TheAndrew.net

So it’s been a long while since I’ve posted on this blog. Why?  Because I’ve been busy with Twitter.  Only so many words can be posted on it, but Tweetie, and iPhone applications makes it extremely easy to do. (There is a wordpress application which is simple, but when using Tweetie I can also view and respond to other peoples “tweets” when I post mine).

I’ve had this blog for many years, so taking it down doesn’t make sense.  Maybe I’ll have to get my tweets to post directly to this blog like they do to facebook.

Parent/Teacher conferences tonight, so only a half day of school.
Swwweeeeetttt!

I’ll post some pics of apple butter day soon (by soon I mean in the next couple weeks)

“Just like the word family, community is a word that is now extensively used, perhaps because of the increasing sense of isolation that many people feel in today’s world.”
- Building Online Learning Communities (Palloff & Pratt)

I was suprised by a call from Tracy last night asking me if school was going ok after she read the last blog post I wrote…which was a while ago.  I really appreciated the call, so whenever you check my blog again, thanks Tracy!

School is going much better than my last post stated.  Graduate school is kicking my @ss now.  With cross country meets the past couple of Saturdays it’s been extremely tought to get my graduate work done.  But that’s life, and we’ll see what happens.

I would have never figured myself to be high maintaince, but this week I feel like I sure have been.  I bother Emily a lot with text messages and e-mails (so far 1 e-mail and 2 texts today) to try and make myself feel better.

I know it must put a burden on her to have to hear me complaining or being sad so often.  As I drove to school today I was thinking about how I feel like I need to get into a different mood to be able to make it through the school day.  Almost like I have a school life and a personal life.  It might not make much sense, as I try to show my personal life through my classes as much as I can, but at the same time I feel that my school life ovverruns my personal life…as in I have none other than leaning on Emily to help me get through every day.
As I write this, I have tears streaming down my face.  Mostly because I don’t know what I’d do without Em and I don’t know how long I can handle being a teacher.  I love working with kids, but it’s soooo much working coming up with things for them to do…and I spend too much time trying to find the perfect thing for them to do in each class.  BUT I CAN’T STOP.  I don’t know how to tell myself it’s ok if something stinks or not to care if students complain because they are tired of doing worksheets.

And I don’t know who to talk to other than Emily.  I don’t feel like there’s anyone I can talk to here at school about those types of feelings.

Today was a day that really made me wonder how long I can do this job.
It’s just that there is always so much going on, especially now that I’ve got cross country program to run and 2 graduate courses to work on.

I hope this feeling goes away and this is the right profession for me, as I think there us a lot I can offer these kids, but I don’t know right now.

I just got through the second day of school in my second year of teaching.  Like last year, I only get a break every other day, and I still hate it.  However, things will be a little more calm, and I stress the word little, as I have some good (and some not all that good) lessons I can use from last year.
At the same time, I’m coaching a fall sport for the first time and taking 2 graduate courses.  This means I’m at school until at least 5pm every day with XC practice and I’ve got to figure out how to manage my time so that I can complete graduate assignments and keep track of the classes I’m teaching, including 1 1/2 new classes.

I took the cross country job to make a little bit more money and right now I’m wondering if it was worth the extra time you have to put in as a head coach of a sport.  It’s very early, so we’ll see how I feel towards the end of the XC season.

Only time will tell what will happen.

It’s hard to believe it has been so long since I’ve blogged.  The time has flown by.

FBLA Districts was good, the students had a great time.  I think it opened their eyes to the possibilities to what is out there beyond Centralia.

I’ve been trying to prepare a couple things for FBLA:

1. We’re having a March of Dimes: March of Babies event on May 10th from 9am-3pm at the high school track.  So far we’ve got some donations from businesses but I still need to get some info to the newspapers, radio stations, etc SOON!
2. I’m trying to take a couple student to the FBLA National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Atlanta, Georgia at the end of June.  Trying to figure out how to raise the money.  Visited with the district money person and got a bunch of good ideas.

Otherwise, I had to be at the middle school early this morning for a summer school meeting.  In my opinion, the high school portion of summer school is very terribly run (I think the middle school and younger have good programs)!  As of right now, I don’t what the last day is for students to sign up for classes.  I’ve got to have at least 10 students signed up to be able to teach a class.
I’ve pretty much given up on teaching it this year.

I drove a bus for the first time today.  It was sweet!

I ran out of time because my plan period was cut in half due to MAP/Terra Nova testing so I only got to try backing up for a minute, but it was tough telling how far away the end of the bus was from a certain spot.

It’s official, I’ve been permitted to drive a school bus.  Passed all three written tests with flying colors.  Didn’t miss any questions on the “school bus” test.  [The other two were "General Knowledge" and "Passenger"]

Now I’ve got to find someone to let me ride with them and actually drive a bus.
Need to be fully licensed by April 18th for contest on the 20th!

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Update:  This blog is now powered by Wordpress 2.5