Field Trip Day

45 kids on a bus.

Three buses.

1/3 of the 8th grade.

21 miles of laughter and excitement.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

Houston Holocaust Museum.

One hour "early" arriving at the Museum of Fine Arts. Actually, we arrived on time. Field Trip planner booked the wrong time.

62 teenagers sitting on the steps, trying to keep quiet.

Six teachers desperately trying to sort the situation out.

45 minutes of "self-guided tour" at the Museum of Fine Arts.

10 students to follow me around.

One docent to give us the real tour.

60 minutes of art-explanation.

10 amazingly well-behaved students incredibly interested in the art.

45 students back on the bus.

15 minutes for lunch.

One stolen bag of Goldfish.

One unhappy 14-year-old.

One trash bag.

45 students' trash in the trash bag.

One smelly bus.

45 students off the bus at the Holocaust Museum.

21 students in my group for the tour.

2 teachers monitoring.

23 stones placed in the garden in memory of loved ones.

90 minutes of Holocaust tour.

One docent trying to keep students involved.

One boxcar used to transport Jews.

42-degree weather.

21 cold students.

23 aching backs.

46 aching feet.

45 students back on the bus.

Three buses.

21 miles of laughter and yawns.

7 "we should have gone to..." suggestions.

19 suggestions for next year's field trip.

Thousands of droplets of water hitting the windshield.

135 8th graders back at school.

49 minutes of 7th period.

One exhausting day.

Happy Birthday Carolyn!!!

Today is my beautiful sister's 22nd birthday!

Carolyn and I have been best friends since she was born. When we were younger, people thought we were twins. My mom would always have to correct strangers.

"Nope, they're about two years apart!"

Before I could say her name, I would call her "Cornyn", only I would draw out each syllable. Corrr-NYNNNN!

Throughout our childhood, we developed a love for frogs. In our family photo album, there are several pictures of us together where one of us is squeezing some poor amphibian to death.

Oh yeah, and we used to catch lizards and walk them. By "walk", I mean tie thread around their necks and jerk them from place to place. It was the same thing as a noose, basically.

No, I don't have any pictures of that.

Carolyn's love for animals has never died. She can't stand listening to stories about poor innocent animals being killed or hurt. She thinks that she is Tawny's (our family dog) best friend.

Carolyn has a beautiful heart. She loves the Lord and desires to do His will. She is passionate about prayer, ministry, discipleship and relationships. I am so confident that God will use her in amazing ways. I am so blessed to be her sister!

Carolyn, you are beautiul! I hope that you had a wonderul day. I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you on the phone... Hopefully I'll be able to get a hold of you tomorrow. I love you!

Estrogen Party

I am writing on here to avoid documenting my SpEd accommodations for school. I might put a movie on later while I do those.

It's a chill day here. Relaxing, drinking tea and eating Terry's chocolate orange while we work on our laptops and watch movies. Austin was sweet to let me stay in Dallas with my family for a few extra days. He left to go back to Houston to work and so I've been able to spend some more quality time with my parents and sisters here. Carolyn and I are going to go to College Station tomorrow morning and then Austin is going to come pick me up.

Since I've been husband-less for the past few days, we decided to take advantage of the testosterone-free environment and have a sleepover. My oldest and dearest friends came over to the house and we had so much fun making homemade pizzas, wassail, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin maple syrup. My friend Sarah is a real-life chef in Dallas... so... she knows how to cook things that taste amazing. We watched Little Women, our favorite movie when we were young, and tried to catch up on months of separation.

Anna and I have known each other since we were 2. We apparently met in the church nursery... but we have no way of confirming that story. All I know is that I don't remember not knowing her. We grew up going to different schools and living in different cities, but we got to me roommates in college for a few years.

Sarah was my babysitter when I was little (and also Anna's) and is now a wonderful friend of mine. She would inspire us to put on plays and musicals for my parents whenever they would return home. She allowed our imaginations to run wild and free.

When I moved to England, I would come back to Texas twice a year to visit Anna and Sarah. We had sleepovers and did wild and crazy things when we were together. :)

We liked ballet.

Roomies in college

At my wedding last January

At our sleepover

I Wanna Wash My Hands, My Face and Hair With Snow!

So guess what? Denton is going to have a white Christmas this year! It started snowing today at lunch time and didn't stop until a few minutes ago.

Everything is white.

Peaceful.

Beautiful.

Quiet.

I love it!

