I should be studying for the GRE.

I just got back from a poetry reading at my favorite local cafe, Beezy's. It reminded me of the good ol' poetry nights at the Collingwood Art Center, during the summers I stayed in Toledo. It also reminded me of how alive I feel when I listen to the spoken word, completely in the moment with the language. And the vulnerability of the speaker is never less than inspiring.

I need to play with language, like I used to. I want to be passionate about artistic writing again. It's the reason I became a student of Language Arts in the first place. Words, sounds, images -- they connect us.

On a lighter note, I'm having a really good hair day.

Winter Musings

As much as I complain about not having a full-time teaching job, I must stop to reflect on how good my life is right now. Darin and I got a new puppy a couple weeks ago. We named her Daisy Mae. She is the apple of our eye right now, even if she still has accidents in the house and is constantly appearing with socks, shoes, and other chewable things in her mouth. Here's a photo:


I registered to take the GRE in January, and I will be applying to a couple different graduate schools' Speech Pathology programs. Ideally, I want to get into Eastern because they have a strong educational track in the program. I'm going back to school because it's a good place to be investing money during a recession, and I realized the past few months that I am capable of working in the special ed realm. It's an important and time-consuming field, but it's worth it. I love language, particularly phonetics and phonology (the study of the sounds of speech). I think this will be a perfect fit for me; a perfect compromise of my desire to teach and my desire to persue linguistical studies.

I hope to start my first vegetable garden this spring. My landlord will not be consulted about it; here's hoping he doesn't mind. I've always had a passion for growing things. I read any book, magazine, or article that I can get my hands on that has anything to do with gardening/urban farming/sustainable living.

Winter Break is upon us, which means no substitute teaching jobs for two weeks. I am going to use the time for the following:
-study for the GRE
-apply to grad schools
-work on getting financial aid or, even better, a grad assistant position
-applying to teaching jobs (as always)
-perfecting my porfolio
-training the puppy to not chew my shoes!

Yesterday, I "floated", which is always fun because during the times where there weren't IEPs scheduled, it was a tug-o-war between who gets the sub. I feel like I'm being the most useful in Mrs. K's resource room, where having another teacher around is always helpful. In a perfect world, she would have an aide for every student. But there just isn't the money right now.

It's so discouraging hearing about all of the budget cut meetings and the speculations by staff about how they will cut corners. This chatter and local NPR will not stop reminding me that it's just going to get worse on the job search front. Can't a girl just do some teachin'?

To distract myself from my worries, I've been focusing on my new puppy, the GREs, tracking my diet and exercise, and celebrating the holidays. And don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy substitute teaching. I love being in a school, getting students to think, watching the social interactions of young people, and learning how to be a better teacher. I make a point to keep an open mind when I go into every job, knowing that I can and WILL learn something today.