Help Me If You Can, I'm Feelin' Down
My userpic pretty much sums up how I am feeling at the moment.
School is getting busy with upcoming art shows and Youth Art Month and all of the prep work that is involved. I am also taking classes on Tuesday nights on Responsive Classroom, which is a school-wide behavior implementation system that values the social curriculum just as much as the academic curriculum. It seems like a lot of crap at the moment. Well, not crap per se. More that I feel like some of the information that I am getting from the coursework and the instructor is based on Morning Meetings, something that I do not do because I am an art teacher and I have a planning period in the morning.
Speaking of planning period, I feel like at my smaller school I have frantic and anxiety-filled days. I get to school so early...like when the custodian opens up the building so I can get organized and prep materials for the remainder of the day and hang up artwork. My volunteers haven't been as available or as helpful so I might spend 14 hours at school on Thursdays. It is just so exhausting. My feet hurt so much by the end of the day because I rarely have a chance to sit down. My lunch/planning period in between my kindergarten class and my 5th grade classes (back to back) is pretty much inhale a protein bar and move on with prep and putting artwork away.
One would think that things would be less stressful since I am in my second year and I have been at both schools prior. Having another art teacher on Tuesdays at my smaller school...one would also think that things would be better and less work for me. I feel like I am putting so much effort into what I do that I barely get recognition. I got comments from the 5th grade teachers on the artwork that flanked their walls. I couldn't have done it without the help of Dan and Brian coming by to help me out after school.
I try to put things in realistic situations. I try to scale back on my expectations. I try to multi-task and have students help out as much as I can. I try to take deep breaths.
Also, I found out that Transfair (where currently employed can apply for jobs available) is in late April/early May. I just want to have one school location, 5 days a week. I would be fine being at either one of my schools for the work week, but the admin has let me know that they most they can give me is three days a week.
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Anyway, enough bitching.
I have sold some items off of etsy. Not a lot of money for the items, but it is a nice ego boost.
I saw "Chronicle" with Dan. Basically an American-take on "Akira". Very enjoyable. Did not like the overpriced tickets. The screen that was playing the film was also an enhanced theater experience thingy, basically AMC's version of IMAX. Basically, over-priced tickets. And don't get me started on concessions. That's why I sneak food into movies and use my college ID as much as possible. Plus, a lot of movies are not worth the money these days. The last movie that Dan and I saw was "Fright Night", which was in August. It's been THAT long!
Dan and I have been taking care of Dan's parents' pekingese named Chloe. She is so freaking cute but DAMN she has a lot of energy. LOVES to lick you.
Does this adorable trick that looks like she is clapping her paws together.
C'mon...look at how cute she is.
Taking care of her made me realize how much work goes into taking care of a puppy. She is about a year old. She can hold her pee and poop pretty long, but I feel bad leaving her alone for more than 12 hours. I wake up early in the morning (like I usually do) and I start the puppy route: feed her, play with her and get her moving around so she can do her "business" outside, walk her outside...or more like she walks me outside. She is surprisingly strong for a little dog. As soon as I get home, I repeat the morning route. The best thing about Chloe is that she is a fantastic snuggle buddy. Dan's work schedule has been hectic so I have been home a lot with Chloe, we often fall asleep on the couch together.
Part of the peke breed is their faces. So cute, right? The snoring is not so cute. Chloe was snoring so loud one night that I fell asleep on the couch that I had dreams that my students were burping and farting.
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The weather has been extremely mild for winter. We have had very little snow. No snow days. The groundhog saw his shadow so supposedly we are getting six more weeks of winter. Maybe we will have a freak snow storm in March? I could really use President's Day off.
The days that we have had snow were very pretty. Just enough snow to lightly dust the trees.
Subject Line - "Help!" by the Beatles
School is getting busy with upcoming art shows and Youth Art Month and all of the prep work that is involved. I am also taking classes on Tuesday nights on Responsive Classroom, which is a school-wide behavior implementation system that values the social curriculum just as much as the academic curriculum. It seems like a lot of crap at the moment. Well, not crap per se. More that I feel like some of the information that I am getting from the coursework and the instructor is based on Morning Meetings, something that I do not do because I am an art teacher and I have a planning period in the morning.
Speaking of planning period, I feel like at my smaller school I have frantic and anxiety-filled days. I get to school so early...like when the custodian opens up the building so I can get organized and prep materials for the remainder of the day and hang up artwork. My volunteers haven't been as available or as helpful so I might spend 14 hours at school on Thursdays. It is just so exhausting. My feet hurt so much by the end of the day because I rarely have a chance to sit down. My lunch/planning period in between my kindergarten class and my 5th grade classes (back to back) is pretty much inhale a protein bar and move on with prep and putting artwork away.
One would think that things would be less stressful since I am in my second year and I have been at both schools prior. Having another art teacher on Tuesdays at my smaller school...one would also think that things would be better and less work for me. I feel like I am putting so much effort into what I do that I barely get recognition. I got comments from the 5th grade teachers on the artwork that flanked their walls. I couldn't have done it without the help of Dan and Brian coming by to help me out after school.
I try to put things in realistic situations. I try to scale back on my expectations. I try to multi-task and have students help out as much as I can. I try to take deep breaths.
Also, I found out that Transfair (where currently employed can apply for jobs available) is in late April/early May. I just want to have one school location, 5 days a week. I would be fine being at either one of my schools for the work week, but the admin has let me know that they most they can give me is three days a week.
-----
Anyway, enough bitching.
I have sold some items off of etsy. Not a lot of money for the items, but it is a nice ego boost.
I saw "Chronicle" with Dan. Basically an American-take on "Akira". Very enjoyable. Did not like the overpriced tickets. The screen that was playing the film was also an enhanced theater experience thingy, basically AMC's version of IMAX. Basically, over-priced tickets. And don't get me started on concessions. That's why I sneak food into movies and use my college ID as much as possible. Plus, a lot of movies are not worth the money these days. The last movie that Dan and I saw was "Fright Night", which was in August. It's been THAT long!
Dan and I have been taking care of Dan's parents' pekingese named Chloe. She is so freaking cute but DAMN she has a lot of energy. LOVES to lick you.
Does this adorable trick that looks like she is clapping her paws together.
C'mon...look at how cute she is.
Taking care of her made me realize how much work goes into taking care of a puppy. She is about a year old. She can hold her pee and poop pretty long, but I feel bad leaving her alone for more than 12 hours. I wake up early in the morning (like I usually do) and I start the puppy route: feed her, play with her and get her moving around so she can do her "business" outside, walk her outside...or more like she walks me outside. She is surprisingly strong for a little dog. As soon as I get home, I repeat the morning route. The best thing about Chloe is that she is a fantastic snuggle buddy. Dan's work schedule has been hectic so I have been home a lot with Chloe, we often fall asleep on the couch together.
Part of the peke breed is their faces. So cute, right? The snoring is not so cute. Chloe was snoring so loud one night that I fell asleep on the couch that I had dreams that my students were burping and farting.
---
The weather has been extremely mild for winter. We have had very little snow. No snow days. The groundhog saw his shadow so supposedly we are getting six more weeks of winter. Maybe we will have a freak snow storm in March? I could really use President's Day off.
The days that we have had snow were very pretty. Just enough snow to lightly dust the trees.
Subject Line - "Help!" by the Beatles