September 12th

Tuesday, September 12, 2009
This week the teacher that I am working with, Rachel, had to fly back to the U.S. because her mother just had surgery and she wanted to be with her. Therefore, I am the main teacher. It is so different being the main teacher versus teaching just a couple classes and the rest of the time being an aid. In order to teach my own classes, I need to feel really prepared. Once I feel this preparedness, then I can improvise and switch up my lessons but need to feel like I am on top of things before I can be spontaneous, if that makes any sense.
Last week was intense and both Rachel and I were at school most days until at least 5 o’clock and other days until 6 or 6:30 getting ready for this week. I feel competent with making up my own lessons for Language Arts but I feel more shaky about Social Studies because I’m not as familiar with the material. There were so many little details that needed to be taken care of though, like transferring Powerschool, which is where we take attendance, record grades, etc. from Rachel’s computer to mine. We were literally working until the last couple hours before Rachel left for her flight to get things in order.
The week is going fine though, although being a real teacher is hard and tiring. You have to put on a show and stand up in front of kids all day long. You have to be super organized and flexible at the same time. Not always easy.
I’m also stressing about what I am going to do next year. I feel like I just figured out this year and now have to think about next year’s plans. I went to Google search my computer today and just had no idea where to begin. Grad school, teaching near D.C., teaching in another city in the U.S., teaching overseas? I have no idea. I feel like I have a lot of time to decide but in reality I don’t and interning does not rake in the money so I need like a real job next year. OMG.