Officially Summer!

The school year ended rather uneventfully, with some teary goodbyes after our last day in the building.  I was all set to teach summer school, but earlier in June, the enrollment was down, so they were unable to keep me employed.  Oh shucks.  Now I actually have to enjoy a full summer break.  What a bummer :)  Instead, I got to focus on the first class of my Reading Licensure program at the U.  We crammed a 3 credit course into a 2 week window and yesterday was the last day of it.  I have been living/breathing/eating this class for the last 14 days, and now I don't really know what to do with myself!  I'll be subbing a couple of times in July for one of the night school English teachers, but other than that, I'm student free!  There are some projects around the house that I would like to get done (plant more hostas in the garden, find new curtains for the dining room, create a succulent terrarium like the one below)... but I'm sure a lot of my time will be dedicated to keeping Lucy happy and the house clean.

Yesterday, Lucy had her very first experience at the dog park and she made some pretty awesome new friends.  Humphrey is her new gorgeous boxer boyfriend, and he showed her the ropes of the park.  I was a nervous mama at first (not wanting to let Luce off her leash because it's not a fenced in park), so Lucy and I started on a walk around the trail by ourselves, while we adapted.  When we were on the return part of the trail, that's when we met Humphrey and his humans.  His mom asked if we wanted to keep walking, so I agreed, and allowed Lucy off her leash.  While I was silently panicking, I was reassured by Humphrey's mom that they would always come back- which fortunately they did!  I felt much more confident by the time we got back to the kiddie pool, and chatted with some of the other people who were with their dogs.

Now, I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but I was in a car accident on June 1st, during the last couple weeks of school.  The other day, we found out that the car has been deemed totaled, so I had to go clean it out.  I hadn't actually seen the damage on the car until last Friday when I went to the dealership.  To be perfectly honest, I kind of internally freaked out a bit when I actually saw what happened to my truck...

So now, we get to start the always fun process of buying a new car. We've got to figure out what we can afford, but hopefully we figure it out soon, because the last 4 weeks of driving Luke to work at 4am has been hell. Right now, all we know is that we'll need something bigger than Luke's 2 door hatchback Hyundai accent... So if you have any recs for crossovers/small suvs/wagons, I'd love to hear it!

May Updates

So, at this point, we are only halfway through May, but there are all sorts of updates to be told!

Back in March, I was pink slipped from my teaching job.  Fortunately, they were still hiring for my position and two days ago, I re-interviewed for my job.  I was up against several highly qualified and amazing candidates with years of experience, but ultimately, my experience over the last year at Crossroads, the reading skills I implement into the English classroom, and my strong desire to come back won me back my job.  While it will go back down to the .67FTE, I was told by one of my APs that there is a very good chance that it could become full time before the school year starts!  While Luke and I can afford for me to continue the part time position, it would be awesome if they could bump it back to full time...  All I have to say though, is that I am SO glad to not have to fill out teaching job applications this summer.  Those are super time consuming.  In fact, if I could only use one phrase to describe my summer of 2010, it would be Applications!

Our school is getting a new principal (our current one is retiring at the end of this school year), and it was just announced yesterday that one of our current APs has been hired for that position!  I'm very happy with how the principal interviews resulted because Nancy has been in my corner all year and has been enthusiastic about my professional growth since September.

Lucy is now 4.5 months old and is growing like a weed!  Here she is a month ago in the Dwight chair (we call it the Dwight chair because for Easter, we purchased the IKEA chair for ourselves, and since Dwight was our little Easter bunny at the time, it became his gift to us):

And here she is this past week:

It's hard to believe that this little cuddle bug (who is currently curled up and sleeping on my lap right now) will become a giant dog in just a short amount of time.  We continue to take tons of pictures and videos of her, so feel free to visit http://lucylorenz.blogspot.com for more updates on her!

In other family news, Luke's sister graduated this week and got a job offer all in the same day!  Congrats to Becca!  Also, my sister, Lauren, graduates from UMD today with her degree in English (for being someone who never wanted to copy me, I find it highly entertaining that she has the same B.A. as me!).  Congrats to Lauren!

Only 18 more school days until summer :)

A brief reflection + Book update

Here I am, on day 2 of my first MEA break as a teacher, and I'm finally getting a chance to catch up on my blogging.

