Stream of Consciousness Sunday -- Job Woes

I am trying to blog more.  I really am.  I used to use this blog as a place to just write and write and now I feel like it is only used for weekly monthly posts about what the kids and I have been up to. I came across a link up where you set a timer for five minutes and just write.  No editing.  It's Monday but since I have a delayed opening at work, I decided to give it a shot.

So I have been stuck in an endless thought cycle about what to do about my job.  I am really unhappy there.  I don't feel appreciated or respected.  I am doing a job that was two teachers' job last year.  I don't look forward to going to work anymore.  I have always said if I am going to go to work 40 hours a week it better be doing something that I love and that makes a difference.

There is no doubt that I am burnt out from my current position but then sometimes I just feel so disillusioned with teaching in general.  There is a new law in PA that affects my teacher evaluation.  I work with some low functioning kids and if I can't get them up to a certain preset reading standard by the end of the year, I fail that portion of my evaluation, no matter what.  Add that to the fact that I will probably keep my same caseload next year and things look more and more grim.  I could be labelled a failing teacher.  I hate that I have to spend so much of my time with a timer in my hand: "How fast can you name this series of random letters?"  "How fast can you read these ridiculous made up nonsense words?" Now is the point in the year when we stop teaching science and social studies and start doing non-stop "test practice" for the upcoming standardized state tests.  I hate it and so do the kids.

Well, that five minutes went fast and my post was kind of a downer. I just scratched the surface of what could probably be a 45 minute brain dump, but at least I wrote about something not entirely superficial.   Happy Monday everyone!

Third Thursday Threads

It's time to get ready for school to start again.  That means getting my new classroom in order and actually getting dressed in something other than yoga pants.  As you can see from the background, I still have a long way to go to get the new room in order.   Bri was having a link up for geometric prints so I thought this dress would be perfect for the theme.

It first made it's appearance at brother's rehearsal dinner in my new favorite family photo of the three of us.
 

It's not a maternity dress but it works really well as one.  I expect to get a few more months worth of wear out of it.

Isaac was getting jealous and wanted in on the classroom self timer pics.  Of course, his new WWE championship belt had to make an appearance too.

 

 

 Happy Thursday everyone!

Weekend Update - Spring Finally Arrives!

It's was a warm weekend and we could finally get out of the house and do some things that don't cost money. It's the best feeling in the world!

Friday night we had all three of Ryan's kid's over for dinner and then Gabby stayed the night. When we woke up the weather was warm and bright and felt like spring at last.  We threw open the windows and then decided to get out of the house for a bit. They have FINALLY extended the Schuylkill River Trail up to my house so we decided to invetigate.  We walked a little more than a mile of it.  I was surprised the kids held up so well.

 

From there we went to Manderach Park for a little bit to let the kids run wild.  I ended up getting a pretty decent sunburn.

 

 

The last stop of the day was Five Below for a gift bag for a birthday present.  When these two are together they can keep themselves busy no matter where we end up. 

It was this little guy's second birthday, so Ryan took Gabby home and Isaac along too for a little family birthday party. 

They had so much playing, they ended up staying for almost five hours! 

I don't think the girls usually look much alike, but in this picture their little faces look identical!

In other weekend new I busted out the 5K app once again and made it through day 1.  It starts off so easy, it is confidence building even for someone like me who has done nothing all winter but watch TV and eat ice cream and is huffing and puffing through the "run" intervals. 

 

Our weekend was rounded out with a little bit of conference, a soccer scrimmage (Isaac's team got creamed, but he did score his team's lone goal) and finished another book, Jodi Piccoult's The Plain Truth. Now I have nothing else to read, so I am going to start Les Miserables.  For real.  Tomorrow maybe.

 

Happy Monday!

 





 

 

Random Thursday and a Vlog?

 

 

First of all, has anyone watched The Carrie Diaries?  We watched the premiere the other night and I love it!  The girl who plays young Carrie is perfect.  The other show Ryan and I are watching obsessively is the Joe Schmo show on Spike where they set up a whole fake reality show for one unsuspecting guy who thinks it's all real.  The psych major in me finds it fascinating. If you don't watch it, start!  Ryan is also pushing really hard for me to start watching the Bachelor, but I just don't think I can bring myself to go there.

 

So I decided to try a vlog for the Random Thursday prompt. I love a good link up and this one seems like fun. 

 



 

Ta-DA!

 

  

Please forgive the rough editing and Darth-Vader-like heavy breathing of my cameraman.  I'm a total n00b when it comes to videoblogging but it was fun, and I might try it again!  Hopefully next time I can relax a bit.  This felt overly formal.

And shout out to the girls who run the link up. I e-mailed back and forth a few times with Lin and she was so nice.

What random things do you keep in your bag?