Let The Vacation Begin!

It's official...summer vacation is on! It has been a brutal week for me with school finishing up. The kids were done on Friday, but we teachers had to go until today. No biggie.

The good news is: I am now an official HISTORY Teacher....8th grade Civics to be exact!

Whoo Hoo! Now, don't get me wrong, I really liked my other job. Actually, I liked it a lot. There were days when I would look at my Teacher's Aide and say, "And they actually pay me for this!" In reality, my job was not that easy. In Alternative Education, students who are discipline problems are referred for a sort of rehabilitation. I had kids from grades 7 through 12 throughout the day. Some stayed with me all day. Others were with me for a class or two. In addition to discipline problems, I also received students who had attendance issues, were in danger of dropping out, or were just not functioning well in the regular classroom. This year, I had a total of 50 students coming in during the day. With such a small amount of students, I really got to know them well. It was almost like I was a second Mom to them. They told me things that they would never tell a regular teacher. They opened up and trusted me. It really was kind of nice. We became close. I spent a lot of one on one time helping them with their studies. Some did not want help. I got that. I tried my best, but if they refused my help...so be it. Every one would refer to my students as the "bad" kids. Maybe they were. I guess I had some that I just was not able to get through to. But, for the most part, I kept the peace. Discipline came before studies in my room. It had to be that way. Some said that I was a highly paid babysitter. No offense taken. They had no idea what really went on in my room. There was learning...just not in the traditional classroom style. I did a scrapbook layout about my job for my HOF entry. It was for the "Journal Your Passion" assignment. I am surely hoping it gets published because it is very special to me. I really put my heart into the journaling. Anyway, even though I loved my job, it was time to move on. I went to school to teach, to use my skills to help the kids to learn the importance of History, and I need to do that. History positions in our district are few and far between, so passing this up was not an option. I will miss my job, the closeness with the kids, and my Teacher's Aide very much. I need to do this, though. I believe I was meant to do this. I want to make History fun. So, I guess I have my work cut out for me this summer getting ready for those 8th graders in the fall!


So, now that I have told you way more than you wanted to know, I am off to get packing for our overnight trip to the Great Wolf Lodge. It is our first time visiting there, and our way of kicking off the summer! I can't wait. Not sure if I will have a chance to get any pictures, but I am taking my camera along just in case.


I just finished up a few scrapbook layouts for assignments, and I am looking for some new pictures to scrap. Getting more scrapping time in is one of my goals this summer, too! I've been feeling pretty scrappy lately, too! Oh, and speaking of HOF, I don't think that I ever posted this layout from my entry:

This is the one that Creating Keepsakes chose to display on their website for the HOF announcement. My beautiful nieces. This is the only one that I used a black and white photo for. I liked the soft colors with the black and white..

Hopefully, I will have some kind of pictures to share after our trip to the Lodge! See Ya Thursday!