And thus... it begins

I have had exactly one week of Student Teaching already. It came and went as quickly as my summer. It's been scary, but mainly extremely draining.
I arrived at the school early on thursday to find a huge cooler (in this case a warmer?) full of nice and toasty breakfast burritos. Delish. I sat next to my teacher, who welcomed me with a huge metallic but sincere smile (he's got braces!). I proceeded to meet tons of people, the staff is HUGE. there's about 100 people total who belong to all areas of the school... and it's taking me forever to remember the names. I was glad to see that i wasn't the only one. Two other students from CU, and two others from metro -- i believe-- are part of the staff this year, along with about six new faculty members.

I LOVED IT. but at the same time i was very impressed to see that sex, STDs and dirty jokes (with a few that's what she saids) are part of the every day culture of my school. it was like hangin out with a bunch of vinnies and matts... how i love them.

I also have experienced the awesomeness that is bureaucracy. And it sucks. Deciding whether or not students need to be killed when they forget to put an accent or not, whether or not to follow the pacing guide, and who would be the spanish club sponsor was deffo NOT zesty. i think that's the part of teaching i won't enjoy given that i like to do things however i want them. haha. i guess it's part of working with "the system?"

Today we had our student teacher kickoff meeting, which felt more like a kick in my stomach than anything else. I will have to quit both my jobs (i am SO tired after a week that i cant even manage to sleep well), I will have to do a ton of side work (which might or might not include cafeteria duty), I can't get any financial aid (asides from a 500 dollar grant), AND i have to expect about 50 hours worth of work related to the school w/o being paid. this better be a good semester.

The students, though. The students do it for me. It's been awesome to see the freshmen come in. It's been amazing to see the fear in their eyes.... and it will be even more amazing to see that by the time i leave in december, they will no longer be afraid but instead they will feel like they are owners of the school.

So far. so good.