To answer Abbagirl's questions

Thanks to Abbagirl, I have something to write about today. I'm here to answer all her questions.

When does school start? For the students: August 27. For teachers: August 20.

What classes will you be teaching this year? At this point, I'm assuming that I have the same schedule (at least I hope). Last year I taught two debate classes, two oral interp classes, one communication applications class and had two conference periods. At one point last year I was asked about teaching a photography class, but it didn't pan out for this year. I taught a class on digital cameras to teachers during a technology day and the assistant superintendent came and observed for a while and thought it was really good and suggested the idea.

Will you be coaching again? Yes. I was hired to take over the coaching position. My first year, I mostly observed and helped out the current coach. Last year, I took over the responsibilities. The other teacher will be there at least another year and she keeps saying she'll retire... but I won't believe it until I see it.

Any kids you aren't ready to see this year? Oh no.. I love ALL my students. O.k. maybe there's a few. One in particular that has had an attitude problem. He seems to think he already knows everything and so he goofs off most of class, then complains when he doesn't get an "A". The problem is that he does have some talent, but he really needs to be put in his place.

Have any favorite students? A good teacher doesn't have favorites. Actually, they'd probably be lying. Of course there are some students that stand out. My president VP and secretary of the team are very exceptional students. They all have great attitudes and are hard workers. Actually the majority of the students are really good and I'm lucky to have them on my team. I'm not going to be surprised when a few drop out of speech because several didn't like the fact that I made them work last year.

What are the other teachers like? Well, there's a lot of other teachers so we have a variety of personalities. Of course there are some cool teachers. We also have dull ones, mean ones, nice ones. I think that because the district doesn't pay as well as other districts there might not be as many qualified teachers as there should be but overall there are a lot of really good teachers. They're all pretty friendly and have been very welcoming. I've only had issues with a couple of people since coming to this school. One teacher just rubbed me the wrong way when I moved into the main building. (I wrote about it here.) The other I had to deal with when I was in my first room in another building and I mentioned it here. My principal has been very supportive and I can't complain about the staff.

Are they as cool as you? Well, I don't know that I'm that "cool" but one of my students did say that once. I think a lot of the kids like me because I'm pretty nice, but I'm not a pushover. I try to make classes as interesting as possible but I still need to work on some of my lesson plans. I always have good intentions, but I just don't find the time. I had to start from scratch two years ago when I returned to teaching and last year I started teaching two new classes I'd never taught before. I'm still not certain that this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I still want to look into the possibility of getting my librarian certification. I just don't have the money right now and until I get my credit issues cleared, I don't think I can get student loans.

And to answer Terri's question - Word Yahtzee is a game that is on a Hoyle Word Game CD that I have. I'm playing it because I can't find my rollercoaster tycoon CD. Sometimes I get on a Scrabble kick as well.

That's it for now. I'm thinking of going back to bed. I didn't intend on getting up early, but I was awake around 7:30. Or maybe I'll play some more games on the computer.