We tried driving to Denton Bible's Christmas Eve service, but the roads were so ridiculous that they ended up canceling it and making everyone go home as soon as they could. We drove at 20 mph for the entire journey home... the roads were completely frozen and the snow was STILL falling - hard! Someone actually rear-ended my parents since everything was so slippery. Nothing serious, though.

I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow morning of my parents' house in the snow. It's just gorgeous!

This year, Austin and I are spending Christmas with my family in Denton (as if you couldn't figure that out). We drove here yesterday and have enjoyed spending time with my sisters, parents and grandpa.

I love being home. Everything feels relaxed and cozy. I love our giant couch that takes up the entire living room. My entire family can sit on it at the same time.

I love watching movies with my family and playing games with my sisters.

I love having a big family! Having four sisters is so much fun.

Well, to catch you up on the past few weeks:

The first half of the school year came and went. I love my students even if they drive me crazy sometimes! Oh, and finals week is the best part of the year! It's so wonderful to have complete quiet. I was able to fully plan the first three weeks of the next quarter. Oh, it feels good.

Austin and I have been looking for houses on and off. We'd like to find a house in the next few months, but we'll see how that goes. The area we're looking is pretty popular and so it's hard to find a lot of quality houses in our price range... but we're trying!

Our first anniversary is coming up in about 2 1/2 weeks. It's hard to believe that Austin and I have been married for a year! Craziness. I'm not sure how we're going to celebrate. We may or may not have a new niece by that time... Sadie is supposed to be due around the first week of January! I can't wait!

Ok It's really hard to write and watch a movie (It's a Wonderful Life) at the same time... so I'll have to write again later.

Before I post, I wanted to include something that was written inside a Christmas card that my family got. A family friend wrote it and I just loved her words:

"This Christmas may you rest in the deep satisfaction that because you have Him you have everything."

I just love that.

I am richly blessed.

Christ is everything.

Be blessed this weekend!

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Encouragement

God is so good to me.

Last week was one of the longest and hardest weeks I have had in a very long time. I was incredibly discouraged almost every day and really feeling the pressure of my job. I always seem to have so much to do, yet I am not the kind of person that can stay up all hours of the night and function on less than 8 hours of sleep.

I think the correct description of my current state would be "burnt out".

Yet God is faithful and good.

My wonderful husband has been amazing this past week. He cooked dinner for us every night and rubbed my feet/back/neck when they really hurt. He helps me grade if he can and then does other tedious jobs for me. Today he cleaned the entire apartment while I wrote lesson plans. He never complains, but serves me and loves me. I just love that God has blessed me with him!

Teaching is hard. I won't lie. I am challenged every day to love my students and not whine or complain about anything I am supposed to do. Most of the time I feel completely overwhelmed but the Lord sustains me.

Monday was a particulary stressful trial. I called Carolyn on the way home because I knew she would listen as I talked and then provide me with much-needed encouragement. That night, at 2 in the morning, I got the longest text message in the world:

"I am praying that as you wake up this morning that you put your hope in Christ to affirm you and uphold you emotionally and spiritually and that you would acknowledge that He supplies you from His own power with strength to endure with patience. I am convinced that the verse I quoted is of the very heartbeat of our Daddy God who cares so much more about our dependency on Him and surrender to Him than about giving us the answers we plead for. Wake up this morning and thank Him first for this opportunity to see His power, to know more of His providence and to worship Him despite what it seems to be costing you. Before you open the door to your classroom just present your requests to Him, rest in His peace and say, “Unless You build the house, its builders labor in vain (Ps. 127). Jesus, I love You. This is for You, Love.” I am thanking Him for having already answered you. Remember that He is a God who calls us His dearly loved children (Eph. 5), who delivers us from our fears (Ps. 34) and who created the Earth and the land (Jonah). So go be a testimony to the joy and hope that Jesus gives despite the weight of the world. I love you and I am praying for you. Your Love has got you. And He is so pleased with you and wants you to know that. :)"

Later that evening I received a second message from her:

"One of the things that God has taught me in the past couple of years is that whenever I am struggling in one way or another or in a place of attack or sin, that I am just one small stone of a temple and that what I am undergoing is for the building up of the whole body, not just my own sanctification. Most of the time, what God allows me to experience is for the purpose of intercession. I may not know who it is that I am praying for, but I am reminded that I have a brother or sister somewhere who needs prayer for the same thing I am dealing with and so I pray for them instead of for myself. There is someone God wants you to be praying for while you are experiencing this discouragement. Someone is experiencing the same things."

