Here we go, Up and Down and Around and Around

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I actually wrote one but then found too soon after that what I was thinking was happening wasn't permanent. Long story. Anyway, so what has happened in the last five-six weeks? Some good, some bad.

First the good news: I was hired to teach a freshman composition class at NOVA, the nearest community college. And it's six credits, so kind of like two classes, but with only one group of students. Okay, technically it is two classes, but they're back to back and it's still the same students. But it's a three hour block twice a week. Fortunately, my other job, the temp job at NAHB, was willing to work with my schedule, so now I'm there on M,T,Th, and at NOVA on W,F. Pretty nice, huh? Classes started two weeks ago, so we've met four times now. And I have a pretty good group of students. Some better than others, and some better in different ways than others.

Now, there is bad news associated with that. Should I talk about that now or give you other good news first? Mm, let's stick to one subject at a time.

So maybe some more background. The students are mostly ESOL, immigrants from other countries, and English is not their first language.

(Guess I never finished this, might as well publish though it's a few months old. I guess the old date doesn't show up after I publish, but it was written in September.)

News from Colorado

So, you were thinking I'd given up on blogging. Well, you weren't far from the truth. I get the hankering from time to time, but I'm not even as good with my journal as I used to be.

Life has been pretty busy for the past couple months. Mostly good busy. At the end of January I got a job teaching French again, this time at a Montessori, to kids from 2 to 5. Quite, quite different from my last French-teaching experience. And also quite different from my last daycare/preschool experience. Fortunately I had a few songs up my sleeve, but it's been fun to try to find new French songs for children, as well as to learn new vocabulary. I've been translating picture books, putting my collection to good use, as well as translating some things already in the classroom. I guess I never thought I'd need to know the names of tools in French, but I'm sure it'll come in handy some day. I guess I can't escape the feeling that I'm still being prepared from later French needs. But in the meantime, I'm glad to keep my life filled with some variety as well as keeping up these talents tat I enjoy.

But the good news doesn't end there. On President's Day I was invited to an audition after I applied to teach Composition at Kaplan College. The audition consisted of a five-minute spiel on the five-paragraph essay. With three other competitors for this position, I was happily pleased to pass. The following night I was invited to an interview, and after I passed that, I had four weeks of training to pass (which involved more "audition"-type exercises, but using their actual curriculum) once per week, as well as some other training material. Then, on March 23, I began teaching composition again! This time I have two legitimate classes with different students in each (as opposed to NOVA's two classes which were the same students in both). However, the combined enrollment still is less than what I had at NOVA, so the stress of grading papers will be lessened. Also, their curriculum is set up to not have as many papers--only one full paper, actually, with assignments that build up to it. Pretty interesting, but I can definitely see the value to it.

So, with the preparing for teaching two different comp classes as well as some mini French lessons, and yes, even primary at Church, you can imagine I'm already a bit tired. But add to this that the Montessori is in Greeley, Kaplan is in Thornton, I live in Loveland, and I've not been able to kick a cold/flu/ not-so-good feeling since the end of January (shortly after I was hired at Montessori). Of course it's much better than when I originally got sick, but I've had a perpetual cough that didn't go away before I caught a cold that's been keeping me down. Now, add that I have family nearby, and you can see why I haven't been writing as much.

Let's not focus on the negative though. There are many good things going on. And I'm actually very glad to be close to my family. I get to see David's and John's families somewhat regularly, since they're in town. And a couple weeks ago I got to see a bit more of Nancy's family as she had her second baby! Yeah, and welcome to Dean to the world and the Quist, or Merkley family! Nancy had to have a C-section again, though, so she's needed a bit more help since Tessa's only 2, but I was glad my schedule permitted me to be in Ft. Lupton with her for a couple days to help out. I really felt a lot of peace being in her home helping.

Then, last weekend, Thom brought up his family since he had spring break. I even got to have Tailynne in my primary class! Technically, she's a Sunbeam, and I teach the CTR-4s, but it worked out easier that way. And even though she wasn't that much younger than my students, they were happy to caudal her like a baby. It made for a fun class. I felt the Spirit with them that day too.

And now, well, soon, I'll be heading over to spend some time with David's family as his birthday is coming up and it's time to celebrate!

There's a little catch up for you. Maybe pictures will follow. We'll see!