A big pile of little things....

Hello, my name is Shantel and I am being crushed under the weight of a big pile of little things. Don't worry, I will be fine. There is just a lot going on!

Here are some little things (and maybe not so little things) that you might care about: 

- Tuesday,  January 11, 2011 at 8:07 am - I was offered a full time teaching position at Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs. (Yay!)

-Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 8:08 am - I accepted. 

-It is the end of the term and I have been dealing with students who want to make up assignments from the first week of school in August, students who have sat in my class for the past two weeks doing absolutely nothing and want to know what they can do to bring their grade up, and students who have A's with 100% who are bored out of their minds because they have to sit around while I deal with their classmates. 

- David and I went to a Jazz game last night. (We were able to get free tickets from my awesome new coworker, Christine, who heard that David loves sports and had some extras. Thanks Christine!) The game was awesome and we had a great time - but we got back really late and so I am REALLY tired. (Jazz games don't really fit in with the "go to bed at 10 get up at 6" way of life.) 

-We still don't have internet at our apartment. It's terrible! We finally caved this weekend and forked over the incredibly large amount of money required for internet access and they told us they could come install it next Saturday. Our reactions: "What! We called to get internet because we can't live without it anymore. We want it now!"

-I have approximately 64.3 things to do and places that I need to be this weekend. I'm not looking forward to this Friday - I'm looking forward to next Friday. 

-I have to leave work early to go and sign the contract for my new job. Is it weird that I am nervous for that? 

-We are trying out a new recipe tonight. It is the Chicken Tortilla Soup from my favorite new recipe blog Howe to Cook. (Love this blog. You should definitely check it out.) I love Chicken Tortilla Soup whenever I eat it when someone else makes it, but the one and only time I tried to make it myself it didn't turn out very well. Here's hoping this new recipe will be delicious.

-I am blogging instead of doing all of the grading that must be done in the next hour. Haha. I love the internet.

Isn't it amazing how all of the little things seem to pile up until they are a mountain? I'm off to work on my mountain - one little thing at a time!

Boo....

Last night was the first night that David had to stay late for work. I realize that working late comes with the job but all I have to say is...

Booo!

I don't know how I am going to deal with this. Luckily, I was able to hang out with an old friend yesterday afternoon. (The wonderful Cassie Maughan, who has been on her mission for the past 18 months, and I were able to catch up and go out to eat together.) I hung out with her for three hours, and STILL had to wait for a significant amount of time for David to get home. It was so sad. David got home around seven - which isn't actually that bad - but I felt like I was going to be lonely forever. He said that he could have stayed later but that he figured that he needed to work me into this new schedule gradually.

Boo.

What am I going to do?

District House

I just had to share this because I think that it is so cool.

So, I've mentioned before that one of the classes that I teach is an Interior Design II class. There are only eight students in the class, so it is really laid back. (Especially right after the class before it which has a zillion students. Seriously. There aren't even enough desks for all of the students.) They have been working on a project all semester called the District House. It's awesome. You see, Alpine School district actually builds two houses every year and then sells them. This year, Westlake is in charge of the construction and design of the house. The wood shop is making cabinets, other classes are providing their contributions, and the Interior Design II class actually gets to design the interior of the home! It is set up so that the students are in groups and are competing with each other to come up with the very best design. Next week, I will assist in picking a winner. Let me say this again: The students who designed the winning project will actually be able to see all of their plans carried out in a real life house! They put together a whole binder full of designs, color swatches, counter/carpet/wood samples, quotes from different companies, and many other details.

I think that it is an incredible learning opportunity for the students to get that hands on experience. Plus, there is something really cool about seeing something that you designed become a reality. (I feel that way every time I see a wedding announcement that I designed after it has been printed. Especially when my clients mail me an announcement - it's an awesome feeling to watch it come out of an envelope. It makes me giddy every time!)

Pretty much... I think that Alpine School District is pretty awesome. Especially this school. It's really new (less than three years old) and has around 2000 students (which is huge for a small town girl like me). One thing that shocked me when I started here was their cell phone/technology policy. The policy essentially states that students can have their cell phones/ipods/laptop computers in class - as long as it is not creating a major distraction. Holy moly - 360 from when I was in school! I am still not sure how I feel about it. It really gets under my skin to see students with headphones in while I am talking (especially when they are sharing headphones with their neighbor and I can see them both tapping out the rhythm on the desk.) But - it actually hasn't been as distracting as I thought that it would be. Which surprises me. Maybe it isn't worth the fight to keep the technology out of the classroom.

So I am curious - how many of you did projects like the District House when you were in school? Also, what was your school policy concerning technology? What do you think that the technology policy should be?

Well... thats it! I believe that my job interview is tomorrow. Wish me luck!