Hit the ground running

Well, here it goes. Time to hit the ground running.

Today I returned to teaching. It was an incredible whirlwind. I forgot how much I love my job. I mean seriously, I love my job. There are days that stink, but there are so many wonderful parts of my job. Like filling out college recommendations for kids who really, really, really deserve to get there and be the first in their families to get a college education. Like seeing kids truly learn. Like hearing them actually remember things that I taught back in August. Like watching my wonderful drama family achieve incredible things without me, because they learned how to take charge by themselves. It is nice to be genuinely missed. I love my job.

I do need to get better about remembering to pump though. I am so used to being able to work through my breaks, but if I forget to pump, Tiana won't have milk, so I need to really keep on top of that. I wasn't so great about remembering today. The bell would ring and I would suddenly realize that I had somehow totally forgot. I only managed to remember twice in the 10 hours I was at school. In that long, I should be aiming for like four times.

 Boy are the next two weeks going to be total hectic craziness. I have lesson plans to write, and I am getting formally observed all week, so they really need to be formal lesson plans too. I need to keep on top of kids about their outside reading.  I have more college recommendations to write. I have papers to grade and enter. I need to shop for drama- we need two matching desks and 7 matching chairs, two wigs, two way radios with headsets, victorian looking bedding, rechargeable 9v batteries and a charger, and a mini reading lamp. I need to somehow make sure we actually have the money to shop for the stuff we need for drama. I have two IEP meetings this week (individualized education plan- for special ed students). There are two students who I really should refer for SSTs (student study teams- it means that I consistently see an issue where they do not seem to be absorbing what is being taught for whatever reason).I just found out today that I will be singing in the kids show at my church this sunday. It is a really awesome rock-style kids show that I always feel so incredibly lucky to be a part of, but I got the set list this week, and because it is Christmas time, it is all special music. I don't really know any of it. Rehearsal's on Thursday night, which gives me a whole, oh, three days to learn the music before rehearsal, 5 days to learn it before the show Sunday morning. Time to put into action all that I teach the kids- practice makes perfect. :-)

Oh boy. Then next week brings a whole new crazy schedule of rehearsal and rehearsal and rehearsal.

Meanwhile, my baby girl has wanted to sleep happily on my chest pretty much ever since I got home today. She's a sweetie, and I did miss her a lot today, but I'd love to put her down to make typing easier.

Here we go. Time to rock and roll.