in the clouds

Today waws field day at Code. I had a great time even though I was very unwise and went out last night and only got an hour and a half of sleep. It was great. It was also my first day back at Code since Tuesday. I have been visiting other schools and observing and getting ideas in preparation for my own class in the fall.

Well, one of the most special things that I did today was not a field day event or activity. While we were waiting in line, 2 of my students and I started picking out shapes in the clouds. It was so random, and so figurative. One student was David, who is usually a little bit of a behavior problem, but he really looks up to me a lot. The other one was Melissa, who can also be a behavior problem, but usually because she is so intelligent and bossy. The 3 of us stood staring at shapes in the sky, completely unaware of the event the rest of the class was doing. It was peaceful and very humbling... to know that these 2 students could take time out to look up at the sky and enjoy the simplicity of the shapes of clouds.

How many times do we ever do that? How many times to grown ups stop to look at the simple things in life? The shapes in the sky, the green of the grass, the breeze in the air... all the good things that we take for granted so much.

It just made me wonder... and it made me appreciate the two of them. Even though they have their moments where they can be a little overwhelming, even they can take the time out to realize that fascination can be found in what seems so insignificant.

a blast from the past, a glimpse to the future

Well, first of all, thank you, God for everything that is happening in my life right now. I truly feel like things are going in the right direction. They are moving very quickly, but still, they are going in the right direction.

I went to Greenville with Kalani and Sarah on Friday night (quick interruption to say that I LOVE those girls. I can't believe that it took me until this semester to really get to know them and appreciate them... I only hope that there are teachers like them at E. North Street... I will miss them so much!). Ironic that I made the suggestion to go. See, Kalani's boyfriend, Jesse works at the Macaroni Grill there and she really wanted him to be able to hang out with Sarah and me. Since he couldn't come up on Thursday like he had planned, I suggested that we go to Greenville to see him... yes... Greenville. The place that I trash talk so horribly during the summer and prolonged breaks... the place that I was so worried about having to move back to.

Well... All I can say is, Greenville is the ish. I can't believe how much Greenville has grown up. Just like me, it has gone from kid stuff to adult. It's so exciting... but I'll get to that in a minute.

Well, as soon as we get to Macaroni Grill, I see my friend Sarah Whipple from high school. She lives in Greenville still... and when she, my friend Mandy and me get together, we have SO much fun. So that was very uplifting. Then, the hostess comes up to me and goes, "What is your name?" I was freaked out, so I was like, "Why?" Apparently, someone at the bar knew me... IT WAS SEAN GAJDA! My very first best friend from La Petite Academy. I hadn't seen him since 8th grade... and we were like brothers. It was SO awesome to see him. We made plans to hang out this summer and once I get back to Greenville in the fall. It was so cool, 'cause he still remembers my phone number... and I still remember his. LOL. Good times... The last familiar face I saw that night was my good ol' English buddy, James Gillanders. He moved to Greenville in 7th grade. Now he is working at Macaroni Grill and has only the memory of his English accent... I couldn't believe that it was gone... how tragic that the south had taken over his dialect.

So, if that night wasn't enough, I went to Greenville again on Saturday with Kate and her Palmetto Princess, Kristen. We went to Artisphere... a street festival on Main Street. It was so awesome. I LOVE downtown Greenville. I mean, Greenville is so hella tight?! What was wrong with me being all upset about moving back?

On top of how great the place is, Kate possibly has a job there... actually, I hope she doesn't need to take it because she will win Mis South Carolina in July, but anyway... things just seem great.

All arrows are pointing to Greenville. I am so excited about being the Native Son returning home.

On top of that, my portfolio is pretty much done and I teach my final 2 lessons tomorrow and Tuesday... then the next lesson I will teach will be MY 4th grade class at East North Street Academy!

This is so awesome...

senioritis like woah

Why did I ever think that I wanted to go to grad school. I am sitting here in front of an uninspiring load of portfolio crap. I don't want to do it. I really, honestly feel like I could just turn in 5 sheets of paper with one letter on each page spelling out B-I-T-E M-E. Ugh. I hate it. I already have a job... I have already made good grades all semester... what's 20% worth of an F? LOL.

No, seriously... I'm not going to turn in 5 sheets telling the school of education what they can do to me... That would be a waste of good paper and a waste of an awesome semester at Code. I can't believe that my time there is just about up. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time there... the kids... SOME of the teachers... everything that I have learned... and you know, ironically, I have learned more life lessons and people skills than any other time in my life. It's like student teaching prepares you for stuff you could have never imagined.

But, with all that said, I'm ready to bust up outta this joint. I'm not thoroughly thrilled about going back to Greenville, but things are looking up... Deni is going to be working in Greenville, and Kacie and Lindsey are actively pursuing employment in Greenville County Schools too. As long as I have peers in the area, I should be fine.

College could not end any sooner. People are bugging me. It makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Honestly, I can't wait until the days when I have my own little classroom of about 20 kids that will have the right to act like little kids. Some of the people around here are children with high school diplomas... nothing worse than a completely educated child... that is, a person who thinks they've got it all together, but they are nothing more than a child because of their attitude.

Let me stop... This is getting me nowhere with this stupid portfolio.

