Haha, wow! Amazing what a difference 7 months can make! I completely forgot about this blog... Then a friend of mine started one up, and I was reminded that it existed! Kind of funny... I guess the day after I created it, well, it kind of changed my life as I know it!
Over the past 7 months, 6 of them have been in Phoenix, AZ. My life resembles NOTHING of that I left behind in Denver, which I feel both good and bad about. I am teaching 6th grade at Rose Linda Elementary, a school located in what I recently found out was the poorest zip code in all of Phoenix. I'm also, simultaneously going to school to get my masters. That part kind of sucks, but the teaching part, well, that's totally for me :)
I'm in a new city with a new job, new friends, and new priorities. My days are full of teaching little ones, then I head home to hours more work (planning, grades, etc.) It's exhausting, to say the least. I try to have fun by cooking meals with friends, watching TV shows on the internet (I'm not as big of a loser as you think!!), and playing with Sadie. I wish I could say I go out, but really, it dosen't happen often. I'm either too tired or am sick. That's been happening a lot lately, due to a lack of sleep :(
Today was Thanksgiving. It was spent at the home of a couple that is a large TFA donor. They had 11 of us over for a lovely meal. Unfortunately, I was sick, and got SUPER sick during the meal. Just sinuses, but I pretty much felt like passing out for the last three hours of the gathering :( However, the couple was incredibly sweet, and their house was GORGEOUS! It was nice to be in a home for the holidays! The rest of the day was spent in bed or sleeping on the couch. Sadie is going stir crazy... But her mom is a little out of commission. I'm about to head back to bed so I can get up early... Black Friday shopping!!
In other news, my laptop has not been able to handle the INTENSE amount of usage it has gotten in the last half-a-year. So, I am buying a MAC!!! SCARY!! However, I refuse to buy Vista, so it's really my only option. I'm excited for the laptop, but NOT excited for the $$ it's going to cost me... yikes!
Nothing else really to report. I'm doing well (other than being sick a lot). My kids are adorable, and they're doing really well! I've been focusing a lot on my "yellows" (the kids who are in the middle, greens are good to go and pinks are far below where they should be). I'm proud to report I bumped up two more into the green category! Now I just have TWO STUDENTS LEFT IN THE YELLOW!!!! We don't need to talk about the 8 in the pink right now....I figure once I have a solid 2/3 of my class in the "safe zone", I can start focusing on this last group who's lagging quite far behind. It's draining, knowing that each day I wait, they fall further behind, but it's just not feasible to work with them on their level yet, not til I get the rest of the class up to grade level :( My ASU grad classes are ridiculous. Not very applicable to what I'm doing in my classroom, but that's ok. Someday I'm sure they'll come in handy. There's also been quite a bit of drama between my school district and TFA, but that's too much to type out right now. I've managed to stay out of it because my principal and school are AWESOME, but the adminsitration at District is... well, it's easy to see why no one wants to teach there. Well, that and the fact that school district is one of the worst in the country. :)
Take care, I hope that everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
D-Day....
So, after many many days of patiently (er... not so patiently) waiting, tomorrow is the big day! I find out whether or not Teach for America has accepted me! It also happens to be the day I fly home, for the first time in nearly 8 months. I figured I needed something else to look forward to, in case this TFA thing doesn't work out. At this point, it's out of my hands. I can't believe I've already waited 3 weeks... what's one more day going to do, right? At least after tomorrow, I can stop obsessing about the whole thing.
Moving on.
Here I sit, a college graduate who's about to begin her third year out of school. To date, I have done nothing significant with my life, which has been the goal all along. I've decided this is the year I change that. It's time to stop putting off graduate school for financial reasons, and start taking positive steps towards achieving the future I desire. I came across Teach for America the day before the final deadline, and applied instantly. I figured I could learn about the program and read all the details later. Since then, I have learned a ton about TFA, and it's everything I could ever want to do. I applied for the final cycle and had my final interview at the end of March. Now it's just a waiting game to see if I was accepted into a program that could change my life forever, and help me reach my goal of helping others in a MASSIVE way. Teach for America is in part all about policy: putting people in the right places to affect and change it. I am SUPER excited for the teaching part, of course. If accepted, I would love to enter the teaching world and probably stay for a number of years past the two year commitment they require. But the exposure to the realities of problems I've only read about would be AMAZING. We shall see...
To review for those who've been out of touch for awhile. I have a puppy, Sadie, and she is the cutest doggie in the world!! We've been together for over a year now, and while being a single mother to her is pretty tough, I wouldn't have it any other way :) She's darling, and is my life! I am a history major first, and political science major second. I'm an outdoors girl, through and through, though my current finances don't allow me to play too much these days! I am far from home and my family and that makes me pretty sad at times, but that's the downside to coming from a small town: you've gotta get away from it before it consumes you. I value friends, family, education, and action. I feel so grateful to have been given all the opportunities I've had in my life, and feel that I owe it to SOMEONE or SOMETHING to make something of myself. I refuse to waste the chances I've been given. So, let's start. Let's start a blog and actually have something, sort of, keeping me accountable for making something of myself. If I get into TFA, a new journey lies before me. But if I don't, I just know that I have a different path; a harder one, that I have to make for myself. Either way, I feel as if it all begins with one decision....
Moving on.
Here I sit, a college graduate who's about to begin her third year out of school. To date, I have done nothing significant with my life, which has been the goal all along. I've decided this is the year I change that. It's time to stop putting off graduate school for financial reasons, and start taking positive steps towards achieving the future I desire. I came across Teach for America the day before the final deadline, and applied instantly. I figured I could learn about the program and read all the details later. Since then, I have learned a ton about TFA, and it's everything I could ever want to do. I applied for the final cycle and had my final interview at the end of March. Now it's just a waiting game to see if I was accepted into a program that could change my life forever, and help me reach my goal of helping others in a MASSIVE way. Teach for America is in part all about policy: putting people in the right places to affect and change it. I am SUPER excited for the teaching part, of course. If accepted, I would love to enter the teaching world and probably stay for a number of years past the two year commitment they require. But the exposure to the realities of problems I've only read about would be AMAZING. We shall see...
To review for those who've been out of touch for awhile. I have a puppy, Sadie, and she is the cutest doggie in the world!! We've been together for over a year now, and while being a single mother to her is pretty tough, I wouldn't have it any other way :) She's darling, and is my life! I am a history major first, and political science major second. I'm an outdoors girl, through and through, though my current finances don't allow me to play too much these days! I am far from home and my family and that makes me pretty sad at times, but that's the downside to coming from a small town: you've gotta get away from it before it consumes you. I value friends, family, education, and action. I feel so grateful to have been given all the opportunities I've had in my life, and feel that I owe it to SOMEONE or SOMETHING to make something of myself. I refuse to waste the chances I've been given. So, let's start. Let's start a blog and actually have something, sort of, keeping me accountable for making something of myself. If I get into TFA, a new journey lies before me. But if I don't, I just know that I have a different path; a harder one, that I have to make for myself. Either way, I feel as if it all begins with one decision....
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