Chickenpox, Measles, and Mumps...OH MY!!!

I've been feeling a lot like this ole' bloke for the past few days. I recently went into the doctor and he decided to diagnose me with strep throat. I'm finishing up my last week at my custodian job and I couldn't think of a better time to be sick. I have a bunch of sick days left and I really look for any reason to use them. In the past couple of months I've seen the family doctor, dentist, orthodontist, optometrist, dermatologist, and one timely visit to the ski doctor. I hadn't been to that last one in ten years which almost caused a depletion in my frozen H2O crystalline processing cells. It's very deadly if not treated regularly.

The problem I've now come to see is that in my future profession, such days like this will not be a "free" day off. My sister-in-law, who is also a teacher, just gave birth to her first child in October. She spent every weekend slaving over lesson plans for her long term substitute. When she came back from maternity leave she proceeded to reteach most of everything the substitute had taught because of rubbish teaching skills. She also had to redo her whole classroom management plan because the students pretty much had free reign while she was gone.

I've seen many teachers coming in at the wee hours of the morning to write lesson plans so that the day wasn't a total waste for the kids. I feel elementary is especially hard when taking days off. I saw a huge contrast in lesson plans when I was subbing at the middle school compared to the elementary school. The middle school teachers were able to put all of their plans on one single-spaced piece of paper. The lesson plans for an elementary teacher came in all shapes and sizes. Large font, small font, cute font, in folders, stapled, rhombus, and hexagon. It really reminded me of the scene from Better Off Dead when the teacher asks the math class to pull out their math homework and they each have a huge contraption to get it done.

I've lost track of where I was going with this post (I blame it on the medication.) The point I'm getting at is that I know teaching is hard and I now realize that it's counterproductive to provide sick leave and then make it more difficult to take a sick day then just man up and teach sick for a day. I mean I work in a place where snot is literally dripping from noses and coughing in someones face seems to be a new form of saying, "HI." A school is as close to a walking petri dish as one can find. It kind of sucks knowing that if I get sick, it might just be easier to tough it out and go to work rather than spend a lot of time writing a lesson plan that will probably need to be retaught anyway. What a catch 22 I've gotten myself into. Thank goodness for Bill Nye Videos (authors note: please, someone take away my teaching license if I ever resort to doing this.) Well, at least I get to enjoy this last week of my old job on sick leave. I'll be sure to enjoy every cold sweat, sore throat, and nauseous feeling I have this week.

IT HAS BEGUN!!!

So this clip is brought to you by one of my favorite childhood games/movies...Mortal Kombat. Watching a few clips from it now makes me laugh that my taste in movies and other such arts has changed so dramatically. Why do I show this clip? Because I've developed this nasty habit of quoting things from my childhood ALL OF OF THE TIME. I'm pretty sure 78% of my conversations consist of a quote from one of three shows: The Office, The Simpsons, and Seinfeld. The above quote has reared it's ugly head more than several hundred times in my life, the latest being used one week ago.

I had the opportunity to meet my class of 22 4th graders a week ago during a school tradition called "up day." This is where the students in the school get to meet the new teacher they will have for the upcoming year. I walked into my bare classroom 2 minutes before my future 4th graders and sat down in my rolling teacher chair. Just like the above clip, I felt the elements gather in a way I've never felt before. Instead of demonesque spirits floating in the misty air, I saw the first few faces of my future students peek their heads into my classroom. That is when I realized..."It has begun!"

Let me tell you what I mean by "it." Going to bed at a decent time has begun. Waking up at a decent time has begun. Having grownup conversations has begun. Being accountable for my actions has begun. Being a face in the community has begun. Being responsible for others has begun. Being entrusted with the safety, care, and education of 22 nine year old kids...has begun.

It hit me so hard that I was at a loss for words with my students. I told them how excited I was to have them in my class and how much fun we will have during the next school year. The whole time I was mumbling over my words and just having a hard time collecting my thoughts. I actually told them that I was going to give them a homework EXCITMENT for the summer, because during this particular 10 minutes I couldn't move my tongue to say the word ASSIGNMENT. I tried to cover for myself the best I could by saying, "I don't call them homework assignments. Assignment sounds boring. My homework is fun, so I call it homework excitements. (One of the students actually went to her teacher and said, "In Mr. Cox's class we don't have homework assignments, we have homework excitements!" I think I got away with one there.)

