Moving on to bigger and better..!???

So, as some of you know I have been presented with a surprising and exciting opportunity! The Director/Principal of our school accepted a new job with a large public high school in North Dallas and he nominated me to take his position! I interviewed with our district superintendent, who passed my resume along to corporate. After a grueling 3-day "open interview" process with our CEO, COO, CAO, etc... they informed me that not only did I survive, but that they thought I have what it takes to take over this very important job!

Needless to say I am very nervous, but getting to know everyone at the corporate office better definitely re-lit my fire and passion for changing the world one student.. or now, one school.. at a time. I am so honored that they think after only a year of teaching, I am ready to conquer this job. I know that it will bring lots of challenges, frustrations, and probably a few tears, but it is an amazing opportunity for someone my age and I am ready to jump on board and get started.

I'm sure that I will learn a lot about administration and managing people, and thus a lot about myself this year. I believe that this door opened for me for a reason though, so I can't wait to see what other opportunities present themselves from this.

Stay tuned to see how well I survive!

The countdown is on...

So, obviously my idea of being able to write daily (or even monthly) this year has completely failed. Apparently teaching is a lot of work.

A lot has changed since I last wrote...

I moved to third grade in January. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, but when the students began making more improvement, they asked me to stay there for the rest of the year. THe behavior problems in this class are unbelievably difficult. It is amazing to me the things that I have heard and seen from a group of 8 and 9 year-olds. It has been really challenging, but I am learning to love each one of them for who they are.

I have also been doing the job of testing coordinator, which means I have been in charge of ordering, monitoring, collecting, and mailing all the state tests for our school. It is has been a lot of extra work, and really stressful at time, but I have learned a LOT about the administrative side of education.

There are only 11 days left in the school year and I am SOOOO ready for summer! I never understood why teachers needed summer so much, but I can definitely understand now! And the students are in complete summer-mode as well, which makes every day an even bigger test of my patience than usual.

I am not sure what the future holds. There are some potential big changes on the horizons, but I won't know anything for the next few weeks. I will try to write more once school is out and tell more about the details of the rest of the year, as well as keep you updated on what the future has in store for me!

Thanks for all of your love and support throughout my first year of teaching!!

the zoo

So, we went on a field trip to the Dallas Zoo in November. I have to admit that it is definitely not the best zoo around, but my students did not seem to notice, or care! In fact, they found the squirrels and random bugs to be the most exciting part! :) I ended up with no chaperones to help me, so I had all 13 of my students by myself for most of the day. Let's just say we ALL took naps on the bus back to school! However, experiencing something like that with my students was a lot of fun. We got to play and learn together. It was really fun and rewarding.

Unfortunately, our school only budgets for one field trip per school year (and the whole school goes), but I am hoping to find a way to fundraise for another one in the spring.

it's been a while...

So, apparently I got a little busy towards the end of the semester, and neglected to update my blog. The good news is that I have officially graduated from grad school with my Masters in Education, so now I can devote my time to teaching, and not have homework in the evenings... at least until I go back for my EdD in a few years! :)

I'll post a few pictures and updates from my class tonight too!

germs and silly faces

So, as most of you know... it happened... my kids got me sick! 2 weeks ago I was out almost the whole week with the flu. It was miserable. And after the flu I got an infection in my throat. Pretty rough week. I'm finally back to 100%, but vitamins and antibacterial gel are my new best friends for sure!

This last week was great. On Friday I had 4 kids absent... which means I only had 9 kids there. The firemen came and talked to the kids and they got to walk through the fire truck. They loved it! I was in a great mood and my kids were having a lot of fun. So, I let them make silly faces and I took pictures... here are a few of my favorites. How cute are my kids?? Although now I have a lot of work for those kids that were out to make-up, but that's alright.

Also, this was the end of week 9.. which means we are a quarter of the way through the school year! I can't believe it!!

spirit week

This week was Spirit Week at school. Monday was Sports Day, Tuesday was Hawaiian Day, Wednesday was Pajama Day, and Thursday was Western Day, and Friday I got the day off because my students got free tickets to go to the Texas State Fair!! It was great! Here are a few pictures of my kids... they are so cute!

Also, I have made it through 6 weeks now. That means report cards and parent conferences this week... should be interesting! And I'm just trying to lather up on antibacterial and avoid the flu as it goes around! Yuck!!

funny day

So, after going to the Cowboys game last night, getting home 12:30am (poor me, I know) I have to say that I was feeling less than great this morning. Luckily I have a great job and get to have my awesome kiddos make my day! So, I had to share these few funny stories....

First, one of my little girls came up to me about 30 minutes into the morning and told me that she had to hold her pee until she got to school today and when I asked why she said "our toilet is clogged and if I want to go I have to go outside under the trampoline..." It literally took everything I had not to start laughing. Kids are just so hilarious and it just made me realize how truly different my home life is than theirs.

Also, we got 400 new books last week in our otherwise VERY meager library. I took my students today and they were exploring the new books and one of them came across a copy of Twilight. I was telling them how this was one of my favorite books and one of my little boys said "I have the movie... want to come over to my house and watch it?" and I swear there was a hint of flirtation in his 6-year-old voice. Sweet sentiment, but man they grow-up fast! :)

I'm so lucky to have a job that can put me in a good mood even when I'm not having such a great day!


i had to add that today (the next day after these two things) we had a power outage for about 5 minutes. all my kids started screaming like the world was ending even though sunlight was coming in through my windows. but one of them asked to use the restroom and i told him to take a friend and be careful because the hallway and bathroom were really dark and he replied "it's ok. i can see in the dark. i eat carrots." gotta love it!

also, i am realizing that if there really was a tooth fairy, first grade teachers would be rich! my kids have already lost 4 during school hours and it has only been a month! i should take pictures of all the gaping holes because my whole class should send letters to Santa asking for at least their 2 front teeth! :)