Happy New Year!

It’s New Year’s Eve!! Yay!

This is the first year I’ve spent the holiday by myself. My parents are out of town and most of my friends had previous plans or didn’t feel like going out (I didn’t either!) Some people might think it’s pathetic to spend NYE alone, but I don’t mind it. I get to watch a marathon of Harry Potter movies and eat my favorite foods. Tonight I made Jalapeno Popper Chicken (recipe review to come…I think). I also love the freedom to reflect on this past year and think about the year to come.

To be honest, I’m happy to see 2012 end. It was a rough year.

Poetry...will you help me get a job?

I had an interview this week followed up by a call-back! Holler I made it to round 2 and THEN they asked me to come back and demo a lesson.


Talk about walking on cloud 9! I know that I'm passionate about teaching and that I'm weird because I like working with junior high students. Actually I enjoy working with junior highers. It's nice to know that somebody else recognizes that and is interested in knowing more about me :)


For the demo lesson I am required to teach an 8th grade poetry lesson based on the state standards. I've received conflicting information on the times. The AP secretary told me 30 minutes and the district sent me an email asking for 15 "to allow for questions afterward." Eh I'll shoot for about 20-25. Honestly if they read my lesson plan I have a hard time imagining that they will even need to ask questions!


Kidding.


But on a serious note, this is the most detailed lesson plan I have ever written. Granted I've had two days to work on it and I'm not presenting till Monday for a total of four days on ONE lesson plan.


When I was student teaching I had to turn in a WEEKS worth of lesson plans for both my preps. That accounted to 10 lesson plans every week. Most of which I wrote in one evening with a glass of wine in my hand. I'm not saying I didn't give it a lot of thought but I certainly didn't write 2 page lesson plans. I did my best to stretch it to one page. There wasn't time for me to explain all the nuances of my teaching style. I put together a basic outline and that was it. I still had essays to grade! 


Anyway, I'm really excited about the lesson I've put together and I'm looking forward to presenting it although I'm a bit nervous. I've never really "demoed" a lesson before-- I think teaching it would be easier!