teaching

I'm in the midst of preparing for my fifth year as a classroom teacher. I'm also preparing to work at my fifth school, in my third school district, and for my sixth principal! Moving around so much has definitely had it's sucky parts, but it also has shown me what a variety exists in public schools.

I've mostly worked with lower income students. Two of my past, and my current, schools have been Title I, and the other two were for the children of lower enlisted soldiers. I've had all kinds of principals, and prefer a more hands on and actually helpful principal instead of the kind that pretty much seems to do nothing. I've also taught a class with a huge group of English Language Leaners, as well as classes of fully native speakers.

Yesterday, I thought of my teaching experiences in contrast with LIW's. She started teaching at 16, and had some students as old as she was. She taught in a one room school and was responsible for teaching everything to everyone. I haven't read the books in a while so I don't remember the details, but I have a hazy memory of one of her teenage boys bringing a bull whip to school. I did have a student with a knife one day, but he was smart (stupid?) enough to leave it in his backpack and not show off in front of everyone.

So far, I feel very good about my new school. I'm a little apprehensive about the student population, just because there's really no way to know what it's like until we start and I meet my kids. The staff seems great so far though. I have a grade level chair, and she and I have been emailing back and forth and are setting up a day to meet and have lunch. She's been very welcoming. The principal seems friendly, helpful, and very experienced with our population. I've also met a couple other teachers, and they all said good things about the school.

I have new teacher orientation next Thursday and Friday, then three work days the first week of August, and the first day of school is August ninth!

leaving on a jet plane

We are heading to CA today.

Husband's brother is getting married this weekend, and Husband is the best man. That's been a load of frustration, but mostly just for a lack of communication. For a while there, we thought BIL wanted Husband to wear his Class A's at the ceremony, which I was totally against. Once we actually talked to BIL though, it came out that he didn't care, so Husband is renting the typical tux. I'm much happier with this development.

We are lucky that my parents live about half a mile away from Husband's parents. We will be able to see both families easily without running around too much. My parents are also flying my youngest sister into town, so I'll get to see her. We are planning to do sisterly things on Friday morning. I'm hoping this entails shopping and eating lunch.

We also have plans to have lunch with my great-aunt and great-uncle, to see our friends and their six month old daughter, to attend a rehearsal dinner, to go to an A's game, to spend the night in Sonoma, for me to have mani/pedis/champagne with the girls, and for Husband and his brothers to have a bachelor party. Wow. I hope we make it home in once piece.

When we travel across the country, which we do way more than I wish we did, I am always thankful that it only takes 4 hours on a plane. For LIW, going from GA to CA for a wedding just wouldn't have happened. And if for some strange reason she felt like packing up the wagon for the 2,500 mile journey, it certainly would have taken longer than 4 hours. I am definitely glad for the ease of long distance travel. Although I would prefer to go back to CA less frequently, I am at least happy that it is a relatively painless trip.

LIW

Once a week or so, I do something very typical to my life, and think about the fact that if Laura Ingalls Wilder were here, she'd shit a brick.

The most recent occurrence of this thought was when I was flat ironing my hair with my $100 CHI flat iron. Now only was I thankful that I could afford such a wonderful appliance (seriously-it's like magic on my hair!), but I also reflected upon the fact that LIW used to get excited about receiving a penny for Christmas.

While ironing, I did the math, and figured it would have taken 10,000 Christmases for Laura to buy such an iron. She probably could have made her own flat iron for about $5, and I know they had hot curlers, but still.

I am quite frequently grateful for the technological advances I have incorporated in my daily life.

Husband is TDY in AZ for six weeks? No problem. We'll text, FB chat, and talk nightly on the cell phone.

Need a recipe for salmon? No problem. Google it.

It's summer in GA and 100° with 95% humidity? No problem. Crank up the A/C.