Hurray!

I am now officially a Spanish teacher. I received a phone call this morning from the principal of my new school, which for anonymity's sake will have to remain private. It's a smaller school (about 800) on the westerly side of the valley. Freed from the chains fo unemployment, I even get benefits. And a paycheck. Wonder of wonders!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Recovery

This is the second morning I have not had to get up to do anything. Anything at all. I am still, at 10:33 a.m., in my pj's sipping coffee. I read about half a murder mystery this morning (thanks, Ellyn!). I may or may not do some work for my final "professional discussion" on Friday. I do have a To Do list, though. I haven't quite been able to escape from those. Here it is:

To Do:

Go for a run.
Prepare for interview tomorrow.
Dinner with friends.

In the meantime, I've been able to ponder such mysteries as: Why do I love it when green beans squeak when I chew them, but I can't stand the squishiness of tomatoes or the foamy flesh of mushrooms? Should I make a pair of earrings with green beads or black beads? What kind of bug is that? If no one writes about or posts pictures of the Andrew and Bianca wedding soon, who shall I yell at first?

You know. Deep things.

First Interview

"Clothes and courage have much to do with each other." - Sara Jeannette Duncan (writer, feminist, political activist)

I'll hear tonight. I'm guessing no - rumor has it they know who they're hiring (and it's not me), but it was good practice, I guess.

UPDATE: Well, I did not get the job, and they did hire the teacher who has a bunch of experience. They had very positive feedback afterward though, and said I needed to apply if there was another opening. That's nice. Overall, it was a positive experience and I'm glad I did it.

TWS Checklist of Doom

TWS is our Teacher Work Sample (the college name for our Master's Thesis). It consists of 11 documents, and a running appendix, glossary, and reference page. My "final sign off" (ha ha) is at 2:30. It's 12:27.

TWS 1 - done
TWS 2 - done
TWS 3 - done, 1:45
TWS 4 - done
TWS 5 - done
TWS 6 - done, 1:45
TWS 7 - done, 1:45
TWS 8 - done
TWS 9 - done
TWS 10 - done
TWS 11 - done

Appendix - done, 1:45
Works cited - done, 1:45
Definition of terms

Dividers

Cover sheet

Formatting

How to Frustrate Your Students: 5 Easy Steps

Step 1: Assign your students a 200 page equivalent to a Master's thesis. No problem. We'll do it in chunks. This part is fine.

Step 2: Repeatedly tell your students, "This whole document is due on June 8."

Step 3: Make a variety of handouts that all state, "this whole document is due on June 8."

Step 4: On Monday, June 4, inform your students that (ha ha) they have today and tomorrow to sign up for a final review and turning-in-of-the-document ceremony.

Step 5: Watch them cry.