Highs and Lows

Highs:

• Yesterday was TFA Houston's Winter Summit.  While I wasn't excited to spend my Saturday at an all-day training, my sessions were actually really interesting and I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while! Plus, TFA events always get me re-inspired for why I'm actually doing this job
• Dinner and drinks at Berry Hill last night with Briana, Jennifer, and Sarah was exactly what I needed
• I got 12 hours of sleep last night.  Going to bed at 9 PM and waking up at 9 AM felt so right
• I finally went grocery shopping for the first time in a month!  I made a trip to the mall, Trader Joes, Randalls, and Target all in under 2 hours!
• I decorated the apartment for Christmas! Christmas lights and chocolate Advent calendars are definitely starting to make it feel more like the holiday season
• My kids loved my lessons on theme and plot stages this week--I even got to teach them plot stages using the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Spongebob Squarepants.  When they learn and enjoy it at the same time, I am very happy
• I'm trying to make Sundays less stressful, and have therefore started referring to Sundays as "Stress-free Sundays."  That means Glee is on, candles are burning, and Christmas music is playing in the background while I lesson plan
• Kate and Mark get married in 27 days and I go home in 20 days!

Lows:

• Bills, bills, bills.  I simply never have enough money for all of my expenses
• I graded my students' Thanksgiving homework packet and only about 70% turned it in.  Of the students who did turn it in, about 50% of them circled random answers and didn't actually read the passages.  Needless to say, if they don't re-do it and turn it in tomorrow, they will be in detention on Friday.
• I have training Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until 8:30 PM this week.  Those long days are going to be rough
• I can't seem to kick this cold! 

1 month until Christmas!

My Thanksgiving break was absolutely wonderful and I have so many things to be thankful for this year.  Unfortunately, now that the break is over, I'm having a hard time re-gaining motivation for the next month.


Highs:

• Spending Thanksgiving with my parents, Chris, and our next door neighbors
• Meeting Chris' wonderful family and friends and getting to see his hometown
• Seeing Jackie, Allie, and Sierra and having a great night in PB together!
• Homecooked meals and copious amounts of wine all week
• Oregon beat Oregon State in the Civil War game! Not that I am surprised, but you never know after last week's game
• 1 month until Christmas!

        

Lows:

• My Thanksgiving break was awesome but there was definitely not enough time to relax 
• I spent ALL day Wednesday grading and going through 60 thirty-question scantron answers because our scantron machine is messed up...that's 1800 questions
• 4 days is simply not a long enough break and now I feel like this next month is going to go slower than ever
• Long distance never gets easier.  Who wants to live 10 hours away from their boyfriend?
• USC, FSU, and UCLA lost--normally I would never root for these teams, but I was rooting for every team this weekend that could possibly bring Oregon up in the rankings
• I'm back to late night lesson planning tonight

Here's to hoping the next month goes by quickly so it can be my favorite holiday already!

2 days and counting!

Highs:

• My personal day Friday was amazing.  I slept till 11, got my nails done, and did some shopping!
• I got to see Chris this weekend, and get to spend most of my Thanksgiving break with him as well! We are really working hard to make the long distance seem as little "long" as possible
• I got most of my planning for Monday and Tuesday done last week so I didn't have to stress too much this weekend
• Tomorrow is a test day...aka I get to rest my voice all day! Let's hope my students' grades on the test keep this high a high
• I fly back to San Diego in 2 days!! I simply cannot wait to be home

Lows:

• I have to move my entire classroom in the next 1 1/2 days
• I missed Kate's bachelorette party and had major FOMO (fear of missing out) all weekend hearing about all of my girlfriends reuniting in Portland to celebrate the bride-to-be...but regardless, I'm very glad they had a wonderful time!
• I have a ton of grading, packing, and organizing to do before my plane leaves on Tuesday night
• Finally, the lowest of the lows...the Ducks lost last night to Stanford and fell to #5 in the BCS rankings

Can't wait to report back with hopefully all highs after Thanksgiving break!

Let the Countdown Begin!

Highs:

• Only 10 days until Thanksgiving! Chris will be with my family on Thursday and then on Friday we are driving up to Moorpark to see his family!
• I'm taking a personal day Friday---aka this week I'm only working 4 days, and next week I'm only working 2!
• 48 days until two of my amazing friends, Kate and Mark, get married!
• Briana, Emily and I got Thai food last night...never a bad choice
• We got to pet-sit a black lab puppy this weekend!
• Oregon is ranked #1 in the AP polls...hopefully #1 in the BCS rankings tonight too!

