I love my job!!!

Well, that pretty much describes how I feel about teaching. I literally forget that I'm getting paid most of the time until pay day comes and I remember..."Oh yeah. They pay me to do this!" Now I don't want you to think that there haven't been stressful days but 95% of the time it is a good day. My kids are great and quick to learn. It takes a lot and my hours don't end at 4:00 PM because there is still so much to do but I feel accomplished at the end of the day, like I've made a difference. I've been working closely with one of our small group autism teachers and we have two boys coming to our class a couple of times a day. They are great and I'm so glad to have them be a part of my class and to see my kids learn to love and appreciate them. Special Education is so near and dear to my heart because of my little sister Briana and I'm excited for the day when I can go back and get my special ed degree. I'm also glad that we have decided to have kids next year after I finish my first year of teaching. I don't know how I could be a first year teacher and be pregnant or a have kid.... that would be really hard. At least I have this year to get my feet on the ground and stock up my files:)
I had a sub for a half day this last week while I attended some training about our reading program. I would much rather teach while being sick then make a substitute plan..... it is so much more work because I can't just fill in the blanks when I get there. I do appreciate subs though because they have to interpret what I'm trying to write down:) Anywho, I feel so blessed to have my job and grateful for the talents that Heavenly Father has blessed me with!

All the controversy...

I just read President Obama's speech for students that he will give tomorrow and I am impressed. I understand people's fears of it being politically directed but I'm am impressed that the White House released it a day early so that everyone had a chance to read it and make their own decision. My school isn't watching it because we didn't really have enough time to get word out to the parents so that they could have the option to keep their kids home or send them to school, but I'm sure that if we would have had a bit more time we might have been able to show it to whoever wanted to watch it. (I am disappointed that the White House couldn't have let educators know about this a couple of weeks ago so that we could have done more to prepare.... that seems a little fishy to me but not a deal breaker. I really related to his remarks towards inner city students because of my experience at Dixon Middle School and the experience I continue to gain. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way that I can have my students read or see it but I'll have to talk to my principal.
I really believe that students, especially inner city school students, will benefit from this speech and I wish that they could have made this announcement a week earlier in order to give schools more time to prepare since we can't just "show" anything, whether it's from the President or not without parental permission. I'm also pretty sure that if they had given more time, more schools would be watching it tomorrow, even the ones that are staunch republican. (seriously)