Hello! I am currently at a crossroads between my graduate school and the new and happy life that awaits me. At this point, life is bittersweet and has worked out in so many ways. Let me backtrack to exactly one year ago when I moved into my TINY (Becky, you know from personal experience) dorm room.
I started graduate school on May 17th and was quite lonely I might add. I had just returned from a month long vacation staying with Mike in GA and now I had to officially start my new life as a grad student. I honestly didn't think it would be that bad. And for the first few months it wasn't. I actually had time to work, go to class, and train for a marathon at the same time! Life was good, but I knew it wouldn't be for long. I knew going into my program that I wanted to take extra courses so that I could finish in time to get married to the one and only guy that I've been in love with since I was 14. Usually, the Reading Specialist program takes a year and a half to complete. On top of classes, tremendous papers, projects, and a thesis, there are three practicums, countless lesson plans called LISPS (or as us practitioners like to say FLISPS) and reflections on such lessons that are such a waste of time that I usually bs'd my way through them and pretended that each lesson was beneficial and meaningful to each child that I worked with. Let's be honest, all teachers know that there are some days where you aren't as great a teacher as you would like to be, your students aren't in the best mood, or a combination of both. HOWEVER, there are also those days were you see the light bulb click with your student and you feel like you have actually made a difference in their lives. I love those days. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was that instead of doing my program in a year and a half, I decided to do it in a year so that I would be done with my program and then transition to being a happy wife living down south in good ole' Alabama. To do this in a year, I had to double up my course load and take two practicums instead of one, plus work, and class all at the same time.
A typical night of sleep was no longer than five hours. I usually got up at 5:30 in the morning to make my scary trek to PS 8, an inner city school in Harlem. The first day was the most shocking for me as I met with the cooperating teacher and the two 6 year olds that I would be providing reading intervention services for. During the first fifteen minutes that I was there, two 6 year olds got in a fight and were just thrown out in the hallway where I was working on the floor with my students (They were unable to provide a room with desks and chairs for me to work with). Needless to say, I grew a lot just from that tutoring experience. After my morning sessions, I had just enough time to go to work where I taught very gifted (and very privileged children if I might add) for the rest of the school day. Quite the opposite from my PS 8 students. After school, I went straight to class, followed by another round of tutoring with an amazing little girl. Although I longed to crash on my bed after that, I still had to go to the computer lab (and stay there until they closed) just to finish typing those FLISPS before my midnight deadline.
All this has come to an end this week and now I can finally look back and be proud that I made it through. I can't remember the last time I cried (which is a good thing right?) and I am getting so much closer to so many things! Graduation, living with Mike, our wedding. It's so great to finally see the finish line. After next week, I will readjust to a "normal" routine and get back on track with taking care of myself and maintaining friendships that I was forced to ignore this semester. I should actually be typing papers this minute but I feel much better venting my thoughts to my white little mac that has since become my new best friend.
More posts to come. This is too fun!
