6 Weeks And...

So, I was going to make a post, but my husband's post says it all. Check here for the big news :-)

mallaksavindica.blogspot.com

Needless to say, we are very excited :-)

Mid-Term Reports

So I'm proud of myself. Not for getting up early this morning and doing an hour of grading before school (and then promptly leaving it at home-how frustrating!), but for actually getting in an average of six grades per class by the first mid-quarter report. Now you may say, what big feat is that? Well, with 8 classes, totally with 120 students, that's a lot of grades! Roughly 720 items worth of grading. In four weeks. And most of it done in the last week (not the assigning, but the grading, that is-I tend to get behind). Last year I think I was lucky to have 2-3 grades per class by this time. But the hard thing with that was that if a student bombed one thing, their grade plummeted. This year I'm trying to break things down into smaller parts, which helps their grades, but totally eats my time!

However, I have matured as a teacher. I now have rubrics, lesson plans, and even course outlines! (Almost) no more deciding day of what I am teaching. Adjustments always have to be made, but hey, we're talking vast improvement.

This is good, because this year I'm teaching even more classes than my crazier than ever schedule I had last year. I'm also taking an extra 1/2 hour of Chinese a week, will soon be teaching a sex-ed seminar at a local school, and have a cousin to take care of (luckily she takes care of herself pretty well). But I'm holding on. By the skin of my teeth, but it still counts.

Not Much To Blog About

These last few weeks have been pretty quiet. Nathan has been horribly ill for the last two weeks, but is finally feeling better (when the antibiotics aren't making him feel worse). Things with Jillian are great. She seems to be doing well making friends with her peers and has balanced homework, time with us, and everything else pretty well. I'm still going crazy with all of my classes (I have 6 preps-if there are any teachers out there who know what that means), and mid-quarters are due on Monday, so it's going to be an exciting weekend of grading, entering grades, and more grading (followed by more entering of grades).

Our good friends Jacquelyn and Jeremy just had a death in the family, so they are currently on a plane back to the states. Our hearts are with them and their family and we will definitely miss them over the next month.

Other than that, life is just cruising by. We have Fall Camp next week. I'll be on the High School Girls Camp leading art workshops and Nathan will be attending the Middle School camp to the wonderful beach city we went to last year. Then the week after that we have a week off school-and my sister is coming to visit! Yay! So so so excited about that.

Hope you all are well and life is going great!