Kindergartners are funny!

Natalie:  "Mrs. Traeger?  Is your baby going to be bloody when he comes out?"

Me:  "I think so, but I'm pretty sure they'll give him a bath."

*************

Antwon:  "Your belly - -  is so - -   BIG!"

Me:  "I know honey, I'm pregnant."

Antwon (with big wide eyes):  "You need to go home and rest!"

Me:  "I know!  Can you tell my boss that?"

*************

Natalie (again), comes up to my belly and whispers, 

"Hi Baby.  I hope you have a happy birthday."

***********

Summer:  "Mrs. Traeger, I know there's a baby in your belly, but I don't know how it got there."
Me:  "I don't know either!"

Dean of Students?

I haven't mentioned this to many people, but way back in October they made me the technology teacher for Kindergarten and 5th grade, in addition to my Curriculum Coach position.  At the semester, it changed to Kindergarten and 2nd grade.

A couple weeks ago, however, my principal started having me shadow our Dean of Students.

Today, I got my first opportunity to play Dean all by myself.  Our Dean of Students called me with about 20 minutes left to the school day and said she needed to go deal with some drama in middle school, but that she had a Kindergartener that really needed dealt with today.  She told me since the offense was "sexual in nature" that I need to suspend him for one day.  Here's how that went:

 

Knock, knock, knock.

“I need to see Jacob, please”

Jacob comes out into the hallway and we start walking.

“Your hair is crazy” he says. 

“Your hair’s crazy!” I say, and he immediately runs his hands through his hair.  “No I’m just kidding” I say.

I lead him into my office and tell him to sit down.

Some gold chocolate coins caught his eye instead.  “What are these?” he asks.  I respond with, “That’s candy for students who are really good in the computer lab.  Do you remember last time you were in the computer lab?”  He nods.  “Do you remember spitting on the floor?”  He shakes his head no.  “Well that behavior is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated again.”

“Your desk is really messy.  You need to organize it.”

“Jacob, I hear you misbehaved in the classroom today for Ms.  Daley.  Is that true?”

“No.”

“Really?  Because she said you pulled down your pants and mooned the class.  Do you remember that?”

“No.”  His eyes are wandering all around my office.

“Jacob, I need you to look at me.  Ms. Daley said you pulled your pants down, and since that’s not allowed, she told you to go into time out.  Then you said “no” and started drawing all over the desk.  Do you remember that?”

“No.”

“Really?  What did you draw on the desk with?”

“A marker.”

“A marker?!” I say really dramatically.

“Yeah but it washes off.”

“Why did you do that Jacob?”

“Because I was mad I got put into time out.”

“Do you think if you didn’t pull your pants down, you would’ve been put in time out?”

His eyes are wandering again.

“Jacob, I need you to look at me.”  He still hasn’t sat down.  He is standing at the front of my desk.

“Jacob, do you know what suspension means?”

“No.”

“That means your behavior was sooooooooo inappropriate that you are not allowed to come to school tomorrow.”

“I’m going to come to school tomorrow” he says.

“No, you’re not.  You’re not allowed to come to school tomorrow.  Because you pulled down your pants, and then drew on the desk when Ms. Daley put you in time out, you are not allowed to come to school tomorrow.  So today is Thursday, you can’t come to school on Friday.  But you can come back Monday.”

“I’m coming to school tomorrow.”

“No, you’re not allowed to.  Your behavior was so bad that you are not allowed to come to school tomorrow.  Ms. Robson will call your mom later and tell her.”

“I’ll tell her.”

“Well you can tell her too, but Ms. Robson is also going to call and let her know.”

“I’ll tell her.”

“Well you can tell her too, but Ms. Robson is also going to call and let her know.”

“I’ll tell her.”

“Well you can tell her too, but Ms. Robson is also going to call and let her know.”

 “So Jacob, Jacob look at me.”  He is looking at me but not at my eyes.  “Look into my eyes, Jacob,” I instruct, and he does.  “Why are you suspended tomorrow?”

“What’s suspended?” he asks.  I go over it again.

“Because I pulled down my pants and then drew on the desk.”

“That’s right.  And that behavior will never happen again, right?”

“Right.”

It was so fun - I loved it!!!

CRT, tennis, week off school

So, I love my job.  We've been in school for an entire month now, and we still don't have any textbooks for 2nd grade, nor a single math textbook for K-5.  Since I last blogged we have fired our financial bookkeeper, a secretary, and just yesterday we fired a special ed teacher.  Apparently, we're not playing around!  If we don't get more 7th graders enrolled, we might have to start letting middle school teachers go.  The thought has crossed my mind that they might need to let the middle school CRT (me!) go as well.

