I Work All Night I Work All Day

to pay the bills I have to pay.....

That ABBA song definitely fits what my life has been like the last three and half weeks. On August 15th I went back on track ( back to work). With work comes planning, planning, planning, grading, parent teacher conferences, a bit of teaching, a lot of paperwork, and some more planning.

As a first year teacher planning is a large part of my daily life. For the most part I keep about two-three weeks ahead of my students. I have the whole quarter outlined and then I just go from there. This is a system my CT (the teacher that trained me last year) taught me and I liked at have kept it in my classroom.

Ever since coming back on track I feel like it is becoming harder and harder to stay on top - now don't get me wrong I am still good until the end of September, but I still feel stressed. The good news is I love my job. I love my students and I love my team (the group of teachers I work with everyday).

I hate the drive and I hate the paperwork. I also don't really enjoy dealing with parents, but I guess that part won't go away. I also don't really enjoy my Family Consumer Science class. Currently, I am trying to learn to sew so I can teach my students to sew. And by learning, I mean putting it off for as long as possible. I think I am hoping the school will miraculously get rid of the sewing portion of my class. Haha, unlikely.

Luckily, my school is on that weird track system and I get a break every few months- which I love- love- love! My next break starts October 16th and I really cannot wait.

Being a teacher really is great, but by the end of the day I am pooped! I have now realized holidays and weekends were created to give teachers a break and not the other way around!

(Just in case you need a visual of how far I drive everyday: I live in Laie and work in Mililani Town. And no I can't just cut across the island... I have to follow the red line... which takes an hour there and an hour back!!!! EVERYDAY!!!)

BUT IT'S WORTH IT CAUSE I GET TO WORK WITH THESE PEOPLE: 

Back row: Richard (Wheel), Jeff (Counselor), Jake (Science)

Front: Hiroko (Sped), Pat (Language Arts), Me (Social Studies) Krysti (Math), and Kelley (Sped) 

At my school we work as a team of teachers. Meaning we all have the same students and work and plan together. As a first year teacher this has been extremely helpful and I love love love my team! 

Praxis, Senior Research, Hygiene Kits, Oh My

This semester was a little more stressful than the others- I handled it, but I sure am glad it's over. I only took 14 credits this semester- as opposed to my usual 18 so I thought it would be easier- but these 14 credits were pretty intense. But I was taking an on-line class and studying for my Content Knowledge Praxis test so I guess it was not the break I was expecting. However, with my excellent time management skills (hahhahaha) I handled it all!

I passed the Praxis test! YAY!!!

I finished my 27 page senior research paper! It was on Queen Victoria and her relationship with her eldest daughter Princess Vicky- if you would like to read it let me know!

I finished my O&P at Mililani Middle! With all my observations completed!

And I finished my senior service project! As most of you know, I collected items together to put hygiene kits together. These will be taken to LDS humanitarian services and distributed there. I was able to collect items for 100 kits! So thanks for everyone that helped out! My friends Zach and Julie will be taking some to India so I will have some great pictures of my service! While the project was a little stressful, I am glad I was able to do this- these kits are going to touch so many people!

Anyway, all my work is done, done, done! So let's party!!!!

PRAXIS

(These are just some of the books I used to study!)

For about the past 5 or 6 months I have been studying off and on for the Praxis II: Content Knowledge. This test is the 2nd out of 3 I have to take to become certified to teach. I took Praxis I a while ago and it was a piece of cake! Praxis II is a whole other ball game!

Since my content is history, the closest content area is social studies which includes: U.S. History, World History, Political Science, Geography, Economics, and the social sciences (Psych, Anthropology, and Sociology)!

Now, if you don't know better this is a whole lota content to be studying. And that is what I have been doing on top of writing my senior research paper (25-30 pages), completing two days at a middle school for Observation and Practicum and taking another 5 classes... oh yeah and working!

Needless to say I have been very busy! Now, I can handle it and I have been, but I just can't wait to be done in December and just focus on Student Teaching!

So I took the Praxis II last Saturday and will get my results in early December! And it was the hardest test I have taken in my educational career! Holy Crap I would not be surprised if I failed! Luckily, if I do I can take it again in January with my third test the PLT. But everyone send good thoughts that I passed- I could sure use some!

I have been driving Matt crazy since taking it analyzing over every question I can remember and asking him repeatedly if he thinks I passed. I am sure he can't wait till I get my scores!

Hopefully, now I can focus on my paper and the rest of my school work!

Just A Little Bit More

In a little over 48 hours this semester will be OVER!

Which means a little less of this...


And a little more of this...
Can't wait!