Feeling better, yay!

Oh my goodness! The flu sucks. I feel so much better today -- I am so grateful that I was able to stay home and rest yesterday. What a difference it makes when you can take a day and rest! I still feel weak, but I no longer feel as if every inch of me is a raw nerve. Body aches = not fun.

Today I sucked it up and spend the morning at the high school. I'm so glad I felt well enough -- I love the time I spend there observing as part of my coursework. It is great to see teens so filled with conviction! I absolutely LOVE when they debate a topic! They are really intelligent teens, but it is really striking home how young they really are. One moment they say something really insightful, the next they utter a statement that makes you realize how much they do not know yet. I remember thinking I knew so much when I was that age! Compared to what I know now at 38, I knew nothing. Now I sound like a grandmother.... maybe you know what I mean though?

I teach my first lesson next week. It will be a simple, read / reflect activity (dictated by my classwork for one of my courses). I'm excited and grateful -- my cooperating teacher who I am observing gave me some good ideas so that my lesson ties into the coursework. Tonight I need to do 2 lesson plans for my other class. Hopefully I can be awesome at what I produce -- there are some really sharp people in my class and I want to impress. We have to bring copies for the entire class, so when everyone puts forth their best effort we all end up with some great work to use and recycle for our future classrooms. I love when we do things like this. It only makes sense to share ideas.

Wish me luck! I love these classes that I'm taking. The "methods" classes of teaching are so much more exciting and energizing that the foundation and theory classes. I can't wait to student teach -- the conflicts of work and school make things hectic right now. It is hard to put my all into classes while still juggling the job (and raising my own kids!). It will be such a blessing to just student teach -- I know it will wear me out, but at least I won't be trying to work a full time job at the same time. It will be a relief to have ONE focus outside of the home vs. two. My work and school responsibilities conflict so often... I won't miss these conflicts when I get a full time teaching gig someday...