Our principal, Vanessa, kind of rules with fear.  I don't know if that's her intention, but I can tell you that all staff members are intimated by her.  Which, on the one hand is AWESOME because people actually respect her, and it is clearly established that what she says goes.  Compared to my former principal who had no spine, no one respected him, and no one felt supported by him, this woman is a welcomed change.  She is Hispanic and at times the ghetto in her comes out, which makes me smile, and feel like I'm home =)

I am being sent to Florida Wednesday night for Curriculum Cadre.  Just me - I'm going alone.  All the schools who are a part of Charter Schools USA are sending 1-3 people but since I have to fly there, we only get to send one.  I'm excited about the opportunity though!

Then, a week from today we get an entire week off of school.  Cherokee County has this amazing calendar that gives everyone a week off in September, November, February, and April, in addition to the two weeks off for Christmas.  I will be volunteering at Papa's that week Monday-Wednesday (they still haven't found anyone to replace me!), and then Ryan will be getting his wisdom teeth removed on Thursday so I will play nurse Traeger for the rest of the week.

I joined a tennis team!  It's basically all the wives/girlfriends of the Ryan's crew.  Today is our first match?  game?  meet?  Whatever... QUESTIONS:
"Ryan, who was your last girlfriend prior to Courtney?"  "Heather Froy"
"Courtney, who is your tennis partner for the match this weekend?"   "Heather Froy"
So that's a little strange and uncomfortable but oh well.  Tis better to make friends than enemies =)

That's all for now...

I make a lousy tour guide

Back in April, when we had the green light to open, more children signed up to be a part of Cherokee Charter Academy than we had spots for.  We initially were going to accept 700.  After seeing how many students wanted to be a part of this, we upped enrollment to 975.  We still had more students than space available so we did a lottery system. 

When the local school boards took the charter schools to the Supreme Court and won, we got the red light to open. 

On July 15, 2011, we got the green light to open as one of 7 "special charter schools" chartered by the state of GA, but were given only half the funding needed.  Gov. Deal reallocated 2.9 million dollars of funds in order to help us open.

Cherokee County schools opened two weeks before us, and many parents sent their children there with the uncertainty of whether we would open or not.  As a results, we now do not have a full capacity of enrollment, and various staff members have been calling parents on the waiting list to invite them to join us.  As a result, numerous parents are coming into the building, at all hours, wanting questions answered, and wanting tours. 

A few people from corporate, Charter Schools USA, were here earlier in the week helping give these tours, and in addition, they pulled Lorelei and I to do them too.  The past two days they have been gone, and Lorelei and I have been giving them.  From the time the day starts until well after the day ends we have been doing this.  This is not in my job description.

I do not know how our curriculum compares to Cherokee County's curriculum (I'm from IN).
I do not know how often Kindergartners have art.
I do not know how much uniforms cost (I don't have children).
I do not know what company we outsource our food service through, or what the nutritional content of our meals consist of (I bring my own lunch).
I do not know where we will get funding for next year.
I do not know why the walls in the building are "un-cheery", and need new paint.
I do not know if we will eventually get a middle school library separate form the younger grades.
I do not know if we are going to have a "gifted" program.
I do not know what sports or clubs we will offer.
I do not know how long our lease is for the building we're in.
I do not know if we will eventually add high school.

And don't get me wrong, these are GREAT questions.  And as an educator, I am impressed that we have parents who want to know the answers to these questions.  But after saying "I don't know" in every single way I know possible, I don't know how much of a service I'm being to these parents.  So I have stopped giving the tours, which means Lorelei has to do them all since she actually does know the answers, and has been with Charter Schools USA for 3 years.

Here's what I do know

(AKA top 5 reasons to send your child to CCA):

1.  The child's grade is strictly based on academic content knowledge.  Not on participation, attendance, behavior, whether he come with supplies or not, nor whether he turns in his homework or not.
2.  EVERY person in the building is an at-will employee, meaning they can be fired at any time.  There is no tenure, there is no veteran teacher who hasn't changed their lesson plans in 25 years with his feet up on the desk, and there are not even teacher contracts.  If we don't perform, we are gone.  Our livelihoods are 100% dependent on whether your child is learning or not.  What a novel concept! [PS - we hired and fired the middle school Spanish teacher in the same week]
3.  We teach character education in every class, every day, every year.
4.  We start all kids in Spanish in Kindergarten.
5.  We differentiate education.  We are not teaching to the average child - we are meeting the needs of advanced learners, struggling learners, and the average learner, all day, every day in every subject.  It is mandatory! (This is why I have a job - it's my job to help teachers do this!)

Cherokee Charter dismissal procedure -1; staff - 0

Things went smooth all day.  Really, they did!  The drop off procedure in the morning went flawlessly,  Everyone was where they were supposed to be, directing students and parents.  It was so fun to be in an elementary school.  Parents walk their kids in, take pictures, some kids are nervous and terrified and others are confident and friendly.  One first grade student brought his teacher flowers!  Watching the Kindergarten parents was the best...some had tears in their eyes. 

This one little kid was pretty frustrated though because he couldn't find his teacher's classroom.  He looked like Will Smith's kid with the most gorgeous curly hair ever.  All he knew was he is in the 2nd grade, and his teacher's name starts with a P.  Considering I don't even know all the staff members names yet, this information was not helpful.  Then, he remembered, "she has white hair, like you!"

