A new development..............

At work on Wednesday, my boss said she wanted to go over how next semester is going to go. When I met with her that morning, she let me know that I would be teaching 2 sheltered classes next semester. I will be teaching a sheltered World History class and a U.S. History I class. Can I just say.............. YIKES!!! Sheltered classes mean that I will have only ESOL students in my classes. Since I am teaching these in the second semester this means that I get all of the ESOL students who flunked these classes in the first semester. OH GOODY! The good news is that these will be very small classes (about 8 students, we think). The bad news is that not only do I have 2 weeks to learn World History, but now I have to learn U.S. history also. So instead of relaxing on my holiday break, I'll be reading and working on lesson plans. I have been team teaching in World History this semester so I at least have a foundation in that class. U.S. history however is new territory for me and some of this stuff I haven't heard since I was in school (a long long time ago), lol. I'm very excited to finally be teaching my own classes, even if I don't have my own room yet. It's definately going to be interesting to see how many of these students I can get to pass these classes this semester. I guess it's good I like a challenge :)

I Passed!!!

Ok, Ok, I am not doing very well at keeping up on the blog. I was truly overwhelmed there for a little while. I have turned in all of the homework for my Master's classes. Now I am just waiting on my grades. I'm not sure what kind of grades I will get this time, but I'm sure I passed the classes.

On November 14th I took 2 Praxis tests. Praxis tests are the tests that you have to take to be endorsed as a teacher. I took my ESOL test and passed with flying colors :) I also took the Social Studies content test in order to be able to teach high school social studies. I passed this one also!!!!!!!! Barely...... by 1 point, but I did pass it!!! Considering the fact that being a high school social studies teacher was NEVER on my agenda and considering I haven't taken a History class or a Government class is 20+ years and have never had an economics class, I am proud of myself for passing it. Trust me, I was sure that I would fail it and I would have to take it again so it was a great surprise to learn that I had passed it. Now I can teach my own social studies class. Next semester I will have a sheltered freshmen World History class. Which basically means that I will have the freshmen ESOL students that flunked World History this semester and the hope is that I can teach them in a way that they can pass the class.

At least some of the issues that have been overwhelming me are now over or coming to an end. The semester for classes is over, taking those tests are over, and I have almost survived my first semester as a new teacher. After the first of the year things should calm down quite a bit. I only have 6 hours left in order to finish my master's degree. They are not offering the classes in a way that I can take them in the Spring so I will take next semester off and finish the classes in the summer. This should give me more time to concentrate on teaching World History, substitute, and be a homebound teacher.

I'm still going to Pittsburg every other weekend to see the boys. I still miss them terribly, but I do enjoy my clean, quiet apartment too. Usually when I go back, mom and I go to watch Tyrell and Bryce bowl on Saturday mornings. Wow, those kids can really bowl!!!

Christmas is almost here and I will probably stay in Pittsburg during the break. Let's be honest, it will more than likely be after the first of the year before I blog again :) So let me tell all of you now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday. I love you all, take care!

Visitors

Wow, I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last blogged. Time is going by so quickly and I am feeling overwhelmed.

Things at school are going well. My boss has been keeping me busy on my days off by having me come in as a sub and do some paperwork or fill in here and there.

I have been going back to Pittsburg every other weekend to see the boys and everyone else that I can fit in in a 3 day period. I am also taking 6 hours this semester to work on my Master's degree. So as you can imagine, I have been crazy busy lately.

The weekend of September 25th, Karyn brought Bryce and Tyrell up here for the weekend. We had a really good time. They got here Friday evening and I went to meet them on the East side of town so that they could follow me back to the apartment. We went to the Sedgwick County Zoo on Saturday. It has been my favorite zoo for over 20 years and it has only gotten better over the years. After the zoo we went and ate at the Texas Roadhouse, it was really good and we got to see the wait staff dance. Later that evening, we took the boys to EXTREME BOWLING! It is a bowling alley not too far from here and they light up the lanes and show videos on big screens. Wow! Can our boys bowl! Bryce bowled 7 strikes in row with a score of 235! He beat Tyrell's record by 2 points, lol. Tyrell has bowled 7 strikes in a row too, but not that night. He ONLY bowled 4 in a row that night. It was amazing to watch them, it seemed like every frame they had a strike or a spare. They bowl on a league on Saturday's in Pittsburg. Bryce's cousin Cody is also on their team. They are bowling in a scholarship tournament on the 17th and the way they bowl, I think they have a real chance of winning those scholarships.

