October Currently and a mini-rant

Linking up with Farley again this month for October Currently! Hop on over and join the fun!!

Onto the second part of my post: I am pretty sure I have/had walking pneumonia. I am pretty sure I got it from the combination of my school being a)full of 2000-2050 people daily, b) unnaturally humid and c)full of sick students. One thing I am 150% sure of, however, is:

I AM FRIGGIN OVER BEING SICK!!!!!!!

Did I scream that loud enough? Has everyone heard me? I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. My brain literally hasn't functioned properly in two weeks. It is showing in my work. My department chair came to observe my Honors 9 class yesterday and it was God-awful (not exaggerating). My major hold up are my SMART objectives. Last year, I got solid 3's (or effective) on IMPACT for my objective-driven classes. This year I feel as if I have taken a step backwards in that department. Is it because I am teaching English now? But I am sick and tired (see a trend here?) of blaming my issues on switching content areas. I feel as though I am using that as crutch. I really want to talk to my department chair about using our Professional Development day to get some work done on creating objectives. I believe quite a bit of the department needs some help in that area of IMPACT. Anyways, I joined the school wellness challenge and I need to be healthy in order to participate. This crud needs to go away. 

Has anyone else noticed an influx of teachers getting sick or is it just my school?  

Let's Talk About Rigor

This is the biggest obstacle that is standing in my way right now. Rigor. Moving from a poorly performing school to one of the best in the District along with having highly motivated students, I am at a loss as to how to up my rigor game. I am not going to lie and say that I am not terrified that I am going to get a "developing" score from our master educators on my IMPACT.

I am currently teaching English 9 regular, inclusion and honors. We are reading To Kill A Mockingbird and I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. I keep thinking "did I make the right change to English? Should I have stayed with History/Social Studies?". Has anyone else made the switch to a new subject area and dealt with the same problems?

Am I just completely off my rocker? Someone let me know!

Sunday Social!

How has everyone's week been? I ended up taking off Friday because I rocked a fever at school all day on Thursday. I have a horrible cough and congestion. BUT! The weather is freaking glorious here in the nation's capital. The BF and I have the windows wide open and are ready for some football. Anywho, let's continue on with our Sunday Social questions...

1. What is something that you have wanted to do but are afraid of?
Trying Socratic Seminars! I am terrified to turn that control over to a bunch of 9th graders.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Still teaching. However, Chris and I will be probably be married or engaged and living in Southern Maryland.

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?
A huge snow storm! We didn't get one last year and this autumn has started off with a bang of cold weather. Loving it!

4. What are your hopes for your blog?
That it will continue to grow and gain more readers. I would love to become closer with my readers!

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?
In the area, as I say in #2!

 6. What is your morning routine?
Wake up, check email, get dressed, put on clothes/makeup/brush teeth, watch some news and leave out! 

Sunday Social!

1. 5 items you cannot live without on a daily basis (water, food, shelter, & clothes do not count).
Oh jeez let's see: iPhone, MacBook, teacher planner, Sugar lip balm, and a good pen.

2. All time favorite book & why.
Pride and Prejudice because I absolutely adore the Bronte sisters. This is a book that I constantly read time and again. I love Mr. Darcy, my perfect man!

3. Something you'd like to accomplish by the end of 2012.
Losing 50 pounds!

4. If you could go back and relive any year of your life, which year would it be?
Freshman year of college. I would've taken my schooling seriously and started off on the right foot.

5. What do you wish people knew about you without you having to tell them?
I am a really a nice person once you get past my tough exterior. I don't want to be viewed as a pushover. I am so very sensitive so be kind :-p 

Massive update!

This is me everyday after school!

Whew! I know I haven't updated in a while because I have been SO INCREDIBLY BUSY!! Between internet issues at school (so enjoyable considering we have to do all of our data, attendance and SRI testing on the internet now) and meetings out the craphole, I am ready for a mini-vacation already. I am having such a hard time getting back into the swing of things. I haven't properly worked out in since before school started. My sleep schedule is either falling asleep at 8 pm or going to bed at 3 am. Now that football season has started, oy vey, my Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Monday nights are consumed with footballllll. I find moving to another school and another subject area to be...daunting. I feel like I am failing. I know that I am great at teaching English but I feel as though I am not as good as other teachers in my department. Does anyone else have these feelings of...inadequacy? Or am I just going crazy?

The school itself is gorgeous (I plain on doing a massive picture post soon). The classrooms are state-of-the-art and we are completely green. Every classroom has a Promethean board (boo!hiss!), white board and kickass audio system (I may or may not crank Kayne West after school through the system...). The massive downside is that I teach in 4 different classrooms. My "homebase" is in the room that I teach only 1 class. My 1st and 3rd periods are in the same classroom (thankfully directly after each other). My 4th, 5th and 6th periods are in 3 different rooms. I am constantly moving around and get frazzled quite easily because I tend to leave things in my other room and have to go back. Sometimes the teacher in my "homebase" is understanding, sometimes she isn't. I just can't wait until I get the hang of things!

How has everyone else's first 3 weeks gone? Leave me some love below!!

First Full Week

I know, I know. Horrible blogger for not updating this week! I am so exhausted. I have been going to bed at 8 pm some nights! I am so ready for this weekend, getting some real sleep and planning for the week ahead. However, I am going to do that on Sunday and Monday. I need tonight and tomorrow to just vegetate (and see Expendables 2 with the bf). My 5th period on-level English class is off the chain. I have no idea what to do with them other then to implement a ticket system and hope that works. Pray for me! Other then that, my classes are lovely. Especially my honors kids. They are so cute. I plan on doing a classroom reveal at some point next week. It is going to be different because we have to share classrooms in my school (overcrowding). Look forward to that!

How about you guys? Have a good first week?

Therapeutic Thursday!

I know I skipped over Where I Teach Wednesday because a) my classroom isn't ready yet and b) because I want to do that post justice. My new high school is GORGEOUS and I can't wait to share it with you!

Now on to the good stuffs! During the school year I am usually on robot mode and it is very hard for me to come out of my teaching mode. I have a few things that will make me normal again!

1. Community
I adore this show. It cracks me up! My boyfriend also thinks that I am just as psychotic as Annie too lol.

 

2. Pretty Little Liars
I don't know how it happened, but I got sucked into this murder mystery.

3. Ben and Jerry's Mint Cookie Ice Cream. Sooooooooooooooo delicioussssssssss.

4. Football Season baby!! Go Bears!

How about you? How do you wind down after a long day at work?!