Quote

"Never stop believing in your hopes and dreams."

Just fits... love it.

The move

I have officially moved to Wolf Point, MT!  I am excited to be here but it is definitely different from suburban life!  :)

Since I am officially a teacher now, not a student teacher, I will be starting my Teaching blog soon so keep an eye out for that gem!  :)

Tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow I head away from Washington for the next 5 months.  Wow!  I have never been out of the state that long!  

I am really excited to start this next chapter in my life with a real job and a classroom (and rental home) of my own.  It is sad to leave all my friends and family but the people seem super nice so I am hopeful that I will make friends out there.  It is nerve wrecking to think that I will be all by myself out there (kind of in the middle of nowhere!).  But it will be an experience... for better or worse, the long days, the successes, the students I impact, the chapter in life.  It will be a great learning experience in so many ways and I look forward to sharing it with you!  Wish me luck!

2 days...

Oh my goodness is time just soaring by me!  I now only have 2 days left until the big move.  And really it feels like tomorrow because we are renting the U-haul tomorrow and loading up everything.  It will be nice for my parents to have a clean garage (since my stuff has been taking up the majority of it for some time now!).  But it is getting a little weird to think I will be living half way across the US all alone.  :)  I am sure things will be fine and after school starts it will be easier to make friends and all but still... :)

I have been buying things like crazy (it seems like between a house and a brand new classroom it never ends!) but most of the stuff is the basics that cost a lot because they are all start up costs.  The nice thing about that is that I won't have to buy all of it again next year because it is stuff that can be reused over the years.  I am also excited to see my classroom and spend a day sorting through things to see what is really there for me to use.  That way if I choose to make a trip into Billings (yes, the closest town with shopping is 4.5 hours away) I can hit up the teacher store for some of the remaining things and the rest of the stores there for any last minute things.  

Plus, now I am trying to start wrapping my head around planning (not just decorating unfortunately!).  Since there are science and math curricula set up for me I am mostly focusing on reading workshop at this point.  The main focus at the beginning of the year is to make sure that I find a way to assess where the students are at (in terms of reading level and ability) so I know where to focus my instruction.  The district doesn't provide any assessments used throughout the school and when students are in 5th grade they have access to AR so until then, we come up with it on our own.  Yikes!  Good thing I have all of those books from my literacy methods classes at WWU.

4 days left

Wow!  I cannot believe I move in 4 days.  Things are moving so quickly but it is really exciting to be started at my first real job.  I am sad to be leaving my friends here in Washington but it is that time in life where some old things have to be traded for new ones.  And thankfully technology will keep us close together anyway!  :)  

Well, the packing and organizing and cleaning must continue... this is really starting to hit me that I am moving!  :)

One Week

I officially move in one week!  Goodness time is flying right by me.  Before I know it, the first day of school will be here!  Yikes!  Scary yet exciting to think about.  

I am pretty much packed up, though I do have some things to still box up.  I have a place to live (a 2 bedroom house!), and a moving truck reserved.  I have been working on class stuff for the past couple days so I have nametags, popsicle sticks, clothes pins, daily schedule titles and attendance nametags done.  Then comes laminating the whole works once I can get into Frontier.  :)  

In 9 days I will get to see my classroom (which I plan to take pictures of!) so that is super exciting for me.  My own classroom!  It is getting a little more real every day but it will really hit me when I get the keys and walk into my very own class.  So exciting!

Classroom Theme

Since it is my first year of teaching I want to give my room a theme.  Why a theme?  Well I don't really know!  I am not going to name my lessons things that correspond to the theme, but I just think it is a nice way to distinguish our classroom and make the kids feel like it is their space too.  

This year, I have decided on a camping theme for the classroom!  I have a little tent, a camping chair, sleeping bag and other little goodies for the classroom that will make the classroom feel like a little campsite.  I am excited to see how it works out in practice!

The other thing about the themes that I was thinking of is whether I would change themes each year that I have a class?  Obviously that would be rather expensive to do but it is something to think about.  Especially if there are even 2 themes to rotate through!  Then you could change each year to give yourself and the incoming students something fresh to look at.  I imagine that I will change (or at least add things) every year.  That is just the way I am.  I need to start each year with a fresh slate and what better way than to redecorate the classroom!  :)

Preparations

I am so excited to see my classroom.  In a short 12 days from now I will officially see what I will be working with for the rest of the 2009-2010 school year and I cannot wait.  Of course I want to do "before and after" shots so I can have those for memories of my first days.  

I have been working hard on getting things ready that I can while I have some down time in WA before I move.  I am glad I did because time is quickly coming to a close before I move to Montana and I have a lot of packing to do!  Luckily my sister brought home some boxes today from work so that is my project tomorrow if it isn't too hot in the garage.  I have been home for a year so I really need to sort through things too to see if there are things I don't even want anymore.  I can hardly remember what things I have!  

