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 |   Nothing official here; just come chill! |
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Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice:  I'm a bit of a fangirl  My life is very busy I enjoy using emoticons  I don't tend to swear, but stuff happens. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Story of my life with online group projects.  Let's be alone, together.  In other words, I'm pairing up with someone else who also couldn't find a partner the first time around. I'm contemplating at what point I should begin my own project if the other guy doesn't reply. I attended the extra credit video call (in which I declined to use video  ) last night and the professor introduced the next project, which is making a kids' story book that relates to math and health, science, or technology/STEAM. Like I said in the Day 14 entry, I have a concept figured out- I just need to find the state standards that it relates to, and the math principles it may reflect.I predict that with my own work, it'll be much easier to turn in than if I did it as a group, since I kinda know what I'm looking to do, so I may just end up doing that. I think the story will start out after school one day and Mom is busy/at work/not around, but the little girl wants a snack, so she eats a bunch of junk food she finds around the house- cookies and chocolate milk, ice cream, potato chips, peanut butter, Nutella, and whipped cream. She washes it all down with a can of soda. She wakes up after a nap with a major tummy-ache and starts crying. Mommy comes in, very alarmed, and takes her to the doctor. The doctor says she needs to eat more fruits and vegetables- not sugary snacks. The doctor introduces the MyPlate concept to her, with the 5 food groups, and says every day, she should have 3 whole fruits about the size of her palm, and 3 servings of vegetables. Doctor shows her what a serving of vegetables is considered- 10 baby carrots, 7 cherry tomatoes, 5 broccoli florets, or 5 spears of fresh asparagus. And then, tells the girl, if she doesn't feel better after a week, come back. End of the story- she feels much better, has more energy, and doesn't love eating her fruits and veggies, but she's better at it now. I think it should be fun to illustrate, too.  I'm actually kind of looking forward to doing this- if I can find the time to do the illustrations, that is.  |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I think this perfectly describes my relationship with the music job. The boss thinks she "owns" my Wednesdays, because Wednesday is my "day with the company," which means she can send me anywhere. Like, Beverly Hills, which, thankfully, hasn't happened yet. But she's trying to add a new school to my schedule and I'm iffy about it. Mostly because of timing, though it's also better than Beverly Hills, where I'd have to drive about an hour or hour-and-half to teach a half-hour class, then drive who-knows-where-to, to my next class, probably.  As I said in my last entry, though, the new local school trial went extremely well. That behavior management song went well, because I added movements to it so they recognize what they're singing- eyes watching (point to their eyes), ears listening (cup their ears), voice quiet (both pointer fingers go "shh" to their mouth), body still (hug themselves). It goes to the tune of Frere Jacque, so it's a familiar melody, just different words, which I like, because it makes it easier for them to learn (in my experience). The goodbye song is also to the tune of "Row your boat," and it's interesting because the school also changed the lyrics of the end, from "life is but a dream," to "life is full of dreams," which probably gives you an idea of what kind of environment they're cultivating. I honestly went in, hoping and trying to not like the school, so I wouldn't have to teach there, and now I actually want to teach there with them, and I want to start the classes with them ASAP. It just went over that well! Once the actual logistics of the class were worked out, everything ran smoothly- the teachers were there for support, and because 20 names is quite a number to learn in 30 minutes, they also helped me with the names. I remember a couple of them, but there's definitely going to be a learning curve for the names for me, because that is not my strong suit. You can kinda see that I actually enjoy teaching... it's the lack of communication and lack of planning on the boss's part that really gets me. I mentioned the February 10 email for February 17th incident- after I told her 2 weeks' notice. And when I went on Wednesday, the school said they weren't expecting me. Well, they completely forgot I was coming in, because, (surprise, surprise) the boss didn't follow up with them that I would be going in. I emailed her an update about the school that night, and she only just replied this morning... I still have a trial with the Beverly Hills school, which I definitely don't want to do- I googled the street name and there's 2 potential schools on that street, so it's not like I can start doing the research and figuring out what I'm doing for that trial, but Mom's first comment was "it's going to be a bad drive for you." Mom also made the astute observation today that this lady (the boss) seems very involved in her church (definitely true) and a little disorganized (also very true), and the combination of that leaves her in a position to not be the greatest communicator. I was making small talk with the boss once during the summer and inquired about what her other job was (since she mentioned having one) and she said she helped develop curriculum for the school at her church. Which probably does explain the multitude of Bible-related and Bible books in general, in her living room bookshelves. