(no subject)
I haven't written in livejournal in 3 months. Weird!
I've been doing a lot of writing in a notebook which has definitely be therapeutic, but I'm ready to return to livejournal.
This last year (I only talk in school year now, lol) 2008-2009 was definitely a year of growth for me. At this point last summer I feel like I was trying to start to figure out what I wanted out of my life. I feel really stable now. I worked hard to be the best damn 8th grade ELA teacher EVER and I think it worked. I enjoyed my students and I enjoyed teaching, but by June it was clear that my working environment was way too toxic and unhealthy. All of the teachers, including myself, were in a constant state of fear of losing their job and because we were always being threated we were constantly threatening the kids. I definitely did the "shut your door and ignore" kind of thing this year. I tried to make my classroom a positive, trusting place and was usually honest with the kids when something like an assembly or their damn yearbook did not work out. They are not dumb and they knew that their school was in disarray. That became clear to my administration when 5 teachers left at the end of the school year - including me!
I got a job at a new performing arts high school in west Harlem. The kids do not have to audition (part of the principal's vision to reach kids who do not have the funds to get private lessons and such) but they have to have an interest in dance, drama, voice, or an instrument. In 9th and 10th grade they spend half of the school day exploring all of these areas. In 11th grade they choose a major and instead of taking dance, voice, an instrument and drama everyday they do "conservatory style" study - 3-4 hours per day of their major and the other half of the day is for academics. I'm kind of in love with the idea, but I'm curious to see how it all works. The school does not get extra funding for being a performing arts school. We also share our building with 3 other schools. Ohhh NYC schools. I'll be teaching 10th grade! I'm really excited. My job besides being an English teacher is to "infuse the arts" in my instruction.
So, I'm moving to Manhattan. By this time next month I'll have found an apartment and hopefully will either be living in it or preparing to live in it! I'm pretty excited. After this year I also realized that staying home and saving money has made me a boring person who I don't like. And I'm not good at saving money. I think this will be good for me and Charlie too. I think distance is a good thing. We appreciated each other so much when we were two hours apart. Not that we don't appreciate each other now; there is a just a level of comfort - or I guess convenience that I don't want us to get to. We're coming up on our 4-year anniversary which is crazy. I love him so much.
This year was also a time where I changed physically. This time last year I weighed a good 200lbs. Probably because I had gained weight when I started dating Charlie, out of comfort. Then, when I started working and I loathed my life I ate out of depression. Good times. However, that is all behind me! This year I lost 30lbs, then I gained back 7...thank you thesis/end of school year for taking up all of my time! In the last month I've really started the eating habits I've been trying to develop. AND I've been maintaining those habits. Last week was great. I even ate well on the weekends which is a huge feat for me. So I hope I can lose another 40-50lbs and then I will be satisfied. At least I know I'm capable of losing again. At some point last year I hated myself so much...I was taking it out on Charlie...bad times.
That remind me, I also completed my Masters in Secondary English Education! Talk about feeling accomplished. I also realized that I want to teach at the college level so I've been admitted to the English Lit program at Queens College, but I'm not starting that program until the spring. I have 5 credits that I need to take to become officially NY state certified. I'll be completing 3 of those 5 credits in 2 weeks and in the fall I'm taking a telecourse (I watch the lectures and go to the campus twice to take exams) to make up the other 2. I'm enjoying the lack of graduate school work right now. I definitely needed a break after writing my thesis.
So, life is good. Charlie and I went to Jones Beach last night and sat with our friends behind the Jones beach theater and listened to Dave Matthews. It was really relaxing. I'm enjoying life and I finally like who I am and where I am going. I will write more later or tomorrow. Right now I'm going to head to the train and start my second day of apartment hunting.
I've been doing a lot of writing in a notebook which has definitely be therapeutic, but I'm ready to return to livejournal.
This last year (I only talk in school year now, lol) 2008-2009 was definitely a year of growth for me. At this point last summer I feel like I was trying to start to figure out what I wanted out of my life. I feel really stable now. I worked hard to be the best damn 8th grade ELA teacher EVER and I think it worked. I enjoyed my students and I enjoyed teaching, but by June it was clear that my working environment was way too toxic and unhealthy. All of the teachers, including myself, were in a constant state of fear of losing their job and because we were always being threated we were constantly threatening the kids. I definitely did the "shut your door and ignore" kind of thing this year. I tried to make my classroom a positive, trusting place and was usually honest with the kids when something like an assembly or their damn yearbook did not work out. They are not dumb and they knew that their school was in disarray. That became clear to my administration when 5 teachers left at the end of the school year - including me!
I got a job at a new performing arts high school in west Harlem. The kids do not have to audition (part of the principal's vision to reach kids who do not have the funds to get private lessons and such) but they have to have an interest in dance, drama, voice, or an instrument. In 9th and 10th grade they spend half of the school day exploring all of these areas. In 11th grade they choose a major and instead of taking dance, voice, an instrument and drama everyday they do "conservatory style" study - 3-4 hours per day of their major and the other half of the day is for academics. I'm kind of in love with the idea, but I'm curious to see how it all works. The school does not get extra funding for being a performing arts school. We also share our building with 3 other schools. Ohhh NYC schools. I'll be teaching 10th grade! I'm really excited. My job besides being an English teacher is to "infuse the arts" in my instruction.
So, I'm moving to Manhattan. By this time next month I'll have found an apartment and hopefully will either be living in it or preparing to live in it! I'm pretty excited. After this year I also realized that staying home and saving money has made me a boring person who I don't like. And I'm not good at saving money. I think this will be good for me and Charlie too. I think distance is a good thing. We appreciated each other so much when we were two hours apart. Not that we don't appreciate each other now; there is a just a level of comfort - or I guess convenience that I don't want us to get to. We're coming up on our 4-year anniversary which is crazy. I love him so much.
This year was also a time where I changed physically. This time last year I weighed a good 200lbs. Probably because I had gained weight when I started dating Charlie, out of comfort. Then, when I started working and I loathed my life I ate out of depression. Good times. However, that is all behind me! This year I lost 30lbs, then I gained back 7...thank you thesis/end of school year for taking up all of my time! In the last month I've really started the eating habits I've been trying to develop. AND I've been maintaining those habits. Last week was great. I even ate well on the weekends which is a huge feat for me. So I hope I can lose another 40-50lbs and then I will be satisfied. At least I know I'm capable of losing again. At some point last year I hated myself so much...I was taking it out on Charlie...bad times.
That remind me, I also completed my Masters in Secondary English Education! Talk about feeling accomplished. I also realized that I want to teach at the college level so I've been admitted to the English Lit program at Queens College, but I'm not starting that program until the spring. I have 5 credits that I need to take to become officially NY state certified. I'll be completing 3 of those 5 credits in 2 weeks and in the fall I'm taking a telecourse (I watch the lectures and go to the campus twice to take exams) to make up the other 2. I'm enjoying the lack of graduate school work right now. I definitely needed a break after writing my thesis.
So, life is good. Charlie and I went to Jones Beach last night and sat with our friends behind the Jones beach theater and listened to Dave Matthews. It was really relaxing. I'm enjoying life and I finally like who I am and where I am going. I will write more later or tomorrow. Right now I'm going to head to the train and start my second day of apartment hunting.