I will try to blog more often, but no promises, lol. I'm about 1 step from crazy now, so hopefully things will start pulling together soon. Here are a couple of the 120 pics I took at the zoo :)

Tyrell and Bryce

Me and Karyn

I love giraffes!

My Apartment

Well I made it through another week of school. Things are going really well there. I have 18 students in my seminar class now and they are coming out of their shells, lol. I have really been enjoying them!
Some of you have been curious about my apartment so I used my new BlackBerry to take a video of it today. Hopefully I can get it on here with no problems.




Ok so the video is not the best but maybe it gives the curious a hint of what the apartment looks like anyways, lol. I guess if you want to see more you'll have to come visit me! Take care everyone, I'll blog again soon :)

First Week of School

As my sis-n-law pointed out in a comment on the last Blog I have been slacking on my entries. I do not have cable or internet hooked up in the apartment yet. They are coming on Thursday to do that!!! Thank goodness, I knew I liked TV but I never knew I was a junky until I had to go without it for over 2 weeks. I was able to pick up someone's wireless signal when I sat on my balcony the first week I was here, but last Saturday I couldn't get the signal anymore. I think that person had their internet shut off, the nerve of them! lol. Yesterday I got a cool new blackberry phone and you are supposed to be able to use it as a modem to pick up the internet.

I was sitting at the pool writing the first part, but the security guard came to lock up the pool area so I had to leave the area. I was able to get enough dowloaded there to use the phone as a modem so I am happy that the phone is working to get me online!!!

The first week of school was really good. Unfortunately, since I am only part time right now, I only work every other day so I only worked Tuesday and Thursday this week. I will work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week and so on..... I am team teaching with my Mentor in 2 Freshman World History classes. She is very funny and we have a lot of fun together. I also have a freshman Seminar/Advocacy class. I have 17 ESOL students with 8 different countries represented. They were so cute the first day all scared and 'dear in the headlight' looking, lol. They wouldn't talk to me the first 30 minutes of class but then we did a couple of activities and they started warming up to me and each other. On Thursday they were very chatty, lol. I asked them on the first day if they would like me to read to them and enough of them voted that they did want me to read to them. Then I had them write down which book they would like me to start with and I had a tie New Moon and Breaking Dawn! For those of you who have never heard of these books they are the 3rd and 4th books in the Twilight series that is very popular right now. I was thrilled because I love the series and I just happen to own the series :) They seem like a great group of kids and I think it's going to be a great year with them!

The apartment is coming along nicely. I ordered the new couch today so I will be taking some more pictures soon of my little place. I will try not to be such a 'slacker' anymore now that I'm back on the internet :)

First Day at My New School

Yesterday was the first day at my new school. It was A LOT of fun! The principal made an announcement on the intercom at about 7:45 that we were all to line up in the G hall. We all (about 200 people) congregated to the G hall. When they opened the library doors they announced that we should have our I.D.'s ready. I was standing with other new teachers that I had met last week. We all looked at each other like, "oh no, we don't have our I.D.'s yet". Well they were only kidding about the I.D.'s. They had the library decked out like a club! Celebrate by Kool and the Gang was blaring and the principal greeted each one of us as we entered Club Southeast. There were party favors that said Happy New Year on all of the tables and there was an awesome spread layed out for breakfast. We listened to old R&B hits as we ate our breakfast and mingled. One of the teachers that I met last week introduced me to the other ESOL teachers. My boss (the director of the ESOL program at our school) sat with me and one of the other new teachers. After giving a little speech about how great this school year would be and introducing all of the new staff (there's a lot of us). He asked for 5 volunteers from the audience, my boss was one of them. He then explained that we would all be doing the Buffalo (school mascot) shuffle (Cupid shuffle). The 5 volunteers were to demonstrate the dance. Only one guy knew how to really do it so he basically demonstrated. Then we all had to get up and do the Cupid Shuffle. It was great! Thankfully it's one of the dances that I actually know! lol. During a break that morning my boss took me to the office and we got my I.D. badge and a key to our room. I was finally starting to feel like part of the staff. Since I was only hired 3 weeks ago, my name has been left off of most of the lists. I was beginning to wonder if I had actually been hired, lol. My boss took me to lunch and when we returned we started on the task of getting me a desk and where we would put it. We decided to put it in the ESOL conference room. Since I am only part time for now, I will not get my own classroom yet. I am going to be Power 2 teaching (team teaching) this first semester. I will be team teaching with another teacher for freshman World History. Ok, I know U.S. History and African American History, but I'm a little nervous about World History since I feel like I know NOTHING! I guess I will be learning very quickly. I will also have a freshman Seminar which will consist of all ESOL freshman. Next semester I will not be team teaching but will be teaching Sheltered World History which means I will have all of the freshman ESOL students taking World History. For now, I will be teaching every other day on even days. I will be available to substitute on the odd days and the other teachers seem excited about that. My boss really wants me to be full time so she will be pushing for that all year long. It's a matter of budget cuts within the district at this point. I at least have a desk and a place to put all of my things for now. Today was full of meetings and that will be the rest of the week also. I took a couple of pictures of my area. My boss and the other teachers keep calling me a God send. I've also been helping them hook up their computers so they are liking me already :)

