Trying to stay awake at work

During my prep there is nothing to do. Yes.. there are things I COULD do but I dont want to go through and grade just yet and I dont want to transfer all my stuff over. Maybe I will do that tomorrow during my double prep. But that means going onto EACH of my ten computers and pulling off information from each. Between the Ducky videos, to the Ducky missing posters and then the step by step projects that I have to grade. I have to go onto the computers and pull them off by myself. And while that sounds like WAY fun... I will save it till tomorrow, but that means that I have nothing to do today. Ah... falling asleep sounds like a plan but they seem to frown on that here for some reason.
O well.
Back to thinking about what days I have left to do with what students.

Birthday Wishes

SO. Just incase yo8u are wondering... I am super excited to get birthday wishes from everyone.

Just to give you an idea of stuff to get me.. heres a list.
-gift cards
+ target
+ bed bath and beyond
+ container store
+ itunes!!!
-Envy phone. In green of course
-and whatever you feel like

I didnt win

Ok.. so I didnt win the lottery. Back to the real world.

Stupid Computers

Don't you hate it when your computer DIES!!! Dead. Gone. No one can fix it.

Ok.. so someone could fix mine. It died on Wednesday and no idea why. Just started working REALLY slow and then shut down. After a MAJOR freak out I took it to BestBuy's Geek Squad and they said.. mam... your harddrive is SUPER DEAD!!! Like.. out computer wont even start it up. SOOO another 160 dollars down the drain and I have a new harddrive. Now all I have to do is wait the 7-10 days for my recovery disk from Sony. Then go through the process of downloading all my stuff again. Sad times.

MOM-see I told you it was a good thing to get me that external hard drive. I didnt lose any of my work from college or pictures from the last couple of years!~

Sick Day!

Yesterday was my first official sick day! i felt sick and I didnt go to work! How crazy is that?!

When I got up I just didnt feel well.. a continuation of Monday's not feel well. So I sat in my living room from 630 to 7 and said screw it... and called in sick.

After catching up on my tv from Monday night, I was feeling better. I decided that the best way to make myself feel better would be to go into the city and enjoy the beautiful day instead of sitting home and feeling horrible. So I did. I got on the train and decided Chambers Street would be the place to get off and start looking.

Aparntly I ended up in Tribeca and all the beautiful restruants down there. After window shoppng a couple of places, I landed in a restruant called Stakes and Burgers on Grenwich (sp?) and Franklin. It was SO good. I sat and read my book and enjoyed the quiteness of the restruant. The waiter was funny, at one point asking if I wanted my book READ to me! Umm...no but thanks. Then I walked until I found a subway station and headed up to Central Park. I layed in the sun and read for about an hour. Then headed home. Man my feet hurt from wearing my heals!

After that I stupidly bought the game Roller Coaster Tycoon. Addiction... that's all I have to say. O well.

Now its Wednesday and back to work for me. Trying to figure out if I totally messed myself up by skipping work yesterday. All should be ok.

Wish Me Luck!

I bought a lottery ticket today. Well..five of them. BUT!!! In my defence the jackpot is 145 million dollars!

Ok... So I really don't expect to win but.. it would help. Each time I buy a lottery ticket I spin off into the 'what if'...' world.

I would...
buy an apartment in the city
buy a plane and a piolet.
buy computers for my school (with everything)
buy a house on the oregon coast. (thinking of summer break)
go to vegas
invest for my future and the kids (neices and nephews)

all the usual stuffs.

UGH!!!

DUDE!!! My friends just need to come now!!!

I cant wait for them!

David... get your ass over here.
Morgan. Im SUPER EXCITED.
And Debbie... bring some going out clothes. Bc We hitting the town!

Even more craziness.

So. Aparently I have a life. Well..sorta.

Right now I have three friends on the lst to come visit in the next couple of months. I am going to Denver in June (skipping two days of school!!!). I am (hopefully) teahcing summer school... Then I will go home for two weeks. Then back to the grind but I am not thinking of that right now.

I am jsut so excited for a GREAT summer...boyfriend or not (not at this point) I dont care. I am gunna enjoy lots and lots!

Routines for next year

Routines

1. Each class must clean up. Kinder (please say I dont have...) crayons go away. Kids are sitting down on the rug before they can go to the computers.

2. Rules for each class on a chart.

Craziness

It has been crazy around here.

Last Saturday I went to see my TEAM!!! (Seattle Mariners) play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. It was GREAT! We had some pretty cool seats in the bleachers.. right along the railing so we could see most of the feild (minus the camera next to us blocking the first base line). The Yankees killed 6-1 but o well. If I am not rooting for the Mariners it's the Yankees so it's all good.

After the game I went to Aurther Ave, which is the Little Italy section of the Bronx that is better than Littel Italy in Manhattan. It was so much fun. I got some fresh cheese and used it in my speghetti on Monday so that was GREAT! (dude, as I wrote "GREAT" tony the tiger was in my head saying. gotta love advertising right?!)

Sunday I went to the city to shop! I had to get a dress for Jess' wedding. I went to Banana Republic and retried on a dress that I tried on last week. It still fit, still fits into the 'conservative' side of the wedding, and it was ONE SALE!!! (I know you'll love that mom). So I HAD to get it. It was a GREAT steal from Banana Republic. Now I feel all growed up and stuff that I got a dress at Banana Republic!

Then it was back to the grind here at work. BUT! Monday after work a friend and I went out and had drinks after work. It was AWESOME bc she showed me a new part of the Bronx. It is the Irish part. I looked around and there were like 5 pubs on the same block. All authentic and all AMAZING looking inside. They really take care of their bars. Totally not like Kell's at home where it's 'authentic' .. no no no.. this is ... walking into Ireland. Everyone has accents and the paper for the area told of all the Irish businesses that the Irish people should patron. It was SO funny and GREAT. Definately not Manhattan prices for drinks! And it will only take me like a subway and bus to get there. Finding new places is one thing that makes me want to have a car. Its a lot easier to find new places without having to ride a bus. O well.

Now it's time to head to my next class (its lunch right now). But I did have SUPER amounts of fun this morning tryng to plan out the rest of the year. Baring any unscheduled misses, I think I did it. We shall see.

Ideas on routine for next year

A routine is something I really need to work on for next year.

Ideas: Laminate everything!!! group folders.. aim sheets...

Each day should have a routine.
-say hello
-intro/recap the project
-lesson (?)
-get out computer by group number.
-raise hand to get my attention

The important thing is to get the routine down and keep to it. Get info on every student at the begining of the year. Telephone numbers for home. Full names and classes. Grade book for each class. Checking off how they are doing each day.

These are just some of the things I am thinking about for next year.

PS BUY LAMINATOR!

Ideas for next year

Just thinking.
Frist.. sign out for cd's. The kids need to take more responsibility.
Second. Individual work with k/1. starting today I am going to try getting the little ones to work on typing. We shall see how it goes. Maybe I will work on names and high frequency words first.
Third. Make worksheets .
Four. typing first thing.
Five. More vocabulary used on a daily basis. List to follow.

back to life

Back to life...back to reality.

That is the song that keeps going through my head. That's right. Break is over and Annie is back to work. I am really only worried about one class... I have a request into my ap to talk about that class but hopefully they are back from break and ready to stop being little shits!

A Great Week

It has been spring break here in NYC and I have been loving it!

On Saturday, as you have read, I saw the pope. It was pretty cool to watch him drive by in the pope mobile. It was so awesome. There were so many people and such a celebration. It was another one of the 'moments' I have been looking for in moving to NYC.

Then on Sunday a friend of mine got tickets to a preview of an up coming movie... not an uncommon thing here in the city. Well... This one was different. It was a couple of clips from the new movie 'Journey to the Center of the Earth: 3D.' The movie clips also included a pannel with Brendan Fraiser. There I was... 20 feet from my version of a rock star! He was amazingly HOT and down the earth. During the movie clips he shouted SIKE!!! It was awesome. After the movie clips he did some more talking and then walked out. Walking out of the theater... there he was!!! He was talking to fans and I actually got a picture with him!!! He is SO freaking hot and my camera took forever to load so I got like 2 minutes with my arm around a VERY HOT movie star. It was GREAT. He's definately my 'when I marry I get one movie star to do on the side...' he's it.

The rest of the week was really just trying to come down off cloud nine! Between enjoying some alone time with my kitty to seeing a movie or two... it has been a GREAt spring break. It could always be longer but good. And today is a day of rest after laundry and shopping for food... I get the pleasure of figuring out where my classes are and what is happening for the next month and a half.

Sounds like fun hu?


