Thursday, May 24, 2012

So where have I been?

Well, I have been a terrible blogger this year.  Terrible! And now I'm feeling like I should start blogging more and have no time to do it.  I have a few things floating around in my head that I want to blog about and just can't sit still long enough (when not working on other things) to get it done.

I'm sure I mentioned earlier this year that I had been hired to tutor 3rd, 4th and 5th grade at Cole's school.  Well, the job was winding down - I was only supposed to be there through testing.  As testing approached, I was worrying about the rest of the year, about next year - you know, the same thing I do each spring since graduating.  And then I realized my certificate was about to expire, too.  Fun times.

Two things happened around the same time.  First, a position became available at school.  It was a paraprofessional position in a self contained special needs room.  The principal mentioned it and asked if I was interested and I said absolutely!  He said he would know if a few days and let me know if the job was mine.  So, several days later he said it was a done deal - the job was mine.  I was so excited.  At this point, I didn't even know which classroom I would be in but it didn't really matter.  Turns out it's a classroom with a teacher I already knew a little and just loved.  So score for me.  Then I started getting into the renewal process for my certificate.  WOW!  Why didn't I look at this earlier?  If you haven't taught for three years, you have to take a class (I'm a UAB student now) and have 50 hours of professional development.  I don't have that!!  I don't even have an hour.  So, now I'm taking a mini session at UAB, four nights a week for three weeks.  Week one is done and gone and I survived, but just barely.  I'm taking two professional development online courses at the same time.  None of these are super hard, but all are time consuming and most assume that I've had a classroom and have some real life experience and I just don't.  So, I'm really digging in and handling it the best I can.  I have two weeks at UAB left and a little more than that for the professional development.  I need to get finger printed and all that again, too!  Fun times.

Just when I was thinking I had more than my foot in the door, the bad news came.  Our school is losing it's Title One status and we are losing four more units.  We lost three last year.  We are getting smaller and smaller but seem to have more and more kids.  So, so much for my foot in the door.  Still no classroom for me.  But, the great news is I can stay where I am until I find a classroom of my own.  I love the room I'm in now.  The teacher is great, the other para is great, too and I love the kids.  It's been a great ending of the school year (well, we have a little more time left, but most of our kids are done now!).  So, the great news is I'll be at Cole's school for another year, with him - which is so important to me.  I'm glad I'll just be down the hall and around the corner from him for his last year there.

So, that's me and what's been going on.  Super busy right now.  Trying to finish up the school year, finish these classes and get ready to jump into summer!  I can't wait for summer break.  I have a million projects I want to tackle - first being cleaning out the guest room and getting my craft supplies back in order.  It's ridiculous, really.  A giant mess.  But it happens every year.  I spend a few days during Christmas break putting things back where they go, finding the floor again - organizing.  Then again in the summer, same thing!  If I could just put everything back to begin with - but that's another post.

Thanks for reading and hopefully there's more to come!

Lisa

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