Training

Son of a beech...I had a half a page written this morning and minimized the screen to answer a text, when I opened the app again, I had lost everything I wrote. Ok, I will just paraphrase, cut it short.

Training yesterday was great. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable, I had not been in a classroom atmosphere in about 6 weeks. But once all of MFH English teachers found ourselves and we sat together, all was ok. I even won a door prize!

It was a lot of Informarion and I hope I wrote fast enough and grasped everything. Some of the strategies we did, I want to implement next year.

Last night I spent it finishing Fahrenheit 451. My plan was to read a few pages a night, enjoy it and savor it, but OMG I could not out it down. If it had not been for the training yesterday and the long nap I took while watching television, I could have finished it way earlier. I am going to read Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm. I have been thinking back at my English classes, from high school and I can honestly say, I don't remember ever reading any of the books that are in our 9th grade reading list. Sure, Shakespeare was front and center, but others like Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451 and others, were not. It was recommended that I read for pleasure and less for work, but I can't help it. This is going to sound like the cheesiest thing in the world, but I felt alive. It was awesome to have a feeling of excitement, I wanted to keep reading. What would happen next? Who are the characters? Symbols? Theme? I wanted to disect the story from beginning to end. I caught myself reading outloud. And saying "OMG run!" Or "what the hell, did that just happen?"

Anyway, I am sitting here at Starbucks and I just had a phone call with my boss. I wanted to update him on my certification process. I found out I didn't pass my test last week, but I wanted to tell him first. The day I found out, I cried. It felt as if I had lost a loved one. I felt so defeated. I had worked so hard. Long hours. Lots of stress. Lots of prayer. But in the end, I missed the passing score by 5 points. The passing score is a 240 and I got a 235. I did improve in the writing portion. The highest score is a 4 and I got a 3.

But after about five minutes of feeling sorry for myself, I went on ahead and signed up for the test in September. I am determined to pass this test. I want this so bad. If I didn't care about being a teacher, I would have walked out. I would have gone back home, I have always found a way to fit somewhere in a job. 

For now, I am taking a few weeks off from studying, focusing on the training next week and then come August, I will be working at it full force.

For now, I do this.