Aug. 21

Saturday.

I tried to spend some time on audio and working on various things as well as cleaning the house and working on the laundry. Mundane tasks - save the audio.

The highlight of the day was actually going to help Matt over at the reception that he was helping Dean out with. They were cooking BBQ and it was such a laid back atmosphere, it was really nice. We finished up the meal - I was invited to join in the meal and it was just really nice. The bride (Michelle) was very hospitable. They married in London - then came back home to celebrate Texas style.

~MJ

Aug. 20

Friday.

Oh my great goodness - it's been a VERY L O N G day. Between teacher in-service (with various drama and being talked at like we (the teachers collectively) as 12 year olds), being mad and frustrated at various people, then coming home and having to get kids clothes for the tax free weekend and eating out (wonderful food by the way) and getting home at 10:30PM... yeah. LONG day.

Tomorrow, after getting the kids some breakfast, I will be working on audio and getting this Jarrem Lee that is not cooperating with me finished. Then begin working on the next one. :)

That's my job tomorrow - getting things done... and feeling more confident in the fact that this school year will be a good one.


~MJ

Aug. 19

Thursday.

It doesn't matter how many times I have started school, I seem to always stress over it. I guess it would be nice for my school to actually give me something that I'm USED to be doing - you know - like the same assignment instead of changing up the game plan on me. That just frustrates me to no end. I mean, really. How are you going to get the best if you continue to change things?

Change may be good - but too much is ridiculous. It's gotten to that point. Adding more and more to my plate is not making good on anything. All it does is stretching me to the point where I can't be stretched anymore.

I'm hoping that what Mrs. Hobson and Mrs. Brown told me will help out this year. It's just getting used to the newness of it. I'm going to have to take on that Nike Motto: "Just do it."

School is going to start on Monday - and although I'm changing up the schedule some, even being stressed out because of all the changes up at the school, I think - no, I know that I'll be able to handle it.

I'm just so ready to get into a schedule!

~MJ

Aug. 18

Wednesday.

We wonder why the kids go nuts on us when there is some dry unrelevant material! Oh man, the material today was very dry and very choking as far as swallowing some of the information that they wanted us to cover and do for English. I understand that it's important to follow a Scope and Sequence from school to school and that we really need to be teaching rigourously as well... but if you have to make it so dry to push it down - at least give us something to drink before hand. AUGH.

From here on out when I think that there is something that the kids must definitely learn - I will most definitely make it relevant to them and at least let them know ahead of time that it might be dry... but we have to get through it to get to the good stuff.

BLECK.

Aug. 17

Tuesday.

It's when one is faced with a hardship regardless of what it is, that you learn how resilent the human spirit is.

A teacher-friend of mine was taken to the hospital over the weekend and all the teachers in our part of the hallway, who know this very intelligent, sweet woman, are worried about her. We didn't know why she was in the hospital. I had tried to get in contact with her various times while she was in the hospital and even let her know that I was worried for her.

She called me later in the day and told me what was going on. I won't blab the information here - however, she told me something that touched my heart. Not only does it validate my friendship with her, but it validated myself as a human-being.

As far as school goes....

Regardless of what the school has me do - regardless of how they stack my classes... I'm going to do to what's best for my students. If I can raise their reading score - great. If I can get them to where they can write a multi-paragraph essay - great. If I can get them to understand the parts of speech - great. But the main thing that I'm going to do this year is to validate them as who they are and build a relationship with them that will help to guide them through their years at school so that they can learn the strategies they need to get through high school and whatever else they plan to do with their lives.

I think that's more important than anything else. Right?

Aug 16

Monday.

A full day of school training. It wasn't too bad. It was quite enjoyable to get to know more of the new teachers that are working with us within the school year. I am going to have a good time working with a variety of people and I know that eventually, the year will be a good one. I will make it a good one. Period.

I will not let someone steal away my joy! It's not right for them to even try to take it away. But eventually, I will make it through.

I still can't believe what they have me doing. We'll have to see what's going on with that. How am I supposed to work?

What am I? A school marm from the 1500's? Geez.

I'm thinking that table teaching is what I'm going to be doing.

Here's to a interesting school year.

~MJ

Aug 15

Sunday.

We went to the races again today. It was a lot of fun but tiring. I'm glad that we were able to go and watch the big boogers race by. It's amazing the amount of speed and how loud that they are. They actually got a new record set - 255 miles an hour in a quarter of a mile. That's pretty darn fast - a 4 second race!

All it reminds me of is the total amazement of time racing past. We are so caught up with things that we don't stop to smell the roses or have any fun. I'm glad that today was one that was fun!

~MJ