Teaching

I had to go to school early today for a Beta Club meeting.  Beta Club meetings never take that long.  Basically, I just walk in, sign in, find out whatever's going on, and leave.  She always has donuts there for us, but I never eat any.  I'm the sort of person who's in no mood for food until I've been awake for an hour or two.  (And I've usually only been awake for about an hour when I get to the meeting.  I sleep in as late as possible.)

Beta Club is in charge of the blood drive our school has.  We're supposed to donate blood, or if we can't, find someone else to.  I never plan on donating blood (Words can't describe how terrified I am of blood.  It would be horrific.), so I asked my sister to donate blood.  For some reason, this is incredibly exciting to her.  She just turned sixteen two days ago, so she just barely makes the age limit for donating blood.  I'll never understand her happiness when I handed her the forms.  I'm going to stop talking about this because typing the "b" word is getting to me.

In AP U.S. History today, we all had to talk a bit about a part of the chapter that had been assigned to us.  I had about three paragraphs.  Basically all I had to say was Parliament gained power as the real exectutives of Britain, and they weren't as concerned with controling the American colonies because it meant raising taxes which wouldn't make the landholders and merchants, who they relied on for support and re-election, happy.  That's almost exactly what I said actually (except it was slightly more detailed).

The Internet was down at school today, which meant we couldn't really work on yearbook stuff.  Instead, we flipped through TV channels.  Ji had the remote, and she never stayed on one channel for more than five minutes.  We watched parts of Scooby Doo, Alton Brown, news channels, and various other things.

Remember how I sayed peer tutoring was stressful?  That has gotten so much better lately.  Before I started peer tutoring, I was kind of afraid that it would make me doubt the fact that I want to be a teacher.  Luckily, it hasn't.  In fact, I think I'm more sure now than I was before.  It's made me consider becoming a middle school or special needs teacher though.  When I first got put in special needs classes at the middle school, I wasn't too happy about it, but it's really not that bad.  I still think I'm going to stick with high school (and not special needs) though.  I don't know if I could deal with middle schoolers all day.

It's gotten to the point where I've gotten comfortable with the teachers and aides in the classrooms I'm in.  I also know a lot of the kids better, and I don't feel as awkward working with them anymore.  One boy gave me a high-five when I walked in the classroom today, and there's another boy that likes to ask me questions about what high school's like every day.

Today, I was going over multiplication flash cards with three of the kids.  Two of them were supposed to be competing to see who could get the most, but the other kid kept cheating and telling one girl the answers.  Then, both of them would try and grab the card out of my hand quickly.  I had to keep flipping the cards without giving one to either girl.  All of this over who could get more cards?  It's fine for an hour and a half, but I don't know if I could deal with that all day.

Even though I don't want to teach middle school, this experience has made me more sure that I want to teach high school.  I think before I was worried because it's such a big decision, and I didn't want to screw it up.  To be honest, that still worries me a bit, but I really do think I'm making the right decision by majoring in secondary education.  Let's just hope I'm right.

I almost forgot the mention this, but Haley, Jordan, and I were talking about Pottermore at lunch today.  Both of them have gotten in.  I want my email!  They were telling me how awesome it is and everything.  I can't wait to be sorted!  Jordan's a Slytherin and Haley's a Ravenclaw.  Haley wanted to be a Slytherin, so she's not too thrilled.  She says she doesn't think she'd ever be able to get into the common room.  I really hope I get Hufflepuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if I get Ravenclaw as well.  If only my email would come!