Lows:

• I am missing Kate's bachelorette party this Saturday...I'm so jealous I can't be in Portland for what I know will be an amazing girls night
• Grading the Fall writing assessments is taking me FOREVER
• We had training all day Saturday...enough said
• Tomorrow is Monday, the worst day of the week

I'm back!

After a long vacation from blogging, I'm back!  Since I don't have much time to blog nowadays, I am going to try to take on the blogging format of my dear friend Caitlin, who always posts her highs and lows for the week.  Seems simple enough, right?

Highs

• Chris and I met up this weekend right outside of Dallas.  We got to relax, do a little shopping, and watch the Oregon vs. USC game at a local bar.  Chris is a USC fan so it was even more awesome that I got to watch my team beat his, since we all know the Ducks are better anyways
• The Ducks are now #3 in the BCS rankings (but let's be real, we should be #2)
• I finally went grocery shopping today and no longer have to walk around my school asking to borrow $1.50 from anyone in sight to buy a Diet Coke from the vending machine
• I've been getting to bed a lot earlier than usual lately...maybe I'm starting to get the hang of nightly lesson planning?

Lows

• District testing is this week, and so far my teaching schedule has been all over the place
• Walking around and monitoring kids taking tests for 2 hours straight is surprisingly exhausting
• Kids are very hyper in class after testing all morning
• I'm super stressed about how my students will perform on the reading test tomorrow...
• I took away one of my student's football during an assembly because he was playing with it, and may or may not have misplaced it...this resulted in a trip to Sports Authority today because I felt guilty and decided to buy him a new one.  Who knew Nike footballs were so expensive?
• My coffee tumbler tipped over and spilled coffee all over my students' tests

I can't believe it's only Monday...here's to what's hopefully a good week!  Keep your fingers crossed that my students do well on their reading and writing tests!

Week 1 Done!

I am officially done with my first week of school! It was a combination of stress, inspiration, fun, and exhaustion, and I'm definitely glad it's over but excited for more weeks to come! Overall it went pretty smoothly and my kids are really awesome.  I definitely have a few students who are "too cool for school" in some of my classes, but I've made the personal goal for myself that my biggest challenge students are going to be my biggest successes at the end of the year...the hard part will be keeping that positive mentality all year.

I just graded my beginning of year assessments to see where my students are in their reading comprehension skills, and the results were definitely disheartening...only about 20 of my 70 or so students scored 70% or higher.  While these numbers are intimidating, it just shows me that I have a lot of work to do this year, and that I have the opportunity to really help my students get to the reading level that they need to be at.

I had my students write stories of their lives, or as we like to call it at Teach for America, Stories of Self.  To be honest, I was worried that my students wouldn't really understand the assignment or wouldn't take it seriously.  I shared my story of self with them about why I am here as a teacher today, and how I struggled with school and my self esteem a lot when I was their age--needless to say, they completely surprised and amazed me.  I haven't been able to read all of their stories yet, but from what I have read, I am so proud of them.  They were so open, honest, and got really personal with their stories.   Reading about the struggles and hardships that they have had to go through just reminded me why my role is not only to be a teacher for my students, but also a mentor and role model as well.

Since I was running around trying to get everything done in time before school started, I'm just now getting around to posting before/after pictures of my classroom.  I'm pretty pleased with how it looks, and I can safely say that I was wrong when I assumed that all of my teachers' classrooms came decorated for them.  I also never realized how much money teachers pay out of pocket to decorate their classrooms and get supplies for their students.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Stress Relievers

Long days of training, preparing for the school year, and realizing that I really have no idea what I'm doing as a teacher has made me extremely stressed over the past week.

A few things have been my saving grace this week...

Rom-Coms

Red wine...and lots of it.

Writing extensive to-do lists, and the amazing feeling of checking things off.

Happy hours with friends!

At the end of the day, I keep reminding myself that the stress and the exhaustion that I have felt throughout this summer doesn't even compare to the hardships that my students have gone through.  That in itself has kept me grounded throughout this process, and reminds

 me every day why I am doing what I am doing.

And in honor of the Olympics, and of course, the University of Oregon, here is a quote 

to get me through the next week, the next month, and what I know will be

 the most challenging and rewarding few years of my life.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." -Steve Prefontaine

Surprise Visit!

I flew home to San Diego this past week for a mini vacation, and got to surprise my dad for his birthday! My mom and I pulled it off perfectly, and his face was priceless when I surprised him at the restaurant he decided to go to for his big day. My week back home was wonderful, and it was so nice to just relax, spend time with some amazing people, and not think about work for a week.  My week in San Diego made it almost harder to come back to the real world, aka my life in Houston, but I know once I get started with training again on Monday I'll feel more ready and energized for the coming fall!

