Yeah yeah yeah...

I know it's been a long while... things have been really ridiculous lately.  I have a new co-teacher who is with me all the time.  It's nice to have another body in the room, but I feel more stress because I feel like we need to produce a lot more than when it was just me... so for the sake of this blog, let's just move on to how I've been feeling in the past weekend or so...

I've really been planning hard.  I'm being much more intentional and in depth than in previous days at Alger.  I am actually liking how my unit is looking.  My only major concern is that the kids won't understand the material or there is too much stuffed in to a short period of time.  However, I think it looks more fun than anything I've planned.  There are white boards, bingo, crafty-type activities, thinking maps and projects... I'm hoping the kids love it!!!

Parent Teacher Conferences...

Well... that was a long 4 and a half hours.  But the conferences are over for the semester!  I feel a little crazy.  Maybe it was all the diet coke or the really strange day, but either way, I NEED a break!  Haha...

Earlier tonight I unlocked the door to the office to roll my chair back in.  Then I closed the door and tried to push the chair in the closed door!  That was the night I was having.

Conferences were pretty decent.  There were a lot of really caring and passionate parents.  I was SO glad to see that there are families at our school who do care about education.  However... there were not so many parents.  It was hard to keep my eyes open as the sun went down.

Half of my 6th hour got suspended for being obnoxious.  I don't really want to meet with those parents tomorrow.  That seems less fun. 

This is the most to the point message I have ever written in my life.  I'm trying to throw in my Jessi-flare... but it isn't working!  I'm exhausted and probably a little burned out...
Night!
xoJLG

Just another manic Monday...

Yes, I grew up in the wrong decade.  I feel more in touch with the 70s and 80s than I do the 90s.  That is more in reference to the song than the day I had today, but while we are on the subject...

My love for the great Gilda Radner is making appearances in totally ridiculous places.  I called my co-teacher on my way home from a meeting this afternoon because I passed Gilda's Club Way.  Now all the little smiley signs around the city are for Gilda... Unfortunately, I left my Gilda book at school.  I'm not even sure why it's there.  I just know that it is in my desk, and I'm finding it difficult to read 30 miles away. 

Another reason I'm from the wrong generation?  I love Melissa Gilbert, Alison Arngrim, Marie Osmond, Lisa Whelchel, The Facts of Life, Who's the Boss, One Day at a Time, Different Strokes, Little House on the Prairie, and old school SNL.  Let's be real, Jane Curtain and Roseanne Rosannadanna are fabulous!

Right... back to my teaching day.  My voice is SO over this day.  My 4th-6th hours were just unable to shut their little mouths.  And I wish their mouths were little, but whoa, these kids can be SO loud.  I felt a little cheated because we didn't have an ISS room today.  Super.  Another promise unfulfilled.

Then I had to go to this stupid meeting.  By stupid meeting, I mean my co-teacher and I didn't really talk to others much.  I guess that's why we are the "plastics." (Think Mean Girls...)  After the meeting, we walked out and the ELA teacher was getting out of hers.  She thought her meeting was a waste of time too.  At least it wasn't just me!

On a high note, I think God has decided that it might be time to help me through the storm by picking me up and running rather than just guiding me through.  I have been exhausted and stuck in a pessimistic mood for at least a month now, but now I'm feeling a little lighter.  I'm even considering coaching cheerleading!  Hopefully tomorrow is a better day than today!

xoJLG

Is it actually happening?

So... the "story" is that we are FINALLY getting an In School Suspension room.  This will decrease our suspensions and hopefully help me to have a chance to teach.  I just hope that it will actually happen.  I don't think that the kids need any more false threats.  They don't need any more chances to screw up.  It's time that we get to business.  I have SOO many ideas for teaching math, and I'm just waiting to be able to use those ideas.  We can't even use crayons without breaking them and throwing them.  Also, some schedule changes are on their way as well.  At least, I hope all this is happening. 

Today is my non-school day.  Meaning it is the one day of the week where I will not do grades or any school work.  Although this isn't exactly school work, I'm going to include this blog in my school activities.  So, I hope to update soon on things that are more pleasant or at least more interesting.
xoJLG

Out of control...

So, I had PD today.  I had to be gone all day for this training whatever.  I would love to do training and such, but I am definitely feeling like I NEED to be in my classroom.  I get back to the room after school for my daily phone calls, I find that my closet is unlocked.  It was weird to me, because I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS lock the closet.  My calculators are in there and anything else of value to me.  I look in the closet, and all of my candy is gone.  There is nothing left.  I went across the hall to my mentor, and she told me that she heard the kids had cornered my sub while others broke in to my closet.  Awesome.  What a way to end my day.  I am SOOOO frustrated.  That poor sub, and now tomorrow I have to figure out how I am going to deal with those kids tomorrow. 