my area

This seems like an up-beat but layed back school. We are even allowed to wear capris and flip-flops. Awwww my kinda school, lol. It should be fun when the kids get there next Monday!

Moving Day!

Yesterday was moving day. Mom showed up in Pittsburg a little after 9:00 a.m. and we(Tyler, Tyrell, mom, and I) started to load the U-Haul, her van, and my car. Well actually, Tyler and Tyrell did most of the loading. I'm a good director although they probably wouldn't agree with me :). It was almost 1:00 p.m. when we finally finished loading everything. Mom treated us to McDonalds before we got on the road (thanks again mom!). We arrived at the apartment in Wichita at about 4:45 p.m. I tried to run in and take some pictures before we started unloading, but my pictures are very dark. It's a new camera and apparently I don't know how to use it yet, lol. My friend Dena (who has been my friend since the summer before 4th grade), her husband Rick, and thier son Reid was here waiting on us when we arrived. Let me tell you that when Rick Bruce moves someone in, he doesn't mess around. Did I mention that in order to get an apartment with a fireplace that I had to move to the 3rd floor? Well, Rick is a very inventive man and he found that he could throw my things to the boys (Tyler, Tyrell, and Reid) if they stood on the 2nd floor landing to save climbing all the steps. It worked well, although I had a couple of little heart attacks when I saw my 20 something year old mirrored headboard and dresser mirror coming over the side of the 2nd floor landing, lol. In the end it worked out extremely well and Rick and the boys worked thier butts off in temperatures that I believe were over 100 yesterday. It did not take them long to get everything in the apartment. My friend Julia also showed up with her daughter Alyssa at the end. Rick even hooked up my washer and dryer, I love that guy! Now I have the daunting task of unpacking everything today. Thank you so much everyone for all of your help yesterday, I love you guys so much! Getting a little teary, lol. My grandpa really wanted to come with us yesterday, but then decided to come at a later time when the apartment is put together. Here are my dark pictures from yesterday and one I took this morning.

kitchen

2nd bedroom

my bedroom

This is the picture I took this morning. If I stand on my balcony and look to the right, this is my view. Yes, that is the river right there. I am soooo country!

I guess I should get busy unpacking, it's not going to unpack itself. Tomorrow I get to see the classroom where I will be teaching! The adventure continues...........stay tuned!

Getting Started

I am back in Wichita this week to get things started here. I signed the lease for the apartment today and took care of some other moving business. I also went to the Dr.'s appointment for my physical for school. I've got a processing meeting on Wednesday and then start new teacher orientation on Thursday and Friday. I'm going to head back to Pittsburg Friday evening and then load up the U-Haul Saturday morning and head back to Wichita for the BIG MOVE. I get to see my apartment Thursday so maybe I will remember to take some pictures and post them on here. This has definately been a roller coaster of emotions the last couple of weeks. I'm so excited to start my teaching job and work with kids from all over the world. I'm a little scared because I've never lived by myself or so far away from my family. I'm anxious to start a whole new life and finally start my career. I'm also sad to leave my boys behind and I will miss them so much. Finally, I am thankful to have such great people in my life as family and friends. It's a blessing to have so much support to start this new adventure. Thank you everyone!

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I thought I would start one of these so that anyone who is interested could see how things are going for me in my new life. I am about to move to a big city. You all know I am and have always been a country girl so this is a whole new adventure. Of course I chose an apartment that is nestled next to a river. You can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl, lol. I got this idea from my little cousin who moved to Florida. I always enjoy seeing how her and her little family are doing. Of course my blog will not be near as cute or interesting as hers. I don't have a cute little baby to take pictures of :). I will be moving very soon and I will keep you updated. Thanks for checking up on me, welcome to my blog, I love you all!