still here

It's been almost a full month since I have written.

Work is a little bit all consuming. Can something really be a "little bit" all consuming?

I want to write about work more though. I want to share the joys and frustrations of this year. I want to document my successes in trying to live a life outside of school and reflect on what went wrong when I fail miserably at creating balance.

I don't think that I am "Dancing Along" anymore. That title seems to reflect a sort of carefree and unfocused approach to life and that is no longer where I'm at. (And unfortunately, I don't think I have ever had a carefree approach to life.) That title fit when I was trying to remain open to possibilities and embrace the uncertainty of where my life was going.

Now, I have a focus. I don't consider myself settled in terms of living where I want to live forever, or working where I want to work forever, or even having the job that I want to have forever, but I know that I want to work with kids in some capacity. Right now, I am committed to figuring this teaching thing out. The actual teaching part. I'm not yet convinced it is even possible to figure out how to be a special ed. case manager and be a special ed. teacher, but for right now, I'm still working on that.

The teaching is what I love. I love looking at my list of topics to cover for the year and researching how other teachers have taught this. Then I compile the ideas and teach it my own way. Then I see how the kids react and adjust and reteach as necessary. I love figuring out ways to make my classroom run smoother. I love making charts to organize just about anything that I need to document. I love falling in love with my students.

I do not love, well, you know what I don't love. We won't get into that right now.

So. I think I need a blog overhaul. I don't want to move sites again so the url will probably still be iamdancingalong.blogspot.com because I can't change that, but the title on my page will something different.

These are the names of some teaching blogs I have seen...
Learn Me Good
Confessions of an Untenured Teacher
The Rookie's View
Regurgitated Alphabet Bits
Elbows, Knees and Dreams

(note: these are not necessarily blogs I'm recommending, I just thought their names were interesting)

I like the incorporation of the word "confessions." So...I'll be thinking, you be thinking, and I'll make some changes.

Maybe it'll be therapeutic for me to write this experience down.


Teacher Tip Number One: Kids are less frustrating when you have gotten enough sleep before dealing with them.

So, I'm going to bed.
Thanks for reading.