Catching up

It’s been awhile since I wrote anything too substantial, so I’m going to try my best to do so now. That being said, a lot has happened, so I’ll going to try to cover it all in an easy-to-read way. Hope I’m successful.

Work
I think my fellow teachers will agree when I say November and February are the hardest months of the school year. About three weeks ago I started to lose my momentum a bit, and now I’m desperately counting down to Thanksgiving break. My seniors are doing pretty well – they are actually a lot more reasonable, less whiny, and seemingly less entitled than past classes – and I am remarkably less stressed now that I’m out of the middle school.

I will say that the “new” block schedule has really cramped my style for AP – we’re still on schedule, but it is amazing how little time we have to go into anything. Our head of school wants scores up dramatically in the next three years, but that’s going to be hard to do with this schedule. On the flip side, having my Economics elective every day for 90+ minutes is killing me. I have to create nearly eight hours of Economics curriculum each week – no one is happy right now.

My gig as an instructional coach is okay. I’m not always sure what it is I am supposed to be doing, but I guess I’m doing it well because the department is strong and my principal seems to think things are good. There are times when I think that I’d like to leave teaching and work with teachers full time, but then I wonder if I want to have to deal with adults all of the time. Hard to figure…

School
Grad school is going okay. It’s a little crazy fitting it into my already busy life, but I’m managing to get it all done. I’m in my second class (of ten) now and am getting some good ideas, although it’s still pretty basic. I feel like I’m reviewing what I learned in my instructional methods courses back in undergrad, but that’s not a bad thing. Having taught for five years definitely gives me a much different lens with which to consider strategies than when I was in college and had never really tried to teach a group of adolescents. Still, I’m looking forward to the next semester of courses, when we get more into literacy-specific strategies. And, for anyone keeping score at home, I’m performing pretty well so far – I wish I took school so seriously when I was an undergrad.

Health
I feel compelled to add this category in because people always ask me about my back. There isn’t a whole lot to report. I still have pain in my back just about every day and I have a very limited range of motion. The muscles in my back are very weak and, admittedly, I do not make enough time to strengthen my core the way I should. Brian tries to get me to go back to PT and I try to make time for the gym, but it is nearly impossible to fit those things into my schedule. Not to mention paying for any of it. Still, I need to figure something out because I’d like to have kids one day and probably don’t want the pregnancy throwing my back out.

Other than that, I’m nursing an awful head cold and just trying to get to next Tuesday. Mostly I sneeze and sniff a lot and sometimes cough and I’m always a little achy and very tired. It’s just bad enough to make me miserable, but not bad enough to justify taking time off work (especially this close to a five-day break). Anyone looking for a good investment might consider Kleenex or Sudafed, as I have been buying both in earnest lately.

Life
So many possible topics here…. Brian and I are celebrating Thanksgiving in Maryland with his mom and sister. We met last week to talk about the menu and, in true American holiday fashion, I am sure we will have much more food than the four of us can eat. Brian and Erin are in charge of the meal and I’m making pumpkin cheesecake. None of us love pie and I’m not a fan of making pie crusts, so this should work out well for everyone. Planning our Christmas celebration was a little trickier than Thanksgiving, but we’re going to do Christmas Eve in Maryland with Brian’s family and then fly to Chicago on Christmas morning and spend about 4 days in the Midwest. This somewhat crazy plan allows us to be with both families for Christmas and for us to celebrate Chanukah with my family in Chicago on the 27th. It could be a disaster, but I’m choosing to think of it as an adventure.

Shortly after Election Day, the mom of the kids I have babysat for nearly three years passed away. I had been at the house every weekend for the month or so prior – she was home with hospice care – and while it is completely tragic, it was not entirely unexpected. Her friends and family have been incredibly supportive and amazing, but I am also working a lot more than I was prior to all of this. I was at the house for eight hours or so the day after she passed, and I worked ten hours last weekend, which included watching the kids at the memorial service. It is a horribly sad situation and I am somehow right in the middle of it. I am glad to be able to help and I do genuinely love the family, but it is still an awful lot for me to manage. (That seems ridiculous to say given all that her husband, family, and friends have had to cope with, but is true nonetheless.)

Needless to say, I have been very introspective lately. Watching someone who is so young (41), who has such young children (10 and under), and who was married for such a short time (11 years) fight – and lose – the battle for their life is something that touches you deeply. I’m twenty-eight years old and I love my life, but this whole situation made me re-evaluate a little. I need to find some better balance between my “responsibilities” and my friends and family; I need to take better care of myself; I want to get married, have kids, get a house – do the whole (somewhat) settled, family thing. I don’t need it all to happen today, but I’ve realized in the last week or so how very important those things are to me and it’s good that I have that in mind moving forward.

In happier news – it’s Friday, Brian and I have tickets to two comedy shows this weekend, I only work two days next week, and Cole and Geoff’s daughter is beautiful and doing well. And in just over a month we’ll be at my parents’ house for a few days and that is always a good thing. I am clearly getting into the holiday spirit already (if it would only snow here…). Have happy weekend!