Did I not tell you that God is good? I love my sister! I hope you don't mind that I posted this, Carolyn. I think others will be blessed by your words.

Tonight I am tired and I have a lot ahead of me this week. Please pray that I will rest in the Lord and rely on Him for strength. :)

Goodnight!

I Love Thursdays

Writing on here is like talking to a long lost friend.

I miss you, friend.

Life has been filled with school, 8th graders, dead car batteries, trips to College Station and wonderful conversations with my girls.

My Thursday Girls.

Every Thursday, I get to breathe, get to pray for others, and get to share ideas and life.

Thursdays are like an almost-the-end-of-the-week pick me up. Eight or so of us girls meet downtown and bond over lattes and bagels with cream cheese. We leave when it's dark knowing that we are loved and prayed for.

We started off our group as four girls who had been led to Houston but had never lived here before. We felt alone as we began our next big stage(s) of life: new jobs (and marriage, for some o us). We prayed for God to bless our group and God gave us big visions and dreams for our little meetings on Thursday nights.

Since February, we have more than doubled in size and continue to grow almost every week. The way that God has woven our lives together is really quite incredible. We challenge each other, encourage each other and devote time to one another in prayer as we desire to live lives that are pleasing to God.

I love Thursdays. If you are a girl who lives in Houston and you're looking for some friends, feel free to email me and I can give you details of the group. We'd love to have you.

-K

Sunday Night Break

I guess it's been a pretty eventful week. I've been crazy busy and barely had any time for rest.

Friday was going to be a wonderfully relaxing day where I barely had to use any energy, but that changed once I found out that I had a flat tire after arriving at school. It was flat flat. I spent the day trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get home since Austin had five appointments that day. I thought I would be able to get someone to come change it while I was teaching, but apparently no one does that. Austin ended up being able to come with one of his colleagues after school to change the tire. Unfortunately, that meant that I left school at seven pm. On a Friday.

I've been pretty lucky though, with cars. I've never been pulled over, gotten a ticket of any sort, been in a wreck, or had any sort of emergency happen while driving. I should count myself blessed!

Saturday made up for the fact that Friday was pretty exhausting. Austin and I had breakfast at Buffalo Grille (yum) and then spent the morning browsing around Cactus Records. Austin is pretty retro - we have a record player in our living room. No CD player, radio or iPod player.... just a record player. I would say that most of our "entertainment" money is spent on music and movies. We love going to Half Price Books or pawn shops and looking for records or CDs. Austin normally buys records, and I buy CDs. Austin suggested that we go to Cactus Records to look for a "modern" record for me. I don't get excited about classic rock, so the only kind of stuff I listen to on record is either Frank Sinatra or musical soundtracks.

Cactus Records has a lot of new artists' music on record. However, the only things that I found that I liked were some Coldplay albums that I already had on CD and then a giant compilation of John Mayer live performances. That's what I really wanted - it had 4 records full of my favorite John Mayer songs. But the collection was $41 so we decided against it.

Instead, I left the store with Mat Kearney's new CD. I found it used for half the price that you'd normally find it! :-)

We spent the rest of the day at the Galleria, drinking the tea samples from Teavana and trying to find Austin some new jeans. No other guy on the planet seems to be his size - tall and skinny. Apparently if you're tall, you're fat, and if you're skinny, you're short. You can't be both according to Macy's.

Today I've been working on school stuff all afternoon. It never stops! I should probably keep going since I'd like to be in bed in an hour.

Goodnight friends!

Every Weekend Should Be Three Days Long!

Yahoo Labor Day!

I have enjoyed it immensely. I went with Austin, his parents, and his sister and brother-in-law to the Farm for the weekend. It was great to relax and enjoy sleeping and hanging out. I probably ate too much food but it was wonderful to have time away.

Some exciting news: Kristin, Austin's sister, is going to have a baby and she just found out the gender of the baby on Thursday! She's going to have a girl! I'm excited because girls are all I know. It's going to be great being an aunt. Austin and I say that it's a practice run before we have our own children. ;-)

So I've taught for two weeks already. It's flying by! My kids are pretty great for the most part. I have four amazing periods and two periods that are on the challenging side. I just reorganized the seating charts so hopefully things will be better from now on! The only bad thing right now is that this weekend I started feeling a little under the weather. I'm achey and have a really stuffed up nose. I've been using my sinus rinse since I started feeling bad and taking Airborne like nobody's business, so hopefully I can kick it in the butt soon. I hate feeling sick!