O! PS. I met a REALLY cute guy yesterday. I was waiting for a frind in Manhattan and he was promoting a salon.. I have already done that promotion so I couldnt but he kept coming over to me.. talking in small spirts since he was 'working' but he did give me a flyer for the off broadway show he's in and I am going to go. Doughful that he'll remember me or even see him but... worth a try since he was SO cute. www.myspace.com/thesetupplay and his name is Major!

Top 10 things

In an effort to get to know a good friend better, the other day I asked him what is his BEST memory. I got to thinking about it today and decided that, while blogging to keep my friends and family up to date with what's happening in NYC, I am also blogging as more of a diary for me.

So I decided to come up with my top ten. They are in random order because I cannot rank them. After my Top Ten List I also have a Worst 5 list.

1. Grandma doing spelling with me which I was very little.
2. ______ secret...
3. My grandfather wearing my favorite boy smell. Aparently grandma had smelled it on a doctor when she was alive.. also made me closer to her bc we have the same taste.
4. All three graduations (high school. undergrad. grad school.)
5. First picture with both of my parents in MANY years (high school grad).
6. 21st birthday weekend
7. Skydiving
8. My first trip to NYC alone (for interviews).
9. Becoming an auntie!
10. Getting my Suzie.


Worst 5 (in no particular oder)
1. A private comment Eric made in January 2008.
2. Grandma's Death
3. Mom leaving NYC when I moved here.
4. News from Adam (again... ask and I might tell..)
5. A kick me sign on my back at school. (DONT ASK!)

DUDE!!! I saw the POPE!

Thats right. I waited over an hour and a half to see the five seconds that the pope was in front of me. I got a picture though.

The biggest suprise was the amount of security that the man had. These are the cops that stood at the intersection of 70th and FifthAve for at least two hours before he arrived.

Then after he took like all of like 10 minutes to go between 50th and 72nd ave. Then it was over. In New York fasion the streets were clear and they were cleaning up within 20 minutes. With the street (FifthAve) still being closed it is RARE that you can walk down an empty street. I had to take a picture of Fifth Ave look south.

Papal visit

So the idea of moving to NYC was to do stuff I never thought I would do.

Tomorrow... Saturday... is going to be one of those days. I am going to see the Pope tomorrow. He's in NYC for three days and I want to see him. No Im not religious but the Pope is freaking cool and I could see him in person which is just amazing. Kinda like a rock star in his own way.

Ill write more after I see him!

A better day

Today was a better day. Thursdays are good days and it almost restored my faith in teaching..kinda... Im better though.

One more day...

Shitty week

It has been a SHITTY week. That is for sure. Between the class from hell, that thinks they are the shit and do not have to listen to me and my eyes hurting, I am so done with this week.
First, my class from hell. They are walking all over me and it sucks really badly. They havent been THAT bad until this week. Monday they were horrible so I took away computers yesterday and that didnt help. They were still horrible. So I emailed the ap for that grade and hopefully we can come up with something. I am not sure when I am meeting with her so I hope it goes well.
Then.. my damn eyes have hurt all week. Its the same old hurt, behind my eyes and around them. It has to do with my eyes being tired, and could totally be from stress but it usually goes away when I sleep. Not the last two days, I have woken up and it STILL hurts. I am not a happy camper.

THEN. I finish work yesterday and look in my wallet. ALL 50 bucks I had in spending money... GONE. All gone. Stolen. Some little punk moved the board that sits in front of my closet, opened my closet, unzipped my jacket pocket, opened my wallet and stole 50 bucks. How this happened when there are ALWAYS teachers in here with kids... I dont know. Im not blaming anyone it just sucks major balls. And it makes me think I didnt loose that 10 bucks last week either. I guess I should just be thankful that the rest of my wallet, credit cards and stuff, along with my iPod and cell phone where still there. That could have made for a long day. O well. Back to work.

gotta love nyc right?!

A good weekend

I had a good weekend this weekend. On Saturday I had to take the 4 hour adventure to BFE Brooklyn again. I had to get my necklace checked out to keep it under warranty. It takes forever to get there and 2 minutes to check it and clean it. O well. It is safe once again for another six months. I might do the next one in Ptwon when I come home in August. (Ill be home for TWO WEEKS in August.)

Sunday was a day of..SHOPPING!!! Annie got a new credit card and HAD to make sure it worked. That's right.. HAD to make sure. (Don't worry mom.. I only charged like 100 this weekend...)

Monday was just what it was.. Monday. Kids were ok until last period where they were INSANE and horrible. I had a hard time getting bc I was already frustrated and had lots of stuff in my hands. Gotta love Mondays? NO!!!

BUT! I will LOVE next Monday. I have it off. I have all of next week off. What will I do!?! Well... I have no clue yet. I am going to spend the week resting that's for sure. If it's nice weather I might go into the city and enjoy Central Park some more like I did last summer. We shall see.

Off to another long day of teaching.. 4th grade is on the list for today!

Friday.... thank goodness

I am SO happy its Friday. It has been a long week! As long as I make it though my 'informal' observation in a couple of minutes I will be fine. Then tomorrow's a movie and the mall to get my neckless from Oregon checked out. Sunday. A day of rest. Five more days of school then..then A WEEK OFF!!! What am I doing you ask? Not sure yet. But it will include LOTS of sleeping!

Bored at Work

I am bored at work! I realize I probably shouldn't be but when 11 classes are doing the same thing... I get bored. Yes I am teaching kids things they don't know, but at the same time... there are 110 project groups that are doing the same thing. These groups are all at different places and I usually end up teaching them individually what to do. That means I say the same thing at least 220 times, considering I have to usually repeat it at LEAST twice for each group.

Then add in that its APRIL and I have kids who still do not know where to find their documents and waste an entire period waiting quietly for me to help them. That means, for those that are quiet they don't get any work time because the loud ones command my attention. Which, of course, is how the quiet ones like it!

A Great Book

I read a GREAT book this weekend. I was at the bookstore this weekend and picked up two new books because my subway reading book was getting towards the end. I picked up the book "P.S. I love you." It was a quick grab because it was only 14 dollars and I had heard of the movie, but not seen it.

This book was SO good. I got it on Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday evening. All 470 pages. It was SO good. After looking on wikipedia it seems that there are a lot of differences between the book and the movie but I am still excited to see it. This being on the third book ever that I have read then seen the movie. The other two were with my student teaching class, Holes and Bridge of Terabethia. I am super excited to see the movie, even though they have adapted it to be in New York instead of Ireland. It was a GREAT book and an easy read. So if you are looking for a good book this is the one!

A long week

Why do weeks that are shorter seem SOO long? O wait. That's because my days have gone SOOO slow. I have worked only four days and I'm ready for a vacation. Its not like it has been a particularly challenging week but just slow.. each and every class has gone SO slow. But only three weeks till I get a week off. Spring break.

Though I am sad that I didn't have this entire week of to be with friends from Oregon, but my friends teaching in Oregon don't have a single day off (week day) until Memorial Day weekend. I have three weeks a week off then four weeks till Memorial Day. Then four weeks and we're done!

Summer school? Still not sure yet. We shall see. I kinda just want time to hang out and enjoy the city without having to teach. Or do ANYTHING but get a tan!!! Which I can do after I teach the half days of summer school but meh. A whole summer to myself and STILL getting paid would be AMAZING. I just wouldn't be able to pay for anything bc I would be spending all my money on food in the city for the day!

Great Weekend

It is the end of a long weekend for me. First, I had Friday off because it was Good Friday. Sweet. Jesus died and I get a day off!! I mean... it was a FUN day.

I spent all day Friday at the DMV. I literally spent 4 hours at the DMV. Then, in their grand fashion they took my Oregon licence (which I expected) only to give me a piece of paper without a picture on it. So they took five hours of my life and left me without photo id. I them got asked for my id twice this weekend. Once for something I cant remember, and once for the Letterman show (we didn't get on..:( ). This is Annie without photo id!

Then Saturday was amazing. Only in NYC you can you find a four block square, four different things going on. I ran into a HUGE pillow fight. It lasted over an hour. A real political rally about the war and Bush (big surprise right). A fake political rally for the new Dark Night Batman movie, Harvey Dent is running for District Attorney and they were shooting video of a fake rally. I even JOINED IN!~!! It was super fun. I handed out buttons and got on camera, being one of three girls there. And in Union Square there was also the weekly farmers market. I got some GREAT apple cider. That was all in about 2 hours!

Sunday was a day of productivity. I got up at 8. I cleaned the house, headed to the laundry mat to wash the blankets for my friends to come into town, went grocery shopping and was done with all of that by 12! Then I hung out until 1, where I was going to go check on my taxes because I haven't gotten them yet (I'm worried it's the wrong account number bc of the lack of info when I got my taxes done.) But of course, it was apparently Easter so I couldn't check on my taxes. I headed towards Manhattan, with a stop off at Borders to get a new book, I headed to the airport to pick up Meg and Brian!!! We had fun carting their luggage around Times Square, Rockefeller Center and into the Burger Joint (easily my FAV nyc restaurant). Then to Columbus Circle to head home. That was a good, productive but long day.

