Let's Craft Something!

Last week, I told you about my upcoming interview for a first grade position in which I would have to teach a 10 minute lesson to a panel of evaluators.  Well, since it was the first day back from school from a three-day weekend, dismissal was a bit difficult.  They were running about 20 minutes behind, according to one of the interviewers.  I was in the middle of the interviewees; the lady before me looked a little older than me and may have had some teaching experience, and the lady after me looked to be about my age and probably didn't have teaching experience.

I had modified a lesson plan I had found online and explained that for a ten minute lesson.  I explained to the panel that I thought it would need to be something that was part of a unit so that I was able to show more of my teaching style.  They did warn me that because they were running quite a bit behind, they may cut me off early, but it wouldn't be a bad thing -- it was just to get to the second part of the interview.

I was ridiculously nervous, so I thought that my interview didn't go that great.  I was off my game because I saw the lady go in before me that looked much more prepared.  It was also the first time I've taught to a panel of adults in a while.


Thursday, I got an email from another school that wanted me to interview for a kindergarten position.  She said she had tried to call me, but I had no missed calls on my cell phone.  It turns out that she had called my house phone about three times prior to sending me an email.  Oops.  My house phone's answering machine is kind of broken; by kind of, I mean that it will record messages, but you sound like Swedish Chef underwater when I try to play them back.


Anyway, I replied to the email saying I would love to interview, but I didn't get a response until after school.  She had said she was doing interviews on Thursday, but scheduled me for Friday morning at 9 am, and included that she was supposed to be through by 10.


Thursday night when we went to check on Harley, our sick dog, he was not doing well.  He had gotten up and moved from the shed to his favorite spot since that morning; however, he looked like he couldn't get up again.  We gave him his pill in a hot dog, which he happily gobbled up along with a slice of bread, but he wouldn't drink.  We tried to give him a little more bread, but he didn't want it.  He tried to get up, but he didn't have the strength to lift his head and his breathing was labored.  Mom was crying and we knew it wasn't long now.

The next morning, mom went to check on him and was prepared for the worst or taking him to the vet.  He had died overnight.  This was nearly a month after the vet trip where he tried to tell us to go ahead and put him to sleep.  For a month, we took him canned food twice daily, gave him his pills in bread, and told him we loved him every day.  He died lying in his favorite spot in the yard, even before he got sick, which makes me feel better than knowing it was in a cold, impersonal vet's office.


Zach was kind enough to help dig a hole and let us bury him in their spacious yard.  Mom told his dad "All of my other babies are buried in my ex-in-laws'" to which he finished "So you decided to bury him at your new in-laws'."  Even though that's not technically correct, it was sweet.

Unfortunately, this also made me about 5 minutes late for my interview on Friday.  I explained to the principal, who was sympathetic because a similar situation was going on in her family.  It kind of acted as a strange, sad bonding experience between us.

I don't know if it was the strange, sad bond that we automatically had, the fact that it was a one-on-one interview, or the fact that it was my fourth interview in two weeks that made me so much more relaxed, but I really was.  She mentioned that they are working with my alumni university on an ELL program.  I smiled and said, "Oh, Project HAPPENS?  Helping Academic Professionals Prepare ELLs for Newfound Success?  I actually named that."  So, +1 for me.  I was sure to email the professor that developed Project HAPPENS to let him know.


I still haven't heard anything from them, but I'm still hopeful. 

Also, prepare yourself for Steampunk September as I get started on my costumes in full swing!

 Happy Labor Day!

So, originally, I thought it was only going to be an interview on Tuesday.  I spent the entire time from Friday until Tuesday freaking out about it and wasn't able to do much crafting.  (Although I probably should have to keep my mind occupied.) 

For starters, I have developed a small crack in my tire, which means it doesn't stay inflated really well and I am kind of at risk of having a blowout.  The drive to my interview was about 45 miles or so and the majority was highway/interstate.  I was a little wary about driving on it, so I asked mom if she would mind since she was off work.  (Zach had to work and I really appreciated the company on the way to keep my mind off of it.)

I knew that the interview on Tuesday was going to be a pre-screening panel and there was going to be a computerized and personal portion.  I was a nervous wreck because of this...not to mention I've never had an interview for a job like this before.  I had 30 minutes to answer two questions on the computer.  One dealt with how we demonstrate expectations to our students and the other was a data analysis.

They lead me to a room afterwards with some tables, a computer, and an ActivBoard where they displayed my written answers.  There were only two teachers on the panel, a kindergarten and first grade teacher.  (Apparently there was supposed to be a third, but she didn't show up.)  I had to explain my answers to the written prompts and answer a few more questions.  The personal interview was probably over thirty minutes long.  When they asked if I had any questions for them, I just sighed heavily and said, "Is it over?  Can I relax now?"