My big news of the week is that I am now being employed FULL TIME by my school (hooray for title money...)!  I started the longer hours on Tuesday, and while I am not actually adding another section of English 12 until Nov. 8, I am supposed to use my time at school to start documenting how I am helping each student in my English 9/10 Make-Up class pass the GRAD reading test.  Since the additional .33 FTE added onto my contract comes from them receiving title money, I have to be very meticulous with my documentation.  I am welcoming this extra work, since I was never expecting to be able to get FT hours this year.  One thing that I am looking forward to the most as being at the school now from 7:30-3:10 is that I now get to participate in the Friday staff breakfasts!

At my school, we have a daycare facility for the teen moms who are trying to finish their coursework to graduate.  I just found out that every year for Halloween, the little ones go trick or treating around the school during 6th hour.  I am SO excited to see the babies and toddlers being herded around in their adorable costumes.  This is also the one time of the year that the teen moms are able to bring their children into the main part of the school and show off their kids.  Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera and take a few pictures of them.

Lastly, I've been definitely slacking on my reading updates.  At the beginning of the school year, I had to put the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series on hold, and I still haven't had a chance to get back to them.  Hopefully I'll have time to dedicate to them over winter break...  But here is an update in my reading world.  At school, I do not have my own classroom, so I have a cart that goes everywhere with me.  Everything that I could ever need during a class period is on that cart, as well as my library.  In my classes, every Friday is independent reading day.  It is a day where the students get a chance to read for fun and explore what is out there for them.  Most students read something off my cart, while a handful brings their own novels to enjoy during that time.  During this time, I read along with the students (it makes a huge difference- once I pick up my book, they all quiet down almost immediately), so I have been able to start reading some of the YA literature that I have on my cart.  It's been awhile since I have been reading multiple books at once, but I've once again found myself absorbed in several different titles (some of which I had read before, but I wanted to give them another go)...

Mockingjay- Suzanne Collins (finished)

The final book in the Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins does not disappoint.  I had been waiting about an year for Mockingjay to come out, and was amazed by her writing.  This was a great conclusion to the popular series.  This is one of the few book series that I can get both boys and girls to read and enjoy.  I've heard that there are rumors regarding a possible movie franchise for this series, and I hope that the rumors are true!  If you have not had a chance to read these books yet, run (do no walk!) to the nearest bookstore or library and get yourself a copy of this series.  You will not be disappointed.

The Help- Katherine Stockett (about 70 pages in)

Wintergirls- Laurie Halse Anderson (finished)

I knew that Wintergirls was going to be a slightly difficult book to read, based solely off of reading the back of the book.  Laurie Halse Anderson writes about deep teen topics, and this book definitely fits the trend.  Wintergirls follows teenage Lia, and the reader views how Lia deals with the death of her former best friend Cassie.  Both Lia and Cassie suffered from eating disorders (Lia- anorexia, Cassie- bulimia), and this novel give the reader an inside perspective of what it is like to be anorexic and gives us a taste of the thoughts that go through one's head when they are obsessed with loosing more and more weight and how they are able to convince themselves that eating is bad.  Anderson's way of writing is so amazing and convincing that I even scared myself at one point in the book when I got mad at the parents for trying to force Lia to get better.  This is one of those novels that you just can't put down, and girls can find ways to relate to this book in many many ways (even if they have never had an eating disorder).

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini (reading with my class)

The Knife of Never Letting Go- Patrick Ness (about 50 pages in)

A Child Called "It"- David Pelzer (finished)

I remember reading this book for the first time when I was in junior high school.  I remember reading it in bed, and not being able to put it down.  I will proudly admit to crying several times while going through this book, and being so enraged at the same time.  The parts the stuck out to me as an adolescent definitely stuck out to me as an adult the second time around.  A Child Called "It" is the memoir of Dave Pelzer and his survival through childhood while being constantly abused by his mother.  Pelzer starts his novel off by telling the reader of the day that he was taken into custody by the police and saved from his mother.  If he hadn't started off the novel this way, there is no way that I would have been able to make it through the rest of the book, wondering if he'd ever be saved.  This is another one of those books that I read in a 24 hour period because I couldn't put it down.  While this heartbreaking account of Pelzer's childhood isn't for everyone, I would definitely recommend it to teens and adults alike, no matter who they are or where they are in life. 

A Million Little Pieces- James Frey  (about 100 pages in)

I am always looking for book suggestions for my students and am always on the lookout for more books to add to my cart, so if you have any titles that you would recommend, please let me know!