Later in the day I was assigned to do "walk-throughs" of the 1st and 7th grade classes.  Basically we were told to go observe what was happening, and leave a positive sticky note to the teacher upon leaving.  My most exciting observation was in the 7th grade science lab.  No joke, I heard a duck quacking.  Me and this little guy both looked at each other with our mouths open.  I asked the teacher if she had a duck in there and she looked at me like I was crazy.  So we all sat in silence, and listened to this duck quack.  We determined it was in the vent, and of course by the time I had someone go take care of it, the quacking had stopped.  They never found anything.  I emailed the principal about it, her response was "lol that has to be the funniest thing yet".

And everything was all fun and games until the dismissal time came.  We don't have buses, and since we have little kids, they have to be escorted to the correct car.  We had a plan in place and had practiced it well.  About an hour before dismissal though, the Dean of Students changed the plan, and all ____ broke loose.  Each child and each car has a number.  People at the beginning of the parking lot have walkie talkies and call out the number of the cars coming up the drive.  We, on the other end, are supposed to call those numbers to dismiss.  The Dean thought we should all be in the gym for this procedure, but she didn't realize getting 600 kids from K-7 to be quiet all at once is impossible.  No one could hear the numbers being called; not the walkie talkie people, and certainly not the kids.  It was a stand still disaster.  Traffic was backed up out on the main road that leads into the school.  One woman yelled at me, "What the hell is going on?  I've been waiting an hour and 45 minutes!" and I can assure you, she had. 

Open House is Tomorrow

Open House is tomorrow morning.  School starts Monday.  Here's what the school looks like today:

This is a 3rd grade teacher's room, aka textbook storage.  Meaning = teachers don't even have their textbooks yet.  Math, across all grade levels, hasn't even shown up yet.  No textbooks what so ever have shown up yet for 2nd grade.

Here is the front hallway:

These workers seem to be doing something, yet we still don't have internet or working phones.

BUT the parents threw us a wonderful lunch today, complete with cake!  That is our logo that will be on all of our shirts.

MASS CHAOS!!!!!!

First Day on the New Job

Today was my first day on the new job.  The building we are in was a former Christian school.  It went bankrupt, and they left everything inside it.  Apparently last week teachers were told to put "Room 136" on anything they didn't want in their room.  Parent volunteers came in over the weekend and moved everything into room 136.  Room 136 is our office!

Lorelei reassured me that teachers would be coming by throughout the day to "shop" these supplies, but there were so many jammed into such a tiny space you couldn't even see what was available.  So we spent the whole morning taking things out one by one, and sorted it in the hallway by subjects:  games, math, language arts, arts and crafts, science, etc.  Here is a picture of the hallway:

Do you love the lime green  walls?  I do!  That's a new addition since I was in the building last week.  This photo may not appear  to have a lot of stuff in it, but here is a picture of the space where all this stuff was before we moved it:

Things were waist high in that entire area.

I had a little time to start to decorate my office.  My desk was originally up against the window with the seat facing the window.  But I wanted to face out of my office, and not have my back to someone who comes in.  The desk is so big it is about the only thing that can fit in the office.

View of the window:

 View from the window:

My friend Iris, who also got a position at the Charter School, called me when she got home from work at 5:45pm.  I left at the appointed time - 4:00pm.  Apparently around 4:00 the principal sent out an all-call for staff to come to the office.  When they arrived she gave them each a portion of 600 parents to call.  We are planning on having 995 students on Monday.  Only 300 have all necessary paperwork turned in.  The principal, Vanessa, said everyone's job is on the line if only 300 kids enroll!  Should be interesting...

My new job!

So on Monday I will start my new job.  It will be at Cherokee Charter Academy, and I will be a Curriculum Resource Teacher.  This charter school just got the green light to start, so they hired an entire staff last week.  I interviewed on Thursday, got hired Friday night, and they told me to start on Monday.

I told them there was no way I could.  They agreed that I could have a week left at Papa's, and then begin the following week.  Kids come starting August 15th.  I am going to be one of two CRT's.  The other lady's name is Lorelei and she has been teaching at one of these charter schools down in Florida for the past three years. We have offices!  She has the bigger one, I have the smaller one, which is fine.  We both have windows!  She said, "We drew straws yesterday and you got the short one."  Very funny. 

Saturday, I did the unthinkable.  I spent the ENTIRE afternoon at the mall.  I knew I needed an updated wardrobe for this new position, and even though I hate shopping, I tredged through it.  I actually found some really great stuff and was really excited about it.  Until I got the following email titled "Employee Dress Code": 

Logo shirts are to be worn at all times. Shirts must be a solid color, collared polo type shirt or button down dress shirt. A cardigan type of sweater with a logo may also be worn over a solid color shirt. Bottoms can be pants, skirts or Capri’s but must come down below the knee. Pants should be black, brown, gray, navy or khaki. No jean materials are allowed. Shoes must be closed toe and closed back, and you may wear tennis shoes. All clothing and shoes should be clean and neat in appearance with no tears or holes. You will receive one shirt from CCA but any others will need to be purchased.  The shirt that is purchased for you should be worn for the open house and the 1^st day of school. Logoed shirts can be purchased from All Uniform Wear. You will also have the option of buying a shirt from any store and then bringing it in to the school store .  The cost to add our logo is $5 until August 12.     You may also purchase the student shirts at the school store.  