It is so exciting (yet slightly scary, not going to lie!) that I will have my own class.  As exciting as the decorations for the classroom are when it comes down to planning those first three days I will be a nervous wreck for sure! One step at a time though, and for tonight, I will continue to work on nametags!  :)  So fun!

Class list

Today I officially got my class list of students!  Only 14!  Wow!

Although things can change before the first day of school (and likely will since today I got a new student already!) I am excited that the classroom I will see in 14 days is becoming real for me!  (And yes, I am counting the days until I get to see my first classroom!)

Also found out that at Frontier, teachers don't have to pay for school lunches every day, which will be a really good and easy way for me to save money every day by not having to buy things for lunch.  As an extra bonus..... the lunches are all homemade every single day!  There is no food from a can and frozen entrees heated up for lunch.  Homemade food every single day!  I am going to gain so much weight! :)

Reading with Meaning

I was just going over some of my college textbooks and I read a really great quote that I thought I should share:

"The children I teach are limited only when I choose to limit myself."

-Debbie Miller, "Reading with Meaning"

I really liked that quote.  Just makes me feel justified in wanting to do things in my classroom and for my students that everyone tells me I don't need to do because no one cares.  It has always been in my personality to go "above and beyond" what is expected of me or what everyone else tends to do.  I am not trying to "one up" anyone or be "better" than someone else... it is just that I hold myself to high standards and my classroom to high standards.  If those standards are different than other classrooms... so be it.  I do the things I do to keep my classroom they way I want it to be and do what is best for my students.  Those are my priorities and I feel those are the priorities that every teacher should have.

Standards

It is so interesting to see how different every state is in terms of learning standards.  In Washington I have spent 3 years of education learning everything about Washington EALRs and GLEs and now that I am going to Montana soon I thought that I better get a look at what the standards are like for another state and I wanted to compare to find any differences.  Wow there is a difference for sure.... detail!  Washington State has everything broken into such small, detailed pieces there is seemingly a standard for everything in every grade k-10.  In Montana however, there are just skills that students should be able to do by grades 4, 7, and 10.  That is hard for me, as a new teacher and a new teacher to the state no less, because I am not sure what I am expected to do in third grade!  I guess more research is what is calling!  Here we go... a teacher's life I now have!

Real teacher duties!

I am really excited because I got an email from my superintendent describing the resources I will have in my classroom... it is so fun to say MY classroom!.... and telling me that I need to make a school supply list for my students!  :)  So exciting but also a little intimidating because I don't know what the kids should bring, what I am going to do with them this year, and whether the rest of the teachers generally use community supplies or individual supplies.  Lots to figure out for sure!

The other exciting thing is that tomorrow I get my class list (YAY!) and today my mom took me shopping to get a bunch of new "teacher" clothes and we went to Staples and got a bunch of things for my future classroom.  I got borders, certificates, pencils, glue, and more.  So fun!  Expensive, but fun.  

SO much to do!

Wow is there a lot of things involved with getting your first real job.  :)

I have been printing, signing and researching like crazy but it is really exciting.  It is interesting to see that I will have a real salary but then kind of sad to see how fast that disappears when you factor in rent, car insurance, utilities, food, student loan payback, etc.  Yikes!  But it is a start and you have to start somewhere.  If nothing else, even if I am super poor for a while, it is a great opportunity to at least get a year of experience under my belt, meet some new people, and move to a new part of the country!  I am excited to start this crazy, yet exciting journey in life!

I GOT A JOB! :)

Oh my goodness I am so so excited I got a job!

The interview went amazing (though I suppose that seems obvious :) ) and not a half an hour later I was offered the job as THE third grade teacher at Frontier School in Wolf Point, Montana.  It is an adorable town and I will be the only third grade teacher at the school.  Wow!  

It is going to be a big change in pace for me but also a lot of fun.  And a lot of work!  Goodness, there are so many things to do since there is training I have to go to in mid-August in Billings and then teacher days are the 24th and 25th and school starts August 26th! AHH!  That is a lot of stuff to do, include moving half way across the country and getting settled in, in about a month exactly.  Wow!  My head is definitely spinning at this point.  :)  

I am super excited for this next point in my life though and I cannot wait to see where things lead!

Interview #2!

I just got a call asking for a phone interview!  At the Frontier School District in Wolf Point, MT.  A huge change of pace from the super urban DC district.  Wow!

So excited but really nervous!  The only thing I know is that it is an interview committee that will be interviewing me over the phone (thank goodness!) and there will be time for questions from both sides!  Goodness.

The interview is in about 15 minutes and I will update to record the results!  Wish me luck!  :)

I am official!

I officially got my teaching certificate and diploma the other day so I am officially a college graduate AND certificated teacher!  Wow!  