They could tell I was nervous, but they seemed pretty impressed with some of my answers.  For example, when we were looking at data, I said that I would look at my students first and note any students who had been identified with special needs or were English Language Learners.  Then I would see if there were students who had something to happen at home, were sick, or anything else that could affect their performance.  I guess others hadn't thought of this answer?  It was the first thing I thought of -- knowing my students.

I also got to share one of my favorite stories from student teaching.  I'll give you the shorter version.  My "mentor" teacher had already labeled this student as a 'bad kid'.  He went home every day with his color below green (which means he had gotten in trouble several times during the day).  One day, he checked in late and was amazing all day long.  I sent him home on the highest color that I could.  I also wrote a note to his dad and sent home with him.  Because he was in first grade, he couldn't read cursive, so I was sure to write the whole note in cursive.  It was nothing but positive, glowing reviews of his child.  The next day, I put on my authoritative teacher face and asked, "Did your dad see the note I sent him?"  "...yes..."  "What'd he say?"  "He was so proud of me!"  I had no behavioral issues from this student the rest of the time I was there.

Anyway, Mom asked when I should hear from a principal.  I had no idea when to expect anything because it was just a pre-screening interview.

Wednesday, I got up and went to the substitute teacher seminar for my local school district.  Even though I'm a certified teacher, I had to go and sit through this silly little training where they try to condense what you learn over the course of four years into an hour-long session.  There was one page on classroom management.  All of you educators will know that there is no one page that can prepare you for classroom management.

I got a phone call around two or three in the afternoon that day for an interview with a principal at a new elementary school as a first grade teacher.  Want to talk about nervous?  Just writing down the interview time and that I have to present a ten minute lesson to the administration and what might be my team gave me butterflies.  So many things were flooding my mind -- the most important one was "What lesson can I present in ten minutes that sums up my teaching style?"  I know that's more of what they are wanting to see.

About an hour later, I got a phone call from another school district asking if I could do a last-minute interview.  This would be another pre-screening interview that seemed much less intense than Tuesday's.  The only issue was that it was the next day at 11:15.  It wasn't the short notice that bothered me so much, as I had just finished an interview; I was still on the high from nailing it, apparently.  I was worried that it was two hours away and I had that bum tire.  (I was planning on getting it fixed Thursday!)




Zach didn't have to go into work on Thursday until late -- like 8pm late -- so he went with me.  I was more than comfortable with this because it was the town he went to college in and he was more familiar with the area than I was.  I was extremely careful while driving and we got there without any problems with 30 minutes to spare.  I'm very glad I was that early because the interviewer came to ask for the girl whose appointment was at 11 about three times (prior to 11).

I feel like 15 minutes was more than enough time for these interviews.  They only asked four questions and seemed like they wanted shorter responses than I gave the other panel.  There were only two women taking part in the interview, but there was another in the room.  I admitted that I was not too familiar with the district as I live so far away and one happily told me a summary.  I asked about the English Language Learner population, which seemed to thrill one and surprise the other.

So, now I have two pre-screening interviews under my belt and one principal interview on Tuesd-- tomorrow!  Oh no... Just saying that made my heart start pounding!  If you can spare a moment's thought, prayers, vibes, anything tomorrow, I'd be very thankful.

Unfortunately, all these interviews at irregular times and unpredictable times makes it hard to fit exercising in.  I've done well on my diet, though.  Zach just commented that we haven't had Taco Bell in like a month.  So, while I have been watching my calorie intake, I haven't always been able to exercise this week.  I've only lost a pound.  Well, that's better than nothing.  I feel like I can feel a difference.  I also think my clothes are starting to fit better.  That may just be my imagination, though.

Again, sorry for my spotty posts.  I've been unpredictably busy last week.  If I actually get this job, it'll be another stretch until I can really start posting again.  Thanks for sticking with me! :)
  

I know, I have to stop this.  I need to start scheduling posts like way in advance.

But here's the thing:  I've been so nervous and focused on my job interview since I got the call on Friday.  That means I did nothing really but freak out and prepare until Tuesday. I do think it went really well, however, and will give more details on Monday!

I hope this is understandable.  This is my first job interview for a real job and being a real adult.

I did make some progress on my headpiece, but after all of the day's stress, I would really like to just sleep and not work on taking pictures and the like.  I am exhausted and have to be up early in the morning for a substitute teacher seminar.  (Don't put all your eggs in one basket, right?)

Please understand and stick with me guys! 

I like lame titles, forgive me.

Remember how I was talking about being all excited about my friend's Harry Potter themed birthday party?  Well, it finally happened.  I raided her Facebook page for pictures because I'm too lazy to upload them from my phone and she had more.

