So I’m all signed up for the not-so-cheap PRAXIS II. It was $220, which hurt a little. Thank goodness I don’t have to take the PRAXIS I, too. (You don’t have to take it if your SAT and/or ACT scores are high enough, or if you have a Master’s degree. They are and I do.…

I’m historically pretty bad at keeping up with journals, diaries, blogs and such–anything that requires regular updating, really. But like a lot of people, I was obsessed with the TeachFor.Us blogs while I was undergoing TFA’s extensive application process. So in thanks for all the valuable info and entertaining reading material provided by others (as…

Had my first formal observation this week, and it went really well. I told my kids if they rocked it I would consider doing a pizza party on Friday, and they actually did NOT rock it the way I was hoping they would, but it gave me the chance to display my classroom management to…

I want to apologize to my friends and families.  I promised to regale you all with tales of my teaching adventures and misadventures.  To tell you every little detail about teaching in Louisiana and tackling supposedly one of their world’s most dangerous creatures…MIDDLE SCHOOLERS. Instead, I remained fairly silent.  Well not so much, my mom…

I’m taking my first sick day today. It sucks, but unlike when I had to miss a day to do data training with the district, I don’t have enough energy to be worried about my kids. There’s stuff in the sub folder, the lesson plan/agenda is up on the board. If things go crazy, it…

I really don’t have time to be posting, but I haven’t in a while, and I sometimes have felt over the past week like I do nothing but grading. The end of my first nine weeks of teaching is on Friday, and I simultaneously feel like I’ve been doing it FOREVER and like I just…

Today was a good day. I just – I have such love and joy and pride in my kids. I don’t know what I expected when I started – I expected the struggle, and the pain, and the exhaustion. I expected to feel helpless most of the time, feeling like I didn’t know what I…

Today my PD came to my school and observed one of my classes, and then she and my AP and I had a talk about my concerns with my first period class. And what I’ve taken away from this conversation is this: I need to calm the heck down. I’ve been so, so worried and…

TODAY CAN BITE ME. SERIOUSLY.

So here’s the thing. On the one hand, I absolutely and completely love my kids and I’m still having a ridiculously fun time up in front of the classroom. On the other hand, I have such overwhelming guilt – because there’s so much paperwork and I find it so intimidating, and it seems so inextricably…