13 February 2006

in which i avoid writing lesson plans

i'm finally taking time to update. i should be writing lesson plans, but i don't care. so...my life as of late:

student teaching is going fabulously (minus the one disaster that was the morning my supervisor came to visit, but that doesn't count). i love my co-op, i've actually become good friends with her. and the little creeps are starting to grow on me. i only have four weeks before i switch co-ops and move across the hall. i don't want to change, especially since i'll mainly have just 9th grade. i'm really going to miss the seniors. they're extremely apathetic, and complain all the time, but at the same time are hilarious. there are two or three in each period that i love. my 11th period is the best - they're all the advanced kids who actually care about work (as much as a second semester senior can...i know the feeling), but are still really goofy. the main thing i like about the seniors is that my sarcasm doesn't go over their heads. i may have a different opinion once i begin teaching them next week. we're doing psychological disorders - at least the topic is somewhat interesting.

the 8th graders are adorable. i feel like i've really connected with a lot of them. my 4th period was a bit of a handful until i had a breakthrough with the ringleader of the pack of about 9 hyperactive boys. i'm not sure what i did to make him decide he liked me, but i haven't had any trouble since. and i really like my 1st period - they're all lower level students, some of whom have learning disabilities. they're very slow, and sometimes it's hard to get them to understand, but for the most part they actually try. i have also come to a big conclusion: i would rather teach boys than girls any day. they aren't catty, they'll tell you if they hate you, and for the most part they seem to be less obnoxious. in fact, i'd rather take a whole class of 14 year old boys than deal with the gaggle of 8th grade cheerleaders that i do have. they are just plain annoying.

my birthday went fine. i spent the whole morning/afternoon fabric shopping in cranberry with marie and meagan. blame it on the musical. and we had the slowest clerk in the history of the world cutting the fabric for us. i wanted to snatch it out of her hands and do it myself. one major surpise, in the fabric store no less, was a phone call from will the hot marine who i worked with at my dad's place last summer. i hadn't heard from him since august, but since we were born on the same day, he called so we could wish each other a mutual happy birthday. he wants to get together when i'm home for easter, but i feel like my dad would frown on that. (actual conversation - will: "so i guess it's not the best idea to date your boss' daughter?" daddy: "i'd shoot the back window out of your truck." will: "haha." daddy: "i'm not kidding.") there's no romance-killer that can compare to an overprotective southern father with a full gun safe.

that night jess, kristin, anne, dave, ian, ryan, and i went to a mexican restaurant. i had some amazing quesadillas (and a huge margarita). keeping with my lifelong neuroses, i absolutely refused to let them get the waiters to sing happy birthday to me. i hate this. more than almost anything. i despise being the center of attention like that. i think it goes back to the time at shoney's when i was in first grade that the waiters came to sing to me and scared the crap out of me. i think i actually started crying after they left. so, as a result, i have spent my entire life (just ask my family if you don't believe me) refusing to be sung to at restaurants. in fact, i've reached the point now that if people tried to do that to me, i'd leave. it's weird, i know, but there are far worse unreasonable fears i could have. later ian, ryan, and i met up with clint and nakis at e&c. nakis had been pregaming, and by the time he got there, he was in a good mood. he is a riot. i love that boy.

theatre-wise, we're in the middle of pirates. we've got a surprising amount done, but still not nearly enough. i'm blaming marie and her brilliant idea to put bustles on the women. all sixteen of them. dr. dixon, i'm never forgiving you for this. i'm going in later this week to start matching pirates up with costumes. i love the pirates. they are a hoot. possibly even a hoot and a half. between them and the policemen, we have somehow managed to get a fairly large number of hot guys in the cast. no idea how we pulled this off and who knows how long it'll take to do it again. maybe it's a three year cycle thing: west side, pirates...

other than this, there's not too much exciting stuff going on in my life. i watched the super bowl in pittsburgh with some lifetime steelers fans. that was an adventure unlike anything i'd ever done before, seeing as the only sporting event my family watches is the army-navy game. ian's friend, steve, kept launching himself out of his chair and halfway across the room, as if he was trying to leap into the television to catch the fumbles. and his mom spent the whole fourth quarter with her sweatshirt pulled over her nose, as if she was trying to hide from bad plays. i'm really glad they won, if for no other reason than i would not have wanted to be with that bunch if it had ended otherwise.

now it is on to lesson plans. tomorrow i'm teaching about proper care and display of the american flag. (we're doing the star-spangled banner next week, so it sort-of fits.) this is good, because it is one of my biggest pet peeves when people either a) leave the flag up in the rain, or b) hang it backwards (which happens all the time). it's a little odd, i know. blame it on growing up on military bases.

No comments: