Life Update

This is how I feel most of the time, lately.

WOW. It has been a long time since I just posted a little update about how things are going in my neck of the woods. I promise to start getting back to regular posting now that I am getting into more of routine with this new job! It has been a crazy month, getting ready for school to start, meeting my kids, planning, and then of course, actually teaching... It's going really, really well!!

In fact, it's going so well, that I feel the need to literally knock on wood whenever someone (read: everyone) asks me how school is going. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that everyone is interested :) My kids are great! I am really able to tell that a lot of them really do need this reading intervention program, and that some of them are already ready for the 8th grade/level 3 reading program. Either way, I can see the success that will come from it, and I am so excited to help these kids get better with their reading, comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and critical thinking skills.

Much of what we're doing right now comes from simply reteaching what they have learned in past years and finding out which of them are good test takers, oral readers, etc. The hardest part is differentiating instruction in the classroom without an aide. Since I am reading intervention, the district decided that the kids with learning challenges and IEPs would not get a aide specific to them in the classroom during my class. This is a nice freedom for someone who is new to teaching, and a little freaked out about being observed, but I have started to realize that it is such a HUGE help to have an intervention specialist in the room with kids who need tests or assignments read aloud to them, or continuous prompting throughout individual work. I really feel that I am letting some of them down because I can't be with all of them at once.

Sigh.

Anyways! Overall, school is going great. So far, I am not letting things get ahead of me, I am keeping up on planning, grading, and copy-making ;)

In other news... You remember Ella, right? Well, she has made leaps and bounds when it comes to obedience training.  Considering I am certified in dog training, that shouldn't be too hard, right?! Even though she is doing well with commands, she still has an aggression problem with other dogs, even Guillermo. She seems very possessive (even over the water bowl, and especially over toys).

  

Last week, we took the two of them to the dog park and Ella spent the entire time cowering on the ground between Nick's feet. Anytime a dog even looked like it might get close to her, she would roll over on her back and start squealing like she was being squashed, and follow that up with snarling and barking. After three months and this behavior continuing, we decided we are going to take her through the puppy training class at PetSmart that Guillermo went through. I figured that even though she knows all of the commands, it has to help to have her around dogs weekly. Right? We're keeping our fingers crossed ;)

This was an extremely long winded post!! Thanks for sticking with me and my sparse posting, lately!! Love you all!! <3
S