Week #1

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." - Atticus Finch

    It's going to be a short one today folks. I've had a long couple of days and just took some Benadryl for my, still itching, bee sting. It only itches if I've been on my feet for long periods...well, maybe about thirty minutes. Stupid bee.

    Well, we've been here for our first full week now. Everyone seems to be starting to settle in: me, Daniel, Miya, and the boo-bahs. Our little place is starting to look like a home, which is terribly nice. I still want to wait to show you pictures until we've completely unpacked. Daniel still has a few boxes out because he's been working with that musical group in Boston and his deadline was this week. Still, things are coming together. We have a little love seat and a nice furry rug, something other than stone to walk on. Somehow, we've managed to find a place for everything.

    I started my summer teaching job for The Institute of Reading Development. I was really anxious to start this training. I honestly just don't like big changes and training for a new job is always stressful for me. Still, I think I'll do just fine. I don't like for-profit educational programs - something about treating students as profit centers itches my brain. Also, my lessons are all scripted. My basic autonomous role lies in classroom management and even that is pretty scripted. It's okay though. I get to work with a really wide range of student ages (which I don't get when I start working within secondary education) and the stakes are just not as high as regular school. Plus, it's only for the summer. I have to make money somehow, I suppose. The training is pretty rigorous...and by that I mean just long, tedious hours of studying curriculum and lesson plans. I've worked this Saturday, today (Sunday) and continue Phase 1 training until Friday, nine hours a day. I get Tuesday off but that's when I scheduled my lesson demonstration with PUC (more on that in a bit). Then next week I have four days where I have to drive an hour for on-site (not my normal commute this summer, just to their central location in California) training, work the nine hour schedule, and drive back another hour.... and that isn't counting traffic patterns. Then the next phase is working from home again for another week.

    That interview I had last week has progressed to the next step in the interviewing process. I was called in to teach a demonstration lesson to 6th graders this Tuesday. Yikes! I know that 6th grade is middle school here, but I haven't had to teach students that young (except when I interned for a bit in a Kindergarten class). It's a lesson about claims and evidence, forty-five minutes long...I've already revised the lesson three times. Still, I am pretty excited to get back into the classroom again. So, yeah, give me all the good luck you can spare on Tuesday. It honestly looks like a great place to work and I would be super happy (from what I've seen) to work at one of these charter schools.

   Exciting news though. We went shopping for "real" food this weekend. I am so tired of Ramen and spaghetti for every meal... call me a bad person but I really need some freaking meat. Carrots, celery, grapes, lettuce, and everything I need to make Chicken and Gnocchi soup (and yes, Nancy, I still have to send you the recipe)! Well, almost everything... for being two stories high the Wal-Mart in our neighborhood has really crappy selection. I couldn't get Spinach, Red Apples, Green Onions, Purple Onions, Cream of Tartar... or a lot of other food products there.  

    That's all the energy I have for tonight. Tomorrow promises to be another long day and then I have to prepare for the interview for the next morning. I have to drive with traffic to the place so I want to make sure I wake up pretty early that day. 

Love Brandy