Back to School

So begins another school year. This is my sixth year and the first year where I am teaching the exact same thing as I taught last year - though the number of sections is different. Hard to believe in six years that I haven't taught the same thing, but it is true. And the jury is still out on whether I have tenure since my time being a teacher has not been consecutive.

Mad numbers of kids apparently signed up for chemistry so I only get one marine ecology and get five chemistrys... the weird thing is that the two chemistry sections I have this semester are very small. In third I have twenty-ish, but in fourth we are having family time with only eleven. Those kids are going to know me real well by the end of the year. It's hard to believe there are none missing, but every day I have wondered where the people are - probably because I have 29 in second and it just transitions down every period. My sections for the spring are more normal sized.

I got a new lunchbox shaped like an elephant and it is AWESOME. One it is adorable (it even has a tail that pokes out) and two it's roomy and has a handle that goes over my shoulder... handy. Though I love the snail lunch box Kelley gave me, it has been 7 years, and it is now retired.

So far the year is going well. The kids seem cool, I still love being a teacher, and I like going to work. I am staying on top of things (I even have my gradebooks set up online with the first weeks of grades in them), leaving at reasonable times (before 5 every day!!!! sometimes before 430!), and finding that I have TONS of time in the afternoon that I do not really know how to fill. I have read three or four books since I got home two weeks ago, spent a lot of time on facebook (which is going to get cut down), and a little bit of time baking. I've got some ideas on how to spend my time, but we'll see what happens when my graduate classes start next week. I think the outlook for this year is good.

Plus things with Aaron are going well. We didn't kill each other this summer and still want to spend time together. We are still friends (more than friends) and are making cool plans for things to do this fall. Number one on the list is making pasta - like actually making noodles though I am not sure when exactly we will do that.