Monday was even longer. We were out of the house by 915. We headed everywhere. To Letterman to get tickets (which we didn't). Then to the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) which wasn't open on Monday's apparently. Then to the Guggenheim for an AWESOME display by a Chinese artist who apparently likes to create art using gun powder and then blowing it up! Then we headed to Limbardi's Pizza. It was great as always, if you want good authentic Italian pizza GO THERE!!! Then it was on to the World Trade Center and Wall Street. Then to the best restaurant that I can find that it unique (the Burger Joint is burgers), SuperMac is mac 'n' cheese with different kinds. I had some really goog cheese steak mac 'n' cheese! It was so good, though I really wasn't that hungry. Then, after waiting 45 minutes for a train at Penn Station, we headed home to get home at like 1030 My friends stayed up a little more and Annie hit the sack for work today! Sounds like fun hu!?!

Lookign forward to this weekend

It is going to be a great weekend. First, today is my friday! I am headed to department of motor vehicles tomorrow to get a NY drivers licence. So exciting. I just figure people are having issues finding the nearly rubbed off expiration date on my OR licence so might as well. I would get a regular id, which is 40 bucks cheeper, but this way I dont have to go through the process of getting a licence again when I move to another state. AND I can drive when I go home and/or rent a car.

Tomorrow night also opens the Duck basketball playoff run to the top. I might go watch in lower Manhattan with the Alumni chapter. It should be way fun.

The saturday I am taking my new dishes back because they came cracked. And maybe Ill see a movie or something.

Sunday. My friends from Oregon come into town. Im so excited to see them and show them my city. And because they are in town from sunday though thursday, I decided to take my frist official day off. That's right folks Annie's playing hookie from work to be a tourist guide to the city!!! Happy times. That should be my weekend..

You know. Im ok with four days on, four days off, four days on. It should be like that all the time!

Thinking of what can happen

Today at work one of my coworkers told me that her boyfriend passed away. He has been sick for only a couple of weeks. His life slipped away quickly. My friend was telling us that he had everything in order. He knew how he wanted to be taken care of and what he wanted to happen after he passed. She thought it was crazy that they had had these conversations just weeks ago and now here it was the day before his viewing. Crazy.

Situations, though morbid, make you think. What will happen to me? Who will take care of things? And what the hell am I doing now? He was completely healthy (as far as he knew) weeks ago and now hes not here. I just wonder when I will go and what the situation will be. I want to live for today. This living for today makes me want to do so many things but also makes me thankful for what I am doing. I am living for today... in NYC. I will never regret moving to NYC and the changes in my life since moving here. I do miss somethings... friends...places... but NYC was the best decision I have ever made. (<--rambling)

It makes a girl think. There is no way I want to be buried. Putting a dead body in a ground to take up more space just seems to be worthless. I want to be scattered in so many places. I want to be in NYC (Manhattan. top of the rock. statin island ferry. the bronx. the two and five trains!... Oregon. so many places in oregon. the dorms! the college of ed. cascade head up by lincoln city. newport. old town florence.) all of these places have so many of my memories. I just feel like if i was in these places the 'after life' would be SO much better. enjoying the places i enjoyed in life.

o. and yall need to celebrate my damn life. I am here to live it. and party while here. party when i leave!

A Great weekend

It was a GREAT weekend. I got to do some great stuff.
First, Friday was a day of finishing. FINALLY I got the project that my fifth graders worked on for six weeks DONE!!! It is printed and copied. They get to see them today! I am super excited for them to decorate the covers and be able to give a copy to the principal and assistant principal. The extra five dollars they cost are worth it (that way they can see what the kids have been doing!).

The other exciting thing this weekend was that a friend and I went to a Blazers game. Thats right. Blazers in the big apple. We got to see the Blazers beat the Knicks in over time. 120-114! It was a close game at the end of the fourth but Ptown prevailed. It was fun because we went with my alumni chapter, so we were in a section of Blazer fans! One guy sitting next to me had to ask me if I was with the Oregon fans or not... because I had bought a Knicks foam finger. I had to laugh. Yes, I was with the Oregon peeps, but beign the weirdo that I am (and this is partly mom's fault) I have a foam finger collection. Since I was at Madison Freaking Square Gardens, I had to buy a finger! It was awesome though. Knicks were coming back in the fourth and allthe fans were talking crap to us, because we were gunna lose. Yeah...they were quiet when we dominated in overtime! Life's great! now I shold probably think about going to teach! Love yall and miss you.

Looking toward the future.

I am looking toward the future these days. Of course, that is all I ever seem to do. Never really content in my current life. If this is true... not sure but it sure seems like it.

I am looking forward towards two things.
1: Next year. I am thinking I am going to continue in my current position. In looking at my job it seems that it would actually be easier to stay in my job. First, those students that I have this year will have me next year, know me and respect me more. Second, the principal said it was not an issue. Third, the principal also stated that we will sit down and have a discussion of what has and has not worked as well as how the job should be restructured for next year with what is and is not working.

2: The coming years after next year. It seems that I am dying to run away from hom.e NYC is amazing. I love living here and I am super excited for the summer to enjoy NYC in the hot swealtering heat. Then into next year. But after that...? I have been looking at teaching over seas. In 18 months I cannot see being in such a place that I cannot leave NYC and my job here... and over seas would be amazing. I am thinking... SPAIN!! Or maybe Greece!? I am thinking these look like freaking great experiences. Learning another language, being able to travel as well. Seeing Europe, which is something that no one in my family has done. I could see it. I could imagine it. We shall see....

Leave your thoughts!

Missing a Karen

Ahh... today ends the end of the four day whirlwind of tourism. I loved having Karen here. It was AMAZING! We went everywhere and saw everything. I miss her already! But needless to say my legs are excited to go back to work tomorrow. Should have told her to come wed through Sat instead of Sunday but o well! I lvoe her...we had way fun and took lots of pictures~ craziness!

Single

I am now single. Eric and I broke up. Just a general fyi.

Forgetting A Step

It seems that the weather around here has forgotten a step.

Back home... when it snowed, the snow melted. Not a problem. Or the snow melted when it rained... not a problem. But when it snows the DAMN RAIN IS SUPPOSED TO MELT IT!!!

It is not supposed to rain cats and dogs while there is still snow on the ground. The freaking streets here are discusting. There is snow on all of the side walks and on the sides of the streets. Now that it's raining there is plenty of water around, under and on top of the damn slush. It is freaking rediculous. And because there is so much excess water, the puddles on the side of the streets go ut at least 2 feet if not 3 or 4. That also doesnt account for the slush in these side puddles that make it look like just a little bit of a puddle, only to be stepped in and go down like four inches!!!

Needless to say it was not fun to get to work this morning... and now I have a double prep with nothing to do!

A good weekend

It was a good weekend. I did nothing really... but it was good.
I got a new couch. For those of you that don't know, I sat on my couch about three weeks ago and broke it. That's right..the couch that is less than six months old broke on me! The framing on the bottom of the couch broke. I called the company... after weeks of trying I finally got a new couch this weekend. AND because there was no saving the other one to resale it, they left the other one. So now I have two couches! It will be great when I have other people in my apt!

The other half of my weekend was productive. I got up on Sunday, went shopping for food, did laundry, tried to bake cookies (they burnt) and then made a very good batch of strognoff (sp?!) It was all in all a good weekend.

Now all I have to do is make it though the week... I have next week off and Karen will be here!!! I am SUPER excited!

Finding a ballance

As I sat with my mentor today, I am thinking ahead towards next year. The kids this year are driving me insane and so we were talkinga bout what to do. I am hoping that next year I can grow and do a better job, as it should be.

Things I am thinking about tend to center around the begining of the year. I need to

• get a grip on rules at the begining of year. rules need to include policies around computers, checking computers at the end of class, raising hands, getting my attention, plugging in computers
• also when it comes to behavior. calling home. i need to start early calling home for good and bad behavior.
• the using of a projector needs to happen early so they can get used to it
• the use of assignment sheets needs to be used early so that they can get the hang of it. start easy. a couple of steps then work up to it.
• go through the stuff i have this year and pull out good and bad stuffs. start with typing, then go with projects.

