The week of October 5th

This was such a whirlwind week and probably why I didn't post. I also attribute my lack of posting to an obsession with Metal Gear 4. And going out.

So to begin, Monday was a long day. Only because I don't think last weekend was long enough. It went well enough. I got my readings done for my classes and the classes that night were also great. I participated for the first time in the lecture in terms of making a comment so that felt kind of cool. I think I've been a little intimidated in terms of coming out and saying things but it felt good to participate. I love drawing connections to our engagements and the profession from those classes.

Tuesday was crazy. I feel like there was a lot of last minute work with the after school which meant lots of classroom interruptions and phone calls and logistical problems. In the end however, the first day of the after school program went extremely well. It was amazing having that many kids and having them all excited and engaged like that. It was a blast and our guests from the partnership company were fantastic. We had to ask a couple kids to not come back due to major disruptions, but that was ok. Wednesday was a lot better because of that. It was even easier and I was very happy once again. Thursday, the kids knew the routine and we are clearly ready to move into even smaller group and music work next week.

The week in terms of class time was interesting. Wednesday I had to cover a class I've never had before and will never have again more than likely so that was difficult in that it almost felt like babysitting. I was glad to do music with the kids but I was also struggling to find purpose. Friday I also had an interesting coverage in working on the Save Room with the two students who I've mentioned frequently. Though it was semi manageable one still ran through the parking lot etc. They really need to be given the help the deserve. It is very unsafe for them and for other members of the school community having them here still. I worry frequently about what that looks like to parents and others who see these things going on and am confused by what kind of red tape exists for something that demands so much attention and evaluation to not be happening at all.

Socially speaking, Friday was Oktoberfest for our staff which was fun. We all watched The Hangover, had root beer and hot dogs with saurkraut. It was a nice relaxation for all of us especially coming up on the long weekend. I'm very happy to be heading up the Sunshine Club. It's great to see people having fun like that.

I also had my first formal observation this week. It was a lot more stressful than it should have been. Mainly because it didn't happen on the lesson I had originally planned, which is fine, but because that day the class I had was awful. We ended up having to take the day to do more community building etc. It was so completely embarrassing. Thankfully I was then observed again the next day which went more smoothly a little bit but neither was actually representative of how class usually is. Granted, my principal has done other mini observations and seen things as usual I was still very frustrated by this. I was taken back quite a bit. I'm curious to see how the follow up meeting goes.