Blah

I seem to have some sort of inertia right now.

I want to lose a few pounds to enable my clothes to fit more comfortably. However, working out is NOT my fave thing ever. Nor do I want to curb my eating habits.

I want to tile the remainder of the house, but I'm dreading actually DOING it.

I think I might actually be a bit depressed right now, because I don't have a job yet.

I guess I'll continue to fly in a holding pattern until something changes. Blah.

Getting Back on the Horse

Holy cow! It's been an incredibly long time since I've posted anything on this site. Quite a bit has changed since then...

I'm back in Florida, having just taught my first year of school. I taught economics, personal finance, psychology, and contemporary issues at a rural public school in Tennessee. I absolutely loved my coworkers and the community in which I lived, but Matt and I couldn't get it worked out for him to join me there. Thus, I lived alone for a year, and although my marriage is as strong as ever, we didn't want to spend any more time apart.

I'm again looking for a job. Actually, I had an interview last week, and am hoping to receive news about that job any day now. Say a prayer for me, please.

Within the Week

Within the week, I will be headed home to Florida! Yay! I have two big presentations this week and then I'm finished. Woo hoo! I just know this week is going to drag by, because I want it to be over quickly, ha ha.

My schedule is as follows:
Tuesday - Presentation in International Economics class on the Harmonization of Education Standards in the European Union

Wednesday - Working my G.A. hours at the elementary school

Thursday - Presentation of my Review of Teaching Strategies for my Reading for the Secondary Content Teacher course

Friday - Working my G.A. hours at the elementary school; Girls' Night Out to celebrate the end of the semester

Saturday - Christmas party at the Millers'

Sunday - Flying HOME!!!!

After that, Matt & I will put up our tree, hang out with friends, maybe have some folks over...I plan to do some holiday baking with a friend. We'll just spend some quality time enjoying ourselves until it is time for us to go on our trip.

I think we leave on the 18th...I'm not sure, Matt has the whole thing planned. But, I do know that we're going to London, Rome, Venice, Vlock (I don't know if that's spelled correctly), Vienna, and Prague!

I have sooooo much to look forward to...I just hope that the next few days go by quickly. But, I'll be home within the week!

It Won't Be Long Now...

As I write this post, I should really be working on a couple of projects that I have yet to complete for school this semester. Alas, it is a Friday evening, and I am pretty worn out, and just need a couple of hours to recover from a busy (and very cold and somewhat snowy) day!

But, it was a good day, too! I taught a full class this morning (it was my first time) and it went really well! In fact, it was leaps and bounds better than the practice lesson I taught to my peers in one of my education classes earlier in the week, ha ha. I had been fairly stressed about making sure I did everything right this morning, but everything just kind of flowed really easily and I feel tons more comfortable teaching now. Yay!

So those projects I mentioned above...yeah, well, I really need to get them done this weekend. And I will. The fact is...I only have two weeks left of school, and one of them is a short holiday week! It hit me today:

It won't be long now until I get to go home and be with the Hubs! Woo hoo! Color me excited!

I Fought the Law...

...and I WON! This will be, like, the most brief post ever. But, I just had to gush over the fact that I triumphed over the Lords of Parking at ETSU! Woo hoo!

I had received a ticket for parking in a faculty lot yesterday. Today, I went to their little "Parking Court" and presented the facts:
1. Of the two entrances to the lot, only ONE has a sign advising students not to park there.
2. They have both blue and white painted on the curbs. I know blue represents faculty, but white (I thought) indicates open parking.
3. They have another lot across campus that has a white sign "Open Parking" and that lot has white paint on the curbs, just like the curbs in the faculty lot where I was ticketed.
4. There was another sign that advises that it is a faculty lot, but is not visible because of tree limbs.

I took showed them photos of all of these things, and respectfully requested that my ticket be dismissed. And they agreed! Yay!

So, it WAS just $20...but even small victories can make my day, ha ha!

Trial and Error

Every weekday morning now I am observing a high school economics class for my secondary methods course. I'm pleased to report that I am being given the opportunity to practice teaching various concepts to the students. They are my guinea pigs, ha ha.

And, believe me, the experimentation is ongoing! Over the last couple of weeks, I've tried out several different techniques to attempt to find the ways that work best for me. I've had minor successes, but today's activity was a colossal failure!

On Friday, I had given the students a worksheet to complete in order to provide them with additional practice on predicting shifts in supply and demand. I guess they were terrified that they might not get it finished and would have to do it as homework over the weekend, so they all rushed through it.

I don't think I've ever seen such sorry schoolwork. I was incredibly disappointed when I graded their work over the weekend. They had seemed to know it so well in class...

Anyway, this morning I went in with a plan. A number of seasoned veteran teachers had advised me to provide opportunities for students to teach one another. So, my plan was to pair up the students in such a way that each pair contained one student who answered the question on the worksheet correctly and one who did not. Then, I called each pair up to the board to graph their answer and explain it to the class. In my head, I envisioned having the student who answered correctly walk the one who didn't though the process, so that it would be a learning experience for both...

The problem is that I didn't specifically state who I wanted to actually DO the work on the board, because I didn't want to embarrass the students who didn't answer correctly. As a result, the students who answered correctly were the ones who graphed the solution AND explained it to the class, while the other students in each pair simply stood to the side, and probably learned nothing.

I felt like a moron, but at least I leaned from this. Next time, I will have ONE student at the board, and instruct the class to decide if they agree or disagree with their answer and state why or why not. Or, maybe I can have the students work in pairs at their desks, and that way I can privately speak to each pair and instruct the one who has the concept down pat to coach the other student...

The good news is that I get to go back every day and continue my process of trial and error...

See Ya Later!

Just wanted to do a quick post, as I am about to embark on a journey to the netherworld of unending schoolwork. Today, in one of my classes, I learned that an upcoming assignment that I thought was going to be pretty simple will, in fact, be an extensive undertaking. To top that, most of my classmates are working in groups on the assignment. Unfortunately, as the the only person who is studying to teach economics, I have no peers with whom I can collaborate. *sighs* Oh, well...I don't really like group work all that much, anyway. At least this way, I get to be completely in control. Just the way I like it, ha ha.

In addition to this project, I have a number of projects for other classes that I need to be working on, also. I will emphatically state that this mountain of work is not the result of procrastination on my part. Apparently, in one's last semester of coursework in this program, all of the professors assign most of the work to be completed in the second half of the semester.

I can handle it. I'll just have to abstain from social gatherings for a while. Except Halloween. I will surface long enough to don a costume and frolic with friends for that occasion. I'm considering going as Amy Winehouse...although after last night's debate, I'm thinking about conspiring with a friend to dress up as Joe Six Pack and Joe the Plumber...

Oh, and I almost forgot my great news! Guess who passed both of her Praxis II exams?! That's right. ME! Woo hoo!

Well, I've delayed my work too long now. I'll just have to see ya later.