These are just some of the things that I need to do next year. Keep watch of more things to come.

an exciting project

After my kids finish their current project... newspapers, we are going to embark on movies. The kids are going to have a choice of two different projects. They may either choose to do a movie including pictures from the school (taken my yours truly) or they can use the ducky pictures that I am going to demonstrate with.
This weekend I am going to go on an adventure. As a tourist I have been a lot of places. I remember what it was like to see each for the first time and I want to convey that in video. But I really cannot take pictures of myself by myself in the city, so I have come up with a plan. It is going to be, A Day In The City with Ducky. Ducky will be getting on the subway... heading into town, getting on and off the subway, doing all the stairs and seeing the sites. Ducky is lucky because he will have me to document his journey. Then, after returning home with these documented pictures, I will be putting these pictures into a video. The cool thing that I can do is to narrioate what Ducky is doing then present the video to the kids. I am super excited about this project. It should be way fun. Hopefully I can get a large part of it done on Friday and the rest done on Saturday. Then I can spend the majority of Sunday putting the vidoe together. This is going to be super fun I hope. Ducky will get dirty, like every other NYC tourist, but we are super excited. Leave me a note if you would like to see Ducky's adventures. Maybe I will finally figure out YouTube and post it there and here. We shall see.

a great day

Sundays are usually a day of rest, or at least laundry. But this Sunday was SO awesome. Yesterday it was like 45 in the city and sunny. So, on a wim, I headed into the city. By myself.. that's it... just me. Walking around the city for like three hours.. enjoying the warm air that had just a nip of cold, the people..so many people enjoying the same, walking past fashion week, and getting a great deal on a fabulous new red top. It was a great Sunday. (ps. Go Giants! so sad I can't go to parade tomorrow..stupid people should wait till the weekend so morepeople can go!)

ah good movie

Last night I went to a free movie showing. It was for the new movie Forgetting Sara Marshal. The movie doesnt actually come out for another couple of months so it was a rough cut but the movie was REALLY good. Coming from the director (or producer i dont remember) of Knocked Up and Superbad, it was super funny and entertaining. I really want to go see the final theater cut so I can see what they took out and what they fixed but it was super funny. That's all I can really say bc I am swarn to secrecy..or I signed the weiver..

100th Post with some exciting news

So.. my friend REALLY wanted to get the new Mel Brooks cd of Young Frankinstein and we found out that he was signing them at Barn's and Noble on Tuesday in the city right... WELL!! Let me tell you.

After TWO hours of waiting in line we got down to two people in front of us. TWO!!! And they said he would not be doing any more signing. The people in front of us were very not happy. One was a bonified signature hounder and the other had worked on the opening production in Seattle this spring. Needless to say they were very upset and wanted to stay. So we stayed! After about 20 minutes they said 20 more people! BUT YOU MUST HAVE A CD! Crap. I didn't have a cd... so I let my friend go in to say hi and get a pict with my camera. O well right? Wrong.

The signature hound in front of us talked my friend into walking around the building to find the exit so we could meet him. At the back end of the building was the service entrance. Thats where he was gunna come out. WE knew it. After about another 15 minutes the big garage door opened and out poped MEL BROOKS! He stoped to sign the other guys stuff and then asked if I had anything to sign. I said no, he cracked a joke of can he read my book, shook my hand and he was off. Into his car and gone. Freaking cool! I shook his hand.

This is what NYC is all about!

Dang..gotta see movie

When the movie Spelling Bee came out I thought I would not need to see it. It seemed like a movie that I did not want to see. As it turns out.. I watched some of it with my fourth graders today and I NEED to see the rest of it.

They had watched the begining of it before I showed up and it was not over at the end of the period. I am going nutz to see how it ends!

And now I have some funny fifth graders trying to read my blog! They seem to think that it is funny to read over my shoulder when I am typing, though it seems very distracting!

Been a while

I know it's been a while.. for those loyal readers...I am sorry. Its been busy getting back to school and the swing of things.

School is...fine... kids are nutz and driving (or pushing) me in the same direction. It is state testing time here in the great state of NY so the kids are a little off. When you spend an hour to an hour and a half taking a test in the morning, computer time is not a time you want to sit and be quiet...even for five minutes apparently. I don't remember state tests being this guarded in Oregon last year, especially since they were on computers and we all took them at different times. These tests are almost as guarded as the tests I took on college to become a teacher. Its crazy... gotta love high stakes testing.

As for the home front... Eric got an internship! It is a three month internship in Seattle, WA. The company pushed it from 20 to 40 hours a week so he can actually afford to live in Seattle... if he doesn't find someone to crash with. It is a very exciting time bc this is all he needs to actually propel him into a career in marketing. The company (no idea of the name) is a SMALL company, with about 10 employees and services as a type of consulting firm (I think) and they said any interns that they have not directly hired have gone on to get jobs with their clients. So that's promising. As for actually living in Seattle... we shall see if he likes it.

Nothing else really major happening in the Annie world. I should probably get to work on some stuff for next week. Have a great day.

Ah a new year...

A new started out right... back to work on the second. Wait..that's not right.. damn them people who think we have recovered by day two of the year.

It has been a good year so far. I spent the last nine of '07 standing in Times Square NYC to see the HUGE ball drop its 77 feet to ring in the new year. After watching myself on the jumbo screen a billion times (the camera guy was stationed at our section) and walking about 25 blocks I made it home safely in about 2 hours. Not bad considering what it would have been if I had tried to get into the Times Square subway station. Suprisingly I had a seat by the second stop and slept a little once I was in the Bronx.

After sleeping away most of yesterday, sadly, it is time to return to work and make sure I have stuff for the little ones to do today during class.

24 hours....

In 24 hours I will be on a plane to come home! WooHOO! Im a little excited. It is a combination of being away for so long and needing a break from the city. I love the city..don't get me wrong, but it will be nice to go up to the cabin and enjoy the clean air and no traffic. I am sad that I have to leave the Suz home for a week by herself, but my manager is going to come check on her each day.

The issue now is... cleaning. I have to clean.. pack... and everything else that comes with leaving for a week. Dishes... clothes... Christmas light (so Suz doesn't eat them!).. all that fun stuffs. Along with being up at 245 tomorrow so I can put my clothes on (if I dont wear them to bed!!) and walk out the door to the train. Then ride the train and the buss the hour and a half to the airport. Find the right terminal and get the heack out of here!

23 hours adn about 20 minutes and counting. All I gotta do is make it through the next 6 hours and Im home free! Wish me luck!

Long time no see

So I know it's been a while.. to those of you who are loyal readers I am sorry. Ok.. I probably dont have any loyal readers but hey. I can hope right?

So ... NYC in a nutshell the last week. COLD! On Thursday we had snow. It didnt melt on Friday or Saturday for that matter. But.. by the end of Saturday at least you could walk on the side walks. WAIT! Another winter blast called a NorEaster hit us on Saturday night. That's right folks. Smacked us upside the head. Ice.. Snow... and lots of it. Now while it wasnt that deep... its still here. Thats right.. Sunday morning to Wednesday morning there is still crud all over the ground. It is still slippery to get to the curb from the street and sidewalks where there are no businesses still have ice on them. That is because the snow/ice had melted.. then froze again. Doesnt all this sound like fun!?! Today we are supposed to get up to the 40's so hopefully the little stuff will finally get off the streets. The big stuff will still be here for a while.

On the Christmas front, I am super excited to come home for a week. It will be so great to see my friends and family. Though it's going to be a busy week..if you want precious Annie time, let me know and we shall see what we can do! My plane leaves here at 7 am on Saturday arriving in Ptown on Sat at like 1pm. I cant wait. Hope to see you all next week!

Well winter is here

That's right folks. Winter is here in the big city. It has been snowing and icing all day. There wass about 2 inches of ice when I came home about a half hour ago. Now.. who knows. Its still going out there. In true Oregon fasion I am going to run inside and hide from the scarry weather.

Frustrating days

So. My question to all the teachers out there. How do you get 25 kindergartners to sit still when you only see them once a week for 45 minutes? Between the kids who are doing cartwheels on the carpet to those who are jumping off tables, it makes me quesiton my idea to move here sometimes. Mainly Wednesdays when I have three kinder classes in a row.

I am trying to assume that they wouldn't be that way if I was their regular teacher and some authority.... I am hoping that if I was a regular teacher. That is part of the reason that I want my own classroom. But at the same time, my job would be amazing if the students respected me. It would be so fun if the students sat down and acutally listened once and a while. We shall see...

if you are going to fight do it right

Well. Two of my girls yesterday definitely decided to make this their motto. The girls got in a fight in my room yesterday. It was a knock down drag out... two hands full of each others hair. It was great. Once they finally got pulled off each other one took off with four other kids to the stairwell and the other one disappeared off the other way down the hall. After calling security, I got back to my class. When the phone rang I assumed it was security.
Nope. It was a teacher up on the fourth floor (one floor up). The girls had continued their fight on the next floor up. One of the girls threw a book at the other one and hit an innocent bystander in the process. Gotta love it.

If you are going to fight... do it right.

