Dream a little dream!

It is only the first week.

It is only the first week.

It is only the first week.

I have to keep telling myself this. Not to sound cliche or anything, but this is a marathon, not a sprint!

Last night was rough! I dreamed about school the whole night. I am fairly certain that these dreams stemmed from my feelings of inadequacy. I feel like I haven't prepared my kids for their test on Wednesday. My passion for teaching English is having a hard time thriving. I know it is only the first week, but I'm pretty sure that my love for Latin has overtaken my love for English. Then again, it could just be my classes? I don't know. Either way, I want to do better this week. My students were not engaged last week. I had them write me letters on Friday rather than doing their scheduled warm-up. I asked them to tell me what I needed to know about them and what I could do to make the class better. Honestly, if I were in my English class, I'd be bored. I'm going to do better this week.

It is only the first week.

It is only the first week.

Valete.
Magistra

"Life moves pretty fast..."

The first three days of school are over! I've been conspicuously absent from my blog, as I've been extremely busy with getting school started.

In other news, my power went out this weekend, so the problem of me not having a working internet connection became moot. There's a sunny side to everything, I suppose. My boyfriend is here, and that makes me extremely happy. We got to cook together at my aunt and uncle's house this weekend (we certainly couldn't hang around my hotter-than-hot aparment).

My kids are...interesting. I am not sure how much I am allowed to write about them. Just let me say, that I already love them so much...even the ones who are giving me trouble. I assume they just want attention when they act like they do, so I've moved them to the front of the classroom so that they can be as close to me as they seem to want to be.

It is bed time (I am having to go to bed around nine o'clock every night so that I can go to school at 5:45 in the morning). HOPEFULLY now that my internet works, I can update the blog more with fun stories. I have a particularly fun one that happened today, involving an eyebrow ring and vindication, so maybe I'll get that in tomorrow.

Until then...

Valete,
Magistra Sapiens ;)

Olim...

...I went on a cruise. When going through customs on the way back into the United States, behind me in line were two ladies. Both of them happened to be teachers, so naturally we hit it off. When I told them I was a first year teacher, they just could not contain themselves, sharing advice and stories. One piece of advice they gave me was to write down all of the things no one tells you, and then put it into a book entitled Things No One Told Me. I've been trying to compile a list in my head--unsuccessfully. I haven't yet hit a moment when I had to say to myself, "Agh! No one told me that!" Of course, I don't have students yet, the first week of school isn't over, and I'm still not on contract until tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning. I am confident that the minute my contract starts, the real "stuff" will hit the fan. No doubt it will be fun. Just like the cruise I went on, where everything was F-U-N. Carnival: the funship.

--Magistra

Let it be(gin). Coepiat.

Salvete, mulieres et viri!

This is my teacher-blog. If you haven't figured it out, I teach Latin (among other things).

I am a first year teacher at a brand new high school.

Orientation started this week, even though I don't start "paid employment" until next Monday (and don't get paid until a month from yesterday). I have also been going to professional development, which I may or may not be getting paid for. But, everyone knows--teachers don't do it for the money. If they did, there wouldn't be any teachers.

Honestly, I've been having a great time learning how to be a teacher. My room is really coming along...my aunt and uncle were kind enough to move a bookshelf from my third story apartment to my second story classroom. They even were kind enough to take me out to dinner.

Having moved to a new city, I am finding that things aren't as easy as they were where I came from. I knew where everything was. My couch fit into my apartment doorway. There was not an insane amount of traffic at 2:30 on a Tuesday afteroon. My phone worked. I'd say my internet worked, but it rarely did, and it is up again in my apartment as of a few hours ago (I was able to fix it, because I got a phone that worked, and thus could call AT&T). Cops were lenient (I got a ticket on Wednesday). My tires were inflated (I got a flat on Thursday).

N.B. I am very happy to be living here. My apartment is clean and safe. People at my job are incredibly supportive and kind. A couch is on its way. I miss my boy friend, yes, but I think we are handling all this very well (especially now that my phone works...). My flat is fixed as of this morning, and I imagine I'll take care of my defensive driving course in a matter of weeks or something...it's been four years since the last one, so I don't recall much about how long these things take.

I plan to keep you all updated on what is going on. I won't be giving any student names, and I probably won't tell any scenarios that would give away who all was involved. Thus, the blog might be a little bland for a while, until I get a few classes of kids up a few grades to where it doesn't matter what stories I tell. I hope you'll bear with me, as I'll need all the support I can get.

Vale,
Magistra

"Anything you want to be, you can be. You can be just what-all you want." -Mary Pereira, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie