Baby beluga in the deep blue sea...

So I bought a Raffi CD for my class. And wow, does it bring back the memories!!

This should be sign number 1 that I am too young to be teaching... the things I get for my classroom are things that I remember from being a kid, and still love them. I mean how can you not love Raffi?!??!?

The CD is called "Animal Songs" so I'm pretty excited about all of it. The other CD that I got is a 4 disc set called "101 Toddler Favorites" (it's not Raffi, unfortunately). Some day, in the very far future, when I have kids... I'm going to be so good with the songs. I will probably know all 101 of those songs by the 2nd week of teaching. I'm not a fan of silence, especially in a class with 5 year olds, so we'll probably be playing music a lot. We'll see what the kids can handle I guess.

Anyways I need to start planning what we'll be doing on Tuesday... and also try to figure out if I actually have a curriculum, or if I simply follow the "I do what I want!" philosophy. I have a hunch that it's the latter of those two options...

It's a small New York world.

Had another crazy small world moment yesterday. I went with some teacher friends to the Brooklyn Brewery (coolest place ever, btw) and literally ran into a friend that I studied abroad with. I knew he used to live in New York but thought he moved after graduation. We haven't kept in the best of touch but get a long great and used to be pretty good friends. Of course, we run into eachother in a borough that neither of us lives in.

I also ran into a good friend from high school who I haven't seen in 4 years. At the same place. So so so strange. I expected to see her there, but not the study abroad kid who I haven't seen in over a year, nor really ever planned on seeing again.

And this is why I love New York. In a city of 8 million people, I still randomly see people I know, don't feel lost in the shuffle, and can reconnect with people completely unexpectedly.

This morning in my semi-hungover and VERY sore state (moving classrooms around is tough), I realized, oh no, the teacher store! WHEN IS IT OPEN THIS WEEKEND???? Of course, it's only open today. And I'm supposed to be in the East Village in an hour to tailgate and watch the big game. And I still have to go to the teacher store and spend more of my life savings. So I should probably end this blog post and get going on that so I can have at least a little fun today.... :)

Today I bought Dora band-aids.

And teddy grahams (snack food), dish towels (for the sink), a coffee maker (for the storage closet and obviously necessary coffee), and rolls and rolls of fadeless paper, and so so so much more. I knew you had to buy a lot of stuff when teaching... but phewie. But it will all be worth it I think. It already feels worth it.

If I could only use one word to sum up my experience so far, it'd be AMAZING. I am truly blessed to be in the situation I am. I read horror stories about NYC public schools, especially special ed, but my experience thus far has been MUCH different. It's definitely not the average though, and I'm well aware of all of the issues many of my colleagues are going through.

My paras are great. They know so much about the kids already and helped me set up my room and basically did anything that I asked. They gave me so much helpful input and really had great ideas. They even said they're going to teach me Spanish this year... woo! I don't think I'll have an issue with being the authority figure, which was my biggest fear earlier. I mean being a first year teacher is one thing, but being 22... I mean who listens to 22-year-olds?!??!?? But I think we'll be a great team.

My room is huge and is turning out nicely. As my cooperating teacher from the summer session said, "Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your classroom." And she's so right. But it's coming along. I still need to label EVERYTHING, make student schedules, laminate a bunch of things, etc etc, but so far so good. I found a huge brand new rug in the basement today, so I snatched that up ASAP. The AP didn't exactly give me the go ahead, but I can promise you, he's not missing it. My classroom would be. And so would my 5-year-olds who are going to be sitting, rolling, laying, and playing on it all day.

At the end of the day, I had to go to the office to get a few things and ran into my Principal, who I absolutely adore. I'm not on as close terms with the APs, but me and Ms. Principal are like BFFs. She gave me a hug and asked how it was going. I told her how excited I was about my room and how great my paras were, and she agreed that they were great. She told me I might have some issues with one, but I really appreciated her honesty. She told me to just stop worrying, that she knows I'm going to do great, and that it's going to be a great year. SO reassuring... she's just fabulous.

I have a huge shopping list for this weekend for school stuff.... then the big challenge is getting it from my aparment on the Upper West Side to my school in the Bronx. Hm. This weekend should be fun though... I'll be staying in the city but tomorrow is the start of college football!!! To celebrate, I'll be wearing my jersey and partying at my friends house and at one of the many bars in NYC devoted to Michigan fans. How exciting. The rest of the weekend will be spent getting ready for Tuesday!

PS: I didn't even look at my kids IEPs (individualized education plans) today, so I'm going to be totally surprised when they come in on Tuesday. I thought I was going to have to look at them to prevent a self imposed nervous breakdown, but I'm feeling shockingly calm about not seeing them. :)

Early.

I just woke up at 5:20 for work. The coffee can't come out of the pot fast enough.

This is going to be a challenge this year...

Overwhelmed.

Wow, where to begin.

Today was the first day of teachers reporting back. I was told to be there at 8:10am, but then found out that the stuff didn't start till 9. But we had to be there early. And do nothing.