So  I spent HOURS at the mall, totally out of my element, and I get to go return everything I just bought.  AWESOME!  Not.

My last day at Papa's is tomorrow.  To make matters worse, there still is no replacement for me.  I haven't even gotten to train anyone this week.  Not for a lacking of trying; Lynne offered the job to THREE different people this week, and they each turned it down.  Who applies, interviews, gets the position, and then turns it down?  Three people in one week!

I will be sad to leave Papa's, but this way I will be able to still volunteer there during the summer.  [insert shameless plug] Papa's Pantry is turning 13 on August 13th!  If you would like to make a MUCH NEEDED donation to Papa's in honor of this, please go to www.papaspantry.org and pay by PayPal or get the physical address to send in a check.  Thanks!!!!  While you're on the website, check out the section titled "Food Donations"  and "Community Thank Yous" - I was in charge of always updating those!

Senior Vice President of Papa's Pantry

Well, that's what I like to refer to myself as anyhow.

First week on the job was really great! 

My very first day I worked 11 hours.  We had our first ever Advisory Board meeting that night and we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off to prepare for it.  We were providing a donated dinner for everyone (about 20 people) and when the lady went to pick up the food at 4:30 from a local Mexican restaurant, they said they had no idea what she was talking about and had no food prepared for us.  The meeting was supposed to start at 5:30.  We immediately bust out in prayer, talking about "Father please continue to provide for us like You've always done..."  And of course, He did.

In fact, we bust out in prayer often.  The last day I was there training with Tina, me, Lynne, Tina, and Sandi all sat around at the end of the day and prayed.  They took turns going around the circle and each spoke for several minutes.  When it came to my turn, I said, "Uh, I pass =)"  And I know I should've just jumped in like I knew what I was doing, but I didn't.  However I also know I will have many opportunities in the future to join in.  Each one of them spoke of their conviction that my timing and me taking the job was all in God's plan for me, for Papa's Pantry, and for Tina.  And I believe them!

I have made a few mistakes... for example I deleted a message off of Lynne's voice mail, instead of re-playing it.  I only got the first 6 digits of the guy's phone number.   Ooops.  I forgot to give this lady her ID back after I made a copy of it and she left with it still in my copy machine.  Ooops.  Then I thought for sure the phone's weren't working.  I tried dialing from my office and it would ring a few times, and then make this weird noise.  I went to Lynne's office to try in there, but I got the same result.  I told Sandi I didn't think the phone lines were working and asked her for assistance.  Any way, to make a long story short, she concluded, "You're in Atlanta honey.  You gotta dial the area code."  Ooops.

In this week alone, I've vacuumed, dusted, placed, canceled, and re-placed an order to Office Depot, greeted clients, complied 187 pounds of food for a children's home, was the photographer at the Advisory Board meeting, made copies, learned how to use Microsoft Access, and gotten friendly with a Google calendar, Google Docs, and a Go Daddy email account.  I've made coffee, put out sign-in sheets, accepted donations, made client appointments, learned how to use Windows Live, rearranged tables in the Master's Training Center, gotten the mail, mailed things out, signed and accepted things from UPS, learned how to search and shop on the Atlanta Food Bank website, stocked free breads and desserts from Publix, inventoried t-shirts, and on and on and on and on..... 

You get the idea. I am constantly busy and it feels like I am juggling 32 balls at once.  Which I like, because it keeps me busy, it is not monotonous, and the people around me are great.  Not to mention, I have a 90 second commute to and from my house to Papa's Pantry.  Who can say that in Atlanta?  AND I have the most supportive fiance in the world who allows me to feed my soul with this job, instead of padding our bank account with something like teaching would pay.  I AM BLESSED!

Papa's Pantry

I was able to train last Wednesday morning from 9:30am - noon.  From those two and a half hours I typed up three complete pages of notes. 

You know how your mom always took a picture of you on your first day of school each year?  Well here is a photo of me on my first day at work:

Do I look like a secretary???

I also trained all day yesterday from 9:30am - 4:30pm.  I have not converted those notes onto my computer yet but I took a ton!  I will be doing everything from making coffee, answering phones, ordering office supplies, greeting clients, doing mailings, to fixing the copy machine.   My most important job, however, might be to let Lynne's dog out as needed to use the restroom, and then give her, Sophie, a treat when she comes back in.

