting feelings and I am trying to rely on God for guidance in all of this. So far everything He has done for us has been amazing and perfect, and His timing is perfect as well. We are praying for guidance and we want to do His will, not our own. If you would pray for us as well it would be fantastic. We just need His guidance.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bathroom pics
I figure I should update the rest of the house pictures that I have taken so far. These pictures are of the hall bathroom, the very first project we did. Jason and his parents pretty much did the whole thing, except the plumbing, and they did it all while I was in Lubbock during the first half of student teaching. It looks amazing and I love using this bathroom in the mornings when I'm getting ready. Anyway, here are some before and after pictures.
Before
After
The only other project we have done is paint the whole house and fix up the master bedroom's closet. Neither of these are really worth posting, until the rest of the projects get completed. Hopefully I will update the house pictures more often. :-)
Before
After
The only other project we have done is paint the whole house and fix up the master bedroom's closet. Neither of these are really worth posting, until the rest of the projects get completed. Hopefully I will update the house pictures more often. :-)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Kitchen- before and after
Yes, you read that right, I am posting some "after" pictures of our kitchen because it is done!! I hope I get this formatted correctly so the pictures show nicely, but either way the pictures will be on here. Our cabinets are "rustic maple" and our counters are silestone. Enjoy!
This is the sink. We had a hideous stainless steel sink before that was ginormous. Now we just have a pretty, deep sink, and there is nothing hideous about it. We even changed out the blinds.
We added cabintes and counters along the far wall of the kitchen, where the fridge is in the above picture. It was completely unfunctional before, so now it is useable space.
Here we took out the wall halfway down to open it up into the livingroom. We also added the peninsula to make more counterspace near the stove.
The floors are dark wood, rather than the tile that was there when we moved in. The tile was pretty easy to take out, except for a little bit in the laundry space. I still need to take pictures of that but there is a little work we still need to do in that area before it is perfect.
I may take some more pictures, but this is a pretty general idea of what it looks like. I could not be happier with the way it turned out. I sometimes find myself just looking at it from the livingroom (because, as you can tell, it is open to the livingroom now). So, there you go. I hope the pictures do it justice!
This is the sink. We had a hideous stainless steel sink before that was ginormous. Now we just have a pretty, deep sink, and there is nothing hideous about it. We even changed out the blinds.
We added cabintes and counters along the far wall of the kitchen, where the fridge is in the above picture. It was completely unfunctional before, so now it is useable space.
Here we took out the wall halfway down to open it up into the livingroom. We also added the peninsula to make more counterspace near the stove.
The floors are dark wood, rather than the tile that was there when we moved in. The tile was pretty easy to take out, except for a little bit in the laundry space. I still need to take pictures of that but there is a little work we still need to do in that area before it is perfect.
I may take some more pictures, but this is a pretty general idea of what it looks like. I could not be happier with the way it turned out. I sometimes find myself just looking at it from the livingroom (because, as you can tell, it is open to the livingroom now). So, there you go. I hope the pictures do it justice!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Paycheck!
That's right, I got my first paycheck today! I was surprised that it was for so much, because I didn't think I would get paid for all the days I have worked so far, but it was a good surprise. I am working hard for my money so far ;-)
This week has been full of reality checks. The school I am working at is really rough. I met a third grader who has the marks of a gang initiation on his face (the gang cuts their eyebrows a certain way so that it scars over). I have a sixth grader who has to be escorted everywhere he goes because he gets into big trouble if he is allowed to go places alone. Two kindergarteners were sent home today for fighting (kindergarteners!!! fighting!!!). It's crazy, but I am just going to have to get used to it. I am trying not to have any preconceived notions of the kids I am going to be seeing, but it is hard with all the stories I am hearing.
I finally got my schedule all figured out. I am going to be seeing 32 kids each day, plus I will go into a classroom once a day to help out a teacher with some vocabulary and things like that. The only break I will have throughout the day is going to be a 30 minute break at lunch. I won't see kids on Fridays, which will give me a lot of time to get ready for the next week, so I am looking forward to that. I have to make it through next week, though. We are still testing kids, which is ridiculously tedious and time consuming. We have about 220 kids to test, and with 6 of us doing it for 4 days straight we didn't get it finished (part of the test is individual with each kid...). We have to finish all these kids and do the "field test" on some of the "proficient" English speaking kids, which just adds to the time commitment. I'm glad I can help out, but I was really looking forward to meeting the kids I am going to work with and getting that started. I don't really have a choice at the moment, though, so I am just going to have to roll with it.
Our kitchen is done!! Except for hooking up the water to the sink and the dishwasher it is completely done. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I feel like the kitchen should just be a picture in a magazine and I am scared to cook in it because it will mess it up, haha. The guys that installed the countertop asked if we would send them a picture once we had everything in so they could add it to their professional portfolio, and they said they did not ask hardly anybody for pictures (that's how much they liked our kitchen). It makes the rest of our house look a little... inadequate. We are already thinking about the next project, but we don't want to start it quite yet. We need a break! It's exciting that it is finally useable, though (we made biscuits in the oven for the first time in about a month last night).