I honestly have the best group of kids. Every single one of them has such an awesome personality and I can't wait to learn and grow with them. I've been given every luxury a new teacher could ask for and will be working with a great 4th grade teaching team. I think the only thing that is scary is the fact that I can never go back to college life. I still have over two months to get that out of my system, so I think I will be ready come August. The sound of that first school bell on August 18th at 7:55 A.M. won't only signify the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year, but also the death of "College Greg" and the birth of "Adult Greg." Here's to you College Greg...it's been a fun ride.

The name is Cox...Mr. Cox

So I've been waking up late...REALLY LATE, for the past week. My schedule has been a bit off for the past few days and I've been waking up in the wee hours of the afternoon. I've been working really late nights this week so I don't feel too bad. Being the popular person I am, I usually have A txt, or A missed call on my phone. I checked my phone and noticed 2 txts and a missed call...and one out of place voicemail. I checked the missed call and thought it was a call from the school I was supposed to sub at today. I decided sleep was better than money, so I called in and canceled the job for the day. I thought maybe they were calling me to see where I was or maybe yell at me a little.

I checked the voicemail and to my surprise it was a school, but the school where I used to teach music, did half of my student teaching, organized my theater club, made Garbage Monster and video yearbook movies, and always dreamed of getting a job with. The principal was calling and simply said to give her a call. I called back not thinking much of it because I had planned to help with their play day the following day and help with their end of the school year preparations the day after that. She was busy when I called so I just left my name with the secretary.

An hour later I get a call from the principal and she proceeds to say that all of the teaching decisions are still being figured out, but that she wanted to offer me a...FOURTH GRADE JOB! I knew the job had opened up, but I wasn't expecting a call from this district because I had already talked to the principal about how badly I wanted to move to Salt Lake and that I wasn't sure I wanted a job in Logan. Despite all of my plans of moving to SLC and the fact that my mother works and my sister-in-law teaches at the school (they don't like to put family at the same school) she still offered me the job.

I was kind of taken back, but after a few brief seconds of looking into the future of my life I decided that I would accept the job. After the phone call I just sat there and then I let out a scream. Not a scared scream, but a scream of relief. It's a great school, a great faculty, a great principal, and a great city. I may be able to move to SLC next year, but for now, I'll stay in Logan and teach my class of 4th graders at Ellis Elementary. It seems like everything kind of worked itself out to provide this job for me and I definitely feel blessed.

I guess I'm almost a grown-up. Next thing on my to-do list of being an adult...move out of my parents basement.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!

So the past couple of weeks have been disappointing. After my grand adventure into the valley of salty lakes, I haven't heard a lot from my potential employers. To date, I have sent out over 25 e-mails and applied for over 50 jobs, including positions over in the Alpine School District. This district was enclosed in a glass case in my life that had written on the front "break open and apply only in case of an emergency." Well, with the state of the economy, I felt desperate times call for desperate measures.

Out of all of the schools I have been in contact with, only one school in the Granite District called back to set up an interview. I went in confident, with my head held high, and then I saw a friend coming out of the school as I was going in. This friend just so happened to be teaching at the school and in the very same grade I was offered a job in last year. We had a few minutes to converse and after those few minutes, all confidence I had going into the interview dissipated.

We both talked about wanting to move to Salt Lake and proceeded to talk about the many interviews we have had in the area. Correction, she proceeded to talk about the many interviews she HAD had and the many more she had lined up. This just so happened to be my first interview outside of Cache Valley. I was devastated at the news and felt like maybe my resume wasn't strong enough, which meant that the possibility of getting a job was very slim. I walked into the interview and I crashed...HARD! Needless to say, I got an e-mail (that's right, an E-MAIL!) telling me they interviewed a large number of people and weren't able to offer me a job. So goes that perfect record of interviewing and successfully obtaining a job.


I feel like I'm still standing at this fork in the road and I want to go down the path least trodden, but Gandalf the Grey is there yelling at me with all his might saying, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" Why? Why can't I pass? Well, I'll continue to send out e-mails, and I'm sure I'll continue to receive replies which look like this.

***Actual email, Names have been changed for fun***

Dear (Saint Gregorio),

Thank you for taking the time to interview with me at (Hades Playground). I wish that I had more positions to offer. I had so many great people to choose from and you were definitely among them. Keep watching the postings as more positions will be coming open. Good luck in your future years of teaching and making a difference in the lives of children.

Sincerely,

(Lucifer)

Better Luck next time I suppose.

Here's a video which describes my thoughts about finding a teaching job. ENJOY!