Gotta Love New York in all of it's glory

Today I experienced another one of New York City's amazing things. Guy with piss on subway. What the exact sitation was I am not sure. But as the train approached one car was full and the next was empty... always head towards the empty car so I can get a seat. WELL! As you walked onto the car you could smell it. It was horrible. Now sure if it was the guy in the middle of the car (because the only people on the car were at the ends besides this guy) or if it was the liquid on the floor but it was bad. It was so bad that I decided there was no way I was going to make it the four stops to 180th where I could transfer to the 5 train. I had to get out of this car. AT the next stop, the other three guys at my end of the car and I opened the door and went into the otehr car.

Gotta love it. But the rest of the day was spent shopping for Christmas. So far... mom, russell, eric, karen, lili and Jessica are done.

Ah the big city life...

Chasing a rooster around in front of the building before school. That's big city life for you. Wait.. rooster... o right... local killing factory about a block from school. Gotta love big city life.

Always squeeze from the bottom up..

A wise woman once said.. you should always follow the directions on the back of a tube of tooth paste... For best results, squeeze from the bottom up.

This week I was watching Oprah (don't judge) and they were talking about the book "Eat, Pray, Love." One of the underlying themes (Im assuming of the book) is to take life by the horns, which is the same theme as squeezing from the bottom up. It got me thinking...

I really want to travel this summer. I will have just finished my first year as a teacher... should have money from a grant.. and have a passion to travel. I want to combine the treat of surviving my first year in NYC along with the money I am getting and my urge to travel. Looking at prices of traveling to such places at Europe and the Caribbean it seems that you have to be rich to travel... or at least plan more than a year in advance.

But, in thinking about these two concepts together it seems that I need to find a happy medium. To me... one idea jumped out. A while ago I heard of the newest trend in vacations... Volunteer vacations. One of these organizations is i-to-i. They take your money... and help you volunteer half way around the world. I took theirplacement test thingee and it said I should look into going to Kenya to work in a school of course. How cool would that be? Travel to Kenya and spend two weeks teaching English.

Travel to another country and help others. Im ok with that. Look for updates.. who knows. Annie.... July... Kenya?

Cold in the city!

It is freaking cold in the city today. Though snow seems to not be so much fun if it doesnt freak out the kids. It snowed for an hour today and the kids went about their day. Though it was nice to be able to teach...not so fun for snow. O well...

Off to pretend I have stuff to do.

Two different feelings

Today was an interesting day. Good and bad.

Today was the first time I was totally comfortable in a kinder classroom. I go there early, set up the computers and was ready to go when the kids came in. The kids were active but not really fightening. They were sharing and playing the entire time. It was heaven. I didn't think a class could go that good.

Then... I walked into fifth grade. Those kids were insane today. I guess it was not any more than normal but meh. Its furstrating to go from such a good feeling to a headache in a half hour flat~ O well.

I think I am going to let the kids choose their projects for after christmas. Ill let you in on some of my ideas here in the near future but we shall see.

A long weekend

It was a good weekend.

The Ducks lost, but fought a good fight losing in the second overtime. Yes it was the civil war.. no I do not like my ducks to lose at home for the civil war, but they did put up a good fight considering the last two games we have played. Losing most of our starting line up and our start and back up qbs didn't help our fight but the fans back home helped the ducks to not get trampled. So all in all..not horrible.

The first snow of the season. That's right folks. I got my first NYC snow. Ok.. it was all that spectacular.. it was like 3/4 inch but that's better than the stuff that doesn't stick in Oregon. I will post a picture soon, I have to email it from my phone to my email. And because of the snow I decided that shopping when it was like 25 and snowing I got nothing done yesterday. That's right. Nothing. While I really only have two weekends left to shop I decided to stay home. I really need to get on this whole shopping thing!!! I have not gotten a single thing. O well. It happens.

Stay tuned to hear about my shopping adventures in the big city.

waking up in a fog

I have never really understood this saying. How can you wake up in a fog unless there is fog outside your window? Well... I finally made the connection this morning. I feel like crap today. I don't want to be at school and I would much rather be in bed all day and pet my kitty.

Whether this is an effect of five hours out in the cold last nigh to watch the tree lighting in Rockafeller Center or just a build up of the not so good feeling I have had all week. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. As for the fog... it was in my head. Never had that before but it was. O well. Off to work I go. Gotta love it!

spoiled

My cat is spoiled. Well..ok..its not that bad... really. Just when I went to the store yesterday to update the empty bag of cat food and cat litter...it was EXPENSIVE. Ok.. so I got her some wet food and a brush. But STILL!!! 45 dollars for all that is so expensive. Hopefully this will last me until Christmas break. I know I will have to get more before that.


Spoiled? Very much so...

A great turkey day weekend

It was a great weekend. I have had a number of firsts this weekend.

My first first of the weekend is the adventure of hitting the other two airports in New York City. I was able to fly out of LaGuardia on Thursday and I flew into Newerk this morning. That checks off all three airports in the New York City area.

My next first was Denver. I went to Denver for the holiday weekend. Now some of you are wondernig... WHY DENVER?!? Jessica, my college roommate, lives in Denver and invited me for the weekend. It was great. It was so great to see her and I can check Denver and Colorado off on my list of plaes to go. Denver was AMAZING. I love the snow, I loved the snow and cold sunny weather. It was SO beautiful.

Third on my list of firsts is a Jewish Thanksgiving. Ok... so a Jewish Thanksgiving really isn't all that different. They prayed in Herbrew but that was the only different thing. (besides sitting at a table which none of my family does but that's not really a Jewish thing...)

And while I was having a Jewish Thanksgiving, it was also my first Thankgiving without any of my family around. I did Thanksgiving with Eric's family last year but then we went to my aunts so this is the first without my family.

So that's about it for my lists of firsts.

I do have to say that I had a great weekend. It was so nice to see Jessica and spend time with her. It was also nice to see that people can have money (Jessica's family) and still be amazing people. They were interested in everything I had to say... They were impressed by me living in NYC... They were SO welcoming. It was a great weekend. I am sad that I have to get back to my real life tomorrow, almost doesn't seem real that I am teaching and I will be going back to school as a teacher tomorrow. Life is crazy. I am freaking living in NYC. I am making it on my own in a city where I knew no one. I may not have friends here so far but I can get myself to and from the airport.. I can get around the city... I can make it on my own. That is most important to me at this point.

Go me...

Mondays....

You know it's not gunna be a good day when its a Monday that does not start out good. First... didnt sleep well. Off and on all night. Second.. cold shower. Now in the summer I had shower issues but since the steam has been on it has not been an issue.... nope this morning... ICE COLD! Gotta love it. Then as much as I love the snow that is falling outside the school window right now, when I was excited about the possibility of snow yesterday I forgot the fact that I had to WALK to work in it this morning! Gotta love mondays right!?! Off to more work.

PROACTIVE AND VITACLEAR WARNING!!!

This is a warning to all yall. I recently ordered Proactive online. Well, apparently online you cannot order single orders. You enter a club and they charge your again and again. Also, the 'free' VitaClear vitamins that you get a sample of... that is also a subscription. I really dont like either of these products. First, the idea that I signed up for subscriptions without knowing it buggs me, but the way Proactive has killed my skin makes me mad.

My skin has developed horrible red acne that hurts down to the jaw bones. It was so bad that one of my kids thought I had a rash on my face. Sad Sad times. So I am sending back the vitamins (which I have to PAY for if I want my money back) and getting my money back on the Proactive.

O well. WE shall see if my skin survives.

The interesting keeps coming

Well. I am just hanging on here. Surviving. no.. no.. no... its not that bad I promise. The title of this post is the interesting keeps coming. Why you ask?
As I walked in to work and ran into my favorite custodian. Eddie, is a very nice guy. He is always making fun of me and has become my lunch buddy on my late lunch days. Bantering back and fourth has been fun. I thought nothing of it. Until yesterday. AS i was telling him about my weekend he was telling me about his. He was going to come into work for a couple of hours... basically just so he could see me. He was also talking about how he wanted to ask me to a movie. He wanted to ask me out. He even talked to his sister about it. She asked if I had a boy and Eddie said back in Oregon... she told him to go for it! OMG!!! Its crazy. He asked if I would have actually gone.. I said as a friend. It should be interesting around work.

So it's been interesting... gotta love being a girl!

An exciting turn of events.

Friday night was an interesting and exciting turn of events. Friday night I was talking to my college roommate Jessica about thanksgiving. AS you may suspect I am alone in the city. No family, very few friends. It is also WAY expensive to go home. So... Jessica invited me to Denver for the holiday. After searching and contemplating I bought a ticket to Denver and Jessica bough me one back to NYC. So Ill be headed to Denver in less than two weeks to spend the holiday with Jessica and her family. It will be super fun, a long weekend, but super fun. I have never been to Denver so... we shall see.

