Evidently one post a month is the norm

Well, I have a mere 4ish weeks remaining in this portion of my program. Then we are halfway done. I can't believe it. It makes me sort of sad...I'm realizing I am not fully settled into my way cute apartment and that sooner than I know it I will have to move out. It sucks. I finally got the bigger TV and a nice comfy chair so that now visitors don't have to sit in the director's chairs that I have as if they were my subjects coming to pay homage to me as I always sit on the love seat.

My CT told me a couple of weeks ago that he thought the writing lesson I taught that day went very well...and that it could be primarily contributed to the fact that I already have a good teacher presence in the classroom. He said normally there is a big dichotomy - as in he is the teacher and the intern is clearly not and the kids know it and they take advantage of it to some extent. He said I was advanced on the continuum in this respect and that it was very rare to be this way. I'm really excited about that because it will allow me to focus on deeper things like assessment and using assessment results to shape future lessons and also looking more closely as the students as individual students with different needs that I can try to meet by presenting the material in ways that are most easily accessible to them.

In other news, I was supposed to meet someone at a nearby Starbucks last night and as I waited for about 15 minutes, a kind looking older gentleman walked past me and said "you look bored out of your mind" and I said "oh, I'm just waiting for a friend" and he said, "someone would make a pretty lady like you wait?" I just laughed and he said "You tell him I said that..." and walked away. Oh man. Turns out signals had gotten crossed and said friend was at a different Starbucks. It's been a weird week...I also received unidentified flowers in the mail (later identified), but still..

I saw Yo Yo Ma in concert on Saturday night. We were high in the balcony and my view was slightly obstructed by a woman who had a large puff of bangs on her head circa I don't know what decade that passed us long ago. Oddddd. Laura and I took pictures on her camera phone to document the sighting. I also saw Madeleine Peyroux, who I thought would be a nice classy french girl singing jazz songs...turns out she's kind of a frumpy hippie. That realization was a bit sad....I still like her CD though. I'm being very judgmental of late I've noticed. Probably because I lack the time to really ponder people.

Well, I must be off to the coffee shop to make some headway on my science unit about light...hurray. Then dinner and off to my Belledi dancing class, taught by 65-year old Grace. So much fun. Ha ha.

New Adventures!

Well I am semi-settled (for a couple of days at least) in Ann Arbor. My sublease doesn't start until Sunday, so I am staying with some family friends and it is SO nice to come home to a semi-familiar place during this first week of orientation and class, etc.

Orientation was today and it was probably as awesome as orientation can get. The professors are enthusiastic and passionate (one would hope...oh and I sort of don't like using that word, but there really wasn't another option) about teaching and making a difference and really preparing us to step out of this program next June ready to take on a classroom. It was really invigorating. The other great thing is that they are constantly looking at how this program works and how they can make it better...it's on ongoing experiment and their dedication is overwhelming.

The program is mostly girls with a wide age range and there are about 6 guys. Pretty much everyone seems very nice and very aware that we are all quickly going to become each other's support group and resources. They emphasize that we are all in this together, just like teachers are and that it is so important that we all bounce things off of each other and use each other for everyone's benefit.

Ann Arbor is so cool so far. I'm not totally familiar with everything yet, but have a decent idea of where things are. It has the city life without the huge city and there is so much art and culture which makes me:):):) I am a nerd.

Tomorrow we have to bring our favorite book to our literacy class. So I went to Borders and bought a $5 copy of Jane Eyre. I'm not sure what we will be doing with this, but it's my all-time favorite.:)