fourteen weeks to go

today ... better. tgif. so body-tired that i crashed as soon as i got home. fell face-forward onto the bed and slept till dinnertime. got scolded this morning (again) - c. did not like my lesson plan (which sucks because if i may be conceited for two seconds, i make really excellent lesson plans, usually.) but if nothing else, my evaluation is going to say that i accept constructive criticism well and that i am a damn quick learner.

anyway i worked really hard to make up for my sucky LP (the lesson itself was good, but the format was incorrect) and i got my first compliment from c., ever - she said i handled morning business really well. my opinion is that any monkey could do mb, so that was nice but not that important. but at the end of the day she told me she's happy with the way the week went (COULD HAVE FOOLED ME, quite honestly) but she said i show a lot of initiative (which may be the first time anyone has EVER told me that) and that she's pleased because i've been quick to pick up new things. we discussed my weaknesses first - organization, planning, things like that. then she said her UP ST had the opposite problem - she was a great planner but had poor execution skills. then c. said she thinks it's better to have my strength (if you had to pick one) - the ability to hit the ground running and improvise with the kids. which is not to say i'm not going to have to improve - fast - on the organization and planning and whatnot. i have miles to go in that department. but it was nice to be told that she was confident that i could handle the class in her absence.

i asked her if she was ultra-organized by nature - she said it's just the way she prefers to do her job. other people can teach in a mess or surrounded by stacks of unpacked boxes, but it's just not her style. so she acknowledges that all teachers are different and that you're not evil if you're a semi-slob, but AGAIN, it is not an option to bring my own style to the table here, because it's watch and learn, not a potluck. this may be a little troublesome when i add art and music blocks, we'll see.

for now, thank god for the weekend. i need to wash all my clothes, generate aesthetically pleasing lesson plans, send a trillion e-mails, catch up on so many other areas of my life. try cranking out some writing. i miss reading (non-textbooks) SO MUCH. whoever invented weekends, i love you.

14 weeks to go!