At the end of the day Thursday we threw Tina, who's job I'm taking, a going away party.  Many tears were shed between Tina and Lynne.  I just happily ate cake.  Everyone loves Tina and she did such a great job there...I have BIG shoes to fill!

I start on my own Tuesday!

Teaching

I have enjoyed having this week off of school.  In Cobb County, they have one week off after every 6 weeks in.  The school year goes from August 1- May 31 and they get an entire week off in September, in November for Thanksgiving, Christmas, February, and then Spring Break in April.  This is the first year they have used this schedule, and it has already been overturned for next year by the School Board (although I'm not sure why because the teachers and kids LOVE it!)  At the beginning of the week I had thoughts of "uh-oh...I need to be working.  Being on that consistent schedule has really been good for me."  By Friday now, though, I'm back to thinking not working isn't all that bad!  I mean I was able to hit FIVE gym classes this week!

It's also been a good week because Ryan is transitioning into a new job.  He has known for a while that the LandCare side of TruGreen is being sold.  Instead of waiting around to see what his fate would be when that happened, he has been job searching since early December.  Although he got many job interviews and they all went well and left him feeling very confident, none of them panned out.  We were facing the realistic situation of both of us being possibly unemployed. I mean there was even discussion of having to move back to Indiana since I actually still do have a job there.  I told him I can eat ramen noodles, but under no circumstances will I eat pork and beans!!!!  So we are very grateful for Ryan's new career that starts March 1st with HighGrove, another landscaping business.  Ryan didn't go into the office much this week since he knows he's leaving TruGreen, although he hasn't officially resigned yet.  So we got to spend some more time together than usual.

Getting back to the teaching gig... I have a lot to say about it.  I have both positive things to say, negative things to say, and indifferent things that I have observed that are neither positive nor negative, but rather just different than how things are done within the system I come from.

Let's talk about the neutral differences first:  kids can wear flip flops, kids can wear coats (which makes me nervous because weapons could be concealed in there), kids can bring bags to class (which also makes me nervous because weapons could be concealed in there), kids can chew gum, and kids can bring water bottles/juice bottles/Gatorade bottles to class and drink them at will.  These are things I have to catch myself about not reprimanding, because none of that was allowed at John Young.  Quite frankly, because these things are the norm, there really aren't any issues surrounding them.  All of the students walk on the right hand side of the hallway.  There are actually tiles down the middle of the hallways that are a different color than the rest of the tiles, and for the most part, all the kids stay on the right hand side of those tiles!  I almost feel like I'm breaking the rules if I'm walking on the left hand side of the hallway during my prep periods. 

That's all I'll say for now.  More to come!

De ja Vu

I teach special education 8th grade math at JJ Daniell Middle School in Cobb County.  CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHO THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA?  Because I can assure you, it's not.

My first day I confiscated one cell phone, kicked one kid out, and wrote 7 strikes.  They have a strike system at this school, and two strikes earns a kid a silent and secluded lunch.  I only have 6 kids in the one class I teach all alone.  They talk, laugh, interrupt, whine, disrupt, and do not follow instructions on the first directive.  FUN.  When they are silent, they are bored out of their mind, because, let's face it - middle school math is not the most fun thing to partake in.  I don't even like it.

Then, I get the pleasure of NOT having a duty free lunch.  I have to walk a class of 30 students whom I do not know, into the cafeteria, sit in the cafeteria to monitor them, and then escort these kids back to their 4th hour class.  That is my lunch.  No potty breaks - mandatory supervision. 

My afternoons are spent in the class of Mr. Rowell.  He is a general education math teacher, who is also a high school football coach.  Enough said.

Well that's all I'll say about my new job for now... I'm sure there will be more later. 

My new job

Ryan's friend Adam, has a sister named Amy, who had a baby over the Christmas break.  She just happens to teach 8th grade special education math.  So I applied for the job, was offered the job, and accepted the job!

I will have one self-contained math class in which I am the teacher.  There are only four students in that class.  The rest of my day will consist of co-teaching with a general education mathematics teacher in his classroom.  I have no home room students, and the first two classes of the day are my preps.  So according to my calculations, I won't teach until around 11am daily.

The school's poverty level is similar to John Young...it's population consists of about 50% free and reduced lunch students.  So it's just below the federal level required in order to qualify as a Title I school.  The racial makeup is different than JYMS though.  This school, JJ Daniells, has about 50% Caucasian, 20% Hispanic, and about 30% African American students. 

This position is a 9-10 week job, which basically takes me up to Spring Break; the first week in April.  The 2nd or 3rd week in April is when the Georgia CRCT's are administered.  This is like Indiana's ISTEP EXCEPT that 8th graders are in an "exit year", which means they HAVE to pass the CRCT in both  math and language arts in order to go on to the 9th grade.  Can you believe there is accountability here??????

I have mixed emotions about starting this job....
Pros
Meeting new people and possibly making friends!
Getting my foot in the door in a school system
Something to do and fill my time with
Cons
Can no longer work at Papa's Pantry
Have to get up early
Teaching 8th grade math again!

