Workdays ROCK

I've had my first official workday since school started. It was a much needed workday. The work is in a huge stack and my room is ready to be re-organized. That was the first thing I did today, finally got to spend a little time with just my room. I adore my classroom, but it had gotten messy with the everyday in's and outs of student chaos. I swept, cleaned, moved around, and re-arranged. It was lovely. Then we went out to lunch which is really nice to actually get to eat and not worry about the next class, haha. I love spending time with the English teachers I work with, they're so funny and wonderful to be around. I plan on doing a lot of grading on Monday. It's what I have left to do. I also need to plan, just the usual life of a high school teacher.

This weekend or tonight rather, I'm going to Raleigh to visit Kelly and Matt. (Soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Matt Gay!!) We're looking at bridesmaids dresses and all that good stuff tomorrow, so it'll be fun to do some wedding things. Now if we could only get my wedding in the works...haha, jk.

Last Monday I had the opportunity to speak with a UNCG English Methods class. It is crazy that I was in that class just a year ago and now fast forward a year...I'm really the teacher. It was wonderful to get to spread the little bit of knowledge and advice I had from student teaching and these past 10 weeks. I'm a 10 week veteran! I really enjoyed it.

I'm continuing to learn from life everyday, even when I cried in front of my students this week, I learned from it. Mainly to not freak out and cry, but also to take things one step at a time. Oh well, at least they saw that I was only human! Life goes on... :)

Embarking on Month 3!!

I haven't written in almost a month! It's crazy how busy my life has become with everyday teaching things. The last time I wrote I had only been teaching for 3 weeks, I'm almost approaching my 2 month mark!! Trust me, I have felt every second of it...

Teaching holds it's challenges every single day. My biggest challenges are finding time to do everything, not stressing about things, my students, and perfecting my lesson plans. Oh...and I guess I should throw grammar in there as well.

I never feel like there is enough time to do everything I need to do. Grading papers, helping students, keeping up with my lessons, and making sure I'm on top of my game. To be honest, all I feel like right now is very, very, very tired. However, I have to mention the good things as well. For instance, I have the best family, friends and department ever.

My family has been, as always, very supportive and wonderful. It's still hard being away from home, sometimes you just want a hug from your Mom or Dad, and sometimes you just want Granny to make you a grilled cheese sandwich and tell you it's all going to be alright. My friends have also been AMAZING. We e-mail each other almost everyday and it has gotten me through a lot of days. We've visited, called, traveled, talked, and been there for each other as best as we can. The newest people in my life, my English department, have been fabulous as well. They've been warm, welcoming, and supportive. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Everyday is new and everyday is one that I learn from. As I've said before, this is a LEARNING profession. If you aren't learning, you're missing one of the biggest things about the job. It's hard, everyday is a challenge. I've never been so frustrated before! However, I've also realized that one day I'm going to be able to make a difference, hopefully sooner rather than later. We'll see :)

I will try to be better about these posts...more frequent!!