WOO FREAKIN' HOO!

Today I had my final classes for graduate school. I am officially finished with the Educational Administration and Supervision Specialist Program at Lincoln Memorial University!

Feeling a bit better...

Okay, so I am starting to feel human again. Even with being sick, I have managed to get stuff done this week. I did miss the past two days of my staff development class but I have some friends in the class that got my goodies for me.

Things I have accomplished this week:
1. finished my LAST big paper for grad school - WOO HOO!
2. went for my yearly physical - I'm officially fat but otherwise healthy.
3. booked my DJ and limo service.
4. booked my video services.
5. attended one day of staff development class.
6. paid bills and balanced my checkbook.

The rest of the week I need to:
1. attend two days of staff development.
2. pick up my car from the body shop.
3. do two loads of laundry.
4. go shopping at the Scrapbook Expo Friday afternoon!
5. go to grad school all day Saturday - yuck:(
6. organize wedding paperwork.
7. most importantly, spend some time with my honey.
8. take my dad out for a birthday dinner and movie on Sunday.

I love to read but this is getting ridiculous.

In the past 3 weeks I have read the following books for grad school: Education of Little Tree, Teacher Man and 6 chapters of Zapp! In Education: How Empowerment Can Improve the Quality of Instruction, and Student and Teacher Satisfaction. Education of Little Tree and Teacher Man are pretty good reads. Not something that I would have choosen to read on my own but still enjoyable to read.

I still have to finish reading A Thread That Runs So True and two chapters in Leading in a Culture of Change. I also have to write a paper comparing the three novels that I read...all of this before class on Saturday.

I am starting to feel like I have no life again. Things are busy at work as usual. There are not enough hours in the day. I haven't scrapbook since July! I have tons of pictures to download and print. I am tired and starting to ramble. I am starting every sentence with "I" - something I always tell my kids not to do.

I am already wishing for Winter Break.

Soon...

I will be back to more regular postings. I haven't had time for blogging since I have been back to work and grad school. It seems like all of my previous blogging time is now tied up with reading grad school material.

Still trying to catch my breath...

Back to School...Back to Work

Ugh. I had orientation for graduate school this past Tuesday. I will be going to Lincoln Memorial University to complete my Specialist's degree in Educational Administration and Supervision. It's a one year program and I am going with 5 other teachers I know. So...I am hoping it won't be too bad and that the time will go by quickly.

Friday I have Nikki's rehearsal dinner and then Saturday is "Wedding Day". I am in Nikki's wedding and then I will be off to Keri's reception. Unfortunately I will miss Keri's wedding but I am glad I will be able to make it to part of the reception. I'll post lots of pictures next week.

Monday I go back to work. Technically pre-planning starts Monday, August 7th but my principal let's us do a "flex week" the week before pre-planning. You record the hours you work and then during the real "pre-planning" week you only have to go to school to do Open House and meetings. The rest of the time you can take off! From what I have heard most teachers work all of flex week and all of pre-planning. I am sure I will too. I have sooooo much to do. Since I am starting at a new school I have to set up my classroom...again. I know I will use some of the time off to go visit friends at others schools during pre-planning. That will be nice.

My good friend from college, Susan, has moved up from Warner Robins to teach in Gwinnett County! We are not at the same school but I am still really excited that she's here.

LMU

I got accepted into the Ed.S. program at LMU in Tennessee. The program starts in August 2006 and finishes the following August. Nikki and two other girls will be doing the same program with me. We all must be NUTS!

I Must Be Crazy

Yes, I must be crazy. I requested information on more schooling. I guess I feel the pressure to continue to do something with my life. Seeing that I won't be getting married or moving out of my parents house anytime soon, I figure I might as well look into going back to school this summer.

I am really loving just working and enjoying life right now. The thought of going back to school makes me sick. I will either go back to get a Specialist degree in Education Administration or School Psychology.

Pro's and Con's of Education Administration:
Pro's - (1) It's a one year program. (2) I know people who have completed the program and have good things to say about it. (3) Classes are held one weekend a month. (4) A large pay increase. (5) I am pretty sure I can get in.
Con's - (1) It's in Tennessee. (2) I can either continue working in the classroom or try to move into an Assistant Principal position or other leadership position.

Pro's and Con's of School Psychology:
Pro's - (1) An even bigger pay increase. (2) It's out of the classroom but still in the Special Education department. (3) It's something I have always wanted to do. (4) I could have my own private practice.
Con's - (1) At least two more years of school. (2) A very demanding course load. (3) More expensive tuition. (4) internship, possibly out of state. (5) Even more "red tape" and political crap to deal with once I begin practicing. (6) I am not sure I can get into a good program.

Pro's and Con's of not going back to school:
Pro's - (1) Lots of time for me - going to the gym, seeing friends, scrapbooking, etc! (2) No extra stress. (3) No extra financial obligations. (4) Pay off debit quicker. (5) Time to tutor over the summer for extra money.
Con's - (1) No pay increase. (2) I would stay in the classroom setting forever! (3) Less money in the long run to buy a house, etc...

Tiffany Barker ~ M.Ed.

My portfolio was approved! I am officially finished with grad school...unless I go back to get my specialist. I must be nuts for even thinking about another degree!