Just a shout out to my readers. If you leave a comment PLEASE leave your name so I know who is talking. Thanx a million! Love yall.

A weird day...

Today has been a weird day. First off. I got my NY licence today! I am offically licenced in the state of New York! Happy times.



The other part of the day was dealing with my supervisor. Today was my first offical observation of the year. It was an interesting observation. I was teaching a third grade class. The class started at 1205, but because it usually takes them some time to get back I had him come in at 1215 and he was late. He totally missed the begining of my lesson, which is fine I guess since I forgot to do something he told me to do... aka tell the students the aim of the lesson. Because he was late he needed to watch me in another class... so on the spot he decided he was going to follow me to my next class. Which was SUPER fun. I told him that I was not going into another third grade class, but a fifth grade class. But I changed my plans at the ast minute for him so he could see it again. This time it was about three kids. They were great because they totally wanted to learn about animation. So we shall see how it goes when we have our 'post conference'.

Funny comment for all you Oregonians

As I was walking into work this morning a first grade teacher walked in with me. She stated, "Wow, this must be like summer to you... being from Oregon and all." Ladies and gentleman this morning it is currently 33 degrees in my zipcode. 33 degrees to me IS NOT WARM!!!!! I kid you not. I very nicely said back... UM NO!!! Oregon is much warmer and even if it is colder I get in my car and drive to work.. I get in my car and come home from work. I don't walk ANYWHERE!!! So for those of you in Oregon who may be thinking it's warmer over here than there... UM NO! Im freezing my ass off over here!

HINT! Christmas... scarves... hats... gloves... warm socks...space heater.. all that good stuff

Professional Development

It was a professional development here in the great city of New York. That means that the students got the day off and teachers spent the day in meetings.

Today I was lumped with the k-2 teachers. This is all good, they are a good group of people. But at the same time.. I wonder if there would have been a better more productive place for me. The entire day was centered around data.. how to read and use data from tests to help students. Now see. I have 400+ students, I don't have their test data. I also do not test them. So data you ask.. o right. I have none. So when they were talking about grouping students for reading and reading centers.. I got nothing. Then we moved on to data and math. Again..nothing. Then after lunch is was reading some more.. again NOTHING!!! Basically the entire day I sat listening and doing lesson plans. During the last session the assistant principal started asking me if I wanted to do technology forever. I told her that I would rather integrate technology into my classes but I am happy where I am for now. She also stated that this must be hard for me to do since I do not currently teach reading. I think she was probing. Shes not the first to do it, so it should be interesting.

I do hope to have my own classroom next year. I cant wait to teach my own class. To be able to know my kids as well as these teachers know their kids. I cannot wait. I love my technology job, don't get me wrong, so it will be an interesting year.

Ok... back to the salt mines.. or my computer game. We shall see.

Im in love..

National Galery of Art game called Brushster is amazing. I want to use it with my kids... damn internet. grrrr...

Mondays are a bummer (STATIONS)

Tuesday's only fair. Wednesday's getting better...Thursday's almost there...

Ok. Its only Tuesday but today was WAY better than yesterday. Monday was a BADD day. Between it being Monday, the high stake testing in the morning, and Halloween week, Monday was such a bad day. The kids just would not listen... they were not even reading what I gave them.

This week I started a new leaf with the kids. We are trying stations. There are three or four stations that the kids are working on. I thought it was a GREAT idea. The kids... well. I think it is a change that they are not so willing to go with. A change in routine seems to throw them off totally. Next week is going to be interesting for them.

They are going to start being held accountable for their work. Each class period students are going to get a grade. It might be a check or a minus or a plus but each time they are in my class they will get one. This will help keep them accountable. Some of the kids are going to be confused when they find out they are failing technology.

As for the stations. students will be at one station for two class periods. The stations include:

• story starters. writing their own story starters which will evolve into writing a story with another groups starters
• vocabulary words in inspiration. defining their weekly vocabulary words on the computer making a long list that we can print
• powerpint. students are changing a pre-made slide into a unique slide. showing basic skills in powerpoint.
• typing. Students are using the internet to practice their touch typing skills.

Like I said, I think these are great ways to use the skills that we have aquired so far this year. As they get used to the stations, I can change the activites to reflect new programs. That way the old stations studetns will know what to do and I can teach to a small group. Hopefully this works. I will keep you updated.

As for Tuesday. Tuesday was a good day minus my worst class. What am I supposed to do when students run out of class? There really is nothing I can do but let them go because I have 20 other kids in the room that need to be tended to.

Later yall.

Begging for more picts

Hey yall. So I had a request for more pictures of the apartment. You will have to wait.. I am too lazy to get out the camera and hook it up and all that good stuff. So wait. Its just about clean so when it is perfect I will hook yall up.

As for my weekend. It was a goood weekend.

Saturday was filled with the usual Manhattan adventures. Kira and I headed towards a new theater to see the new movie "Dan In Real Life". It was a GREAT movie. The plot was a little like The Family Stone, but a different prospective and better acting. The characters in this movie fit together so well it was amazing. The theater we went to was SO nice. Because we saw a new movie it was in the HUGE theater. This theater had a mezzanine level where we sat. It was SO awesome.

After the movie I spoiled Kira's shopping plans and invited her to watch the UO Duck game with me at a local bar. It was a lot of fun with the fanatic people that usually are drunk at games being drunk next to me 3,000 miles away from Autzen! After the game we parted and headed home but it was a GREAT day.

My Sunday has actually been a productive day. I was up by like 730 and went for some essential groceries. After that I did laundry. I was done with laundry and home by noon. What to do with the rest of my day? Clean the house! I spent the rest of my day cleaning my house. Between the like 7 small bags of garbage and the massive amount of cat hair from the floor, it was a BIG job that's not all the way over quite yet. I need to do some dishes and sweet the dining room and kitchen.

Time to head off to find some food. Hope you enjoy hearing about my adventures... however lame they might be. Later yall

Freaking out

So. Gotta love the city and their data driven ways.

Everything in this city is all abotu the numbers. This is true for many things. One of these things is the survey that was given last spring. With the dismal number of students, parents and even staff that filled out the actual survey, the results were not good. What they actually were... we are not sure yet but we were given tiny parts of information.

One of these things is that the parents believe that the information about home are not making it to school and being integrated into the students education. AKA If grandma was in the hospital and the students missed a couple of days because there was no one to make sure the student got to school, the teachers were not sensative to the situation.

The other part to this is that parents are not seeing what is happening at school, they only see how their kid is progressing in grades. To circumvent this problem the administration has come to the conclusion that students need to have goals. These goals need to be in every aspect of their education. English/language arts, math, art, drama, TECHNOLOGY. The principal wants to be able to show the parents who is working towards what goals with each student.

That's right. Each and every student that I work with has to have an individual goal to lead their learning. That means I need to make goals with about 400 students. That includes all of my kinder through 5th graders. Every.. single...one. This should be interesting. How am I to do this you ask... any way I want. Absoletly no direction from the higher ups. Fun.

On top of this, my direct supervisor does not actually speak to me. I guess I can't say that. He says HI to me once and a while. I guess I would think that my direct supervisor would want to meet with me, figure out what I am actually doing in the classroom... you would think. I guess I need to step up and talk to him... which of course is kinda scarry. We shall see how it goes. Wish me luck.

I had a nice long weekend... almost

It was a good weekend. I sware. Just not a good start to the week.

Saturday was filled with time in the city. After meeting Kira for a long lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen (damn good by the way) I headed out for an afternoon on the town. AKA... wasting time until the game started. By the game I mean the duck game that didn't start until 730 my time. I spent most of the time listening to my latest book on tape (or iPod as it has to be) called Ain't She Sweet? Good book so far. I ended up about 8 hours into the 10 hour book. It s a good book about a rebellious teenager who, 15 years later, returns home to a small southern town. Its good. I have been getting all my books from Audible.com. Good source, but there are a lot of British books, which I am not all that into as a listen to book. After watching the first half of the game I headed home bc of exhaustion.

After a long Saturday my Sunday was nice and short. I slept and vegged till almost 3. I didnt want to shower because of the lack of shampoo in my bathroom. After some hard willing I finally got dressed and headed towards the drug store. I poked around some and finally bought my shampoo and conditioner. Then I headed to the grocery store and got some essentials. I acutally went home and put things away. AFter finishing some lesson plans I headed to bed. A short but good day.

Ahh.. Monday morning. Gotta love it. As I waited for the water in my shower to get warm I thought about how dirty my hair was without having been washed yesteryday and how good it would feel to wash it. After climbing in the shower I wet my hair and reached down for the shampoo.... shampoo... SHAMPOO... where was the shampoo? O crap. I got two bottles of conditioner... no shampoo. CRAPOLA!!! fine.. another day towards dirty hair. Off to school I went.... o well.