OH! I go and sign my contract tomorrow! Yay for that... yeah... and I didn't mean for the last entry to be a cliffhanger... I thought it was pretty much a given that Kellett can holla back, 'cause it's all about some East North Street Academy. Haha... they are the tigers! Once a tiger, always a tiger... Go ENSA Tigers!

the week that changed my life

Well... this time last week, I was at home in Greenville preparing to go to the Greenville County Schools job fair. I had no clue that just a week later, I would pretty much have a whole new plan for my life.

The whole point of going to that job fair was NOT to actually get a job (neither was it the point of going to the picnic that was last Thursday evening). I only went to wet my feet... see what the job market was like... practice interviewing... Well, needless to say, I got my feet soaking wet, came home from the job market with something, and apparently didn't need help interviewing. Last Thursday night, I got a job offer from the principal of Cherrydale Elementary School. She interviewed me at the picnic, which was not at all the norm. She told me to come over and look at the school in the morning and then tell her whether or not I would accept the job.

Well... the next morning, I toured what was probably the most technologcally advanced elementary school in the district. It was brand new, had LCD projectors and DVD players in every room, and a state of the art computer lab. Well, I was impressed to say the least. So impressed that later that day, the day of the REAL interviews, I accepted a letter of intent from Cherrydale. I did this before my interviews, and also before truly researching Cherrydale.

Well, I interviewed with Oakview, Bethel, and East North Street Academy. The interviews went well... but I was pretty careless seeing how I already had a job. But, it was in that last interview--with East North Street Academy--that I was offered ANOTHER job. I really didn't know what to do. All I knew about East North Street was that it was in a fairly new building itself, and was a magnet school in downtown Greenville. I was interested though.

So, Icame back to Clemson highly confused. I wondered if I had done the right thing by choosing Cherrydale and if East North Street was better or worse. Well, I went to the school websites and found the school report cards. It turns out that Cherrydale's PACT scores were not very good. 49.6% of the school was below basic in math, and 41.7% was below basic in ELA. Plus, there were no advanced students in ELA, and only 0.7% of the students were advanced in math. This was not promising for me, a first year teacher. East North Street on the other hand was 13.5% advanced in math and 4.4% advanced in ELA. Only 20.4% were below basic in math and 24.7% in ELA. This was exciting because I really wanted to be at school similar to the school where I am student teaching: Code. Code's report card was 11.3% advanced in math, 22% below basic, 2.3% advanced in ELA, 20.3% below basic. The schools were very similar, and I immediately felt that I had made the wrong decision.

So, Monday, aware that not only would I have to rescind my acceptance of the job at Cherrydale, but I would also have to tell Missy I was not going to live with her and Dr. Spede that I would no longer be going to grad school, I went to visit East North Street. I loved it. I simply fell in love with the facilities, kids, faculty... everything. So, I had to call the principal of Cherrydale and say thanks but no thanks in order to accept at East North Street. I did. It was rough. But I am so glad I did.

Then, I returned to Code the next day with the news that I had been hired at East North Street. I was told by numerous teachers that someone from the Oconee County District Office had called Code to talk to me. Well, they were just a little too late. They were still late when Rev. Sloan came to Code and told me that he had a contract for me somewhere in the district, but not at Kellett or Code. Well, I was pretty sure that I was ONLY interested in Code. So, I told him no, and that I didn't want to be percieved as the "runaway teacher" as Christy and Jennifer had already started calling me. So, I thought that was it...

...Until I got a phone call after school today which beckoned me to a meeting at the district office. When I got there, there were about 8 principals sitting around a table, one of them the principal of Kellett, who was offering me a job. She, the other principals, and the director of HR tried to talk me into Oconee for about 45 minutes... they did everything from talk about how technologically advanced Kellett was to offer me a $500 signing bonus. They even handed me a contract... which is ironic because I told Rev. Sloan that Oconee dragged their feet and they missed out... so they were trying to make up for that by handing me a contract on the spot...

So, that is where I stand now. I have a job... a contract to sign for it on Tuesday afternoon in Greenville, and a contract for a 4th grade math job at Kellett sitting on my dresser. It's nice to be wanted... but a little frustrating.

And on top of that, a college student from Clemson called me Mr. Parks today. It made me feel old. Ugh.

i'm in the band... bitches

So this Will Bruce kid who obviously doesn't read very well has written a response to my last article in The Tiger... it's a little bit stupid though, seeing how he said that I and the majority of the students at Clemson don't cheer, but sit down at the football games...

Um... excuse me... I'm in the fucking band. Not only do I stand up and cheer, but for 4 years, I stood up and cheered ON THE DAMN FOOTBALL FIELD.

I thought I made that clear... I am in the band... bitches.

Now, since that is said and done, spring break is almost over. :( Who the hell am I kidding? Spring Break is over. BUT... Last night was SO awesome. We went downtown... and I had one of the best times I have had here at Clemson. We were all dancing at TD's and there were so many people... One thing that I liked a lot was the fact that there were black people AND white people. It seems like things are so segregated here in Clemson here... there are certain things that white students do, and certain things that black students do. But last night, we were all dancing together, and it was so much fun. I love my school. There is truly no place like Clemson...

...and there is nothing like being in the Clemson TIGER BAND... and supporting the Tigers in the best way I can... unlike some people who drop out for no particular reason... Oh wait a minute... there used to be a guy named Will Bruce in band... hmmm...