I am supposed to start on Wednesday.  But it is snowing here in GA and all the schools are already closed for tomorrow, Monday.  If the schools are closed again on Tuesday, then I can't start until Friday.  There are only certain days of the week that Cobb County will process new employees. 

*******

Some more pictures from when we were in St. Augustine.

This is the bay that Ryan proposed on, and is right across the street from where we're getting married.

Here is a picture outside the Lightner Museum.  Couples can get married on this bridge over the koi pond.  It was beautiful, but ultimately too small for what we were looking for.

And here is a picture of the two of us on New Year's Eve, before Ryan had proposed, but I wore the ring anyway =)

Trip to Indiana

One of my bff's Kelly picked me up from the O'Hare airport on Sunday afternoon.  She came with another good friend of mine named Christy.  Christy is my former workout buddy, and a fellow math teacher.  She's also someone who I can talk to about hard issues, and we've been sounding boards and support systems for one another throughout various times in the last couple years.  It was so good to see Kelly and Christy.  Kelly has the scoop on all the office drama at my former school since she is the secretary, and Christy has access to more detailed drama being a front line classroom teacher.  They filled me in on how things have been going at JYMS this year.  I learned:

1. As a teacher we can no longer write students up for gum, being tardy, not having supplies, or cheating.
2. Students are now allowed to bring bags into the classroom, and coincidentally there have already been 2 knives brought to school this year.  Each kid only got suspended for 5 days.
3. One kid said to a teacher "I'm a hit you in your fucking face if you don't back up" and only got suspended for 3 days.  This same teacher filed a police report on the incident, which is supported by the union, however was discouraged by the wonderful administration.
4. Since we went from 6 academic teams down to 5, class sizes are maxed out and one specific teacher has one class with more students than desks, so one child has to sit on the floor for class.
5. We went from 3 secretaries down to 2, so now whenever a teacher needs to call down to the office, it is nearly impossible to get a hold of anyone.
6. On a positive note, I learned the 8th grade math scores went up 14 points from last year, vs the 7th grade scores which only went up 1. 
7. Certain teachers are still getting away with dressing ghetto fab, coming in late daily, double dipping on getting paid, and getting paid to hardly work instead of working hard.
8. Lunches got shortened from 39 minutes down to 30 minutes.

The list could go on and on but I will stop it there.  OH and while I was in town a Mishawaka teacher made the news for duct taping a special needs student's mouth shut.  But hey, Mishawaka has a winning football team so everything else can slide....

Monday I actually went to the school to visit my former co-workers.  It was REALLY good to see everyone.  I'm kind of a celebrity there... so everyone was really happy to see me too.  Everyone kept commenting on how happy I seem now!  Some fools asked if I miss it (teaching), and my response was an adamant ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!  One of the best parts about being back at JYMS was getting to eat a cafeteria lunch.  It was pasta bar day so I was stoked =)

I went to visit my old classroom.  Room 603 - it still says Miss Bulger outside of it.  But my room has been turned into a computer lab, with laptops on each desk.  The door was locked but I took a picture through the window.

The very first friend I made at JYMS 7 years ago was Michelle McCoige.  We were both coaching volleyball at the time before the school year even started.  She had me over for dinner on Monday night with her family.  Back when I first met her she was a newly wed, and now she has 2 little girls.  I was grateful for the offer, and super grateful for the food and catching up.

I stayed at Kelly's house for a couple days in Mishawaka.  I love love love love her kids and they seem to love me too.

I met up with an old friend from Michigan City, who now lives in South Bend, for lunch on Tuesday.  Tuesday night Kelly, Haley, and I went out to eat at Bar Louie.  The three of us used to get together once a week to vent, share, laugh, problem solve, and cry.  It was good reminiscing... we were there for 5 hours!  I know one of the guys who rents my house out works at Bar Louie so I was going to introduce my self and feel him out for how serious he is about buying my residence, but he was not working that night.

Wednesday morning my mom came to get me from Mishawaka to take me to Michigan City.  I dropped her off at work and then went and visited an old friend from high school, who just had a baby about 5 months ago.  I probably haven't seen her in 3 years so it was good to catch up.

Later that night my mom and I went to Jazzercise.  When the class was over I told her I thought it was really hokey and a joke of a workout.  My inner thighs received the karma of that comment the next day - they were burning! 

Thursday my mom and I went to Jazzercise again, around noon, and again, I thought "what a joke".  My obliques hurt so bad still 2 days later that I have learned my lesson about complaining about Jazzercise!!!  That afternoon I FINALLY got to meet Miss Kennedy Elise Baker.  She is the newest addition to my family and the only girl!

That night I went out to eat with my bff cousin Hillary.  We got kicked out of the place we were there so long talking!  It's nice to be able to get one on one time with her since she has a husband and 2 kids of her own.  It is a rare opportunity, and one I gladly took advantage of!  Same thing with my other bff cousin Leslie.  She now has 3 kids and a husband but just the two of us got to go out for lunch on Friday.

