Highs and Lows

Highs

• A few of my students from last year stopped by to say goodbye. I am so appreciative that I had the chance to see them again
• I got to meet my cousin, who was visiting the city, for dinner!
• I played uno with my kids allllll day on Tuesday
• My last grad school class is done and my last day in the classroom is complete…wow
• Graduation and the fun that followed was amazing! Although, even now, I am still in total shock that it is all over
• I got to spend the weekend upstate with my roommate and her family. It was definitely nice to get away for the weekend
• Sarah and I went to MoMA and got to see the rain room…incredible

Lows

• The final two days in the classroom were a bit silly. We had already turned in our grades and the students had finished their exams. All of us were a bit confused as to why we were in the building
• I will really, really miss my kids

Finally, I thought I would share these two photo collages…the first set of pictures is from the middle of our first year of teaching and the second set of photos were taken immediately following graduation. Quite the contrast…

Highs and Lows

Highs

• I had the best weekend with Kaycie! We had a great time exploring the city. We went to the 9/11 memorial, spent some time in Brooklyn, watched a comedy show, and brunched
• I am so excited for the students who passed their exams and I can’t wait to see them graduate next week
• Catch ups combined with wine are just the best
• My final assignment for my final grad school class is ready to be turned in…now I’ve gotta make some moves on earning this Spanish credit
• We got tickets to the Oregon game at UVA. I haven’t seen a live Duck game since college and I am more than a little bit excited
• I saw a woman pushing her cat through Central Park in a stroller…if that isn’t great, I don’t know what is

Lows

• Regents week just hasn’t been quite as fun as in the past
• It’s heartbreaking to watch kids work so hard and ultimately fail an exam
• Mirelle and I had two very traumatic encounters today…one with a rabid squirrel and the other with a weirdo on the train

Highs and Lows

Highs

• I received a lovely surprise in the mail!
• I got to read a science test to my kids from last year. I was exhausted by the end of it but it was nice to spend time with them and to watch them work so hard
• I had three late shifts for Regents proctoring. It was weird but wonderful to wake up and head to work at a more normal hour
• Two years later and I finally have a Truman High School ID card
• A lot of my older kids walked out of their exams with smiles on their faces. Two students told me it was “easy” and another said “it went good, you taught me everything”…I couldn’t possibly be more proud of them
• Kaycie is here for the weekend!!!
• My cousin gave birth to a beautiful little girl. I cannot wait to meet the lovely little Charlotte!!!

Lows

• I’m really going to miss my kids. It was tough to watch them walk out of my classroom on Monday
• The school building is absolutely freezing!

Highs and Lows

Highs

• I had a great weekend in Lancaster and I came home with enough baked goods to last me a month!
• Sarah fixed our door. Now, instead of making the most obnoxious noise ever, it is silent
• I am officially done lesson planning. Crazy!
• Just one more teaching day. Wow, wow, wow!
• Yesterday was a awesome. Mirelle and I adventured through Union Square, SoHo, and China Town. We ate at an incredible dim sum restaurant with a Michelin rating and we each came home with three pounds of lychees!

Lows

• Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day

Highs and Lows

Highs

• Kaycie is coming to visit me!!
• I spent Memorial Day enjoying Brooklyn
• Very few things beat a beautiful day spent in Central Park
• I caved and got more banana pudding…it’s just irresistible
• I’ve officially passed all of my teacher certification tests
• I get to go to Pennsylvania tomorrow!
• Five teaching days remaining in the school year…whaaaa?!

Lows

• “Miss, you look like a mess”
• Attendance was rather lackluster this week

Highs and Lows

Highs

• I saw the most adorable set of six (yes, six!) brothers on the train with their mom on Mother’s Day. They were all dressed up and absolutely adorable
• Sunday was a beautiful, beautiful day and I got to spend some time in the park and by the river
• I discovered a new, yummy, and inexpensive Mexican restaurant right by my apartment…this could eventually become a bad thing but I’m really excited about it right now
• When I asked one of my kids how many girlfriends he had had so far this year, replied “six”…hahahaha seriously? Six?
• I’ve created a few Duck fans. I saw a student on the walk to the train and he told his friend that I was the “Duck lady”. I offered the boys to come to my room the next day to get Oregon Duck tape to decorate their backpacks and they took me up on my offer
• I want to meet this cabbie
• We celebrated our completion of our two year commitment to TFA at Alumni Induction. I can’t believe we did it!
• Just 14 teaching days left until state testing begins…crazy!

Lows

• I forgot about our professional development session scheduled for after school on Monday and that’s always a tough realization in the morning
• The classroom isn’t the most appropriate place to take out your bag of weed…
• I don’t want to hear your music or your video game on the train. Use your headphones!

Highs and Lows

Highs

• It is May!
• The countdown is officially on…okay, so it has been on for a while now…
• I got to talk to my Nana and it was just lovely
• Cherry blossoms are beautiful and they make the park so delightful
• One of my most disruptive and disrespectful students apologized for his poor behavior…crazy and surprising but SO great
• Oh, and I go to Oregon TOMORROW…I’m giddy!!!

Lows

• We had to take a cab to work after Julia’s car broke down unexpectedly

Highs and Lows

Highs

• My roommates and I went to a painting class last Sunday and walked away with three matching masterpieces
• I spent last Saturday in Queens eating authentic Chinese food from a hidden restaurant and watching the Mets take on the Nationals
• One of my students was asking me about my childhood and kept imitating my parents calling me Ms. Northcote…as if they actually referred to me that way
• I love my seventh period class. They couldn’t be more entertaining, especially at the end of a long day. Oh, and they love to do impressions which is rather hilarious
• Brunch. I love you, Brunch

Lows

• My first period class will be the death of me. Each day somebody just has to start something with someone or else life just couldn’t go on….
• The fire alarm just randomly goes off in the school building on a regular basis and nobody does anything…ever. What is going to happen if there is ever a real fire?!

Highs and Lows

Highs

• My grad school class on Monday night was very engaging
• A few of my older kids were hooked on a math computer game. It was wonderful!
• I made friends with a darling first grader on the train. She was so polite!
• “I ain’t tryin’ to get married because then you can’t do nothin’…you can’t look at butts or nothin'”….teenage boys are just such charmers
• This weekend is busy, busy but I’m really looking forward to it!

Lows

• I am saying my prayers for Boston
• A group of my ninth graders is just so incredibly insensitive and the way they speak about women and individuals who are not like them kills me

Highs and Lows

Highs

• One of my students who believes I am forty four years old made a comment about how it must be difficult for me that I look so young for my age because my boyfriends (yes, plural) must look so old in comparison…he was genuinely concerned for me and it was pretty sweet
• One of my kids brings me a tootsie roll nearly everyday. He’s found the way to my heart with this little treat
• I got second place in my march madness suicide pool. I didn’t win any money but I’m still taking pride in my close second
• It felt like spring for a few days in a row!!! I cannot even express the sheer joy I feel at the prospect of consistent sunshine
• Cherry blossoms in the park…so pretty
• My cousin and I met for a great Turkish dinner midweek
• The train provided a little inspiration in the form of a Cole Hann ad…”be more interesting tomorrow than you are today”
• I have friends coming to the city this weekend!

Lows

• “Is Arizona a state?”…seriously?!
• A student told me that it looked like I was wearing a shirt from my grandma’s closet and implied that the shirt made me look pregnant
• I tried to take off my eye makeup only to realize my dark circles were not left over makeup that could be removed…eeek