Repost #1

I'm cheating. I'm so sorry, blogger world, but I had to. I had to cheat so I would feel more complete. Isn't that how everyone gets started cheating...they feel like they are missing something, and they look elsewhere to find it? So...how did I cheat? Well, the rest of this post is a repost. I know...it's terrible. I should make each and every post something new and exciting...something that I've never written before. Well...too bad. It's my blog, and I guess I get to make the rules. I'm reposting an entry from my other blog regarding my new job (Well...it was still fairly new at the time that I posted that entry.) And...there will probably be more reposts in the future. I had some things that I shared on my other blog that didn't receive as much attention as I would have hoped, so...I'm reposting them here to see what happens. So...my one follower...you can probably stop reading here since I think you've already read the rest of this. (Disclaimer: I do not condone cheating in any other sense...so if you think this applies to any other aspect of my life...sorry...but no.)

***Reposted from November 15, 2008***
I promised you a more in depth blog to read, but I'm sitting here at the computer and my mind is just buzzing around in circles. No...it's not from my coffee...which I now drink on a daily basis seeing as how they expect me to be bright and shining when I walk in the door to work at 7:30am. I think I've just got more going on than I have in a very long time. And...on a really awesome note...well it's awesome to me...I'm being challenged academically every single day. My job at the hospital wasn't easy, to say the least, but I wasn't mentally challenged. (Oh...ha...ha...that sounds funny - I could delete that and rewrite it, but you could use a laugh too.)

Not only am I having to relearn two years of physics and radiobiology that I sat through five years ago, I'm having to learn how to teach. I don't mean getting up in front of the class and lecturing...that part comes naturally. There's a lot more that goes into this job than I realized...and I haven't really been shown what all that is. For instance, I found out yesterday that when I write my objectives for my lessons, my test questions have to fit with those objectives. If I give them an objective to list five details about a certain subject, then a test question cannot ask them to describe or analyze those details. So...I have to be sure my objectives actually coincide with how much I want them to learn from the lesson. This simple fact has been clouding my brain since yesterday afternoon. Amazing that I have now worked at my job for five weeks, I have already given two tests, and I was just told this yesterday. Anyway...

I definitely have some revisions to make on the test I was going to give this Tuesday. And...my lessons from now on will focus on those objectives in a whole new way. I have so much to do, and I don't know where to begin, and I have three classes on Tuesday that I haven't even started yet. (Yikes!!!) It's difficult since I started in the middle of the semester, the students were already behind, and I'm basically working only a few days ahead when I should be at least a week ahead of myself. I know I'll get there eventually...(Thank you Superintendent for giving us a five day Thanksgiving break)...it's just going to take time. I have a professor from UCO who comes to observe/assist Nancy...the other new teacher...and me during our first year. I was nervous about her first visit yesterday, but I realize now she is going to be a vital resource. She will be observing my class next Friday morning...which I haven't started planning yet either...so please keep me in your prayers.

I just stopped to re-read what I wrote, and it sounds a little like complaining....as if I don't like my job that much. That is far from the truth. I AM BLESSED!!! Oh my gosh...I can't even tell you how blessed I am. I could sit here for the rest of the morning and try to type out all the ways I'm blessed (Not a bad idea...add that to your to do list, Mrs. C.), and I still wouldn't even come close to listing all of them. But this job...wow...it's such a gift! I am interacting with people in a whole new way. I am spending my day working very hard on something that challenges me and awakens a part of me that has been a sleep for a long while...my brain.

I sit in my office...yes - I have my own office...and look out the entire wall of windows into a landscape filled with trees and a beautiful lake. My window faces East, so the sun rise streams through the trees, and I feel God shining through. He is still working on me, and I am more conscious of Him in my life. (Thank you, God, for being patient with me for all these years that I haven't kept you in focus.) I felt fulfilled at my job at the hospital because of the patients that I got to take care of, but the working environment itself was toxic to my spiritual health. I felt stress both mentally and physically on a daily basis, and I would come home unable to motivate myself to do the simplest things around the house. I feel like my day somehow has an extra 8 hours in it now. I LOVE MY JOB AND MY LIFE AND MY GOD!!! My cup runneth over...

Wow...what started out as buzz actually did turn into a fairly long blog. (Not bad...Mrs. C. Now get up from this computer, go get a shower, and finish cleaning this entire house before Waldo and Wanda arrive to spend the day with you.) Yikes...I can sound a little bossy, huh?
***END OF REPOST***

And there you have it...a summary of how I felt about my job in November. My next post will be how I feel about my job in February. (Did I just post about an upcoming post? That sounds like someone I know. Who could it be???) Sorry again for cheating. Actually, I guess I'm not sorry. When you're sorry for doing something, you mean you won't do it again, and I will be reposting in the future...I'm sure of it. So...I guess...um...hmmm....how do I end this?...well...oh I know...HAVE A BLESSED DAY!!!

~ Mrs. C ~