Teacher Man

Good book! I got it for Xmas and finished it in a few weeks. Great book from a high school teacher talking about his most memorable experiences teaching in New York. I've been terrible about reading since then, and I haven't finished a book since. I started, and enjoyed, "A Confederacy of Dunces," which I got from my sister for Xmas--but didn't finish it. I should.

I've been doing lots of online reading--blogs, news and the like, but book-reading gets my creative juices flowing more than anything else. If anyone has a good book recommendation or two, please let me know!

I just sent my parents an email about my plans to travel down the education road. The application deadline for the 5-quarter Bothell UW teacher's certification program is January 1, 2008. School is part-time the first Spring, then it is full-time school until Spring 2009, when I'd student-teach at a school, then receive my certificate. Sign me up!

With tuition, books and other fees, I'll probably be looking at somewhere between 11k-13k all told. That would cover what... a semester at UPS? lol. gah! But it sure seems like a lot to me. The money situation is going to be tricky. Ideally, I'd like to work part-time while going to school full-time--but I don't know what time of day the classes are. If the classes are during the day, I'm not really sure what I can do on an off-shift schedule with my experience. I'm sure I'd be able to find something.

2008 and 2009 will not be easy. But that challenge is what I'm looking forward to. This is what I want to do, and it is something I really think I'll enjoy doing. There will be a lot of trying times, but there will also be a lot of amazing times. I've never had that "fire" in a job or with school before. I've been a B+ student my entire life. It is time to bump that up a notch (futurama, anyone?) and see what I'm capable of!

...until then... I'm going to relax in Tahoe :) I've got Vegas coming up in five weeks, Seattle at the end of June, then an amazing 30-mile hike in August with my Dad along the John Muir Trail in the Sierras. Those are the biggies, which I can't wait for, but I'm also excited for a lot of other things this summer.

I'm looking forward to playing lots of basketball at Kahle, and hopefully becoming friends with a few of the guys there so we can go out for drinks on the weekend. I'm looking forward to starting up ultimate frisbee in the South Lake area with Dirk. Frisbee, combined with basketball at 6200ft elevation is a sure-fire way to get in great shape. I would also like to get down to Sacramento as much as possible while I am still so close, because there will be a lot of great people I'll miss when I move up to Seattle. I can't wait to go hiking this summer and find little, out of the way places to sent up a tent, take some pictures and just live it up. And of course, I'm looking forward to swimming in the lake :)

I'm also looking forward to keeping this blog updated and alive throughout the summer (and hopefully longer). This is probably the best effort I've given so far to blogging, and it feels pretty good (and a bit addicting..). I really enjoying the community of poker blogging friends, as well as the other friends I've been able to keep in touch with from UPS and Seattle.

I stumbled upon poop and boogies for the first time today, and I really enjoy the last part of the 'about' column, which says, 'and hopefully this blog will keep friends and family back home informed about our lives here in Florida.' The purpose of this blog was never really to keep in contact with friends back home, it was more to just remind my future self of what was going on at this point in my life--like a much more detailed photograph. But this blog really is a great way to keep in touch with those I can't see all the time, whether those friends are in Seattle right now, or they are in Tahoe and Sacramento when I move back to Seattle. All while still being a great diary for my future self to look back on.

My goal for the next week is to try and find a middle school I can observe classes in before the end of the school year. One of the application requirements for the teaching degree is to have 60 hours of classroom observation. I'll need that regardless of what school I choose, and it is probably just a smart idea for me--to make sure this is something I'm really interested in doing. I also need to check and see which math classes I will need to take, if any, to be eligible to apply. I'm shooting for 6-8th grade math. I love pre-trig math, and from what I've heard, there is always a shortage of math teachers in middle school.

Here goes nothing!