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 :-)

End of Week 1

Today was my first Friday as a teacher, and I must say that I had almost forgotten how much I love teaching.  I love the fact that I don't have to follow another teacher's lesson, I'm teaching the subject that I am an expert at, and I'm getting the chance to make connections and build that trust with my students!  Not only that, but I finally have coworkers again!  I haven't had coworkers since I quite the Security Monitor Program in May of 2007, so it's nice to have adults to talk with who are doing the same thing I am.

While there have been some more difficult parts to my first week teaching my own classes, I've most definitely walked out of school each day with a pretty goofy looking grin on my face.  Some of the kids in one of my hours are complete little shits, but even over the course of 4 days, they've stopped testing me as much, and seem to be accepting that they are stuck with me as their teacher.  Most of the kids that I have in my classes are wonderful and lots just need a lot of support and modeling to understand and do the assigned tasks.  After my first day "All about Me" speech, I've had kids come up to me to show me pictures of their guinea pigs, and tell me all about their pets.  They laugh at me when I pronounce 50 Cent as FiddyCent (because it's weird to have a teacher call him that), and when I can name the artist they are listening to on their iPod during work time.  They've also opened up to me in more ways than I could have ever imagined; allowing me to learn about their families, pregnancies, past issues, friends drama, and why they're at the alternative school.

Overall, I've met some wonderful people over the course of the last week, and I'm hoping that I can one day call this school my permanent workplace.

AHHHH!

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The first day of school is in just over a week, and I feel completely unprepared.  The school I'm teaching at is an alternative high school, so pretty much every thing that the district says the rest of the schools have to do goes nearly out the window for us.  I was hoping that there would be some sort of curriculum set up for 10th grade English, but when I asked about what texts they use in the classroom, the response I received blew my mind: "We don't really use texts."  How the H E Double Hockey Sticks am I supposed to teach English without texts?  But then I'm told that I can pretty much do what ever I want to do within professional reason, but since these students have already failed English once, I'll need to find another way to get them to reach their fullest potential.  I asked if I could take a look at the text book, and I'm told "We don't really use the text book, but you can use it if you want." 

So now I have two huge Holt books with a ton of information, but I'm wavering as to whether or not I should use it, least I be looked at strangely by my colleagues.  Fortunately, workshop starts on Monday, so I should be able to have an opportunity to talk with the teacher who taught 10th grade last year, and see how she went about teaching, and what she would have changed.  I'm used to the regular school setting where there is an outline of what I need to teach and the desired outcomes, and I'm just in charge of getting the students there in my own way.  I like structure, and all of this freedom is nearly killing me with stress!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me as I try to survive my first few months before I really get the hang of it...

Good Days

I'm slowly coming to realize that deep down, I really do have a preference for age levels when it comes to teaching (though, in the coming school year, I'll take what ever job is offered to me- provided that any job is offered).  After my horrible experience at the middle school (after multiple positive jobs in 6-8th grade classrooms), and a great day back at the high school level that 9-12th graders are my favorite grades to teach.  I had actually been dreading going back to sub since "the 8th grade turds" but this afternoon I had the pleasure of being able to sub for a couple of wonderful French classes (even though I don't know a word of French, besides "hello" and "goodbye").  They treated me with respect and appreciated how I am generally a pretty laid-back sub.  It was nice to hear even tell me to my face that I am "a cool sub" and that they "wished that they could have me sub every day."  It's hard going into a new classroom every day, with new faces and names to try to learn, but it's days like these that make it worth it.

8th Grade Boys are the Turds of Middle School.

I was all riled up and ready to write this blog post yesterday, but I decided to give myself a little bit of time to calm down so that I make sense (I've noticed that when I'm too emotional, my writing tends to become a bit confusing...).

As a substitute teacher, I've always been the laid back sub who lets things roll off of her back easily, and doesn't let students get to her.  Until yesterday, I've never had a group of students who took advantage of me and purposefully try to drive me to my wits end just because I am a sub.  Until yesterday, I had NEVER even considered sending a student down to the office (still haven't sent them down...yet...), and I had NEVER yelled at a group of kids.

Yesterday's sub job was just a half day assignment teaching Spanish, so I got to sleep in and didn't have to arrive at the school until 11:30am.  When I got there, it was lunch time, so I just lounged around, looked over the lesson plan for the day and read my book.  First class of the afternoon was a study hall that only had about 8 kids in it.  That went just fine.  A few of the kids told me that they would be in the classes I would be teaching for the rest of the day, so I was excited to see familiar faces throughout the day.  After I got done with study hall, I had a 30 minute prep, so again, I relaxed and read my book.  Then I was off to 6th hour 8th grade Spanish. 

