It's Been A While...
Wow! It has been a long time since I've written any kind of true update in here!
I have to say that life got mysteriously, and unexpectedly, b-u-s-y! I was assigned a student teacher (which was a surprise to me since I hadn't requested one) about 3 days before she was to start! Usually you have weeks to prepare for a student teacher so I went in to panic mode. Now, some teachers use having a student teacher as an excuse to hang out and do nothing and I'm totallyt he opposite... I create twice as much work for myself. I do all the planning with my student teacher, I hlep her copy and check her lesson plans before she teaches them and I make sure they match up with grade level expectations, etc. Needless to say, I've been getting home a lot later and I have been oh so tired! The gal I was assigned I will call "C" and she is fabulous. She's definitely "green" but she will be a great teacher some day. It's always interesting for me to see how tired the young ones get from all the work and the planning though and it reminds me of what a tough job teaching is... I'm just used to it is all. For example, we were talking about how when you teach at the elementary level, particularly in the lower grades, you have a different lesson plan every 30 minutes... this is a TON of work. Whereas, a high school or middle school teacher can often write one hour long lesson plan that gets retaught four or five times throughout the day. Now, I'm not saying that teaching the upper grades isn't hard... but I've done that too and the planning and prep work is definitely tougher in the lower grades (IMHO). It sure will be strange when "C" takes over full time though. I've already hauled out all my manuals for next year so that when she takes over I can be planning out my school year for 2006-2007.
Oh, and in very exciting news.... our couch and chair FINALLY arrived. Some of you may remember that we had ordered a HUGE sectional back in October. But, when it was delivered in January it was too long to make the turns up our stairwell. :o( We had measured everything thinking we only had to worry about doorways and hallways and never even thought of the stairwell. So, we went back into Macy's and chose a different couch (which I love so much more luckily). It comes off looking a little pink in the pictures but that's only because of our horrendous mauve carpeting that is being ousted soon. It's actually a "terracota-ish" color. Without further ado... some photos:
This is the new chair and a 1/2 which I adore:
and it is sitting next to the chair we got at Crate and Barrel in October (it really makes the other chair seem small.. but it's not):
Of course, we had to have some friends over for wine and cheese (and yummy dessert too) to show off our new stuff! You can see the start of our spread lying onthe coffee table in the photo below. We played Scrabble (yes, I'm a nerd and proud of it) and chatted until nearly 2! :o) So, here's two couch shots (pardon the stupid pillows and blankets my silly husband had laid on it in this first photo):
And, a shot of it after it was first delivered:
OK, now be prepared for a few more updates ladies... it's been so long that I've got more to say!
I have to say that life got mysteriously, and unexpectedly, b-u-s-y! I was assigned a student teacher (which was a surprise to me since I hadn't requested one) about 3 days before she was to start! Usually you have weeks to prepare for a student teacher so I went in to panic mode. Now, some teachers use having a student teacher as an excuse to hang out and do nothing and I'm totallyt he opposite... I create twice as much work for myself. I do all the planning with my student teacher, I hlep her copy and check her lesson plans before she teaches them and I make sure they match up with grade level expectations, etc. Needless to say, I've been getting home a lot later and I have been oh so tired! The gal I was assigned I will call "C" and she is fabulous. She's definitely "green" but she will be a great teacher some day. It's always interesting for me to see how tired the young ones get from all the work and the planning though and it reminds me of what a tough job teaching is... I'm just used to it is all. For example, we were talking about how when you teach at the elementary level, particularly in the lower grades, you have a different lesson plan every 30 minutes... this is a TON of work. Whereas, a high school or middle school teacher can often write one hour long lesson plan that gets retaught four or five times throughout the day. Now, I'm not saying that teaching the upper grades isn't hard... but I've done that too and the planning and prep work is definitely tougher in the lower grades (IMHO). It sure will be strange when "C" takes over full time though. I've already hauled out all my manuals for next year so that when she takes over I can be planning out my school year for 2006-2007.
Oh, and in very exciting news.... our couch and chair FINALLY arrived. Some of you may remember that we had ordered a HUGE sectional back in October. But, when it was delivered in January it was too long to make the turns up our stairwell. :o( We had measured everything thinking we only had to worry about doorways and hallways and never even thought of the stairwell. So, we went back into Macy's and chose a different couch (which I love so much more luckily). It comes off looking a little pink in the pictures but that's only because of our horrendous mauve carpeting that is being ousted soon. It's actually a "terracota-ish" color. Without further ado... some photos:
This is the new chair and a 1/2 which I adore:
and it is sitting next to the chair we got at Crate and Barrel in October (it really makes the other chair seem small.. but it's not):
Of course, we had to have some friends over for wine and cheese (and yummy dessert too) to show off our new stuff! You can see the start of our spread lying onthe coffee table in the photo below. We played Scrabble (yes, I'm a nerd and proud of it) and chatted until nearly 2! :o) So, here's two couch shots (pardon the stupid pillows and blankets my silly husband had laid on it in this first photo):
And, a shot of it after it was first delivered:
OK, now be prepared for a few more updates ladies... it's been so long that I've got more to say!