I spent the rest of the day Friday night and Saturday over at Doug and Leslie's and Hillary and Troy's.  Overall I got to spend a ton of time with my family... my mom, cousins, aunt and uncle, cousins' kids, and CC.  Brian even made a brief appearance!  It's easy to take advantage of, or not appreciate, the relationships you have when they are so close by.  Being gone has made me value their importance in my life and how lucky I am to have such a great family.

In fact, there is nothing more heartwarming than my Godson Jack jumping up and down the first time he saw me, running up to me yelling, "Welcome home, Courtney!  Welcome home!"  And he ended my trip with "Bye Courtney.  See you at Christmas.  I love you!"  That greeting and farewell alone made my trip!!!

Wednesday

I tutored this morning from 10-12, had Papa's Pantry from 1-3, worked out from 4:30-5:30, and then tutored a new student from 6:30-8:00.

During Papa's Pantry today, one of the clients asked me if I was a volunteer there.  We got to talking about how I moved down here about 2 months ago and don't have a job yet so I spend my time volunteering (or that's what I told him anyway).  He explained to me that he just inherited a house here in Towne Lake.  Towne Lake is a part of Woodstock, kind of similar to Long Beach being a part of Michigan City.  He said it's completely furnished with old antiques and things, and worth about $500,000 but that he doesn't have $10 to his name.  He is from CT and we laughed about the crazy things these southerners eat, like collard greens.  So, you know me and my history with older men from CT; we became fast friends in the pantry.  Then he asked me to move in with him...  He said he is looking for a female that will live in the house, clean it, and get it ready to be put on the market, in exchange for free rent. And that's all I have to say about that!

Tonight I got my second tutoring client from the website I've been utilizing.  She wants me twice a week for an hour each.   She is taking her second PRE college level math class at Kennesaw State University.  She is a mom and a wife and works somewhere in the medical field becuase she was wearing scrubs.  She is going to school for nursing.  She appears to be around my age, and she is from Chicago.  We hit it off - her attitude, gestures, language and body language reminded me of home. And again, I was reminded how refreshing it is to work with students who want to learn!  I think I'm just going to be a professional tutor from now on. 

Speaking of home, I'M COMING HOME SUNDAY!  I plan on spending the first half of the week in Mishawaka, and the second half of the week in Michigan City. Speaking of which... who wants to come pick me up from Mishawaka and take me to MC Wednesday afternoon?  Anyone?  Volunteers?  I planned my trip for this coming week because I knew my tutoring of the little girl would be done as of this Friday.  I didn't know I would get another client so soon!  I know Ryan might be sad that I'm gone, but all the old ladies at Square Dancing Thursday will be happy that he'll need a new partner!  Yee-haw!

9th week in GA

Friday night Ryan and I went to dinner at McCollum Airport in Kennesaw.  They have a restaurant there called Elevation Chophouse and SkyBar that over looks the runway.  Unfortunately, no planes took off or landed while we were there but it was a neat experience none the less.  Ryan claims one plane took off right when we arrived, but I do not believe him.  My mom used to tell me that when she was younger she would go on dates to airports and watch planes take off and land... I thought that sounded ridiculous at the time, but now I've done it. =)

Afterword, we attempted to go roller skating at a place called Sparkles.  Do you know it costs $13.50 per person to go roller skating?!?!?  And everyone in there was approximately 10 years old, except for two teenagers who were in the middle of the rink dancing robotic style to In the Ayer by Flo Rider.  One guy was actually pretty good.  So we left, and instead went to the movies and saw "The Town" with Ben Affleck. 

Today I went to Saturday morning tennis and Ryan pulled out the big W.  Every time I go to tennis, there are 70 new people to meet, who are all best friends with Ryan.  Ok, not 70 but always 5-10 new people.  Players and their wives, girlfriends, parents, and children.  This group all went to high school together, so they've known each other forever, and they are one of the most genuinely respectful, caring, fun, and supportive group of people with each other that I have ever witnessed.  While they are all super friendly and inclusive to me, it makes me miss MY friends :(

On Wednesday I went to a woman's house in Alpharetta and interviewed for a nannying/babysitting position.  She wants someone on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30-12:30.  I didn't realize how far away she lived from me though (30 miles), which during morning rush hour traffic would take me over an hour to get there.  So I pulled my name out of the hat for that job, but did offer to sit if she ever needed someone just randomly or in a pinch.  This afternoon I went to a couple's house to interview for a nannying/babysitting position here in Woodstock.  Their house is a good 20 minutes away, but they are only looking for one night a week, and one weekend night every other weekend. So we will see...  I'd really like to spend more time tutoring.  The pay is awesome, the work is minimal, and the time commitment is also minimal.  But my girl leaves for NYC for rehearsal after this week.  So I have two more weeks total with her:  this week, and the very last week in October, in between rehearsal being done and when the tour of her musical actually starts.