Oh, one more thing to make the sick thing worse - Austin and I got home this evening and discovered that our water doesn't work. We asked our neighbors if they were having the same problem and they said they didn't have water either. Fun, fun. If we don't have water in the morning I will NOT be a happy camper.

Right now, we can't even flush the toilet.

Or wash our hands.

Gross.

Well, I need to go finish getting ready for this week. I'm going to bed early tonight!

-Katie

The First Two Days

Since I have a spare minute or two, I'll update you guys on my first two days of school!

Yesterday went really well. I met my precious kiddos (did I mention that I LOVE middle school students??) and they are amazing. I have one class that will be a challenge because I have something like 24 boys and 6 girls. They won't quit talking! I have some quiet classes and some classes that are going to be a blast.

It's going to be a good year.

Last night was not as fun as the day, however. I got home with a migraine and was exhausted from not sleeping well and waking up at 5 am. I still had a lot to do and I was overwhelmed. Luckily, I am married to a wonderful man who loves to help me! He did so much work for me last night and I didn't break down in tears like I thought I would. He even brought me some pretty purple flowers and a bottle of blush wine. :-)

Today went well also. It was more like a regular day so we went over procedures and rules of the classroom. I don't like talking for 40 minutes but it was necessary to get everything done.

The best part of my day was receiving an email from an angry parent saying that she wanted to have a conference with me, her daughter and the principal. Her daughter asked to use her cell phone at the end of class to tell her mom that her bus was late. I said no, and apparently that was completely unacceptable. After I got the email I immediately looked up cell phone use in the middle school handbook and I was relieved. Sure enough, it says students cannot use cell phones on campus, even to inform parents of late buses. It's even in bold and underlined.

The principal replied so I wouldn't have to.

Whew!

I was surprised that a parent would get so upset about that. The student is the sweetest girl ever and didn't even complain or whine when I told her "no".

Sigh...

Tomorrow we start "real school". Yay for science safety training!

I also get to meet with my mentor to let her know how the last two days went.

So far, so good.

And now it's time to plan for tomorrow.

-Katie

Tomorrow

...is my first day of school!

I think I am as ready as I can be. I can't believe it's finally here.

Please pray for me! I will probably be nervous.

-K

School is... Around the Corner

"Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

Name that movie. There's a clue in my post title. Gotta be one of my favorite movie lines ever. I really want to make a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils just to have one to look at. I imagine a bouquet of pencils to look something like this (just no cup and all sharp pointy ends facing up):

However, this is much prettier:

Mmmm.

School.

If you haven't been able to tell by the fact I've been missing from the blog world for weeks, my life is crazy.

I just spent two weeks going to teacher trainings every day. There's nothing more exhausting than sitting in a chair for 6 1/2 hours every day. I honestly think I've gained weight from it (None of my pants fit, anyways... I want something to blame. No, I'm not pregnant.).

I left my school today feeling pretty prepared for next week. My room looks great, if I do say so myself! It's big and beautiful and has lots of bright colors in it. I wanted it to be a place that felt fun and exciting, and I think I got there. It is so surreal to think that my room will be filled with wonderful 8th graders in just three short days.

My team is great so far. I have been bonding with several teachers and my school is finally beginning to feel like home. Last semester was... horrible, really. I remember feeling so lost and not "with it". My students were terrible and I felt like a failure as a teacher. I really hope that this year will be better. I have had quite a few people tell me that this year is going to be a great year. You know, it is really nice to hear that from people!

I am so glad that I have a super awesome mentor. She is the department head and I knew her last semester. She is so helpful and I know that I am really blessed to have her as a mentor. Plus, she's an Aggie. :-)

Really, I never expected to feel like this just days away from starting my first real teaching job. Over the summer I was a nervous wreck. I told my girls group to pray for me and so for weeks they have been praying that I would have peace. One of the girls told me a while back to meditate on the fact that God is always present with me and that I am not alone. I just love that. I can tell you that I am so comfortably chill right now as a result of that meditation. I don't feel alone and I don't feel stressed. I have so much peace right now and it is amazing! I'm not even completely prepared and I feel great!

Today I was walking down the hallway after visiting another new teacher (I just know we're going to bond), I thought about how blessed I am. I wasn't 100% sure that I was going to like it at my school, but I still trusted God. I didn't want to teach 8th grade science, but I still trusted God. Now, I am grateful that I don't know what's ahead and He does! I have an amazing new school to teach at, a wonderful group of teachers to learn from and get help from, and I'm really excited about teaching 8th grade science. TAKS scores were not great last year and so I see it as a challenge to bring up those grades.

