Two Week Update:

I can honestly say that I love teaching, I love

my class, and I love my job. Lets hope that doesn't change. The past two weeks have been very busy and a lot has happened (in my eyes at least). This post is going to talk about the good and the bad, please don't take me talking about the good as bragging, this is my journal and I want to chronicle what happens on both ends.

So here is a picture of what my classroom looked like two weeks ago compared to now:

I am still working on it but I would say there has been a significant improvement. I have also had some major confidence boost given that I've only actually been teaching in my room for one week. I started out with four kids that are in the second half of being three, they will turn four this year. Enrollment is still rising and for the past two days I have gained a new friend in my classroom. There are also two more students currently set to join but they will not return for a month or two. I did have one nervous moment with my job when I ended up five minutes late and the moment I walked in the door my boss said that they needed to talk to me. As I secretly curse the reason being late (we'll get to that soon enough) I started to worry inside. Would I be written up? Nope! It turns out that she had two things to talk to me about. The first being that the old teacher asked for her job back. My heart sunk when I heard that, however it was quickly said that my boss told her that her job had already been given to someone else (me). Thank Goodness... bullet dodged there. She will be coming back but as a different teaching position. The second item that my boss wanted to move their son into my class. Yikes... pressure there. However he transitioned really well and I feel pretty great about how it is going. One pretty cool thing is that the admins at this school are constantly watching our classrooms. There are daily walkthroughs, they can watch our classrooms through the video cameras, and we have viewing windows. Surprisingly that does not feel intimidating, it actually gives me a feeling of security and comfort.

Another surprisingly unexpected thing that I have noticed are the parents. They want to help their children learn. Each week I have to send home a copy of my lesson plans because the parents actively want to know what is going on and how they can help. That is completely the opposite of my experience in public schools. I love it.

I did have a moment of doubt this week because I have received many calls (1 each day) for positions in a great school district that pays quite a bit more than what I make now... but I feel that I made the right choice. I love the support that I have, the freedom to teach how I want to teach, and the luxury of small classrooms with great parental support.

I am completely happy right now... minus one thing. My car. As you know my car and I have been through a lot. She is a 2001 Ford Focus Wagon that my parents gifted me for Valentines Day in 2003. She has jumped many curbs with me (though not recently), helped me make every major move that I've ever had, spent a little bit of time in high school, all of college, and the big transition into the working world in a new city. We went from country roads to major toll roads. However at this time I am having major withdrawals from driving her. Why? Because she is currently in the hands of my husband. His *cough* NEWER *cough* Ford Fusion has an issue (that is thankfully covered under the warranty) and has been in the shop for a couple of days now. We don't know when we'll have her back, but hopefully it wont be too long. In the meantime my husband is using my car, and we carpool to work since he is on a project just 5 minutes from my own job. Really it isn't that bad unless my husband forgets his security badge which causes his wife to be five minutes late for work one day (yep, that is how it happened).... but I do miss the freedom of driving my car, bouncing around the driver seat while I horribly with the radio, and listening to my morning shows that drive him nuts. We're estimating that it may be another week of carpooling. Until then I'll give my singing voice a rest which would probably be best anyways given I am currently hoarse due to a cold or some other bug I caught at school.

None the less.. My car is awesome for being this old, having 116,000 miles on it while still remaining very dependable :)