contract

So, pretty much, if I make it through the next three weeks, it will be amazing. I know I've said this recently, but the kids have all but checked out of school; they think the next three weeks is movies, games, and free time. They are bouncing of the freakin' walls and grating on my last nerve! If I could just keep 1st and 2nd period in my room all day, life would be sweet...

Today we resumed our regular schedule (we haven't had advisory for two weeks because of CRT's), and that helped tremendously with the speed of the day. I enjoyed having my little bunch of advisory kids back, and I think they were glad to see me, too. We talked about the next three weeks and the schedule as far as yearbook day and fines, etc.

I assigned the last BIG assignment today: a 300 point ABC book. I essence, they are writing about their 8th grade year in an ABC book format--each letter represents one thing/event of this year. For example, the letter H could stand for Mrs. Hubert. I was greeted with positive responses in all classes when I assigned this, which actually amazed me. They all thought it was a fun, semi-easy way to end out the school year. And, the fact that I said it was worth 300 points doesn't make it one of those, 'eh, if I finish, great, if not, oh well' assignments. Today we had the challenge of brainstorming possible topics for each letter. Let me tell you, the dictionary only has ONE measly page of x words....luckily for us, they all learned about x & y axis in math and I guarantee, many put that as their x word. Of course, I still had the sloppy students who put things like: Ants, Bears, Cats, Dogs.....you can tell where it's going....We will spend all week working on their books; they will create a cover for their book on Friday and assemble the book to be presented in class on Monday.

Next Tuesday I signed all my classes to attend Drama Day in the auditorium. The drama department put on little plays all day and only invited 5 classes to come down. I think, from what my students said today, it's usually a pretty fun time and it will give them (and me) one more day where there is no work involved!

The principal came into my room this morning and had me sign my contract for next year. Apparently they like me well enough to keep me. I was bumped up a step for next year so I'll get paid a bit more. That's always a plus...especially on a teacher's salary! Also today they handed out our TENTATIVE schedules for next year. They made sure they kept saying TENTATIVE because, of course, things could still change between now and then. But, I'm honestly praying that the schedule they give me remains the way it is; it's quite different than this year, but I'm excited for it. It goes as follows:
1st Period Newspaper
2nd Period Yearbook
3rd Period English 8
4th Period English 8
5th Period CONSULTATION!!! (I'll get a break period....there goes a nice little bonus on my pay check but the break will be worth it)
6th Period English 8
7th Period English 8
There were several English teachers whose schedules changed drastically; one teacher, who has taught 7th grade English for 9 years, all of a sudden is teaching 8th grade; the 9th grade teacher is now going to teach ALL grades. Kind of crazy.

I didn't ride my bike today because I woke up with tremendous ear aches. They've progressively gotten worse throughout the day and I fear I may have an ear infection. I hope tomorrow I'm good to go and I'll ride my bike again. My day doesn't seem as refreshing when I just drive, I enjoy the bike.

My yearbook rep contacted me today via e-mail and FMI (for my info) let me know that my yearbooks are being shipped as we speak. This means, they may arrive as early as Friday or next Monday. I'm on pins and needles waiting to see it. I feel like it's a step above last year, but sometimes the students are so picky, I don't know if they'll love it as much as I do. The one good thing about next year's schedule is I'll have one period to totally dedicate to that, make it even better than this year. I'm also hoping to get the school to pay for me to go to a yearbook training session this summer up at Snowbird.

Technically, I have the rest of my year all planned out, including all copies made. It feels so foreign to come home and literally have nothing to do or work on. I've organized my Primary stuff, started working on next week's Sharing Time, and Ben does the housework, so I really feel quite lazy. For once, it feels very, very nice.