There was a cute little Platform 9 3/4 sign outside the door.  When we got inside, we exchanged our keys for a ticket on the Hogwarts express since there was alcohol being served.  (And hey, who's a better taxi service than Hogwarts?)


We got sorted when we got there.  There was a special chair for the sorting, ribbons to denote our houses, and the Sorting Hat told us it would be more fun to use a spinner to sort ourselves.  I'm making a sad face because I got Slytherin.  The birthday girl was the only one who got to choose her house since she had a Ravenclaw tie.

I've been kind of reflective of why this whole organization spree begun.  Once or twice a year, I do get into the habit of organizing, but it's usually on a small scale.  I normally end up tackling only one area, such as my dresser.  This time, though, I've started purging and organizing nearly everything in my room -- and it's starting to spread to the rest of the house.

Why has this happened?  Why is this so much different than the other times?  One theory I have is that I finally realized how terribly bad my closet was, which made me realize how bad my room was, and so on.  My second theory is that I realized it would make for some decent blog posts; although I like to think that isn't truly the case, I do realize that I have made several small projects from one large one.  A third theory I toyed around with was that maybe, just maybe, I was finally making the transition to adulthood.  I mean, you never really see adults with totally junky rooms, do you?  The last theory I thought of was that maybe I realized that I'm going to be leaving home soon and it would be easier on me then if I went through my stuff now.

Is it any one of these?  Maybe.  Who knows?  I've never been a terribly organized person when it comes to my living space.  As long as I can get around and know where things are, I've been okay with it in the past.  It could be any combination of these theories, or even something I hadn't thought of.

Whatever the reasoning, psychological or not, I've decided that this June is going to be "Junk-Free June!"  I realize we're halfway through it the month already, but so far I've spent my month going through my old things, de-cluttering and organizing.  "Junk-Free June" just seems to make sense.  Oh dear, I hope this doesn't turn into the "Summer of Storage"...

So far in June I have:

1. Cleaned out my closet and installed new shelves. (I promise, I'll stop talking about it soon...)
2. Rearranged the contents of my drawers, including emptying my nail polish, perfumes, and lotions from one drawer for clothing use.  (Now they're just sitting in two shoe boxes on my floor...)
3. Cleaned out from underneath my bed.  (So much dust!)
4. Rearranged my bathroom storage -- though I still don't have wall storage, I make do with what I can. (Coming up on Freebie Friday.)
5. Emptied and restocked my nightstand.





Nana made me cute rice bags with tea in them. The owl has cloves and the cat has peppermint!


6. Made a chicken wire picture frame jewelery organizer for use in my closet.
7. Begun working on a nail polish rack.
8. Gone through a "junk drawer" in my desk -- which pretty much consisted of throwing away old guides for anime conventions.
9. Gone through a "junk drawer" in the kitchen.
10. Gone through our DVD collection (around 260 of them) and organized by genre; intend on putting them in a binder in the living room.
11. Compiled a large pile of donation items -- mostly clothing.

Considering that we are only at the halfway point of the month, I feel like I've gotten a lot done.  By the looks of my room, you may not believe it, but I feel like it's been pretty productive.  There are times when I feel like I've bitten off more than I could chew as one pile shifts from one thing to another, but I'm finally starting to see progress.

In my going through my room, I've noticed that it's not an overabundance of clothes that is causing the clutter -- it's an overabundance of stuff.  Yeah, the clutter in my closet was mostly shoes and clothes, but outside of that, it's just stuff.  Just to give you an example, I've found three pairs of craft scissors in my bedroom alone and a ridiculous amount of pens.  I had several notebooks beside my bed that I would use to jot things down when I couldn't sleep and things were on my mind.  Each of these notebooks has maybe ten or less pages in them before they are empty.  I'm removing all but one in hopes to actually empty a few notebooks.


It's hard for me to come to terms with not needing some things anymore.  I hate to admit that because it's like the first step to admitting to being a hoarder, but it's true.  There are things I like to hold on to for what once was sentimental value (for example, the convention guides from five years ago...) or for thinking that I could use it for something (like an old foundation container or this random pile of floppy disks on my desk).

I've been having a hard time sleeping this past week, but I think it's due to knowing there have been large piles on my bed.  If I do somehow manage to forget, I'm reminded when I try to adjust in my sleep and can't due to piles of yarn or clothes.  Maybe it's just knowing that there are piles of things that need to be put away, or simply that there is something that I could be getting done.  Whatever it is, it's annoying and needs to stop.  I was still awake and going when the sun came up several days.

Now I'm going back through my organization spree posts and tagging them with "Junk-Free June" and adding the nice banner to the top.  I wish I had taken "before" shots of my room so that you would be able to tell how much of a difference my organization has made, but, again, I didn't expect it to turn into the month-long project that it has.