In other news, I get my first paycheck on August 15th and have to save pretty much every dime and penny for rent and utilities until then.  But for now, I am dying to buy these off etsy.com once I finally get paid!

To go with my room's color scheme of navy and white--which is currently just white,

because my lack of paycheck has left me with little spending for decorations

I want a necklace with 3 pendants--California, Oregon, and Texas,

 the 3 states that have had the most impact on me so far in my life!

This picture of California, in navy, to go with my room's color scheme. 

 I love Texas so far, but I will always be a California girl at heart!

Just Call Me Miss Cooper

I can't believe I'm already moved into my new apartment in Houston and done with Teach for America Institute!  I was incredibly MIA this summer, and promise to be better at blogging about my life from here on out! I blame my lack of blogging on my average 3 hours of sleep a night, living in the dorms with 800 other TFA corps members, and overall just having an amazing and very time consuming Institute experience.

I met some pretty amazing people this summer, and got to teach some absolutely wonderful kids who I fell in love with immediately.  I taught 5th grade reading and math, and even though I only had my kids for 4 weeks, each and every one of them had such a huge impact on me as a teacher and as a person.  My class was really small--only 5 students--but Estephaniea, Joseph, Domingo, Alexis G, and Alexis S were the most amazing kids I could have asked for this summer, and I know they can do anything they put their minds to.  I just hope they left summer school knowing that about themselves!

I unfortunately am legally not allowed to post pictures of my students without parental permission, but here are a few pictures from my summer that sum up why I've loved living in Houston and working for Teach for America:

I got an amazing apartment with two awesome girls--Briana and Jennifer.  We love our new place, have an amazing location, and despite the fact that we can't figure out how to set up our internet or cable, we've still managed to keep ourselves extremely busy with post-Institute work, organizing our apartment, and making one too many phone calls to Comcast!

I'm still catching on up on the lack of sleep I got during Institute and have one too many things to get done before my summer trainings start up again, but teaching here in Houston couldn't feel more right.  I am 100% confident in the decision I made to move to a new city and start a new career, and even though I know it's only going to get harder, I'm so ready to take on the challenge of making sure that one day, every child will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education! You can officially call me Miss Cooper, or "Miss" as most of my students like to refer to me as.

Happy Father's Day!

So I've been a bit MIA since I started Teach for America Institute, but among the hours of lesson planning, coloring posters, and printing handouts, I need to take the time to tell the most important man in my life how much I love him...so Dad, Happy Father's Day!!

Here 10 of the things I love most about my amazing dad:

10) He's absolutely hilarious.  Not going to lie, I used to get embarrassed by his jokes when I was a bratty teenager, but now that I am older (and hopefully wiser), I have come to appreciate his awesome sense of humor. My friends all think he is hilarious and he tends to be the life of the party wherever he goes.

9) He has a ton of interests.  My dad loves to run, go to the gym, ride his motorcyle, play guitar, and of course, spend time with me and my mom.  On top of working, he makes time to do what he loves, and you can tell how passionate of a person he is by how many hobbies he has and how many things he is good at.

8) He gives amazing advice.  You name it, and he can help you figure out the situation.  My dad has a way of calming me down during stressful situations, reminding me of what's important in life, and giving me his honest opinion, and I can't thank him enough for all of the times he has helped me through life's stressful moments.  He is always the first person I call when I really need help figuring out a tough situation.

7.  He's incredibly supportive.  My dad's opinion means so much to me, and when I initially told him about Teach for America I could tell he was skeptical about me moving to a new city, less than 6 months after moving to Arlington.  But once he saw how passionate I was about Teach for America, he backed me up 100%.  My dad has supported me through so much in life--school, sports, friends, my internships, and now my current job.  I couldn't have accepted this job offer if it wasn't for his blessing, and I'm so thankful to have his constant support.

6.  He has the most contagious laugh in the world.  His "this is the funniest thing I've ever seen" laugh is rare, and only comes out during really funny television shows or when he's telling stories about his childhood, but when it does, it is literally contagious.  I actually have videos of it on my I-phone and watch it sometimes to get a good laugh or put me in a good mood.