Annie in the city

Life is pretty boring around my house when I have no one around after work. I don't do anything. All this stuff to do and all I want to is go home and sleep. That's how exhausting my job is. But I really need to get up and moving. If I don't get up and get moving soon, this is going to be come habit and that CANT happen. We shall see...

Ah.. its been SO long

I am SO sorry it has been so long to my loyal readers (if there are any). It has been a long couple of weeks. Between school and personal life I have not had time to sit (unless falling alseep watching tv counts)....

School has been busy like always. These kids are crazy. I knew they were going to be a challenge, but I definately have one class that is AMAZING! These kids are insanely amazing. (makes me feel good that it's my mentors class!) Then I have kinder and first, they are crazy but are good. The fourth grade is good overall... Then there is the fifth grade. Besides the angel class discribed above, the fifth grade as a whole is quite interesting. The class I just got done with is CRAZY!!! The last three times I have been in there we have had students walk out and disappear. Today it was because one couldnt ues the computers.. so he walked out and disappeared totally. gone... the teacher tried to find him and finally called security to find him. Its just crazy what can set these kids off.

The personal life stuff. Eric has actually been here for ten days now... well.. he is headed towards the airport as I type. Probably just getting on the subway. I am very sad about this. It has been a great visit. I love having him here. Someone to do stuff with.. someone to come home to. It is great. We did stuff like, the United Nations tour, we did the Staten Island Ferry, Chelsea Piers, The really flat building (cant remember the name right now), Limbardi's Pizza (OMG!!! everyone who comes here HAS GOT TO have pizza there even if I cant spell it right), a good Chinese restruant in China town. We were everywhere, but at the same time I was nice to have someone to cuddle up to when I fell asleep on the couch at 8pm bc it was such a long day.

Will he move? Not sure yet. Still depends on when he gets a job. He had a bunch of informational interviews this week, some good some a waste of time, but it should be good. I cant wait to have him here in the city all the time. If he could move right now he could get the apartment under me and we would be living super close. But with rent being as much as he has total in his savings that wouldnt work out well. O well. We shall see.

My lunch break is just about over so I should scoot towards the resst of my day. At least I have fourth grade the rest of the day. They tend to do good... laters

quick lunch post

Wow.. question. when did side pony tails come back into style? It seems that everyone in NYC wears them and they are SO cool. just asking....

A Day in the City

It was a great day in the city today. The day started off with weird dreams. Everything from a weird dream about a new sport to a high school joke coming true... weird. dont ask...
Next I headed into the city, aka Manhattan, for a movie. My friend and I saw "Good Luck Chuck". The BEST thing ever happened. For the first time ever I got carded for a rated R movie. After buying out tickets we proceded to the ticket taker old man who was hunched over he took them and in his horse voice "can I see ID? Its a rated R movie." So poping out our id's and laughing we proceded into the theater. Only minutes later did a girl and her mom walk in... the girl being no more than like 10 MAYYYBE 11. OMG! Interesting.... not really. If you love raunchy sex montages, REALLY bad acting, and the horrible best friend who cant get enough boobs, you would LOVE this movie. I have no idea who would take their child to this movie, but o well... not mine!
After the movie I headed towards the local home goodie store... The Container Store. The best store ever!!! I got a shelf for the bathroom along with some towel hangers for the bath. Then had to make a stop for cat food and Staples for more cork boards for the bedroom. Of course, living in the city without a car it was FUN to carry this all back on the subway! Good thing the container store wraps everything for carrying.
When I got home I worked and worked and worked on the house so it would look presentable. So because I spent SO much time working today I decided I need to post more pictures.

This is my entertainment center that I put together.. what you think?
The bedroom. Cork boards I just put up today and the air mattress. How bad is it that the crooked cork board is driving me nutz in this picture!?!?!
The bathroom with mynew shelf. Gotta love the duckies.
The kitchen wide angle.
The kitchen counter. Microwave and all. this is ALL the counter space I have.

Another Week

It was a pretty uneventful week. There was one over lying theme though. Save Ms. Erickson's voice. That's right. After yelling at kids for three weeks I basically lost my voice. By Friday my poor voice was giving out. Way too much yelling and talking to kids. It will be much of the same this week.

The one fun event was on Friday in a fourth grade class. As the class ended and we started to get ready to walk to lunch, from the closet came a stong stench. What I can only assume was AXE coming from a student. Which one, not really sure, but they definately sprayed WAY too much in a very small spot. BAD!!!!

O. And Eric will be here next Saturday. I am super excited. He is actually coming on a three day weekend for me. He is coming to make sure he wants to keep looking for job here (aka does ne REALLY want to live and work in the city). And also, hopefully the headhunter he's been talking to will meet with him. I can't wait to see him! Its gunna be a GREAT week. I just gotta get ahead in my school work so that I can spend every moment with him that I can. And Bri will be here in three weeks! So exciting!

laters

A week in review

It was an interesting week.

Monday. Walking into school I wanted to check and see when I had a class again, because they were not on my schedule. In doing this I relaized that the schedule I had did not match the teachers. So... heading down to the schedule goddess, she quickly filled up the holes in my schedule. Filling them with the class I was looking for and a special education class. I had no issues with this, minus the issues of traveling. (Traveling issues: out to the annex. Out to the annex includes going outside, acrossa bout 50 feet of uneven bricks, up the ramp, and through the double doors.) On Wednesday I dont mind this because I head out there and do not come back till the end of theday. On Monday however... they had me going from the annex to the third floor and back out to the annex.. all before lunch. Doesn't that sound like way fun???
Well before we move on to Tuesday... I have to tell you about my Monday class out in the annex. Well. This class is a class of three students who are very low functioning students who are third grade. This is all fine and dandy... until the student turns to me and pukes. Thats right. One student turns to me while we were sitting at the computer and puked on my arm. As I got up and ran away the poor girl kept puking and puking. All over the floor. It was so grose, but at the same time I had to keep focus and make sure the student got into the bathroom and the other two kids stayed out of the puke. It was FUN! All I have to say is that at least she didnt get any on my clothes... just my arm.

Tuesday. Tuesday was ok. It was inspiring to me as the tech teacher. I talked to the person above me when it comes to technology. I asked for flashdrives for all of my computers and she said yes right away. Thats so good. So hopefully I will get them soon so we can start using them as we start to do projects. We shall see how it goes. I also learned that I need to have lesson plans for each lesson that I teach. These lesson plans are not .. this is what I am going to do. These lesson plans are like they make you do in college. The fun exception for me is that I get to do this for each lesson AND make sure it is different for each different assistant principal that I have. Thats right... three different formats. Doesn't that sound like fun!? O yes!

Wednesday... it was not bad at all. It was just a long day. We had a fire drill today. I could not believe how quickly we got all 1,300 kids out of the building. It was quick.. it was easy. Best fire drill I have ever seen. I was very impressed. After the fire drill I went about my day. Good over all. Not much to report besides the fact that it was my Friday. That's right, Thursday and Friday are days off this week because of a Jewish holiday. Score.

So. Thursday I waited around the apartment for my couch to FINALLY show up.. instead they called me at 1 pm and said it wasnt coming because they had a driver call in sick. The guy asked if that was ok.. I went postal on him. What am I supposed to do? Did I really have a choice?!? i guess not. So because my couch was not coming I decided to go get a haircut. I have wanted a haircut since the last time one that I got. So, I figured I would try the SuperCuts down in Manhatten because at least they might now white girl hair. Wrong!!! All I have to say is it is WAY too short. WAy WAY WAY too short. So short and horrible I am not taking any pictures for like a month!

Friday... Friday I finally got my couch and set it up. Its nice but I am still getting used to the stiffness. Then I ventured out to get some shot glasses to finish the 12 in my collection on my wall. Then I headed towards the movie theater. I saw a rather interesting movie about social groups, one in particular in the country outside NYC. The main character uses it as a study of different cultures. Its an interesting movie, but I would not recommend it to anyone.

Saturday.. Today has been a day of rest. I have done nothing of importance. Literally. Besides this blog! Thats it! O well.

Im off to veg and find some dinner. Chat you later

September 11th in New York

Around the city today it has been a day of remberence. This morning my school observed 4 minutes of scilence, like the entire city. One minute for each plane that hit and one minute for each tower that fell. It is hard to believe its been six years since the tragity happened. Days like today make you realize just how much you have done. Sept 11th is one of the life changing days that you will always know and is a bookmark in a life.

For me, I was a senior in high school. I remember they had been hit by the time I got up and by the time I got to school both towers had fell. I remember my high school physics teacher trying to get us to turn off the tv.. to pay attention to class. Needless to say it didnt work. I will forever remember getting to school and going between the band room, chemestry room and the physics room checking on different channels.

