Monday, October 26, 2015

What's New?

The past few months have been some interesting ones for us.  We have had our fair share of challenges and trials but we are getting through it.  We have been living apart since mid July [so a little over three months now..] because I started my first teaching job in Snowflake.  Devin has stayed in the valley and we've been commuting to see each other on weekends.  He stayed because we signed a year lease on our apartment because moving back to Snowflake was never in our plans.  But plans change and I truly believe things happen for a reason.  Our lease is finally up NEXT WEEKEND so we'll be moving the rest of our stuff to Snowflake.  We decided to take the job in Snowflake as a chance to live rent free for a few years and get Devin done with his associates so that he can transfer to a university easier.  We've been packing up our apartment together over the last few weekends and are ready for the move next weekend.

Now, about my job... First of all, I love teaching.  I have a great class and 2nd grade is my favorite age.  I love the curriculum and what I get to teach them about and I love how they are at the age where learning is [most of the time] fun and exciting!  They are still young enough that they love to draw me pictures and give me hugs but they're also old enough to really learn and ponder things which is exciting to watch as a teacher!


I love being a teacher and having my own classroom but this year has definitely been NOTHING like I imagined my first year would be... To say it has been the most stressful, nightmarish, and frustrating few months of my life would be an understatement.  I didn't get into my classroom until the NIGHT BEFORE school started so I hardly had anything organized or ready for kids.  Pretty much up until this last week, I have been playing catch up with things I should have had ready before the year even started AS WELL as trying to stay on track with my daily routine of teaching.  This last week was the first week that I finally felt like things were starting to fall into place, I was able to breath and finally get a little bit ahead with my planning.  Our school is a huge construction zone and our playground is a tiny, make-shift playground full of dirt [m u d] and a few toys so when 3 classes at a time are out there, it is kind of complete chaos.  We don't have a lunch room or anywhere for students to eat lunch other than the sidewalk on good weather days and MY CLASSROOM when it is rainy or windy.  So that eliminates prep time during the day which makes my days so much longer.  My students do a really good job with indoor recess [most days] so I am super grateful that they are so awesome.  I would have quit a long time ago if I had to deal with a psycho class on top of everything else so they have been a huge blessing for me.  I love them lots! :)  I am the only 2nd grade teacher so I don't have a team to collaborate with which is hard.  There are a few other teachers who are great and we bounce ideas off of each other every once in a while but we all teach different grades and therefore have different things going on so we really can't collaborate much.  Teaching is such a collaborate profession where teachers help and share with each other all the time but not having anyone else at the same grade level makes that difficult so my life has been saved by Pinterest and Teacher Pay Teachers this year.  The only benefit to Dev and I being apart for the last few months has been that I have been able to stay at school as late as I want everyday which is the only way I have survived.  BUT despite it all, I truly have been enjoying being a teacher and I have been trying really hard to still find the positive in these situations because even if it is hard to find, there is always something positive to find if you are willing to look. :)

July 2015





September 2015


 Hiking Superstition Mountain



 Hiking and camping at Fossil Springs with Cole and Shantel








October 2015


My 25th birthday at Texas Roadhouse with Jeff and Dani and Kylie and Clayton

1 comment:

  1. Teaching is SO hard but so rewarding! It's so great to hear that you have a good class- that makes all the difference! Even though I teach all grades K-5, I think might be my favorite. Miss you Tam!

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