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing to have those books, but also... if you don't have time to run a business, then don't. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I'm planning on going to the Lady Antebellum concert in May this year. Maddie and Tae are opening for Lady A, and I've heard of some of their songs before, so I figured I'd familiarize myself with more of their songs- then Mom made a comment today that made me think of this song. She'd said "I can't believe it's been a year since you've seen your grandfather (in person)". I told her, "I guess that's what happens when you get a summer job." *shrug* She corrected me and said, "that's what happens when you grow up." That's how I ended up at this song. After that comment, my mind immediately went to, "that's the downside of growing up...." We had another disagreement last night (no surprise there) about how my priorities are all messed up and not ordered correctly. And honestly, yeah, maybe they're a little out of order, but it's also because I'm trying to make my own way through this program, which is really messing me up. It makes me wish I could work my way to a credential, because I feel like these classes are teaching you how to teach, but the specific fieldwork requirements for you to practice are so specific that it makes it hard. Plus, the assessments are weird. Like, I need to make a book for my math class, that somehow integrates health, science, or technology with math. And that's due next weekend? I got an idea for it today, though- where a kid isn't feeling well, so the parents take the kid to the doctor, and the doctor says, "You must eat 5 fruits or vegetables every day for a week." So this command would knock out health, plus counting to 5, and days of the week. I can do my own illustrations as well, so this might even end up as my book 2 if I decide to publish it. It's also supposed to be another group assignment, but this guy hasn't replied me about doing the book with me so I'm not counting on him. Anyways, Mom thinks my priorities are ordered so school is somewhere among the bottom- she's not completely wrong, but it's hard for me to prioritize something when it's not tangible. I mean, barre, and all my jobs, require me to be in a physical space at a specific time. School does not, which makes it hard for me to put effort into it- especially when I have large assignments only worth 6 points. She doesn't think barre and Yard Duty should be prioritized so high, but when I'm not Yard Duty, I'm in the classroom, observing and helping out. Then, barre keeps me sane and fit. My lululemon position feeds the barre addiction and gives me cute clothes, and the music job gives me teaching experience, I suppose. I think being in a normal classroom, combined with the teaching experience I'm getting from the music job feed off each other, in terms of setting classroom expectations and norms, and becoming more effective. I went to a new school (local) on Wednesday for the music job for a trial class, and it was a HUGE class of 3-5 year olds- 20 of them. Compared to my current one of 7-8 kids, that's almost triple. BUT I used a song that my host teacher uses with her class in normal school for behavior management, with this new school, and it went over so well. The teachers loved it, and the kids followed along well. I loved that new school, actually- everybody was so appreciative of each other and everything else- there would be a round of applause after everything.  I mean, I did the "Hello Song," then they clapped. I did Do-Re-Mi, and they clapped. I let two kiddos do the Do-Re-Mi, and they clapped after each kiddo. It was really cute.  They clapped after the storytime, as well- I chose a story that essentially ended with "It's the thought that counts, not your end product." and some of them made very insightful comments while we were reading. If anything, I'd actually recommend that this school also do a 45-minute class, because there's so many kiddos. I completely digress- maybe I'll find a song to use to rave about this new school later. The downside of growing up- I would like to find a place and move out. And I'm completely undecided if I would like to move to Australia or not to find a job after I'm credentialed. And if I want to keep my Chinese class. The downside of growing up? You need to make these decisions yourself, and they're not easy decisions. My Chinese class dilemma: This class is an additional (optional) class towards my credential that would allow me to teach in a bilingual classroom. Apparently, it also applies to ELL/ESL. BUT if I go ahead with the bilingual authorization (BILA), I'd have to student teach in a bilingual classroom, which is not something that my district has. And the district I'm working in now is the one I grew up attending, so I'd like to stay here if I could... Which would mean I technically don't need BILA, unless that allows me to teach in middle and high school foreign language classes as well, in which case I would probably deem it worth it, but I also can't find a fieldwork location for it yet. When I went to get my withdrawal form signed on Wednesday, the department chair was saying the class was most likely not going to be offered again for a long time, due to low enrollment. The school typically doesn't open a class without 15 people enrolled. There were 8, including me. She also mentioned, though, that I could do fieldwork in a Chinese School. Given the situation in my last entry, I wouldn't be going back to the Chinese School I taught in and asking the principal if I could go observe there, but I do know someone with a connection to another Chinese School, which also provides K-8 education after school, so I asked her if she'd be willing to introduce me/if they'd be okay for me to go observe classes. She emailed the director, and the director hasn't replied yet, so we'll see what they say I guess.  |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I'm 100% sure I've shared this one before, but I did really like the show when I watched it, and this song came back up on my Pandora playlist the other day and I went "oh yeah, that's actually kinda me right now." I've been really quiet on the blog/social front here for about a month or so. I'm pretty sure I mentioned I was trying to process some news and changes in circumstances that I personally didn't quite have time to respond to. Long story short, I'm no longer teaching Chinese School, and it wasn't by choice. One of the co-principals from last year retired, and he was the one who liked me. Yes, the other co-principal didn't like me. I accidentally offended him by cutting him off on a phone call at the beginning of the year last year. Anyways, this second co-principal is still co-principal, but there's a new co-principal this year. Regardless, he has seniority... he called me during a Sunday barre class in December. Since I was in barre class, I didn't take the call. I figured, if anything, he could leave a message and I'd call him back. Unfortunately, the only content of his message was, "this is X, the principal of the Chinese School. Please call me back at this number."  So I did, after driving down to the mall, because I still had to work that afternoon. He didn't pick up the first time, so I went and got in line for ice cream. Then he called back. He started out with "there's no easy way to tell you this..." in Chinese. And then English. And I figured, "I'm probably losing my job." And I was right. We talked for about 5-10 minutes, during which he emphasized that "it was a group decision," and that he didn't make the decision alone. I mostly "mmhmm"ed and "Yeah, uh-huh"ed him, because the more he said it, the less convincing it became. The main reason was that my teaching style "didn't match their (the school's) vision."Mom was in barre with me, so after class, I'd already told her and another lady I've become pretty friendly with, about the principal's call, so after getting off the phone with the principal, I called Mom and broke the news to her. And then I had to go into work, smile, be friendly, and act like everything was great. The lead for that afternoon had asked if I had anything to clear- I mentioned the principal's call, and he was just like "oh, okay. Umm *back to business*" So I definitely didn't quite get the post-call support I needed to fully process the information, but that was honestly probably for the best, because it was right before holiday/Christmas season got into full-swing, and I don't think it would've been great if I'd let the news completely sink in. Thankfully, that lady I talked to at barre that morning ended up visiting the store that day when I was at work and I got to talk to her about it for about 10-15 minutes on my break- she was pretty upset about it on my behalf, which was appreciated! Mom also made me clean out my Chinese school trolley about a week after the news- we'd had another disagreement and she was like, "now that you don't need it anymore, can I have it back? " So I unpacked it and put away the contents. I made a comment about how the body wasn't even cold yet, and she retorted with something sarcastic about me not being salty, which definitely didn't help the situation. Anyways, so Mom saw her friend the other day, who is on the board of the Chinese School. Apparently this friend doesn't actually know what happened- just that my name was gone and there was a new name in my place. *Shrug* Which is interesting, considering Mr. Principal mentioned that the board had helped make the decision. Regardless, I realized that I no longer cared too much about it when Mom brought it up. Sure, it stung a bit still, but I'd say I was rather over it, the school, and the whole situation. The friend also doesn't know what kind of "vision" the school has, which, I'll say again, is interesting, because 1. she was also co-principal once upon a time (when I was a high school TA?) and 2. she was board president last year. I mean, if former board president and co-principal doesn't know the school's "vision," either the school needs to communicate it better, or that vision doesn't really exist. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] This song kinda embodies my life right now. As in, things seem "new and exciting" and once that shiny wears off, I go crazy, because I've bit off more than I can chew. The whole first verse is school and the music job. I honestly wonder if I'm getting burnout. I was talking with another yard duty today who has kids at the school and she had suggested dropping a job. Unfortunately, I really don't want to leave anything, unless it's music, and even then, I really would love to continue working at the school I've been teaching for the past few months, especially since I've built up their knowledge through now. I felt them out when I mentioned leaving in the new year, but they didn't say anything further about staying with me vs staying with the company, so I'm still here in the company. Hence, I really should've slept with one eye open around the boss. The renewal contract was just too much, in my opinion- who renews halfway through the year? With everything that I'm doing, it really feels too constricting- in the sense that I can't add anything to my