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Teacher by day, Mommy by night
Teacher by day, Mommy by night
Juggling the demands (and insanity) of being a high school teacher, a wife, and a mother to a toddler
Member Since: October 28, 2007 Last Signed In: March 20, 2010 Blog Views: 5548 Send To A Friend Sign Guestbook Add as a Friend
Marching to the Beat
Marching One By One... March Forth A Valentines' Haiku Finally! I Surprised my Husband! One Weird, Long Week Adventures in Baking 2009--A Year at a Glance Vacation--Moeckli Style A Traveling Christmas October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09 January 10 February 10 March 10 
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In college, both my husband and I were English majors. Remarkably, we never had a class together even though our department was quite small. This I was fine with.
According to Justin, I am a highly competitive person. He does not mean this in a flattering way. According to me, how can one see always knowing the right answer as a bad thing? :) Personally, we do very well together. However, as soon as we are discussing a English-major-related issue, we are all nails and teeth. (To be honest, that's me. Justin is all eye rolling.) Since there are SO many jobs one can find with an English degree (HA!), it was surprising that we both fell into teaching. Not. Although Justin and I both started teaching eight years ago (good GOD, btw), I taught at a public middle school and he taught private school. Different schools. Different systems. Different cities. Different kinds of crazy. Our jobs were so different that we very rarely discussed, (read: bickered), about teaching. Then we moved to Sacramento. Justin desperately wanted to find a non-teaching job. No luck. So he started subbing in Elk Grove. This experience re-awakened his love for teaching and kids (and the double paycheck re-awakened our practical natures), so he signed up for the credential program. Now, Justin has a credential. And he has a summer school teaching job. At my school. In my territory. Don't get me wrong. I love seeing Justin work. He is a fabulous teacher. Simply fabulous. Probably...maybe....better than me. Ack! But it is weird having him at my school. I have spent two years building up the image/facade that I am put together, on top of my shizz, etc. One well-place comment by Justin could blow that all to smithereens: "We're really proud of Hillary; she only cried once this week about work" or "You should see Hill's temper tantrums when the cable goes out...wow!" I don't actually envision him saying any of these things. He's much nicer and clever than that. :) But I have found myself out of my element. I never realized how much I have separated my home life from work. We have a position at my school for next year which Justin is totally perfect for. He would be a great asset to our school. Still, he would drive me completely crazy. Always has. I guess that's why I love him so. :)
We rarely do things "small" in my family. We like our parties big, noisy, and full of family. This was all definitely true this weekend, as we celebrated my daughter Emerson's 3rd birthday. While there were moments I was sure I'd forget something crucial or throttle my husband (I'm confident the feeling was mutual), everything went really well.
The shenanigans began early in the week with me running around town ordering cake, tables, chairs, and finalizing the menu. An added "bonus" was that I am getting ready for a work trip next week, so I had a ton to deal with at work. On Friday, the family began arriving. First my sister, who was hobbling around because of broken foot, came up from the Bay Area. Haley really wanted to help, but the crutches slowed her down some. Luckily, she helped me come up with crafts and games for the kids. Then, my husband's parents came with his sister, niece, and 3 month old nephew. The little one is darling, but the two girls can argue something fierce over toys. Not a joy. Saturday morning was the true test. We had to run to Target (the answer to all my problems, I swear), get the cake, and set up the party. To avoid hot weather, we held the party at 11, which works great but one has to be super organized in the morning. Not really my strong suit. Guests began arriving at 10:45. Sigh. I am so not one of those people. I've had lots of parties with adults, but I'm relatively new to the whole kid party thing. I think it went pretty well. My daughter picked a Cars movie theme (she's way into Lightening McQueen), so we decorated everything with Cars paraphernalia. We had coloring pages out for the kids, squirt guns, stickers, and bubbles. The menu was also kid friendly: hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese puffs--what else can one ask for? The only somewhat lull was the gift unwrapping. Some people really like to watch kids unwrap gifts, but when the party is so big, the process can take a really long time. It's a lot of fun, but the kid tends to lose interest. And there I am feeling foolish unwrapping My Little Ponies. Awkward. I was quite tired last night and I ate a ton of stuff I shouldn't have. But it was a great party. For Father's Day, we took Justin and his father out for breakfast. Could have been exciting with three kids, but they were all really good. The girls loved their pancakes and Baby Justin slept through most of the breakfast. Good deal. Tonight I head to Long Beach for a conference. I have a feeling I will sleep just fine tonight.
One great thing about teaching, at least for my personality, is that every year I get to hit the reset button and start all over again. Some people may find that tiring, but it suits me really well. I have great bursts of energy, but my focus and enthusiasm tends to wane over time.
I added it up the other day, and in my eight years of teaching, I have had 14 first days of school. (Most years I teach summer school, so those firsts count too.) A few things have come to my attention:
Lessons I have learned that live beyond the classroom:
But then a student makes me laugh so hard I actually cry and I know it's totally worth it.
Being a teacher gives me an unique perspective, especially when it comes to the "end of the year." Most people finish their year in December, January, or February. Not me. My year begins in August and ends in June.
While the average American is celebrating the end of the year, nursing a hang over, and making resolutions, I'm too busy to be making plans. My year is in full swing. I've already made my resolutions, things like I will try to grade all essays within a reasonable amount of time, I won't let the kids see me angry, and I won't engage in workplace gossip. Yeah, by April goals like these are toast. I finished teaching on Thursday and have had some time to reflect on this year, which for the most part was a VAST improvement over last year. Here's what I am grateful for:
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