I went to write a post about my student teaching, and out of curiosity, I looked to see how many days it's been since David's been gone. His last call (the one before he left) was FIVE days ago. I swear it's only been three at the most. I guess I should be thankful I am so busy that I don't have time to dwell on his absence, but I'm kind of sad that my life is so crazy that I can't even comprehend time. I guess you get to the point where you lose any notion of reality.
Anyway, earlier this morning, I got my first student-teaching placement. It's at a middle school! I'm really excited to teach middle school just because I have yet to experience those grades, and I think I'm going to love them. The only part that sucks is that this school is 39 minutes (says Google Maps) from my house. And it's all highway driving on 295N and 288N--two hectic roads to be taking during rush hour. I'll have to give myself an extra 15-20 minutes each day in case of accidents or other delays. My request was for the rather large country this school is part of--a county that has like ten high schools, ten middle schools, and countless elementary schools. It might be the largest county in Virginia? Not sure. Two of those ten-ish high schools are closer to my house, but my university said I couldn't request schools, only the county. So, I was expecting a school further away. This first placement will probably be the deciding factor as far as my decision between English and Counseling goes. If I like middle school more, I may just stick to that, but we'll see. I'm going to talk to adviser (also my 4:00 professor today) about the Counseling thing. She has a peer who's in the same program at Liberty.
I went to sleep at 4:45AM this morning, woke up at 7AM, and drove the hour and a half back to school to be at my meeting with my Lit Crit professor at 9:30AM. With him, I solidified my paper topic for the huge Lit Crit Senior Paper Conference that's next Saturday afternoon. I feel really good about it. I'm writing on the relationship between space (relative to architecture and the home) and social power, using Virginia Woolf's Flush. Then I dropped my seven page paper on "The Yellow Wallpaper" off with Dr. Challender, and booked it back to my apartment to do my take-home final exam for Lit Crit that was due at noon. I studied this weekend by writing each author's name and listing their main points, but when I opened the exam with an hour to complete it, there was no way I was going to finish the second part on time: two texts that must be critiqued from the perspective of five critics (five per passage--so ten) in a paragraph per critic. So I submitted what I had done at 12, and just grinned and bared it. Sometimes, there's only so much you can do when you're taking 19 credits, teaching, and your husband is deployed. I did my best. I guess my professor realized that, because he gave me an extension to finish the second part of the exam by noon tomorrow, for which I am very thankful. Then I had to come back and finish reading The Tempest and some of the sonnets, and I met with my Shakespeare professor at 2:30. Then, I went to talk to my adviser about my career switch--well, possible career switch. I can't make a decision without my husband. I know he'll know what's ultimately best for us in the long run, which is my primary concern. I printed out the application, and I started filling out, and as soon as David and I make a decision on it, I'll send it or not send it. Then, I had class (the one my adviser teaches) at 4, during which we discussed the Praxis II 0041 test. I'm still terrified of what I got on that. Did you know Virginia has THE HIGHEST score requirement in the country? A 172, while most states are anywhere from 150-160. I think I'm moving to Alabama, the state with the lowest requirement (I believe 149). Just kidding. I'll just keep trying until I pass the stupid thing. Now, I'm going grocery shopping, making dinner, cleaning, making lesson plans and worksheets for tomorrow, and finishing the exam. THEN BED. I'm going to do a different blog entry for my dinner recipe.
Did I mention my life is crazy? And that my husband is outside the wire at the most hectic time in my entire life? Ugh, sometimes I just want to go kidnap him.
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