schedule without it all falling to pieces. And that's why I'm so concerned about school- once I stopped doing stuff for the Chinese class, I felt like I could somewhat breathe again, but when I went to get the withdrawal form signed, the lady there strongly advised me to keep the class. She also said I could observe at a Chinese School. But I just got let go from a Chinese school, so it's not like I'm planning to go back to the principal (who doesn't like me) and say "May I please observe in one of your K-8 classes?" One of the barre instructors, though, is Chinese, and her youngest goes to Chinese preschool on Saturdays, which is a different company than the one I was at, so I asked her if she could connect me to someone who teaches K-8 there. She's sent an email already, so if the director/person says okay, I'm going to keep the class and somehow make it work. The Teacher's Prep office did tell me that I could test out of the classes instead, but yesterday's lady said principals don't like to hire if you don't have the teaching experience in a classroom, which is fair enough. For me, though, the bilingual authorization was just going to be something extra I could add to my resume, like "yeah, I can teach bilingual if needed/if you want." My three big plans were to teach kindergarten, first grade, or high school language. I'm just curious if the foreign language authorization (BILA) can give the authorization to teach in high school, or if it's just for elementary/middle. At this point, I feel like I'm just in a constant state of "I kinda know what I'm doing but all due dates are very hazy." And, as someone who prefers to turn in assignments on time or early, it's a less than ideal state in which to be. I'm also terrible at using a planner (they just don't work for me, for whatever reason) so I don't really have stuff written down either. Most of my stuff and important dates are on my phone. When I was in elementary school and we were forced to use our planner (literally, "take out your planner and write down your X homework!") I would write it down, but I still could remember all the homework in my head, so I hardly ever checked the planner. Mom would check it, though, because you'd get extra points for having a parent sign your planner for the night once you finish your homework. *shrug* So I took it out for that, but that's also about it. I'm already kind of spinning around and lost in Wonderland, so I probably don't need to be muddled up in iKïyå§ama's activity, as tempting as it might be. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Another song from barre. I'm telling you, they have good music! I feel like this song could easily describe most people's double-sidedness... I wouldn't say I'm "psycho" in the most literal sense of this song, but there are definitely things that make me flip- and when I do, it's not pretty!For starters, the music job is definitely making its way up the list. I guess I haven't vented about it yet here, but it's so driving me crazy! The boss's lack of organization makes it hard to plan for a meeting time, and I have 3 jobs, plus a steady barre schedule, so that adds another aspect to plan around. Naturally, I don't say it's barre, I just say I'm generally unavailable because of school or something else. And I just started tutoring a colleague's daughter from my school job, in science, so I technically just went up to 4 jobs again. Anyways, we've been trying to find a meeting time/day since the 10th of February, when she asked if we could meet on the 17th. The 17th was a holiday day, so I already opened up that day for a shift at lululemon, which I told the boss. I'd also previously told her (since she mentioned the lack of flexibility in my schedule) that if she wanted me on a weekend, she could tell me 2 weeks in advance and I'd block off the day on the lulu calendar for her. Do the math- meeting on the 17th, and asking on the 10th.... that's 7 days. I suggest a Saturday date, and turns out the other girl is unavailable that weekend because she's out of town. So the boss suggests the 24th, but that's a regular school day, which makes me unavailable from 8 to about 3. Plus I'm now working on Mondays at the store so maybe I can have a weekend day off to work on school stuffs, which now makes me unavailable the whole day. She goes back to the 17th- what about the early evening? Again, I'm working a shift that day.... shifts are typically 5-8 hours long, so no, I can't do early evening. So, she wants to do 6 pm meetings, which for me is too late... and also, who wants to go to a work meeting at 6pm?  So, long story short, we're probably meeting on the 28th, from 4-5, because I have to do a call for school at 6. Assuming, that is, I don't have to do jury duty.  Yes, I got summoned for jury duty! And I'm excited about it. I love watching the court scenes in shows like SVU, All Rise, and Bluff City Law, so if I actually get to go into a real courtroom and be a juror, that'd be kinda cool. I suppose you could say that's where my psycho comes in. Mom said I'm the first person she knows who's actually excited about going to jury duty.  Uncle got out of his for good, in Australia, because his English is not proficient enough. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Full disclosure- I just wanted to put Delta Goodrem into this playlist so I plugged her name into Youtube and clicked the first video. BUT this kinda qualifies.... read on to find out more.  