August 31, 2007

• 174 Days to Go...

  First, thanks to everyone for all there well wishes and helpful tidbits and hints !

  On a side note, people have been asking, so I'll just put it out there that I have not decided to change my name. So, it's still Ms. Zapanta.. although it's no longer my college professors calling me that, but my students ^_^. It's not like I'm strongly opposed to the Ejanda name. It's just that when I see Mrs. Ejanda, I see Louie's mom, and when I see Mr. and Mrs. Ejanda, I see Louie's parents. Heheh.

  The kids are still calling me Ms. Crystal, and I try to correct them, but it's gonna take a while to break a 3 year habit . A few call me Ms. Z. Some call me Ms. Zapanta.

  It's weird being at a school so long that I've actually seen children go through the stages of puberty and come back to visit with beards and mustaches or looking a little more womanly and less like a little girl. It's kinda neat, but also makes me feel older.

   This is actually the latest I've been up in a while. I've been in bed by 10pm, if not earlier. I went to sleep at 9 last night and got up at 4 this morning. The night before, I slept at 8 and got up at 3:30. I'm trying to rediscover my circadian rhythm. I used to be a late night person, until I started working a 9 to 5. Now that I'm at school by 6:30 (and don't leave until past 5 - at least today I got out at 4:15!), I need to get up earlier, which means sleep earlier. I used to feel like I'd be missing out by sleeping so early, but our high tech recording devices and the nice quiet of early morning is starting to make it ok.

  My first day of teaching, I was exhausted. It's hard having to command a classroom. My feet were aching, my throat was tired. I was almost ready to quit. . It's hard having to be a disciplinarian and a mentor and a role model and an educator, plus all the other stuff that goes into teaching. But honestly, each day is getting better. I work with such a supportive faculty & staff who are awesome, amazing resources. The kids are trying - sometimes I have to get stern with them, but they are good kids. Good kids whose hormones are starting to/will be starting to rage.

  I'm still getting the hang of lesson planning and pacing and getting all the things I need to get into the day. It's tough having to teach both 6th and 7th grade made. In 6th grade we are doing place value with decimals (someone write out the following in standard form: one and six hundred twenty-five ten thousandths) and in seventh grade we are reviewing expressions and order of operations. In the other subjects, we are working on building a paragraph (narrowing topics, beginning sentences, parts of a sentence - someone else tell me the two essential parts of a sentence!), Gary Soto's "Summer School," seeing connections between the past and the present, oral speaking, and there's that whole other area known as Classroom Management, which I'm still working on. I'm trying to integrate the different subjects as best I can, but it's an art I haven't get perfected.

  Okay, it's past 11 o'clock. I'm going to take a shower, print out the new schedule I want to try out, print out their vocab test, and go to bed. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get started on good notes home for each of the students.

  I'm so glad this weekend is a three day weekend! It give me more time to lesson plan and to finish going over the math diagnostic tests that I haven't finished going over because I've been getting 7 - 8 hours of sleep instead .

  • 2:08 am
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