Wow. *wipes off the dust that her live journal has collected* Okay! So, I am…a teacher. A very busy one. Thus, my journal has been neglected. I have pictures of my classroom. I hope to post them soon.

Um… to saaay… *thinks* I’m busy!! ^_____^;;;;

School is going okay I suppose. My kids know the rules.. they just don’t always follow them. I make them move down the behavior ladder. I have raised my voice so much I have come home with a sore throat. I’m doing all I know to do. Apparently, one day it will just “click” with them and all will be well. (Hopefully. This is what my KTIP resource teacher told me anyway.)

I don’t necessarily agree with the way everything is done at school. The things involving my kids anyway. I am team teaching with two other teachers who have different ways of doing things. That’s fine. Everyone is different. One of them has tried to convince me that if the kids called me “Ms. Bratcher” instead of “Ms. Ashley” that any behavior problems I have would go away. Apparently she feels that she earned her college degree and the right to be called Mrs. She-Who-I-Will-Not-Name and I should feel the same way she does. Well, I don’t. So there.
Our kids switch classes. So, I have all my second graders and 2 thirs graders for literacy (reading and writing). I have kids were are very low. Some of them can’t read or write very well. I’m not complaining, but grouping the kids based on ability was supposed to make it better for the kids and teachers too. It’s not really. I might as well just have my whole homeroom and not even switch kids with the other teachers because I don’t see what the difference is. Oh well. We lose so much time in switching classes.

Then there is recess. I don’t believe in taking a kid’s recess away. I don’t think that a kid should have to sit all by themselves in the cafeteria just because they moved down the behavior ladder more than once in a week while all the other kids get to eat in the classroom. Kids move down the ladder every day and they don’t have to sit by themselves, so why on Friday when we eat in the classroom? It makes no sense to me, but the two teachers I work with make their kids sit by themselves…

It’ll get better. So far, my first month of teaching has included me testing kids like crazy, not having a clue what to teach, and being stressed out. It will get better, but I hope it gets better sooner rather than later.

And then I killed my fish. Or, the water killed my fish. Something killed the fish. I have a clean, empty fish tank full of water at school. I hope to buy a few fish tonight. Flashy is still alive though. There are moments where I feel like I’m dying and moments where Colin feels like he is dying. I’m putting it rather dramatically, but it’s funny how this summer I was stressed out about not having a job, and now I am stressed out about having a job. ^__^; Funny.

I’ve been working on my class website. When it’s done, I’ll post the link (and hopefully, those pictures of my classroom too!).

Bye bye for now. I shall return again…one day! ^_______^

okay so last time i wrote here was….well i don’t know when. i guess i could check. naw. anyway this is going to be short. colin and katee are in the pool. i just got out a lil bit ago. yep. we’re at my house. my blazer started having some dying spills. (it actually died at a major intersection in lexington. luckily, no one was behind me and i was able to get the wheel to turn just enough to get out of the intersection.)

so, jason and lindsay came to visit. yay! that was a lot of fun. gosh, i don’t even know if i remember what all we did. mammoth cave, jungle golf, kings island, frankfort, my house, lots! i got sunburned a tiny bit, but i think it’s better now. ^___^; it was nice for me and colin to hang out with other people for a change. ^___^;

oh, while jason and lindsey were here i had an interview. it went super really well. they even took me on a tour of the school. no one has done that so far. i’m trying not to get my hopes up, but the PSA kept saying things like “well this might be the room you would have,” and “if you need anything technology related, this is the person to go to.” there were 2 2/3 grade teachers (who’d i be teaching with), the PSA, the principal, and a special ed. teacher at the interview. it lasted about an hour. we all laughed and had a good time. the principal laughed when i told them i like to be organized and color code things. apparently, the PSA is a big color coder herself and is trying to get the principal to color code his things. ^____^ so we all had a good time talking about that. he said they’d make a decision by the end of next week. maybe i’ll get a good phone call back. oh, the school was james lane allen elementary. in a much better part of town than the other 2 schools i went to. really nice school.

i have another interview next tuesday at dixie elementary. the principal sounded super nice on the phone. maybe i’ll hear back from JLA before that interview. jessica got her first rejection phone call from a school she really liked. she’s thinking she might have to substitute in order to get her foot in the door. someone at her apartment complex told her it was hard to get in at fayette county. we’ll see.

a little gray kitten came up at our house. my mom fed it, but it’s bottom was wet so my mom thought it must be sick. guess it was. it died. ;___; it was an adorable little gray fuzzball. pouncy and pokie are doing quite well. oh! i have to shower! bye!!!