The excitement is buidling!

Yeah...That kind of excitement. After returning from the glorious sun and waves of Hawaii, I've put my nose to the grind and have started preparing my class. I will post pictures of the before, clean, and finished classroom when they are ready. As for now, just imagine two nice white walls and two very ugly orange carpet walls that look like they've been taken straight from the floor of your aunt and uncle's old 70's beat up Winnebago that your parents occasionally used to take on family trips to go camping in Idaho. Admit it, you know what I'm talking about.

So I've been trying to think of cool things to do that the kids might find exciting or different than other classes they've been in. I want them to walk into my class knowing that each day will present them with something new and exciting. I like to think outside the box from time to time and be a little creative with "old" teaching strategies and ideas. One thing that every elementary teacher has in their repertoire of billboards and posters is a welcoming door poster. I'm all for this idea.

For those of you that don't know what a door poster is let me explain. It's a poster that teachers usually put on or next to their door that show either a picture of the student or their name and then they use a theme to tie everything in together. For example, one teacher used a cat theme every year (for over a quarter of a century) that said "So-and-so's class are cool cats." Then they had the students' pictures on the door with some cats and stuff. My brother and I always joked that we knew that school was soon approaching because the old orange cat cut-outs from 1980 were making their way into the school hallway. (maybe it's only funny to us.)

Anyway, my lovely mother told me she saw a really cool book with ideas of what to do with my door for the beginning of the year. She gave me some examples and I started to laugh immediately. They were all so cheesy and just...not me. My brother and I went to the drawing board to create something that we could call original and creative. So, with the few skills I have in Photoshop, this is what we came up with. I'm not at all pleased with slogan, but it works for now. If there are any other good ideas, I'm open for suggestions. Also, the symbol is a pen over a sword, indicating the theme that the pen is mightier than the sword. I'm also open for a change of...crest...I suppose.



*note - The kids' faces aren't really black splotches. I guess I have to worry about privacy rights now. And yes, the kids in the picture are my actual students.

Signing My Own Declaration

Tis the Season of Celebration. I was recently pondering upon the beauty of this great nation and state in which I am blessed to live. In Utah, we are happy to receive two days off of work; the 4th of July and the 24th of July. The first, of course, being the day on which our nations founding fathers signed our Declaration of Independence. The latter being the day the mormon pioneers walked into the valley of salty lakes. I found it fitting to receive my contract right around this time.

As I handed in my letter of resignation I was in turn handed my contract for my upcoming teaching job. I pondered this moment for a short time. I was able to compare the similarities I have with the pioneers. (Use your imagination with these comparisons.)Both of us forging our ways into unknown territory. Not knowing how hostile the locals may be, or if the ground would be fertile enough to accomplish our goals of permanent settlement. I could also feel how hesitant the founding fathers may have been before they signed the Declaration of Independence. I looked over my contract several times before my signature found its way onto the paper. The consequences of signing the Declaration of Independence could be seen as TREASON...punishable by DEATH!!! I faced not being able to get a job in Salt Lake, which may mean...SOCIAL DEATH!!! So I'm stretching that last one a bit (I think Logan is the most lovely of places to live...for a college student, or a married couple.)

I never really gave much thought to any of these comparisons to be honest with you. The thing that I actually thought fitting for the signing of my contract was the spirit of celebration this glorious month of July brings. In honor of the fierce battles that followed the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Also, the trials and hardships of migrating across the plains and mountains from Illinois into Utah, I decided to celebrate their sacrifice by sacrificing a little of my time...to take a vacation to Hawaii. Here's to those that made it possible for me to enjoy the warm waters and delicious pineapple of our 50th state.

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!

Application...DENIED

So I recently got a letter from the district that I had just applied for. They thanked me for my interest and then proceeded to tell me that all of their openings had been filled, BUT that my file will be held on record in case there are any more openings. As awful as this sounds, I was actually quite relieved to hear the news. I now have nothing holding me back from getting a job in Salt Lake...except for actually being OFFERED A JOB. It's been weeks since I went to the job fair and I haven't heard a single thing from any of the districts I had applied for. I felt a little scared at the thought of not being offered a job so I took action into my own hands.

I took a day off of work and decided to make my way to Salt Lake on a job finding adventure. After passing through the seven layers of the candy cane forest, through the sea of twirly, swirly gumdrops, and then driving through Sardine Canyon, I made my way to several school districts. As I walked into the first district, I soon discovered I had no game plan. I walked in with my teaching portfolio under my arm and a hand full of resumes and proceeded to ask for the Human Resource Department. After visiting with each district I came away with renewed sense that...well....THIS ECONOMY SUCKS!!!

Most of the districts were focusing on in-house hiring for the next week or so and then they would open their left over positions to the public. Some districts told me that they would open them up to the public when they figured out how many openings they had. Other districts said they would open them up to the public IF they had any openings. That word is very sketchy in the world of job hunting.

I left each district with a lot of good information that I wouldn't have otherwise known unless I had talked directly to the HR representative. I was also able to feel out each district to some degree and realized that some of the school districts I was interested in were quite rude, unfriendly, and a little arrogant. (Ex: I asked a secretary from a certain district out. The conversation went like this.) On the other hand, the districts I had very little interest in seemed to be friendly, jovial, and inviting.

After all was said and done, I think the trip was a success. I'm very glad I decided to do it. I even ended up getting an interview with a school for next week out of it. After such a long day I was able to enjoy a wonderful blind date with a lovely girl (take that aforementioned secretary) and watch my beloved Utah Jazz fall to the Lakers in game 4 of the Western Conference SemiFinals. (tear)

Thanks be to Conrad for keeping me company on my travels. He was the SamWise Gamgee to my Frodo. And after I got turned down on the date, he was the mascot to my douche bag from the video. Cheers!