It was such a relaxing weekend. Justin met me at work Friday. We went to dinner, looked at houses, ate ice cream, and spent some time playing a Mother Goose game with my friend's daughter. Saturday I actually read a book of my choice! That night I went to visit my friend Leana. We went shopping and had dinner at Longhorn. Another relaxing evening.

Sunday I went grocery shopping. I got the Sunday paper and a bunch of new home brochures. I spent the entire afternoon reading! What a wonderful weekend. I think what made it so great was the fact that I did not have to think about writing any papers! I really feel rested and ready for ANOTHER week of standardized testing.

Hurry Up and Wait

My portfolio is completed and in the mail! Now I will be waiting anxiously for the approval of my masters degree. I hope to know something by next weekend. I think the waiting is going to be just about as bad as completing the portfolio. Watch the professors make mine an example of what not to do.

I am meeting Justin in Atlanta for dinner tonight. That will be a nice end to this weekend:)

Personal Day

I am taking a personal day on Friday to work on the rest of my portfolio. I don't have to send it until Monday the 13th but my goal is to finish it on Saturday the 11th. Julie and her husband Chris have put together my portfolio video for me. I must say it looks great! Here is a quick run down of what's been happening this past week...

Mon: No work...stayed home and worked on my portfolio.

Tues: Rainy day to say the least. Many schools in the area where closed due to power outages. I had 5 students absent...I guess they don't like the rain. Martha (my 2nd mom and lady I work with) was in a car accident on the way to work. She hurt her back so she stayed home...on the living room floor. I went over to Julie's to work on my video after work.

Wed: Found out that Martha was taken to the hospital. She broke her back in 3 or 4 different places. Justin came up to my school. Justin, Keri (new special ed. teacher at work), and I went to see Martha at the hospital. She was in good spirits...heavily medicated. Justin and I went to dinner and then bowling. I got home around 7:30. Put some pics on a CD and took it over to Julie's. Beverly (principal) called around 9pm. She was concerned because Martha's husband had to leave town to go get Martha's mom in Alabama. Beverly wanted me to have the people in the special education department take turns staying with her in the hospital.

Thurs: Got to school, coordinated hospital shifts and got coverage for our classes. I had the first shift, 9-10. Martha was in sooooo much pain. She was throwing up and completely out of it. Her nurse SUCKED! Left work at 4:30 (yeah....an early day)! Went to Julie's to finalize my video. Now I am home and need to go to bed.

I hope my next posting will be titled - "I am finished with grad school...forever!"

Portfolio Woes

Still working on my portfolio...be back to blogging soon!

27

27. Ahhh, I am that much closer to 30! Good thing I don't look or feel 27. I had a nice birthday. I got to see a lot of friends and Justin came up to take me to dinner. I also got some great gifts...clothes, stuff for my classroom, Barnes and Noble gift cards, scrapbooking gift cards, and a cute fleece blanket made by Mama Martha and Little Sis Caroline. Annette made a cookie cake that the group ate (all before lunch)!

Today was the last day of preplanning week. The kids come back to school on Monday. I won't start serving kids until Friday. The special education department has placement tests to give, schedules to make, and caseloads to assign Monday through Wednesday. On Thursday I get to teach the new IEP Online software to the department. It's an all day thing and I am not looking forward to it! I think I get paid a stipend for teaching the class...that would be nice.

I need to be working on grad school stuff but I think I am going to make journal labels for my reading classes instead. Maybe I will work on grad school stuff after making the labels...no, I think I need to write thank you cards.

Back to work...sort of

I am back from my vacation in Clearwater. I had a great time! I was able to spend a lot of time with my family and see friends that I had not seen in a long time. I tired to upload some pictures on my weblog but the quality looked really bad. I have never had a problem adding pictures with the Hello software but for some reason it was not uploading the pictures correctly. So you can click here to see some of the pictures from Clearwater. I still have to develop pictures from the underwater camera...those should be really cute. I have also added a few more pictures from my beach trip with Nikki. Click here to view those pictures.

Now it's back to grad school work. I have only 22 days left of summer vacation - ahhh! I plan to have most of my portfolio completed so I don't have to work on it at the beginning of the new school year. I will be finished with grad school on August 31st! I should have approval on my portfolio by the middle of September. Then it will be official - no more grad school!!!

Now I know...

Now I know why I really like this blogger thing. It's not because it serves as a great procrastination tool (as previously stated), it's because it requires no reflective statements on crap that does not improve my teaching ability, no citations on works by some random person who has probably never taught a day in their life, no APA formatting, etc...

Basically a blog could also be known as a place to post your bitch sessions for the world to read (see previous paragraph). Or a place to share your most embarrassing moments (like the time when I wet the bed...and I wasn't the only adult in the bed) so others can make fun of you for eternity. Or a place to share what's going on in your life to friends you don't talk to often but wish you did. Or...okay, so the possibilities are endless.

Did I mention I am soooooo burned out with grad school?

Grad School Papers, I.E.P.'s, Lesson Plans

I love this Blogging thing! It is a great procrastination tool. I have grad school papers due, I.E.P.'s to write for my graduating 5th graders, and lesson plans to make for the last week of school. I am sooooo jealous of a friend who has just finished grad school. Oh how I wish that was me! Congratulations Susan:)