Anyways, once we got started, it was a lot of boring administrative stuff via a huge staff meeting. Then, we got our class lists and schedules. I have 2 prep periods every day + lunch. So that's pretty awesome. And I have (as of right now) only 5 students. They're mostly actually 5 years old, even though it's first grade. So they're probably super teeny tiny and (hopefully) really cute.

Of course, I couldn't find my class. It's not numbered and no one knew which room it was, not even my AP (grrrrreat). We had to actually use the extention (same as my room number) and play "find the ringing phone" to find my room. But, eventually we found it and it was HUGE! It also came with about 20 desks and full size chairs. Of course, I don't need any of those, so me and my paras had a great time moving those.

My paras seem good, and everyone tells me I got lucky with them. They also know a lot, which is both good and bad. Good for obvious reasons, but bad because it's hard for me to feel like I'm the one really in charge. I'm doing a lot of what they're suggesting to me, and I don't want them to think its because I'm a push over or something, I just really have no clue what I'm doing at this point.

Anyways, I have to cut this short. I still need to figure out where I'm putting what in my room and figure out how I'm going to lug all of this up to the Bronx tomorrow.

Just letting you know that I survived.

Miss A: Future Gossip Girl Star??

Well, today I got to see my first TV show being filmed. None other than the New York centric Gossip Girl. There have been these film trailers outside of the Columbia campus for a few days now, with the names "Lucy" and "Desi" on them. So I figured I'd walk through campus and see what I could see. First, I saw a huge group of people (I'm assuming they were extras) in ridiculously nice designer clothes. So that should have been my first clue.

So then I just walk across campus, and pass a sign basically saying that if you decide to walk past this you are releasing your rights to being filmed. By this point, I'm just thinking, "sweet, I'm going to be in a I Love Lucy remake." I walk right across the main "quad" type area and find a group of people standing there watching a limo scene. Hmm... limo in I Love Lucy?????

Then I quickly realize that I just walked straight across the set while filming. I feel bad for about a second, but then remember that no one stopped me so it must have been ok. I try to decipher the person in the limo but still have no clue. At first, I think it's Jude Law. Then, after closer examination, I realize that Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass) is looking directly at me. How embarassing. They continue the scene and he gets out of the limo and then the director announces that they're having a lunch break.

I hate to be the stereotypical Midwestern transplant, but I'm a tad star struck, even though I've seen Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford around Chelsea before, which is where Perez Hilton tells me that they live. So that's my first tw0-time celeb sighting and first time tv show filming sighting. Oh New York. Thank God I actually took the time to do my hair today, lest I actually show up in an episode.

PS: Read more about this here.

SO thankful!

So I've realized, I'm SO lucky to already have a job. I seriously feel so blessed that it just fell straight into my lap with really zero grunt work on my behalf.

I'm reading all of these message boards on facebook and on the NYCTF website about there being just zero postitions within the NYC system and it's really shocking to me. Maybe it's just because I'm in special ed, which is such a high need area, but there are really slim pickings in terms of jobs. I guess the crappy economy has even affected education.

I've read a lot of posts about people going traditional route (getting a bachelors in ed.) and having to go their first year as a substitute in order ot establish the necessary connections to secure a job. Maybe these people just aren't willing to work in high-needs schools? I mean you get paid the same amount regardless of what school you work at. I just don't get it. I've also read a lot of things about age discrimination in hiring... it seems a lot of schools are looking for the enthusiastic, young teachers and not as much for the 50-year-old career changer teachers.

In more positive news, mom's visit was a complete success. On Tuesday, we went to visit my school and I think it's safe to say she was more than just impressed by the amazing atmosphere. I'm so glad that she liked it and felt comfortable, I think it was definitely a relief for her. Then we went to the REAL Little Italy.... Arthur Ave. in the Bronx. It was great... we learned about how to cook stomachs, ate some amazing sandwiches, and also indulged in quite possibly the best cannoli outside of Italy. Tuesday night, we saw RENT on Broadway. It was amazing and great and everything I hoped it would be. We stopped at a bar that I go to a lot on the way home, but only stayed for one drink because we were both exhausted.

On Wednesday, we slept in a little bit then did some tourist things. Walked around lower Manhattan near the WTC site and South Street Seaport, then did some good shopping in Soho. That evening we met up with a friend of mine for some great Latin food... something that is definitely harder to come by in Michigan. To end the night, we went to a German place to have a few huge German beers and relive the great Munich days. And to top it off, in true New York style, on the way home we stopped to get (what I think is) the best pizza in my area, and I think it's safe to say that Mom fell in love with New York pizza at that moment.

Thursday, we did some shopping for school stuff at Staples and home stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond. ((Thank you again, Mom!!!)) We just sorta wandered around the Upper West Side and had a pretty relaxing afternoon, capped off by some more pizza (at the same place, of course). Mom had to leave in the afternoon, right as a huge storm came in. Thankfully though, we didn't have any bad weather when she was here!

Next up, Dad's visit this weekend. And lots of rest and relaxation for me before I have to go back to work on the 28th. Have a great Tuesday, everyone!