Even though I haven't spoke Spanish since 6th grade, the lesson plan didn't require me to have to know any of the language, so I was good in that respect.  When I walked into the classroom, they were kind of rowdy, and the teacher who taught in the room the hour before me informed me that this class was a little crazy, so he would just spend his prep time in the room with me (to be honest, I was a bit annoyed- I felt like he thought that I couldn't do my job properly).  After a few minutes, I realized that this class was not going to calm down, and apart from a few girls who were actually trying to get their stuff done, the rest of the class continued to talk loudly and I had to spend the majority of the rest of the class period trying to get the students to quiet down.  Yeah.  That didn't really work.  At the end of the class, I turned to the teacher who was in the room and he told me that the class acts like that E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y.  They have no respect, and don't get anything done.  It was exhausting, to say the least and can't believe that their regular teacher has to deal with this on a daily basis.  But I had one more class to go to, and this one should be easy as pie compared to the last class.

I was wrong.  This last class (also 8th grade Spanish), weren't bouncing off the walls when I walked in and they worked well on their first activity, and were pretty quiet during the listening activities they had to do.  But in the last 15 minutes of class, some of the boys in the back started to throw things at each other.  I asked them nicely to stop.  They didn't stop.  They even made a boy who had some sort of emotional disorder very upset, because he was convinced that they were throwing things at him.  At that point, I was very stern and talked to them about maturity and how they're the oldest in the school and are going to high school in the fall and they are expected to have a certain level of maturity.  Their response?  "This is our last year for immaturity!"  They seemed to have stopped throwing things, so I moved the class on to their last activity for the day.  Then I noticed that they were full-on, chucking pencil shards at each other across the classroom.  At that point, there were only 3 minutes left of class and I was pissed.  I had tried to be nice, and I had tried to let them not ruin the rest of the class, but no.  I had to spend the last 3 minutes YELLING at them!  I told them that I am normally the laid back sub who wants the class to have fun while I'm there, and that I never yell at students, so today is huge for me.  I told them that they werethisclose to all being sent down to the office, which, again, is saying something about them because I have NEVER sent a kid to the office before.  As the boys were picking up the pencil shards, I heard one of them say, "Lets save these for the next sub!"  I told him that torturing the subs is not something they should be aiming to do every time they have a sub.  Then another boy came up to apologize, but in his apology he said that "When they have subs (especially the nice ones) they just like to see if they can get them to their wits end," as if this is what they HAVE to do when they have subs!  I've never been so shaken up about a sub job and normally I get home wishing I could be there every day, but for the first time since I've been teaching, all I wanted to do was go home and be done with the class.  I left a lengthy sub note, including my phone number/email in case she has questions, or wants to talk over the situation with me, and left feeling happier than I have ever felt to be leaving a school for the day.

I've been able to reflect on the day and have figured out what I would have done differently the second time around, but now I just need to get back in the saddle next week.

The "Bad" Kids

I left my sub job today wishing that I could be there everyday. Today, I was over at an alternative school for at-risk kids who are mostly at-risk for not graduating. What I experienced today was amazing and I was pretty surprised by myself. I thought that today was going to be difficult and disheartening, but it was the exact opposite! Sure, there were kids who decided that they didn't feel like doing their work, but you can find that in any classroom you step foot into. These kids were more respectful towards me than I typically find in the mainstream schools. They were also upfront with me about what was going on with their personal life, and how it was affecting their school work. I've never taught a class with pregnant students before, but today I found myself discussing registering for baby showers and due dates, and looking at pictures of the babies they've already had. Though there were some more jaw-dropping, inappropriate topics that were being discussed in class (specifically centering on getting piercings on one's nether regions), and despite the fact that one girl came back from using the pass reporting that she had just seen someone getting their eyebrow and nose pierced in the large stall of the girl's bathroom, I felt more comfortable in that classroom than I did during my student teaching. It also didn't hurt that the classroom sizes were no larger than 20 students in the school, and the largest class that I personally taught today had 15 students, and the smallest had 7.

Something about these "bad" kids really touched me, and after what I have experienced today, I'm definitely thinking that I will try my hardest to land a teaching job at a similar alternative school for the fall.