Ok, enough for now. I am going to bed early tonight and I am going to sleep in tomorrow. Yippee!
This week has been full of reality checks. The school I am working at is really rough. I met a third grader who has the marks of a gang initiation on his face (the gang cuts their eyebrows a certain way so that it scars over). I have a sixth grader who has to be escorted everywhere he goes because he gets into big trouble if he is allowed to go places alone. Two kindergarteners were sent home today for fighting (kindergarteners!!! fighting!!!). It's crazy, but I am just going to have to get used to it. I am trying not to have any preconceived notions of the kids I am going to be seeing, but it is hard with all the stories I am hearing.
I finally got my schedule all figured out. I am going to be seeing 32 kids each day, plus I will go into a classroom once a day to help out a teacher with some vocabulary and things like that. The only break I will have throughout the day is going to be a 30 minute break at lunch. I won't see kids on Fridays, which will give me a lot of time to get ready for the next week, so I am looking forward to that. I have to make it through next week, though. We are still testing kids, which is ridiculously tedious and time consuming. We have about 220 kids to test, and with 6 of us doing it for 4 days straight we didn't get it finished (part of the test is individual with each kid...). We have to finish all these kids and do the "field test" on some of the "proficient" English speaking kids, which just adds to the time commitment. I'm glad I can help out, but I was really looking forward to meeting the kids I am going to work with and getting that started. I don't really have a choice at the moment, though, so I am just going to have to roll with it.
Our kitchen is done!! Except for hooking up the water to the sink and the dishwasher it is completely done. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I feel like the kitchen should just be a picture in a magazine and I am scared to cook in it because it will mess it up, haha. The guys that installed the countertop asked if we would send them a picture once we had everything in so they could add it to their professional portfolio, and they said they did not ask hardly anybody for pictures (that's how much they liked our kitchen). It makes the rest of our house look a little... inadequate. We are already thinking about the next project, but we don't want to start it quite yet. We need a break! It's exciting that it is finally useable, though (we made biscuits in the oven for the first time in about a month last night).
Ok, enough for now. I am going to bed early tonight and I am going to sleep in tomorrow. Yippee!
Monday, February 1, 2010
My first Monday
Today was such a crazy, hectic, stressful day. We are starting some testing tomorrow and we had to get everything finalized, which meant passing out notes to each of 200 children taking the test. Of course the teachers were not thrilled about me coming into their class to hand out the notes to just some children. It had to be done, though, and I guess we are all just going to have to get over the inconvenience.
I was also able to make a lot of scheduling decisions. I met with some of the teachers to figure out which kids I am supposed to meet with, who can be in a group with who, when works best for people, etc. It is going to be impossible to see every child I am supposed to see, and for some reason that is really stressing me out. I know there is nothing I can do about it, but since I have about 60-80 kids that I have to see I feel like I should at least try. The bilingual coordinator for the district said we just need to prioritize the kids that need our help the most. It is still stressful, though.
Anywho, this is testing week so I will not have kids until next Monday. Hopefully I can have a really productive week and get a lot of things done so I am not stressed out next week.
On a different note, I get to brag a little about my sister. She made the President's List with Honors at school!! She has been working really hard, and it is paying off. I know she is going to go places and be successful, even if she has to do it on her own, for now. Yes, sadly, she and her boyfriend broke up a few days ago. It was a mutual decision, and a very mature one at that (instead of just pushing marriage and assuming that would fix the issues). They are both pretty upset about it, but they knew it was the right thing to do. Please keep them in your prayers, and the babies.
More days of work to come! Hopefully tomorrow is a little less challenging.
I was also able to make a lot of scheduling decisions. I met with some of the teachers to figure out which kids I am supposed to meet with, who can be in a group with who, when works best for people, etc. It is going to be impossible to see every child I am supposed to see, and for some reason that is really stressing me out. I know there is nothing I can do about it, but since I have about 60-80 kids that I have to see I feel like I should at least try. The bilingual coordinator for the district said we just need to prioritize the kids that need our help the most. It is still stressful, though.
Anywho, this is testing week so I will not have kids until next Monday. Hopefully I can have a really productive week and get a lot of things done so I am not stressed out next week.
On a different note, I get to brag a little about my sister. She made the President's List with Honors at school!! She has been working really hard, and it is paying off. I know she is going to go places and be successful, even if she has to do it on her own, for now. Yes, sadly, she and her boyfriend broke up a few days ago. It was a mutual decision, and a very mature one at that (instead of just pushing marriage and assuming that would fix the issues). They are both pretty upset about it, but they knew it was the right thing to do. Please keep them in your prayers, and the babies.
More days of work to come! Hopefully tomorrow is a little less challenging.
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