Thank you, Lord, for everything. :-)

So I promise that this was going to be longer than this. My brain is exhausted from working for 9 hours straight today.

At least I got free lunch today.

And a $150 gift certificate to the teacher store.

Sweet.

-Katie

I Swear,

I have very good intentions of writing on here soon.

I check this page every day and think about how I want to write.

I have lots to write about.

Just not much time.

But soon.

-K

Mmm, Science Fiction.

One of the things about getting married is that you do things that your spouse likes to do. One thing Austin enjoys is watching sci fi movies. He enjoys this a lot. I had the privilege of watching all the Star Wars movies with him and now I'm watching the Star Trek movies (starting with #2 because apparently the first one was pretty crappy). I'll be honest though - I don't really get into this stuff. I think most of them are kinda corny. I did watch the new Star Trek movie with him and I liked that, mostly because the special effects were up-to-date. Still, I love to watch these movies because Austin loves them. :)

So today I spent nine hours with two children: a 9-month-old and an 11-month old. Fun times. I absolutely love babies and the crazy screaming/crying/pooping does not stress me out, but having two babies do that at the same time is slightly overwhelming. They were not siblings (obviously) so there was only one of everything and that was difficult, especially since the 11-month-old is a toy thief. Nap time was super fun because 9-month old refused to sleep in her crib (she wanted to be held) and 11-month-old cried for 20 minutes before falling asleep. I have these kids for the next two days and I have some new and different strategies cooked up in my mind...

Well, this whole blogging thing is keeping me from watching the movie, so I'm out.
-Katie

The Slate Has Evolved...

I have been doing a lot of comparison shopping for my teaching supplies. As it turns out (and I predicted this), the teacher supply store prices are insane. I am not going to pay over two dollars for a single Expo dry erase marker.

Right now, Walmart is the place to buy some of the basics. Their glue sticks are 25 cents and you get two in a package. I spent $3.75 for 30 glue sticks, and you can buy the exact same thing at Office Depot for $13.99. Give me a break! You can also get Crayola colored pencils (12) for a buck. For those of you interested, Big Lots is the place to buy scissors - you get a pair of those antibacterial ones for a dollar, and they aren't the kiddie ones. I think a 14-year-old can be trusted with normal scissors.

I went to Hobby Lobby also and found a little gem in the clearance section. I had seen this new invention on the Container Store website and thought it looked cool, but not cool enough to spend $19.95 on.






It's called the Cocoa Slate, and it's basically a customizable dry erase board. It's double-sided with clear plastic on each side and a slot to put your own paper in the middle. This was ideal for me because when I am teaching, I often reach for paper to show a student how to do a certain math problem, diagram or graph. I use a LOT of paper this way, and I thought I could save some money buy "going green" with the dry erase board. The Slate also comes with a CD with over 500 inserts that you can just print out and stick inside. (I just discovered that http://www.cocoaliving.com/ has the same templates for free, just in case you lose your CD. Very handy!) Ingenius.

Hobby Lobby had these in the clearance section for just under $11. I bought one and I love it! It came with magnets but I think I'm just going to hang it by the handle. I have a feeling that my students will want to play with it. I might make it a reward for good behavior/work. :)

In other news, Austin and I went to Denton last weekend to see my family for the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun! My Pop (dad's dad) was there and so we got to see him. We played a lot of card games and enjoyed seeing everyone.

While at home, I found a CD that I had forgotten about. A few years ago, a man named Andy Gullahorn came to Community Church (my church in College Station) and did a little show. I think he was friends with Ross King or something. I bought his CD and then never really listened to it. I brought it back to Houston and I am now in love! His music is amazing and I love his clever and humorous lyrics.

Some really exciting news now - I'm going to be an aunt!! Austin's sister is pregnant and due just after our one year anniversary. I have already decided that it's going to be a girl, but I guess we'll see!

I think those are the only updates I have for right now... I wanted to post some pictures but the memory card from our camera is not being identified by my lovely laptop. I'll get Austin to fix it later. ;-)

Love to you all!

-Katie

Any Minute Now...

I always get really antsy around the time that Austin gets home. It's like I am by myself all day and then in the evening I get reminded that there's this other person I live with who is about to return so I switch out of "hermit" mode and get really excited!!! Yay for conversation and hanging out!

I heard that USA beat Spain at soccer?? That's about all I know, but since when was the US good at soccer? This is news to me. I guess we're pretty much awesome!