So about 2 (3?) years ago, I went to study abroad in Australia, right? Chinese New Year was during one of the breaks between the semesters so I was in Tasmania for the Chinese New Year event. All the planning, all the prep, all the set-up, break-down, etc. There was one day, Mom and I were at the venue, and these sets of siblings (2 families? about 6 "kids" total) were planning to sing this song. They were up on stage, practicing. Then the mom from one of the sibling sets came over and was like, "hey, why isn't Dragon up there? She should be singing too!" Mom and I both went, " Who, me? Who, Dragon? Okay..." Grandfather was all for it, so turns out it was all of us from the younger generation- me, 2 sisters, 4 siblings, and Uncle's son- 8 total going up there to sing "We are Australian". Piano prodigy cousin lucked out because he did what he does best- piano. I, thankfully, did not have any solo parts. I just went out and sung the chorus with everyone else and waved an Australian flag around. Anyways, fun story- the day that mom "suggested" I go up to sing with everyone else, was about 3 days before the actual performance. The older girl (probably early teens? 13-14 y/o) from the 4 sibling family asked me when we were backstage, on the day of the performance, if I'd practiced. Internally, I went, Yes, of course I practiced, what kind of question is that? Instead, I told her, in all sincerity, "Yes, I practiced the song 1000 times every day." She believed me. Do the math, though. Let's say the song is 3 minutes. 3 minutes x 1000 times is 3000 minutes. There's 60 minutes in every hour. 3000 divided by 60 is 50. 1000 times of the song, non-stop, would take 50 hours. There are not 50 hours in a day. Not to mention, a person needs to eat, sleep, and do normal human tasks as well, not just sing the same song over and over. In conclusion, if people tell you they practice something 1000 times a day, they're probably lying and trying to get you off their back. Very much like I did. It's also impossible to practice a 3-minute song 1000 times in a day. There's just not enough time in the day. Literally. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I went through a J.Lo phase briefly a while back and this song was part of it. I re-found it because barre had a "Super Bowl/J.Lo+Shakira" playlist and this song was on it. I also heard it at work today as I was dusting the store. Pretty coincidental, especially because I also chose to Swiffer the floor as part of my closing duties. As a result, I felt like a layer of dust just accumulated on my hands. It's kind of shocking, actually, once you start pushing the Swiffer around and you see all the dust bunnies clumping together... The fitting rooms, especially, have quite a bit dust, and I was joking with someone else that somebody is feeding those dust bunnies, because they're quite big! This seems to be today's theme- women doing stuff for incapable men. Mom told me she was chatting with one of her friends on Saturday and they were trading travel tips (the friend just went on a long cruise and it seemed decadent!). Anyways, the friend told her of another friend (the friend's friend) whose husband was highly incapable of traveling alone. The wife had to pack his luggage, iron his stuff, double check everything, do all the arrangements... whatever it was, she probably did it. So Mom's friend told the lady, "you need to train him!" so the next time they traveled, the wife did nothing. He managed to pack his clothes, but then after they got home, the wife realized he'd left all his clothes at the hotel. The female conclusion to this story is undecided- whether he did it on purpose or not- he could've forgotten the clothes by accident because of his ineptitude, or he could've purposely left the clothes there, because why bother with them? Aside from this song being fun and dancey, there's really not much else I can say about it. Mom noted that I was very hyper today coming back from work at 8 pm, while last night I was all "Don't bother me." The difference, I suppose, would be that I forgot I had coffee in the back today, and I didn't drink much of it until 3-4, and then a little more around 5-6, whereas I finished my coffee pretty early yesterday. I also don't tend to drink coffee, but I think my body no longer accepts caffeine from Thai tea because I drink it too much and I don't feel alert after drinking it anymore. I've been getting a caramel coffee smoothie (essentially a caramel frappucino) the past two days, and that worked... I'm pretty alert right now, and I lasted pretty long last night, too- the ideas flowed pretty well for my "group project" I mentioned in the previous entry. One of my word problems last night ended up having a teacher named Mrs. Fields give out cookies as a reward for good behavior... I read it to Mom and she laughed so hard, that she couldn't hear the numbers to actually do the math, so I had to re-read it for her. Hopefully the professor gets the reference too, and gives points for creativity.  |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Okay so I've only heard this song a handful of times, but I'm super hyper tonight because I had a coffee around 3 pm and the caffeine is just now kicking in.  