In sickness and in health...

Eeekk! I can't believe a whole week has flown by since my last blog post! I''l chalk it up to starting to take over classes (yes, that's plural) and battling the common cold.

At the end of last week I started taking over the regular English 10 classes since I'm beginning my unit on Night tomorrow- hard to imagine that it's already here! Though these students are the least motivated and tend to talk the least, I've got high hopes that by easing them into partner, small group, and large group discussions they will really be able to get into the book. I'll keep you posted :) Just yesterday I began co-teaching the Honors English 10 classes. We're working through Book II of A Tale of Two Cities. I can honestly say I have no memory of what happens in this book, even though I also read it when I was a sophomore! Oopsie! The next two days one of my cooperating teachers will be gone for the state One Act plays, so I'm taking over all by myself! Thankfully it's the honors kids who are just fabulous :) Though I do fear that they are much smarter than I am- sometimes they stump me with their profound thoughts (which is not at all a bad thing).

Break for teacher clothes update! :)

LEFT: Cardigan- Old Navy
Dress- Cato
Black leggings- Victoria's Secret
Brown boots- DSW.com

CENTER: Red peasant top- JC Penneys
Jeggings- American Eagle
Black boots- DSW.com

RIGHT: Cardigan- JC Penneys
Dress- Kohls
Tights- Walmart
Black ballet flats- Dr. Scholls

After not even two full weeks at the school all day every day, it's really begun to hit me what a challenging and rewarding profession I'm entering into. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish for more coffee and sleep, but I wouldn't trade anything for the looks of epiphany or the comments like "people need to read books like this more" (in reference to A Tale of Two Cities). In a mere ten days, "the" students have become "my" students. I've attended some basketball games and a one act performance, and seeing my students see me there reinforces why I'm here. It's not about making every student love to read (though I won't say I'm not aiming for that); it's about helping students grow as people. Cheese ball moment, I know. That doesn't make it untrue though...