5.  He's an incredibly hard worker.  He is dedicated to everything that he does, and never gives less than 110% on everything.  It seems like he hasn't stopped working since he was 16, but it's probably because he's so good at everything he does.  From working construction with my grandpa, to being a police officer, to being a polygraph examiner, to NCIS Special Agent in Charge, to a realtor for Coldwell Banker, my dad has excelled at each and every one of his jobs (I'm sure I'm leaving out quite a few), and he has taught me how much hard work really does pay off.

4. Family is so important to him.  My dad is always telling me stories about his siblings, his mom, and his dad, and it is obvious how much he cares about all of them.  I really admire how close my dad and his dad were, and I can see so many of the amazing traits that my grandpa had in my dad himself.  A day never goes by where my dad doesn't tell my mom and I how much he loves us, and he always makes me feel so special every time I am around him.  I know he would do anything for me, my mom, and his family.

3. He loves my friends.  I really appreciate that my dad really gets to know all of my friends, and pretty much every single one of my friends who has met my dad thinks he is the funniest and coolest dad to walk the planet.  When one of my best friends lost her dad to cancer a couple of years ago, he went above and beyond his duty as "Sarah's dad" and really showed her how much he was thinking of her and supporting her.  Knowing that my dad cares as much about my friends as I do means the world to me.

2.  He is an amazing care taker.  My dad is constantly making sure that my mom and I are healthy, have everything we need, and are happy.  Even when I don't ask for help, he knows when I need it, and he always steps in and and goes above his role as a father when I need him the most.

1.  He is me...as an adult...and a man.  In other words, I am literally my father's daughter.  From our intense personalities, to our appreciation of humor and sarcasm, and to our values, I am so proud to say that I see so much of my dad in me.  And, let's be real, we look at lot a like.  Except I failed to get any of his Portuguese coloring and he kind of left me hanging on the athletic ability genes...

I love you so much dad!  Thank you for being the most supportive, amazing, caring father in the entire world...I don't know what I would do without you! I am so lucky to have you in my life and I hope I make you as proud as you make me every day :)

The Countdown to Texas Begins!

I can't believe I only have 2 days left in San Diego before my mom and I start the drive to Houston! I've been so busy since I've been home that I've barely had a chance to soak up any of the amazing San Diego sun! Although I don't think I should be concerned about not getting enough sunlight in the months to come, seeing that it's currently almost 3 AM in Houston and still 77 degrees outside.

My parents and I just got back from a fun night of sushi, the Nike outlet, and gambling at Viejas Casino.  I got a pair of awesome new running shoes that I can't wait to try out, and am really hoping to get my running motivation back soon...although I have a feeling my long days at Institute aren't going to allow me much time or energy to exercise!

Here's to hoping my new pair of running shoes motivate me!

Home Sweet Home!

I'm finally back in San Diego, and nothing feels better than falling asleep in my bed at home!  I've had a great couple of days back at home so far, which have included shopping with my mom, catching up on long overdue phone dates with friends, and getting together with old friends! I spent most of today studying for the TExES exam which I have to pass in order to teach in Texas, and it's definitely reminding me of how much I dislike multiple choice tests! I ordered a book from Barnes and Noble to help me prepare for the exam, and my mom and I will have plenty of time in the car on our roadtrip to go over practice test questions, such as the one below that I did not know the correct answer to until today:

Which of the following technologies had the greatest impact on the environment and the geography of agriculture in the U.S. Great Plains?

A. The cotton gin

B. The steel plow 

C. The telegraph 

D. The prairie schooner

If you're wondering, the answer is B.  I guessed A, and I still don't know what a prairie schooner is.

Tomorrow will be a fun-filled day of friend time...I get to hang out with my college roommate and bestie Jackie during the day, and hang out with my best friends from middle/high school Sierra and Morgan at night! I love being able to come home to San Diego and reunite with old friends, and am so glad we've all kept in touch over the years, despite how different all of our paths have been.

I leave for Texas in 7 days and I'm absolutely terrified, anxious, excited, nervous, and eager all at once.  I'm so thankful that I already know where and what I'm teaching, but not knowing who I'll meet, where I'll live after Institute, and what to expect is definitely nerve wrecking.  Not to mention, I'm not the best test taker and pretty much only have one opportunity to pass the TExES exam...so not passing is not an option!

Knowing my luck, the first question on my test will ask what a prairie schooner is.  And when it does, I'll be glad I googled it.

Moving

Here's a brief look into what I plan on doing all day:

Moving might be one of my least favorite things ever.  But I think even more so right now because this is the fourth time I will have moved in the past year.  Oregon to California, California to DC, DC to Virginia, Virginia to Texas...crazy to think I will have lived in 5 different places in less than 365 days!