Moving tomorrow!

Not too much new news: still no placement, getting ready to go. Packing like the devil. Hot as Hades (Should be 100+ today... in Seattle!!)

Bought a Thule roof rack yesterday. Yay $300!!! :/ Essential, however, AAAAAND I've always wanted to be able to carry a canoe on my car! Thus, it is a solid investment.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee're off!!

Home

Institute is over. I have lots to upload in the way of pictures, still haven't gotten up the ones from my Birthday.

We took our CMA out to dinner on Thursday, and then went to Closing Ceremonies. We sat by school. We had our own chants: Harlan's was based on "Jump On It!" It was great.

On Friday we "slept in" (I only got an extra hour) and then we went to our schools to close-out. It was great. Funny, my CMA group never really knew how much we loved each other until those last few days. We really learned a lot from each other: and now I have friends in Boston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, South Dakota, Charlotte and Chicago!

Friday night we went out to a place called Duffy's where we danced institute away... just like Meredith and Christina would do on an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Its ridiculous how much of a kinship I feel to anything Seattle right now.

Flew home yesterday. LONG flight, but it was also the first completely "me" time I've had in 6 weeks. It was great. Saw 17 Again on the plane: Very funny :)

There were litterally tears of joy that ran down my face when we flew over Anderson Island: The Puget-Sound Island where our cabin is. My heart leaped for joy when I saw evergreen trees. We flew Chicago-Portland first, and we flew SO CLOSE to Mt. Hood I felt like I could reach out and touch it. I love NON-flat land :)

Watched HP6 at the drive-in: Had to stand up to stay awake, but I'm well practiced in the art of making myself stay awak after these past 6 weeks!

Today we will celebrate my bday a little late as the fam, and then I get to sing/play at mass! YES!

Freaked out a little when I woke up: "WHERE AM I" but then the warm fuzzies of realizing that I was home hit me and all was well :)

One of those things...

I have had a tune going through my head all day today. Couldn't place it, but then, while getting off the bus, it hit me: It was the tune to the Sequence for Pentecost. Kept humming it. Then I had a convo with some of the guys about how much not being placed yet is bothering me, despite my efforts to have it not. And at that moment, I realize there is probably a reason this song has been in my head this whole time: Go read the words Brandon:

Come, O Holy Spirit, come! From Your bright and blissful Home Rays of healing light impart. Come, Father of the poor, Source of gifts that will endure Light of ev'ry human heart.

You of all consolers best, Of the soul most kindly Guest, Quick'ning courage do bestow.

In hard labor You are rest, In the heat You refresh best, And solace give in our woe.

O most blessed Light divine, Let Your radiance in us shine, And our inmost being fill.

Nothing good by man is thought, Nothing right by him is wrought, When he spurns Your gracious Will.

Cleanse our souls from sinful stain, Lave our dryness with Your rain, Heal our wounds and mend our way.

Bend the stubborn heart and will, Melt the frozen, warm the chill, Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful who in You, Trust with childlike piety, Deign Your sevenfold gift to send.

Give them virtue's rich increase, Saving grace to die in peace, Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia.

New Skin!

My blog had a make-over!!!

Plaid won. Plus finding an argyle background was not too fruitful. haha

Pics up of the Bday later... we ended up just going up to the Hancock Tower's 96th floor to the fancy lounge and having a glass of wine. It was great. The most beautiful view of the city, and very peaceful. Definitely the most chill bday I have ever had. But it was good!

Thanks for all the Birthday Wishes!!

Birthday!

So my CMA is running around my classroom before it starts telling my students who are there early that it is Mr. Roeder's Birthday today. Haha! She goes: He's 95 today. We laugh, Jeremy looks confused. I say "She's joking, I'm only turning 65."

He looks incredulous now: "Really? You look like you're 30-something"

HAHAHA. It was all I could do not to die laughing! I even shaved off my goatee on Sunday! I should look YOUNGER.

Tonight we are planning on going to the Sears tower, then the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival to see the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup". Should be fun!

P.S. I have the best parents in the world: They sent me a package which included a home-made brownie cake by mom, and dad went and got me a pound of Solstice coffee! YUM! Making it right after I finish this!

Being A Tourist

This weekend was phenomenal.