But more than the memories I have, I have a bookmark in my life. High school graduation didn't really give the POP that you think it will (I'll dive more into the POP of life later...) but more than anything it was another day. But September 11th made life so different. Each year I think "Wow.. another year..." Like today, six years. Six years since..everything!

Last night of freedom...

Tonight is the last night before I become Ms. Erickson. For the last two years I have been walking into classrooms of other people, helping out and living by their rules. Although I do not have my own classroom, tomorrow I will be a teacher. The students will see me as a teacher, as a staff member.

I am totally freaked out and excited at the same time. I am going back and forth about whether I am sad about not having my own classroom. I am sad... I have been working towards my own clasroom for so long, but I am also excited to do technology. Technology, to me, is very important to round out the whole child and if I can share that with both the students and my fellow staff members I will have done my job. In the future I really want my own classroom, and hopefully those that be know that and will watch my potential carefully.

As for tomorrow. I will update you on how it goes and what I will actually be doing. Wish me luck and watch for updates.

~Ms. Erickson!

Knowing The Self

As we enter college, we think... I know myself. There is nothing that I do not know....
As we leave college, we think... I know myself. There is nothing that I do not know....

Then we step into the real world.

Over the last weeks, you all know, I have been experiencing a paradigm shift. I have stepped away from all that I know, into a new world. A world that is so different... the people around me (being the only white girl on the subway), the idea that all kids can and will learn (much different than what I saw at most Oregon schools), and the lack of friends around to comfort me and spend time with.

Looking at these three shifts, each seems to warrant some writing time.

On the New York City subway you can tell where you are by the people on the train. In the Bronx, the black and Hispanic people that surround you, mostly speak Spanish and always look tired from a long days work. Whether they are coming or going, it is hard to tell but they mostly friendly to the out of place white girl. As you ride south from the Bronx, into the city, the crowd seems to look more cheerful, whiter and seem to all wear suits. After hitting about 72nd street you know (after a while) who is and is not a tourist. After all, the two train goes straight into Times Square.

The message that I keep getting around here, from my principal, the training specialists, and the chancellor is: all children can learn. In Oregon it was all about testing, making sure the teacher does their job and then making sure that the kids are passing their tests. Maybe i was not privy to the opening staff meeting where teachers were given the 'here we go speech' but it seems that , although we need to get our test scores up, it is more about the child learning and making sure the child has learned rather than just passing some tests. The vibe I get over here just seems so different... it happens because everything here is so different.

The lack of friends around here is so different for me. I have known since high school that I am not good at making friends, my freshman year in college I seemed to come out of it realizing that I had no real friends, ones that I would hang onto. This is why I became an RA. Resident Assistant meant live in friends, people who were paid to hang out with me basically. This worked... I have Eric, I have Meghan and Colleen. Good friends that came from a forced situation. Living with Jess made it a good, but I knew that I was not going to hang out with her friends because I was socially awkward. I knew it.. it happens. But here. Here there are no social networks, such as RA live in friends, that I have.

I guess my point through all of this is that: I have no idea who I am. I look at the people on the subway and wish I was them. Better looking legs, better hair, reading a more intellectual book, having friends to hang out with. I wish I was all of them. At 23 I have realized I have no idea who I am. No I am not talking about professionally, as some do, I have no idea who I am personally. I have no idea what I like to do... at least stuff that I can do alone or in groups. One other person I am ok.. but more than that I have so many issues, and alone I am just not sure what to do with myself.

I am trying to make a change. This is my resolution. I want to take art classes... pottery or painting. I want to develop something besides my insecurities. Hey, maybe I will actually make some friends. Also I want to take some Spanish classes, so that I can actually speak to my students and give me a leg up in the teaching game.

Am I the person I want to be? No. Can I work towards being that person? Hopefully. Life is going to change. Starting now. I want to live for today and tomorrow. We shall see. Keep checking back for updates.

Frustration

As I embark on my adventures in New York City, I seem to keep saying... when school starts... when payday comes.... when I make friends... this really worries me. I have been saying when... statements all my life. When high school is over... when I go to college... when I go to NYC...

I seem to keep living in the future. I did this through out college and look where it got me.... not so many friends throughout most of college....... So many questions about how my life would have been different in college if I had actually gone out my freshman year and all the other times that I could have done things different.

The reason I bring this up is because of the new chapter that I am starting in my life. NYC is kinda a big place and I want to make the right impression, but at the same time I am not sure how to go about it. I called the girl I met last week and she hasn't called back.. why... I am not sure. We shall see.. it also seems that all of the 'new' teachers at my school are new to the school and the profession but not really right out of college.. aka not my age. It should be interesting.

In talking to my principal today (well... depends on what you call talking. she was talking to the other person in the room) it seems that I will be more of a technology coach rather that a technology teacher. That excites me. I am so excited to be able to show people technology and how it can enhance their classrooms. Although I would say that I am not jealous of others setting up their classrooms, but we shall see.

Ahhh.. the ramblings of a blogger.. laters y'all

Time to update!

Sorry to all of you out there that are actually reading my blog! I have been a horrible person who has not update in a while. Life in New York is going well. The past three days I have been in city wide orientation with teachers from all over the city of NY. Its definitely an eye opener to walk into a room with 3000 other teachers and realize that we are all new, when districts in Oregon are likely to not even have that many teachers all together. But I guess the biggest fact that they said yesterday is the 1.1 million students that will be in the NYC public schools this year. 1.1 million... holy crap!

As for the apartment, its coming along very slowly. Mom sent some of my boxes from home today, so hopefully I will have some more to decorate with. My apartment is still very empty... my first piece of ordered stuff came today. Ironically it was the bookshelf I ordered on Tuesday, rather than the stuff I ordered over a week ago. I have done NOTHING today because I have been waiting for UPS to show up with my TV and my rug. I will be SO happy to finally get a tv... I have the cable guy scheduled for tomorrow morning so my stuff better come today... with it being 6:50 pm I am getting a littttle worried! We shall see. See... I still have only an air mattress in the apartment so I cannot wait for something else to sit on!

The best thing in the world from home comes tomorrow (besides Eric of course) SUZIE!!! Suzie will be arriving tomorrow morning at 730 am... which means I will be up and out of my apartment by 530... but I am SO happy to finally get her. I miss her so much and am SO excited to get her. I kept trying to tell Eric I would give him the cash if he flew her out, but it didn't fly with his not having a job, without having money, and not having parents that will help him with moving expenses when the time comes. Sad but I shall have to live. I will jsut be excited to have the kitty here with me. Someone to cuddle up with at night, as long as she doesn't pop the air mattress!!!!

That's how life is here. I hope that ya'll are enjoying the end of the summer. Don't forget to email me updates, incase some of you out there (who talked to me before I left) have went and got new jobs and all..... laters

Pictures

Pictures of the Apartment.

In front of the apartment. (eveyone say mcdonalds) Looking out the bedroom.
Looking out of the kitchen towards the eating area/ entry way
bathroom
kitchen

new york new york

I made it! I am in the big apple and not leaving. The last two days have consisted of many hours on the subway from Manhatten up to the Bronx. Three apartments later I put down a deposit on an apartment today.

The first apartment we saw was a studio for 850 a month. It was small but it would have worked for just me. It was plenty close to school but mom and I did not want to take the first place we saw. Which makes total sense. The next place we looked at was a one bedroom apartment for 1100 which is not bad. It is actually a little bigger than my Eugene apartment jsut because of a different layout. After not wanting to take the second one we looked at we headed home (to the hotel). I looked again on craigs list last night, found a few more and called this morning. AFter etting a hold of only one of them we went to find it... still close to school but it was a two bedroom for 1450, which with just me as this point, was too much.

After that I decided, with mom's help, that having a landloard who was less concerned with credit than with a 'quiet' tenet I would take the one bedroom. It is a little farther from school, a quick bus ride every day but it is nice.

So I called the landloard and told him that I would take it. We frantically went to find an atm that would give me enough money then money orders to go with that, then headed back up to sign the papers. Sadly the landlaord did not have the lease papers for me to sign so I didnt do that and mom didnt want me to give him the total first months rent and deposit until I sign the papers. I gave him a 200 dollar deposit instead and we have to go back AGAIN tomorrow.

On a side note, I miss Eugene and Oregon, in general, landloards who do not stick their noses into your business. I was explaining that I probably wouldnt put stuff into the aparment until the end of the weekend because we had the hotel and he went off about how there is no need to stay in the hotel if we have the apartment.... minus the lack of sleeping equiptment in the apartment and the other fact that mom doesnt get a refund from the hotel... O well.

For those of you that are wondering... my new address is....
Annie Erickson
666 Mace Avenue #2R
Bronx, NY 10467-7624

So there it is. I am a New Yorker now. OMG! Look for more updates and I get closer to the school year.