I stopped by Jason and Stephanie's tonight.  I needed to return my garage door opener I had of theirs, and pick up some mail that had come for me.  I was hoping it was a care package full of goodies, or maybe just a "hey how are you?" card, or maybe a random envelope full of scratch off lottery tickets, but no.  It was just something stupid from my school ;)  Jason had just gotten done making some chili and invited to me to eat.  Since I do not turn down invitations to eat, I gladly accepted.  It was really good, and made me miss the home cooked meals I used to enjoy there!

After that I went up to Canton, GA where the RiverFest arts and crafts festival was happening.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I had just eaten at Jason's so I couldn't mow down a bunch of fair food.  I bought some kettle corn to take home, and a present for one of my cousins' kids.  As I was leaving, this guy yelled at me to come try some "gator".  I laughed, said "no thanks", and kept walking.  When I was driving home I regretted my hasty decision.  I should've tried the gator!!!  I mean c'mon!  When or where else am I going to be offered gator???  Next time someone offers me gator, I'm in!

Decisions, decisions

Jobs, Men, and Leisure - Me thinking out loud

Jobs

• 
  
  I got called today to be a maternity leave sub at Pebblebrooke High School in Mableton, GA.  In GA, you need a GA teaching license in order to be a regular sub, but in order to be a permanent sub, you only have to have a degree - in anything!  It makes no sense to me...  I'm scheduled to interview Thursday at 2:30.  It is a 45 minute drive with no traffic.  Mabelton, I found out, is a very under developed poverty ridden area, and I would be teaching Math I and Math II.  These classes are for high school kids who aren't even in algebra yet.  The more I've gotten to think about it, the less I want to interview.  The benefit of being a sub is working when I want to, and not working when I don't want to.  This position would be everyday for a minimum of 6 weeks and they can't tell me the maximum number of days other than it caps out at 3 months.  The pay is good...$100/day (again, more than regular subs get paid even with a GA teaching license!), but I think I am going to cancel the interview.  The whole point of this year was for me to explore options OTHER than teaching.  Plus, I wouldn't be able to volunteer at Papa's Pantry anymore.

• 
  
  I also applied and got called for an interview next Thursday at 10:30am with a company called CLASS.  This complany sends people to anywhere in the US for 45 days.  You live and work in an apartment complex for those 45 days straight, and then get 2 weeks off.  During those 45 days your job is to increase renters of the complex through marketing and who knows what else.  There are 10 days paid training on how to become a leasing agent, and then they send you off.  After your 45 days working, and then 2 weeks off, you start all over again and get sent somewhere new for the next 45 days and the cycle repeats.  I think that this job could be ideal for what I want to do this year - travel, meet new people, and explore new places.  And to do it on someone else's dime is ideal.

• 
  
  I also signed up with a tutoring company and have gotten my first client.  She is a 7th grade girl, who is an actress, so all her schooling is done on-line.  She needs help with the math since no one is really there to teach her.  So I will be doing that for 2 hours per day, every other day.  But only from September 7th -October 5th, because then "she will be gone for three months for the national tour of How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  Maybe she will be the next famous movie star...

 Men

• 
  
  I had a date tonight with Seumus (pronounced Shay-mus), 30, from Vinings, GA.  Surprisingly, it went well.  Considering all my eHarm dates from IN and CT were total wastes of time, my GA matches are good so far!  We met in Marietta's old fashioned town square.  The first place we went was called Hemingways and we sat outside on tables and chairs on an old brick roadway.  We had a drink or two and then left.  Next we went to the Marietta Pizza Company.  Again we sat outside and we ordered Hawaiian pizza (sorry Kel) which was amazing!  Is it rude to take the leftovers home if you didn't pay for the meal?  I didn't take them, but SO wanted to!

Upon parking I saw this caboose or something that I just had to get my picture on. Yes, I hopped the steel fence in order to do so, and yes those are my shoes laying on the ground. "Hi, I'm Courtney. Would you mind taking my picture on that train? I'm serious." How exciting would it have been to get arrested on a first date? hahaha
• 
  
  Then there's this guy Keith, 37, from Atlanta that I've been talking to on the phone but have not yet met.  The first phone call was 45 minutes and the second was an hour and 45 minutes.  We are planning on doing something active this weekend, like hiking or climbing a waterfall.  So I'm super excited to meet him too.

Leisure

• 
  
  I have to decide by tomorrow if I want to go on that cruise or not with the 575 Singles Meet Up Group.  You know, the one where everyone was in their mid to late 40s.  The price is sooooooooo cheap and I looooooooove cruises so it's hard for me to pass it up.  On the other hand, how crazy is it to drive 8 hours to FL, stay with this woman named Tammy on the ship, and drive back 8 hours with Tammy.  I guess it's one way to make a friend in Woodstock.  Then again, my year is supposed to be spent doing things outside my comfort zone and saying "yes" to adventure.  Plus, if I continue working out four days a week, it will be a nice reward for doing so.  The boat leaves September 20 and I'm guessing I will be on it.