We kicked it off with the White Sox game. It was awesome. Then on Saturday we did the Field Museum and we tried to do the Sears tower (I refuse to call it by Willis... um, NO), but we ran out of time and had to get outta line. We had a reservation for some famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza! It was AMAZING. I had only 3 pieces and I thought I was going to explode. Then we went to a blues bar, and we danced the night away. It was fantastic. Today was low-key, but I did go out to Target, and I got new shoes (Plaid) and a new tie (Plaid).

Needless to say, plaid is slowly gaining on argyle on my favorite patterns... hahaha
I am getting anxious to come back to Seattle. I can't wait for Chloe and Corvin to be born.

And I can't wait to see Transformers 2 and HP6 at the Drive-In back-to-back. You are all invited ;)

Here are all my pictures thus far for Chicago: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2454684&id=10738362&l=0325621613

From my adventures this weekend: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2455333&id=10738362&l=38846e5496

One Day

So far, in summation, I have taught a total of ONE SCHOOL DAY. Wow.

But I have grown SO much in that one day it is insane. All those days of teaching for 45 minutes still only adds up to one school day. But like I said, I've grown immensely. I almost have the hang of it... lol. Its funny; the slogan for TFA is that One day, all children will be able to:
and yet the phrase "One Day" can be muddled around to different meanings. In "One Day" I have become a teacher. In "One Day" I have changed my life forever. In "One Day" I can change someone else's. Cool.

Not much news on the placement front: I still don't know WHERE I am placed, but I do know where I am NOT: I did not get placed in Bertie County, and I did not get placed in Northampton. Northampton was the one I initially was stoked for, but now I mostly want to go wherever I am needed. People say I am being rather positive about the whole thing, but I feel impatient to be able to start where I am needed. I still feel called to do this, and I want to go wherever God calls me to serve :)
Went to the White Sox game tonight. Wasn't paying the BEST attention, but they won, and I saw a grand slam, and another couple awesome plays. It was GREAT. AAAAAAAAAAAND they had fireworks again. Not too many good pics, we were in the nosebleeds, but hey, the tix were free. Can't complain. BUT: They had no saurkraut for the Brats... WHAT?! haha

Status: Exhausted. Almost didn't write this, but I thought I owed it to you all to check in. Miss you all. See you in two Sundays!

Bored

Student Achievement! Student Achievement! Student Achievement!

Live it!
Eat it!
Breathe it!

Student Achievement! Student Achievement! Student Achievement!

...but There is no more lesson planning. We can go watch each other... but I guess I DO have to edit my LPs I got back today. I'm sad its all winding down, but I DID go to bed before 10pm last night, and that was glorious. Aka I'm bored, under-caffeinated, and INCREDIBLY impatient about wanting to be placed. Looking at that picture, I understand why my students give me respect. I look like a crazy old teacher... I play the part well I guess.

I want my bed :)

Ridiulously Excited

So I just read Derrei's Blog: http://phillipsfamily0806.blogspot.com/ and I am now ridiculously excited. Its so crazy to think that two little people are going to be added to my family. Derrei and Walter did SUCH a great job preparing for them. Huge props.

Wish I could be home to help get ready for them too, but I'm sure it would just be another anxious person hanging around in the wings.

Hurry Babies. Hurry Corvin! Hurry Chloe! Hurry!!!

TFA actually stands for...

On Friday we were informed that our school if going to be taking on a new program at our high school called the Bridge Program. Eight of our teachers would be pulled from their regular classrooms to teach in this program now. Current freshman math teachers will be teaching Economics, Biology teachers will be teaching Astronomy, Freshman English teachers will be teaching Urban studies... the list is really cool.

Unfortunately, this program starts at 7:30 am so our buses will now be leaving a half-hour earlier at 6:20 am. :( (we were not happy)

And... in classic TFA style, there will be NEW acronyms that we have to learn in reference to this new program. BP will now be Bridge Program, not to be confused with Beginning Proficiency, and there were others too, but I started to zone out, convinced it wasn't going to be ME who had to teach... (I was still hung up on the 6:20 bus...) Until he came to a slide that said: TFA really means....: Tottally Free Afternoon!!!!!!

We had heard rumors, but we weren't sure if it was true!!

So we went to the Shedd Aquarium, where we got in FREE. Isn't it Awesome to be a teacher!?

