Tonight was the first Future Educators Club meeting of the semester. I really like this club so far, and I hope to be actively involved in it throughout the next two years. I am even contemplating nominating myself for a Junior Officer position…I have until November to think about though, as I will have to see how much time it would take up.

Tonight’s meeting was a meet & greet (being the first one) of sorts. We got to meet the current officers of the club, and they discussed some of the events planned for the semester. After the business was handled, popcorn and drinks were passed out for us to snack on during The Ron Clark Story, a movie about a teacher who successfully raises the test scores of the lowest 6th grade class in an inner city school in NYC (think Stand and Deliver). It was a very inspirational movie, and I plan to purchase Mr. Clark’s book titled The Essential 55.

James and I plan on getting a new battery for my Civic this weekend. The past two weeks of carpooling with James have been fun, but I am VERY ready to be able to drive myself to school again. No more getting to school an hour and a half before my first class starts, and no more staying 30 minutes after my last class waiting on my ride!

The first day of school went quite well. I started the day by being dead tired when my alarm went off at 6:15am. I went to sleep at 10:45pm last night, but was back up and wide awake at 1:45am. I finally managed to go back to sleep around 3am, but that just wasn’t enough sleep. I was supposed to be working on going to bed/getting up earlier, but that never happened. So, other than being kinda exhausted today, it was fun.

First up was Professional Seminar, which is the class I will learn to create my portfolio in. The teacher seems fairly strict, but that will push me to go well and get things done on time. Next was Algebra for P-8 Teachers…I really think it’s easier than College Algebra was. Today, we discussed reducing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions, as well as the order of operations. Middle school stuff! Next was Classroom Assessment, which is where I will learn to write tons of lesson plans. I have the class with the same teacher that teaches Professional Seminar, so again, it will be a difficult class. Last class of the day was Classroom Management, with a teacher I had back in the Spring, and who is my absolute favorite teacher I’ve taken in college.

I received a crap load of homework today, but all but one of my classes only meets once a week, so I have until next Tuesday to complete most of it. I was assigned a reflection paper on why I want to become a teacher, about 50 super easy algebra problems, and 4 chapters to read. My last class let out really early (3:30pm instead of 4:45pm), so I went to the library to wait on James to come get me.* While in there, I wrote and submitted the reflection, and did about half of the math. So basically all I have to do is read and finish the math. I hope to have as much as possible done in the next couple days, because I’m sure I’ll receive more homework in my Thursday classes, and I do not want to get behind.

*James and I are carpooling the next couple weeks because my car battery decided to die over the weekend, which makes the second time in 3 months. James charged it up and drove my car to Auto Zone, where they tested it and said the battery had a dead cell and would need to be replaced. We don’t have the extra $80 lying around, especially with me having to buy books and other supplies for school, so until I get the rest of my financial aid money at the end of next week, he will be taking me to school. This isn’t a big deal, as I go all day, and only have to stay over about 25 minutes waiting on him to get there.

As of yesterday, I have completed 2 items on my “101 in 1001.” The items were:

35. Sell the Kia
74. Finish the Twilight Saga

Someone contacted James yesterday about the Kia. It was in the area, so James told him he could run by our house and look it over, then call him back if he was still interested. The guy called him back about an hour later. James told him when he would be home, so the two (the guy and his father, who would be buying the car for him) decided to come back to drive it. Before they left last night, they handed James cash for the Kia and drove off in it! We are SO excited to give this vehicle off our hands. Want the backstory?

James got this car when he was still with his ex-girlfriend. The two of them split up a few months later, and he kept the Kia. When he decided to get a new vehicle last March, he contacted her to see if she would sign it over, as her name is on the car as well, so that he could trade it in. She refused, stating she needed a new car, so he should just let her finish paying it off. We got a ridiculously high interest rate on James’ Lancer because of this, but he’s becoming an impulse buyer and wasn’t leaving the lot without that car. So, we reluctantly agreed.

About 2 months ago, she gave it back to us when she lost her job at Wal-Mart, saying she can no longer pay for it. Luckily some extra had been paid on it so we didn’t have to make another payment until June. Selling it last night not only got the car out of our hands, but his ex out of our hair!

Onto the 2nd accomplishment, I finished Twilight. It took me about 3 times longer to finish Breaking Dawn than it did any of the other books, but I believe that was because I knew it would be the end. Yeah, she has a manuscript of another book out…and I may one day read it. To me, though, the 4 books make the saga.

The next couple of days, James and I are going to be busy redoing the bathroom. From Christmas and Valentine’s Day, he has acquired $60 to use at Lowe’s, so we went tonight and got a tool to remove the wallpaper with…and let me tell you, it is no easy feat! We are going to go back and get the scoring tool that just about every website suggests you use to effectively loosen the glue. Hopefully it will be a bit easier then. I will post photos when it’s done!