Preliminaries

As I tried to sleep last night I worried over what this first day of meetings would be like and what meeting all of the other teachers would be like. It had been a long day and I just wanted to turn my mind off. I was a student teacher from a small town, who went to a small christian college. I had just spent the summer working sixty hours a week barely making minimum wage, just to spend most of the money I made on car repairs. I spent all of Sunday moving into my apartment and grocery shopping.

Things I worried about while trying to sleep:
Would my students like me?
Was all of this worth it?
Was I even going to be able to find a job when I finished?
Were my lesson plans going to be good enough?
Where was I going to get furniture for my apartment?
How was I going to get the furniture to my apartment?
How am I going to pay my student loans if I cant find a job?
Was the water coming out of my facet going to make me sick?
Was my friend who is now my new roommate going to like living with me?
Will she still be my friend when we are done living with each other?
Was I forgetting to do anything?
Was my alarm really going to go off in the morning?

I probably worried about more things but the ones listed were the major issues I was worrying about. I prayed that God would let everything go smoothly and help me fall asleep. He was definitively listening and he was merciful to my prayer because I fell asleep quickly after my prayer and everything the next day went perfectly.

The next day started early for me because I couldn't sleep any longer. My neck and back hurt from moving all day and I was too jittery to hardly eat. It was just meetings for today at school. I got to meet all the teachers in my district along with other faculty. I was relieved to see that everyone was so nice and accepting. I meet more people then I remember and learned more in one day then I did in an entire semester of an education class. I learned to my intense relief that the school I was at really did care about the students as individuals and not just the test scores they produce. My cooperating teacher still seems pleasant which is nice because i was dreading having a horrible cooperating teacher.

After a long drawn out two in a half hour meeting about the changes initiated last year and about the new changes that are going to be initiated this year. We meet with the social studies department for our district after that. This is where I learned a ton. After all of that I was done by one and left to my own devices. Instead of continuing to unpack I'm off to visit with friends I haven't seen for a while. I will leave you with my goals for the next semester and after.

My goals: In no particular order
1. be the best teacher I can be
2. Don't go crazy
3. Maintain a healthy social life (which for me, means don't be a hermit)
4. Better my relationship with God
5. Do not procrastinate
6. Find a Job
7. Eat healthier

That's it for now I will let you know how things go later.
~Abby

P.S. I should probably tell you what I'm teaching and my general location.
I am teaching three sections of Psychology and one section of government and My general location is the southern suburbs of Chicago.

P.P.S. I love dressing professionally