We saw Piranhas:

Super-awesome Sea Dragons: They have these extra growths that make them blend into the kelp:
And there was even a Pacific Northwest Exhibit!!! There were Evergreen Trees!!! (Too bad they were plastic...) We even got to pet Sea Stars like at the Seattle Aquarium. Apparently This aquarium is in the same "aquarium network" that Seattle is... but I have to say, this one is a little more impressive... They had otters, and penguins:

AND THREE BEGLUA WHALES!!!!!! I took video, but blogger isn't working to upload video right now... so here is a shot from it: (He weighs one TON)
Then we all posed for a shot out front of the aquarium. Pretty awesome day. I was so tired!!All in all, it was a good week. I know many of you reached out when I said I was having a hard time. I think I just need more sleep. And it makes me appreciate home :)

Last night we all went to a piano bar. It was good. Apparently there is a "Howl at the Moon" back home in Ranier Square. We all were dancing for a good hour there before we left at the end... (we left at 9:55pm... what teachers...) It was great!

Gotta get the church possie together in a few hours. Good fun :D

Hard Day + Missing Home.

Yesterday was a hard day. It was hard because I am having a really hard time teaching everything to a level of competency and allowing them enough time to practice it with me, they aren't getting any time to practice themselves, but I'm assessing them on it. But they don't have enough time to read the prompts, process the info, and then respond intelligently. I know they can. I've seen their pre-assessment scores. They can write. They just need more time than I can offer them.

And I miss evergreen tree. I miss the mountains. Lake Mich is great, but it doesn't smell like the ocean. The sun doesn't set over the water. That's WEIRD. And I knew that Everett sunsets were beautiful compared to other places, but they are AMAZING compared to here. :( Maybe its the skyscrapers that obstruct the view.

I miss meine familie also. It kills me that I most likely won't be there when the twins are born. I get emotional whenever I talk about not being there. I miss sleep. I miss talking to everyone I love. I miss being at church with all my compadres.

But this is worth it. I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, but then the thought of my kids without me hit me, and I got my lazy butt outta bed. I should be getting ready now, but I wanted to give a shout out to home!

Love you all!

Finally the Blog talks about MUSIC

...And we finally get to some MUSIC!So today I realized how untalented I am. There is NO way I could have ever come up with this, even though apparently I should have the skills, now being a musician, English teacher, and Biochemist:
http://www.educationalrap.com/music/science-2008

Its Science RAP. ITS NUTS. AND GOOD.
Who'dda thunk that you could learn LAB SAFETY, about the WATER CYCLE, the SUN, EARTH, MOON, CIRCULATORY SYSTEM, PHOTOSYNTHESIS, and LAYERS OF THE EARTH from Rap!?!?!?!

AMAZING!

My sleep schedule is already better. I still need LOADS of caffeine. My group bought a coffee pot. We destroyed 2.5 pots today. The word is spreading. Our School Director realized it today, and commented that it was the best idea ever. Our Curriculum specialist followed her nose to our room today too! :)
Its a good little coffee pot! It works hard! Good thing IT gets the weekends off (unlike me).

Week One down

GAH!

More people have been placed now. Some in Bertie County and in Nash County... I haven't heard anything yet. None of the schools I have interviewed at have placed yet, so I can't even rule out which ones I am NOT teaching at to try to figure out which one I am.

First week went well. I've grown a lot in my teaching. I sat down with my CMA today and we decided I need to work on more effectively Checking for Understanding of the whole class.

Lela worked as a model at this fashion show last night. The theme of the show was all white, so the club's dress code was all white last night:

Not too bad. Haha :)

Need to Lesson Plan... even though it is July 4th. Thinking about going down to the lakefront and watching fireworks.

Oh No! I'm an English Teacher!!

My library now contains Emerson, books which appeal to young adult readers, and an English Textbook: Teacher's Addition. NEVER in my life did I think I would be an English teacher! haha

I got a HUGE compliment today. TFA uses Rubrics to "grade" people on how they are doing. My CMA (Corps Member Advisor... Corps Member=CM=Me!) told me today that all the CMAs are looking for CMs who are excelling in the P-3 category, and with my permission would like to refer other CMs who are struggling with P-3 to me! How cool is that!? Only thing is that I still want to be able to have time to write my lesson plans! (LPs)

I love acronyms, but TFA <3 s them more...