Excellent!

Overall, this has been a most excellent week. 

Sunday, I had the opportunity to go see Wicked's last performance during their run here in Minneapolis with my Mom, Aunt and Grandmother.  My Grandma is a former English teacher, so it was great being able to update her on my experiences as an English teacher in a different type of setting.  The musical was amazing, and I am so grateful that I was able to go see it.  I need to go get the soundtrack now!  That night I only got about 3 hours of sleep due to L being up at his family's cabin and my fear of having another experience similar to the one I had on Friday.

Monday-Friday at school was good.  It's amazing how fast the weeks go by (despite the fact that I thought that Wednesday was Thursday- I was still surprised when Friday got here!).  One of the nice things about working PT at the school is that I get to roll into school at about 9:30am and then start teaching at 10.  That gives me time to get organized in the morning and mingle with some of the other teachers who have 2nd hr. prep time.  I really love the staff of my school, and they've been great at asking me if I need anything and readily give me advice when I ask for it.  The students have been great, and even those who were giving me a hard time for the first week or so in my 6th hr are doing much better and I don't spend as much time asking them to be quiet and keep their comments appropriate.

Friday was even more amazing because I finally got paid!  I signed my contract last week the day it was ready for me, so I was able to get paid this month rather than get 3 paychecks for the next payday in October (I received 2 checks yesterday to make up for the one I missed at the beginning of the month).  It was a huge stress reliever to see more than $100 in my bank account, and that I now have the ability to pay all of my bills and start putting money away into savings!

The last thing that I am going to mention that made this week excellent was the compliment that I received from a seasoned teacher at my school (I've made her my unofficial mentor... though I'm not sure that she knows this!).  She told me that I teach like someone with years of experience, not a first year teacher and that I'm doing a great job with the students so far!  It's amazing how good a small compliment like that can make one feel.  It really made the rest of my day, and I definitely feel more confident in my teaching :-)