So for some reason my car's AC has decided that it will go crazy on me. Why it chose the summer to freak out is beyond me. The air still blows but the actual air conditioning stops. So it's just blowing insanely hot (and humid, might I add) air around the car instead of cooling me down. I tend to arrive at my chosen destinations in a pool of sticky sweat. Not so awesome. Austin and I just hope the car lasts through the summer and long enough for me to start getting big-girl paychecks. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

I just remembered that I haven't checked my Google tracking thing for this blog in a few months. Apparently I am down over 17% in the number of visits to my website. I don't know exactly what it means, but I think it has to do with the fact that I rarely update anymore. Oops.

Well, my back is starting to hurt since I'm sitting on the floor in my dining room, so I'm gonna end this post and get to the nearest couch.

Peace!

My Big-Girl Job is Scaring Me...

The summer is in full swing. I am enjoying my "off" time but in the back of my head I can't stop thinking about school.

What goes through my head most of the time is I have so much to do.

I feel like I haven't got the slightest clue where to start. I want to buy things for my classroom. But what do I need?

What is the best way to organize the classroom? How should I arrange the seating?

What do I do on the first day of school?

What if my kids get horrible test scores and I feel like a failure for teaching them nothing?

It's at times like these that I just have to switch my worrying off and tell God my concerns. He cares for me.

I want a teacher with one or two years under their belt to go shopping with me and help me furnish my classroom because I feel overwhelmed.

Okay, enough about school.

The one downside to summers are the gazillion weddings. I'm not sure how many I've been to so far but I still have at least three or so to go. Thankfully, the next two weekends are wedding-free. Austin and I are going on a camping/the Farm trip with our Sunday School group and then next weekend we are going to see my family up in Dallas. Pop's going to be there and I'm so excited!

I have stuff I need to do now so I'll have to write again later.
-K

June 6, 2007

Two years ago was a special day - I met Austin for the first time! I can't believe that it's only been two years. And we've been married for 5 months. You do the math. :) We don't waste time! No, we are not planning on having kids soon. That we can wait on!

Since I haven't written in forever, I have so much to update on. Since you don't want to read a novel, I will use bullet points and summarize:

• My birthday came and gone. We left for New York on my birthday and headed to Austin's cousin's wedding. Afterwards, we hung out in the city for a few days. I got to see two Broadway shows: Phantom of the Opera and Mary Poppins. They were both incredible!
  
• School has ended. I am breathing a sigh of relief because that long-term sub job was HARD! I am now officially excited about teaching for real next year. I am trying to plan how to organize and decorate my classroom. I want it to be cozy, clean and fun. Austin and I went to IKEA today and I got a lot of ideas!
  
• It's SUMMER! Which means lots of time to plan, prepare, chill, hang out and relax. It's going to be awesome.
  
• Austin is paying for me to have voice lessons this summer from his own voice coach. I am excited and a little nervous. I love singing, but not in front of people. He's hoping that these lessons will give me confidence in my abilities. He might be more excited about them than I am!

I think that's pretty much it. I am watching Sister Act right now with Austin and so I need to pay more attention. :)

-Katie

Perks of the Job

Last week I got to hide in a dark, locked classroom for 30 or so minutes while one of my students was escorted past my classroom and out of the building.

Actually, he ended up going to ISS.

I was responsible for getting him suspended and this student has a history of attacking teachers (no joke here - there was a lockdown at the school 2 months ago).

So just in case, the assistant principal told me I should get somewhere safe.

You're never really prepared for that sort of thing.

The fun part was that he was back in my class the following day.

Oh boy.

5-Minute Update

1. I have a job! I will be teaching 8th grade science at Baines (where I am doing the long-term sub job now) next year. I've been told the current 7th graders are awesome so I am super excited.

2. This means that I am a Longhorn... which I never thought I'd say.

3. Austin brought me flowers and a candy bar today because I had a break down last night. Things at school were getting overwhelming and I wanted to quit.

4. I didn't quit. I was extra cheerful today knowing that God gives me strength and helps me love my not-always-so-precious 8th graders.

5. I have returned to the world of grading and feeling super tired. I have a feeling it will be like this for a while.

6. A huge chunk of my students are failing. Yayyy previous teacher.

7. It's relationship status season again! That's what happens in the spring - relationship statuses change. People start dating, they break up or they get engaged or married. Seriously, check Facebook and you'll see.

8. Austin's watching some sci fi movie that I have no interest in. It will make it that much easier to grade.

9. Back to grading!

10. -Katie