I'm just frustrated.  Angry.  This is RIDICULOUS!
xoJLG

Falling behind already...

So... I've been holding out on you all!  (If "you all" even exist?  Do people read this?)  I have a few blog updates that never quite made it to the posts.  Here are a few of those:
November 2:

Well… it’s my first PD day today.  It’s 8:16, and someone thought that starting off the day with two articles and silent reading.  Super.  Now I’m SUPER exhausted.  On the bright side, there are NO students here!  And wow, did I need this day.  I’m exhausted and feel like burn out is already setting in.  I’m constantly exhausted and getting to the point where I’m just cranky every day. 

However, on a positive note: I discovered that using my microphone in my class will actually calm my students down a bit.  I think that even though I wasn’t yelling AT them because I was yelling OVER them they were subconsciously shutting down.  Yelling is yelling is yelling.  They didn’t appreciate it, and neither did my voice!

I’m still really tired today, but it might be because I was WIDE awake at 4:35 last night… and for those who don’t know me, I am a Christian girl who has recently rediscovered a deep faith.  And I believe there was some kind of spiritual warefare going on… but things are looking up now.  I’m here at school, and for the most part, I’m really enjoying my time with my coworkers :)

Now… 9:29.  I’m waiting here because we haven’t done our common assessment yet.  So, we are waiting for lots of other people to get their shit together…  agh!  Bored and now hot and sleepy. 

I wish that I had something more interesting to tell you all, but in reality: It’s a PD day.  Yes the joy of no kids is alive, but yes, it is horribly boring and slow.

 November 4

Today was a long, rough day.  I have barely any voice.  The kids were RIDICULOUS today.  I was SO frustrated.  I mean really… Fifth hour?  You had ZERO moments where I was the only one speaking.  Zero.  That’s a lower number than I have ever experienced.  It was outrageous that I even had to deal with that.  Sixth hour was rude and obnoxious as well.  Tomorrow, I think I’ll do a blind grade on what they have finished.

...

Anyways, back to the present... I had to take the day off because I am having MAJOR vocal cord issues.  I have the "teacher's nodules."  I will probably need to go to speech therapy for it, too. Fun, fun... but at least I know that it is fixable.  

Tomorrow is going to be a LOOONG day.  I have governance board during the day (I'm super nervous) and then parent teacher conferences from 3-7:30.  I am hoping to get a few things done though.  Today I bought a few more small tubs to help organize and some crackers and bottled water.  For anyone who knows me, yes, I bought bottled water.  I hate that I did, but I am so exhausted and burned out that I don't have the energy to make that change. 

Well, I'm going to continue loving my day off.  I have an appointment with the eye doctor, but then I am going to purchase some Gilda Radner DVDs.  I am SUPER excited :) I guess I can do the rest of my grading...

To get a sub, or to not get a sub...

As I contemplate this new blog and what I want to share, I also must decide whether or not I want to get a sub for tomorrow or not.  See... on Thursday and Friday, I really should have called in a sub.  I was NOT feeling well, and therefore was very crabby.  So, instead of making that definitive decision, I'm simply going to write my first entry.


This is the musings of a first year teacher who never would have thought she would be teaching in an urban school--and I use the term "urban" loosely.  It's Grand Rapids; so it is urban to West Michigan, but tame compared to Chicago.  I teach 7th grade math, which is something else I wouldn't have guessed I'd be teaching.  Not even a year or two ago, I was sure I'd be teaching high school or working toward my doctorate.  I though I might be a professor of mathematics.  After student teaching and teacher assisting, I absolutely fell in love with middle school and can't imagine what it's like to teach high school seniors. 

Anyways, I was hired to teach at Alger Middle School on the first day of school and started teaching on day 3.  I had no time to prepare my room, curriculum or procedures.  It was a crazy first month or two.  It's hard to imagine that I am coming out of those first months in one piece!  The kids can be hard to deal with, and I'm still playing catch up.  I'm trying to get ahead in my planning, but then there is always some paperwork, meetings or other expectations that I was unaware of.

So, that's pretty much the situation in a nutshell... and now, the question is why do I feel so moved to write a blog?  I guess I always feel moved to write/journal things... I'm just not good at keeping this up.  I'm going to be optimistic and assume this will be better.  Hopefully my anecdotes and musings will be amusing or helpful to others.  I would love to hear your comments, so please leave them!  Email me if you would like, but it's not time for me to go off and decide whether or not to get a sub...

UPDATE: I still really want a sub, but there are meetings to attend, papers to handle and crazy kids to ref... So, I'm just going to have to suck it up (again)