It's Gonna Be "Off Da Chain"

It's official: I now answer to Ms. Sienrukos...or Ms. Semsmuchus or Ms. Sinrumis or just Ms. S if they give up. Today marked my very first day (finally) of student teaching and I am super excited.

Here's the background. I'm in a 5th grade classroom in a quaint little school in Pemberton. My teacher is FANTASTIC. He absolutely loves his job, his family, and everything about life. His desire to help and teach me is impeccable and I truly can't imagine a better collaborating teacher for me. I'm living at my grandmother's house in Jackson because I would have been homeless down at Rowan (all my roommates actually graduated somewhat "on-time" and I'm the last one out.) So far, the last 36 hours or so living in Hotel Phyl have been pretty magical. She packed me lunch. She cooks dinner. She offered to do my laundry. Somehow, I turned into an 8-year-old again. Hey, I'll take it while I can.

I wanted to start this to act as a little journal for me to look back on in a few months. I know I'm going to learn more than I ever have before. I know I'm going to be stressed. I know there are going to be funny moments. I know there are going to be sad moments. But it comes with the "job" and I am accepting it with open arms.

I titled this "It's Gonna Be "Off Da Chain"" for two reasons.
1- It totally is going to be off the chain. My friends who have student taught  absolutely loved it and want to do it again.
2- My teacher literally said "off da chain" today. He really did. I told you he's awesome.

So getting into today...of course it snowed. Early dismissal! I'm not sure if I should be excited or upset about that. I feel a little guilty saying I was excited because it was my first day so that would make me a bum. But after sleeping for a grand total of about 3.88 hours last night, it felt good.

Night-before jitters are never fun. I remember feeling that way before my first days of elementary school. But this time, I was walking into a school I knew literally no one. Would I get lost on the way there? Would my alarm not go off? Would I forget my lunch? All of the most cliche, overdone issues popped into my head last night. And of course, I had my infamous nervous pee habit every hour on the hour (Sorry, TMI).

5:50 AM came. My alarm sounded. I woke up. I didn't forget my lunch and I didn't get lost. WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK IT? And the day went smoothly! Meeting my teacher and other staff at the school was great. The kids were great. One kid even attempted to make a connection between pi (3.14) and pie and karats (of gold) and carrots. Gotta give him credit for thinking outside of the box. I have a feeling more of these one-liners are going to happen.

Before I knew it, I was back home (after an hour and 40 minutes of driving 14 mph). I'm gonna take the snow storm as luck. It has rained on literally every single important day of my life. The day I was born. My communion. My high school graduation. Every single prom I've been to. So it's only fitting that there is a massive snow storm on my first day of this big fat exciting journey.

Enough rambling for now. It's 7:29 and I'm ready for bed...