So, prepare for a hyper-minded Dragon who's probably not great at focusing on a single topic.About this song: I first heard/saw it on the American Music Awards and somehow, I loved it. I relate to the theme, in a sense- there were these ladies at barre once who asked about my name- they were white, middle-aged ladies, and they asked about the context of my name, so I told them the watered-down version- my mom and grandfather hoped I'd be as strong as a Dragon, and part of my sister's name means "triple dragon" in Sanskrit. The ladies mentioned that I seemed like a very sweet, mellow person, and they wondered if I had a "fiery" side, aside from in the barre studio. I said sometimes. I can't say I want to get rid of my "sweet/cute" image completely, but it would also be nice to be taken seriously for once. Plus, if you get me on the right topics- education, especially, and I can talk. Though, I kinda doubt most people would be that interested in what I have to say on educational topics like grouping, technology, literacy, and the works. Anyways, this song- yes, I do have a "fiery" side to me. I control it pretty well in public, just because I'm not quite sure yet how that would manifest in everyday life. In private, though, it comes out pretty frequently. For example, having to turn in a group assignment for an online class, in which I did not have a group, last night. I emailed two people about them needing a group/partner (a group can be just 2 people) and one said he already found a group. Fine. Second one- yes, he needed a group. Excellent! "What is your contact info?" He gives me a number. I call it. Computerized voice- the number you have called is not in service. I email him back- I called your number, is there a typo? It's not working. He replied me at 12:30 pm today (the assignment was due 11:30 pm last night) and asks for my contact info. I told him I already did the assignment myself and turned it in, sorry, but if he needs a partner for the second group assignment, I'm game. So that's settled, I hope. Also, most people know I don't *tend to* swear. I mean, working with kindergarteners, you can't really freely express yourself in colorful language in front of them, like you might be able to if you were working with high schoolers, and even that's somewhat debatable in terms of professionalism. With the non-swearing thing said, though, this song probably comes as a surprise... especially because I'd say a good portion of it is made of choice words I wouldn't normally use. I also don't love Kesha- sure, I liked TiK ToK and Timber, but that's about it, and all I knew, until this song. As somebody who picks music mostly based on the artist, Kesha isn't among my top favorites, and I don't really follow her. Honestly, had I not watched the AMAs that night, I wouldn't even know this song existed- but I did, and I do like the song. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I just realized I missed an assignment due on Sunday... School is absolutely torturing me at this point. I like my classes well enough, but the way the LMS is organized.... it's supposedly amongst the worst people have seen. For example, my math class has about 20 weekly assignments- it's the same type of assignment and it's something you have to do every week. We also have another type of assignment that's due every 2 weeks, "book practice," says the professor.  That's the one I forgot to do, because as I was turning in my weekly assignment, 1. I didn't see it on the calendar, and 2. I didn't see it on the dropbox. Turns out, the dropbox is set to 20 assignments at a time, and the bi-weekly book practice was put under all the other assignments and pushed down to page 2. I just did it and turned it in, albeit late... I also looked for a solution to this and there is no sort by due date function.So, tacking this on to my post from last night, also ranting about school, and my lack of time to do much else but school and work, this will be another one. Feel free to skip this if you're not interested. So, school: I found a class to do social studies observation in! Saw my class's "buddy" teacher today and we chatted briefly in the hallway, so I asked if she does social studies yet (I also asked the class mom, because her older son is in 2nd grade, but the teacher has been out for about 2 weeks soooo I couldn't exactly go ask that teacher.) and they're starting a social studies unit in 2 weeks! She said they're doing gummy bear voting (if I heard right) and it's going to be cute, so I'm looking forward to it. Probably just means that I may need to start doing all my social studies stuff for third grade instead of fourth. Math class- I'm enjoying the math portion of it, actually. I enjoy math, as you probably already know... Reading- still need to email my host teacher about the requirements for this class, and then I need to go observe in first grade for language arts because they want emergent readers. Chinese- I'm most likely withdrawing from this class because I can't find a fieldwork placement for this. Relation to the song- school is absolutely breaking me. Had another "your priorities aren't set straight" conversation with Mom. As somebody with 30 years more experience than I do, she expects me to also have those 30 years of experience. The music job sprung a renewal contract on me and I was completely unprepared and was not expecting it. We're at half a year right now- I didn't think she'd give me anything about renewing the contract until later. Plus, I thought it would be more of a conversation about the company and a "so do you think you'll return?" type of thing, as opposed to "Here's a contract for next year, with your half-year review." If I had gotten my two cents in, I would've requested that I stay on only to teach at the school I'm teaching at right now, and/or anything within the district I currently work in. I mentioned it to Mom and she's like "I told you, you should've said 'I need to think about it'." Well, yes, Mom, that is a great idea, but I did not think of that when the contract was sprung on me, and now I'm kinda stuck in for another year. Summed up: I'm in a pretty bad mood tonight from realizing that I missed the assignment, but also, I did just come off the high of the 100 days of school festivities at school.  It's a rollercoaster of mental and physical stuff right now. |
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