Oh the agony! For the last half hour the teacher has been showing people how to make a table in word (yuck!) that it took me about 2 mins to make. Want to see it? Of course you don’t, but here it is anyways! There are a ton of painfully tedious assignments due at the end of the course that I plan of finishing as quickly as possible. They aren’t even challenging, just retarded. Today was night #2 of having a CSULB hot dog for dinner, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Nothing is open, and Carl’s Jr. is too far away.

We’re going to Turlock this weekend, should be fun. Dodgers got Jae Seo for Duaner Sanchez, good deal. Seo rocked the Dodgers when we played them, so I’ll take him. I went to a SIOP training today for work. Sounds like cyclops.

I wish I could play a bunch of videogames or something.

At this very moment I am beginning day 1 of 13 in an Educational Technology class. For the next three weeks, Monday-Thursday, from 4-9:30 pm, I will be here at CSULB completing the last requirement needed for student teaching. The schedule for the next three weeks is bad enough, but what I’m going to be "learning" is even worse. So far in the first couple hours we have done the following:

• We guessed how many pages of text would fit on a floppy. (it’s 1000!!!)
• The teacher said we can’t put text and pictures on a dvd, only movies. (wrong!)
• Practice saving word files, and renaming them.

I am in pain. The lobes in my brain are hurting, a lot. The teacher says we should get a flash drive to save our stuff, so at least that is fun. I’ve been looking at 1 gig drives that you can get for $50 or so. I’m sure I will be beyond bored for the next 3 weeks, so look forward to regular updates. At this rate I have a feeling they will get very violent.

P.S. – OOoh, we’re doing word art now!!!

I took Denise’s hint to heart and decided to post, and luckily I thought of something worthwhile.

I’m sitting here entering grades in the district’s online grading program (how cool is that?) and I had a disturbing thought: I think I miss my students. When I stop to think about it, I see my students more than I see my friends and family. For 5 out of 7 days for the last four months I see the same kids, and some of them actually grow on you. I’m sure after a week or two back I may not have as fond of memories as I do now, but I think I genuinely miss them, maybe.

My CHRISTMAS break so far has consisted of very little of substance. There has been a lot of sleeping in and staying up late, watching movies, playing with the dog, and spending time with my wife. CHRISTMAS day itself was really nice. We split time between Stacie’s parents and mine, but we got to see everyone. We’ve watched Narnia, King Kong, Broken Flowers, Undertow, and Shall We Dance. In addition I’ve watched The Fantastic Four, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and Red Eye. I got Stacie a z22 palm pilot for Christmas, so we’ve had fun putting software on that and learning how to use it, I mean she has had fun doing those things. Yesterday we returned a bunch of stuff and exchanged things. I really don’t like crowds, at all, and there are still plenty of them.

Today I’ve decided to work on lesson planning and get that out of the way. The first week back I’ll be at a workshop for 2 of the 3 days, and then that weekend we’re heading to Turlock, CA to visit my mom’s family. Stacie has never been to the farm, so I’m looking forward to showing her where many of my childhood memories were made (and they have a bunch of super cool Boston Terriers). I also start winter session at CSULB next week, so I need to have lesson and sub plans ready for the next two weeks.

Not sure what we’re doing on New Years, but we’ve got three invitations I think. Maybe we’ll try and hit all of them! Hope everyone is having a great time off (if you’re lucky enough to have some). Back to regular blarging soon.

I love Tuesdays, because I love 99 cent Chicken Nuggets at McDonald’s. Usually I go after CSULB, so I’m quite hungry. I pick up three six-packs for only $3.25! Along with that I also need McDonald’s fabulous sauces to dip in. I get all three: sweet and sour, hot mustard, and barbeque. Though I don’t get honey, I accept that as an alternative. The question I pose for you is: If you could only get one sauce, what would it be?

Sweet and Sour?
Honey Mustard?
Barbeque?
Honey?

For the last month I’ve been gathering letters of recommendation from the ends of the earth for Cal State Long Beach. I am in the process of applying for their internship program, now that I’ve started teaching. With the application paper in hand, along with every letter I need (6 in all), I headed to the advisor to get my final signature and go ahead. All is well…

…only to find out that CSULB wants to make it “harder” to become an intern. Nevermind this paper I have that I’ve been working on for a month, but they want more “proof” that I’m ready to teach. Nevermind that I’m working at a middle school, and the school thinks I’m capable of teaching. Nevermind that I had to get a ton of signatures just to get into the single subject credential program in the first place!

So I wasted a good 3 hours of my life tonight, just to be told “get one more letter.” Not to mention the advisor never responded to my email from Sunday. If he had I wouldn’t have had to go to school on a night I don’t even have class, just because that is when his office hours are.

Don’t let anyone tell you it is EASY to become a teacher. It’s freaking ridiculous.

Tis’ a sad day for myself, Andrew, and Kevin. Yes, it is the first day of the fall semester at CSULB. Unlike those other guys, I only have 2 classes this semester, which is nice. Unfortunately it’s also my first year teaching, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of work to do. I have class Monday and Tuesday night, so I can get it all done at the beginning of the week. This is basically my last semester though, because in the spring I’ll be doing student teaching. For that I only have to come out to the campus a handful of times. Good luck to everyone else starting school!

I have a job!

Now I have to go to CSULB and get paperwork to be an intern, and get all these papers filled out, and fill out papers at the district office, so it doesn’t even feel like I have the job yet…but they offered it to me. Baring any weird circumstances, I’ll be teaching math to 6th and 7th graders this fall. Cross your fingers that all goes well with the “paperwork.”

My first semester of the Credential Program is finally coming to a close. I should be getting A’s or B’s in all of my classes, so that’s a relief. I’m very much looking forward to a few weeks off, and then it’s back to the grind. Luckily CSULB doesn’t start again until the end of January. Off to turn in a take home final and be done with it all!