It seems like that 5 years went by super fast!  Goodness.  

Checked off the list

Well I just got back from my whirlwind trip to the East Coast.  

As for the interview... it was terrible.  The lady interviewing me was really short with me, interrupted me while talking, rushed through the interview (another person came in the office about 3 minutes after we sat down and asked when we would be done, she looked at me and said, oh we are almost done here!), and basically acted like everything I said was wrong.  The whole time I was there I felt like the DC employees were really disorganized which was hard to handle because I kept getting interrupted by people walking in late, the interviewer texting and her phone going off.  Needless to say I was not that thrilled with the situation so it is definitely crossed off my list of potential places to work.  It was a good experience for me though to see a different side of the country and how their schools work.  Also, to be part of a real interview was nice as well, even though I felt like it went terribly.  :)

It was also kind of a bummer because when I got home I checked my email and had about 5 other emails saying that positions had been filled that I applied for, a.k.a I didn't get those jobs. :)  It is hard to think that I spent the time filling out the applications and really haven't heard from any school (aside from DC) but also with the economy the way it is, I really have not been thinking I will get a job since so many people with experience are being laid off.  It is one of those double edged swords.... schools say that they want people with experience, but how is a person to get experience if they aren't hired anywhere!  :)  

Subbing is likely going to be my ticket to some kind of experience and hopefully landing a long-term leave replacement.  Where to sub?  That is the question at this point!  I am trying to decide what to do in terms of my future: subbing alone?  Subbing and finishing my math (and potentially Spanish minor) and the reading endorsement at WWU?  Subbing and grad school?School alone?  Goodness!  Many options (which is a blessing!) but hard to have to keep switching gears all of the time.  :)  Only time will tell but I sure hope I know soon since it is half way through July already!  :)

The trip is booked

I officially have my interview on Wednesday at 11:30 EST in Washington, DC.  I booked my trip last night.  I am really excited because I wanted to go back to DC and visit, since the last time I was there was in 8th grade (10 years ago!), but it will be a super quick visit!  I am leaving Washington at 5:10 am on Tuesday and I will be back at 9 pm Thursday.  I know that I am there for business so I will not get to see everything that I want necessarily but I am making a list of things I want to see after my interview.  Since most museums and attractions close at 5 pm, I am not sure what I will do at night but I am sure that it is going to be a great trip with a lot of really good experiences, if nothing else.  

Now, my focus is on what to teach and getting ready for the lesson, case study discussion, and interview.  The lesson, I think, is my biggest focus since it takes up half of the interview time!  Some serious and intentional thought will have to go into this one!

Fast turn around

Well the phone interview was Wednesday and went awesome.  I was surprised how quickly it went by, but I guess it was only 15 minutes so that is a pretty short time period.  I was supposed to hear within 10 days if I made it through to the next "round" of interviews - the in person interview - but the interviewer told me right away that she was going to recommend me for the next interview.  That was super exciting to know that I made it through!  Also, a bit scary though because that means I would have to fly out to DC, teach a mini-lesson, and have a real interview!  :) 

So she told me that I would have an email within 3 days telling me the next directions.  Well, about 12 hours later I got my email!  It told me about the next steps, what to prepare for and expect during the interview, and who to contact to set up an interview time for the week of the 27th.  That was fine because that gave me about 2 weeks to prepare so I was okay with that.  

Well, it turns out they want me there Monday, Wednesday or Thursday!  Of next week!  That is less than a week away and I am not going to lie that that makes me a bit nervous!  I emailed back asking what times were available on Wednesday because at least that was mid-week.  So now I have a lot of planning and prep to do... including finding a hotel and flight over there.  :)  It is going to be a quick couple of days, especially since I have a wedding on Sunday and will leave on Tuesday.  Wow, this is all happening so quickly!

Interview Tomorrow

So, the phone interview is tomorrow and I am not going to lie... I am getting a bit nervous.  The benefits of a phone interview are that I don't have to get all dressed up and if I am looking flustered or anything the interviewers won't see that.  The scary part is that it is all on how well I can talk, so if I ramble it is not as good.  I feel like things are really up in the air.  

Also, since I haven't heard back from anyone else it is hard to know what to think. Are people looking?  Not looking?  Looking and not interested?  Ugh, not knowing is torture.  Plus, with the economy the way it is and so many teachers getting laid off, putting them higher in seniority than me, I keep wondering what other back up plans I am giving myself.  I realized that I have been spending an awful lot of time doing job applications but what am I going to do when I don't get a job?

Right now I see that I have two options.  

1. Sub for a year, potentially going back to school to finish off some classes.

2. Apply to grad school and start work on my Master's degree.  

Only time will tell I suppose!  But for now I need to concentrate on the interview tomorrow!