New Year’s Eve – Life of the Rookie Teacher

Oh man guys what a week back! I am EXHAUSTED!!!

I don’t know when you went back to school (teacher friends of course, sorry to those who had to work over break) but we went back last Thursday giving us a 2 day week followed by a full week. Man, a full week of school is HARD!!

Last week, on Thursday, I wanted to ease back into the school day (which was for the kiddos but also for me because I was not in the mood to be back.) I started the day like it was the first day of school all over again. We sat and discussed our rules and expectations as a class. On the first day of school, I have the kids put together a “contract” about their top 6 rules they want for the class along with their top 6 consequences they want for the class. Coming back, I had them discuss those rules and consequences and had them discuss what rules and consequences they wanted to keep and what they would want to change for the second half of the year.

They decided they wanted to keep 5/6 of both. I was so proud of how seriously they took this! They are such a great group of kids who constantly want to do the right thing. Their list of rules and consequences show how mature they are!

This week was a marathon with a TON of extra stress that was added. Obviously, I knew this week was going to be hard, and I was ready for that. The difference is I was surprised with an observation this week….

Being a non tenured teacher, I have to be observed 3 times throughout the year. I’ve already had my first one back in October and wasn’t thinking about another one AT ALL coming back after break. I got a nice little surprise on Tuesday morning when my principal said he wanted to get my second done this week. I hardly knew what I was doing that day so I had to pull it together fast so I could get a good observation under my belt.

I was able to come up with a good lesson and thought it went well when I was observed today. It wasn’t a perfect lesson AT ALL but, considering the week and how unprepared I was, I thought it worked out.

Man seriously, January is rough. I coach high school gymnastics (which is a winter sport) so I feel like I am constantly working and never have time for anything else except for sleep. I love my teaching job and I love my coaching job but I am so excited it’s a Friday night so I can finally sleep and do nothing for the next 2 days!!

PS: I never shared my New Year’s Eve catastrophe about how I met this guy at a bar and really connected with him for a couple hours trying to get that midnight kiss. I have the worst luck in the world (especially with guys) so about 20 minutes until midnight, he disappeared so no kiss for me…..ugh. BUT I thought I looked great so I wanted to share my awesome outfit!

For more day to day action and live activities, go follow my Instagram page @lifeoftherookieteacher!!

(Soooooooo, I’m a little behind on posting my final 2 blogmas blogs so I apologize for the delay!)

Blogmas Day 11 – Favorite Present Received:

If I’m honest, I am pretty hard to give gifts to. I would prefer to just spend time with the people I care about rather than receive anything physical. Looking back at Christmases past, the best present I ever received was a donation towards a volunteer teaching trip I took 4 years ago today.

At the start of 2015, I kicked off my new year by teaching English for a week to students down in the Dominican Republic. It was an expensive trip because I had to fully pay my way down there and I had to make a large donation to the foundation in order to volunteer. For that Christmas (a week before the New Year) my grandpa helped me fund my way down. That donation was the best gift I’ve ever received because it gave me one of the best and most humbling weeks/experiences of my life.

The non-profit I volunteered through was called Outreach 360. It’s an amazing organization with sites in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. If you are looking for a life changing adventure, I highly recommend looking into this program!! Ya’ll, I literally taught outside on a slab of concrete, it was incredibly humbling.

Blogmas Day 12 – New Year’s Eve:

I’ve never really had any New Year’s traditions. Every year I’m usually doing something completely different. (The most common thing I do is to stay at home and go to bed before midnight….I’m lame.) This year, however was a little different. A childhood friend of mine and I decided to go out for a change. We’re both single and in our 20’s, so we figured why the heck not? It was fun but it also ended in a bit of disappointment when neither one of us got a New Year’s kiss.

Want to participate in Blogmas 2019? Check out the following guidelines!

Last year you might have followed along with the 12 Days that I did with some of the gals listed above and we had such a good time that we decided to celebrate again together this year! So without further ado here are the guidelines for my 12 Days of Christmas.

use the image provided in each post, so that way anyone who might jump in later can see what the plan is for the month.

for sure link back to me, Abbey@ThreeCatsandaGirl, so that way I can celebrate your Christmas with you and maybe get some ideas of how to create festive enjoyment!

spread Christmas cheer in the way you know best!