We survived 2 days of training!! Our days are so long, but we have met some really fun people and are enjoying it for the most part! But more about that later!
Ashley and I were walking up to the school on Monday, extremely nervously and running a little late and we came up to some people who were greeting everyone as they walked in. It turned out one of the ladies was the principal of our school and as we were standing there talking with her a little bit, she suddenly said, "I'm getting an idea! You wanted to be younger Becky and we just hired someone to teach 1st grade who has a junior high background. How would you feel about switching to 1st grade?" It was a little bit of a shock to have her ask this on the sidewalk outside the school and I wasn't quite prepared for that, but I said yes! So I am now teaching 1st grade with Ashley and two other ladies. I am so excited!! It was a little bit of a mindset change, but the more I think about it and learn about it the better I think it will be. 6th grade would have been fun, but I am so much more confident in my ability to teach 1st grade and I think it will be easier for my first year! Plus I get to teach with Ashley which is what we have been hoping for since we student taught together last fall :)
Training has been going well. In the morning we have Spaulding training from 8-12:30. Spaulding is the language arts curriculum they use. It gets really long to sit in a classroom for so long, and it doesn't all really make sense, but everyone keeps telling us it will all click once we start teaching. In the afternoons we have different meetings about the school policies and stuff from 1-4:30 or 5. Today we got to learn about the math curriculum which was really exciting- its going to be fun to teach I think. We also got to ask the veteran teacher in our grade some questions about how things work and what we need to do in our rooms and stuff. It was really nice to get that information because we have been feeling a little bit in the dark.
All the teachers and staff have been really nice and we have even started making some friends! We keep wondering how in the world we got hired to teach at this school, but we are soooo thankful that we did! I think its going to be a wonderful year!
Our apartment is pretty much all set up! Once we get Internet in our apartment I will post some pictures of it! It turned out so cute with all the stuff my mom made for us (thanks mom!) and all the little homey touches we have added. We bought some plants and cactus the other day and they look so cute on our little porch area!
Thank you again for all your prayers and support! The days get long and tiring, but it is all going to be worth it and I can hardly wait to get all the little kiddos in my room and start teaching them! Love you all!!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Adventure #1: Getting There
After many hours of planning and packing, three days of traveling, and numerous stops for coffee and bathrooms and food, we finally made it to Casa Grande, Arizona! Ashley’s dad, Gordie, and brother, Tyler, came with us on this crazy adventure to drive our 17 foot U-Haul truck full of all the things we really, really need:) We made quite the caravan with my car in front pretty much full, then the U-Haul and Ashley’s car on a trailer behind the U-Haul filled almost to overflowing with more stuff. We drove through 8 states and each had their own adventures!
Minnesota- We were really excited to be starting out and it was overcast which was perfect for driving
Iowa- It was hot and humid and pretty flat! We stopped for lunch and it was hotter there than it was in Casa Grande that day!
Missouri- Another flat, hot state! The U-Haul stalled in the middle of the freeway. It just stopped, so Gordie pulled over to the side of the road, turned it off, and then turned it back on again and it worked fine! Who knows what happened but praise the Lord that was the only car problem we had the whole trip!
Kansas- Yet another flat, hot state- we stopped for the night in Emporia. It was quite the interesting hotel! The first room we were given was flooded and the second room only had 2 really small beds. But there was a lot of floor space so we decided to take my mattress out of the U-Haul (it was the last thing we packed!) and Ashley and I slept on it on the floor of the room. It was quite comfortable!
Oklahoma- I slept through Oklahoma, but Ashley told me it was also flat and hot
Texas- Still pretty flat and very, very smelly- we drove through a short rain storm and we watched the external temperature gage on my car go from 99 to 68 in about 2 minutes. Rain really does cool things down
New Mexico- The landscape got really pretty here. We were trying to avoid mountains because the U-Haul was pretty heavy and didn’t do well with hills so we drove on a lot of back roads. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere for a long time. We spent the night in a town called Truth and Consequences- we wanted to make it farther, but we had to stop when we drove into a monsoon. It was a little like driving in a blizzard only it was rain instead of snow. Watching the sun rise over the mountains as we drove away in the morning was awesome!
ARIZONA!!- we finally made it to Arizona about 9:00 Saturday morning! The landscape continued to be beautiful! I think we started driving a little faster because we were so excited to get out of the car and be here!
We got to our apartment complex about 11:30, walked through our apartment and signed our lease. Its so crazy to say that Ashley and I are renting our own apartment and to be putting things away and setting up our own space. The apartment is really nice, very clean and cute. The rooms are a little smaller than they looked in the pictures, but we are getting everything put in its place and I think it is going to be perfect! I’ll put up pictures when we get things all settled in.
We also drove by the school where we will be working and it looked really nice. They are not quite done with construction, but it looked like they were working hard and hopefully it will get done quickly so they can move in and we can start setting up our classrooms!
Thank you all for your prayers for us as we drove down! The Lord definitely had his hand on us keeping us safe and guiding us as we begin this journey!
Minnesota- We were really excited to be starting out and it was overcast which was perfect for driving
Iowa- It was hot and humid and pretty flat! We stopped for lunch and it was hotter there than it was in Casa Grande that day!
Missouri- Another flat, hot state! The U-Haul stalled in the middle of the freeway. It just stopped, so Gordie pulled over to the side of the road, turned it off, and then turned it back on again and it worked fine! Who knows what happened but praise the Lord that was the only car problem we had the whole trip!
Kansas- Yet another flat, hot state- we stopped for the night in Emporia. It was quite the interesting hotel! The first room we were given was flooded and the second room only had 2 really small beds. But there was a lot of floor space so we decided to take my mattress out of the U-Haul (it was the last thing we packed!) and Ashley and I slept on it on the floor of the room. It was quite comfortable!
Oklahoma- I slept through Oklahoma, but Ashley told me it was also flat and hot
Texas- Still pretty flat and very, very smelly- we drove through a short rain storm and we watched the external temperature gage on my car go from 99 to 68 in about 2 minutes. Rain really does cool things down
New Mexico- The landscape got really pretty here. We were trying to avoid mountains because the U-Haul was pretty heavy and didn’t do well with hills so we drove on a lot of back roads. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere for a long time. We spent the night in a town called Truth and Consequences- we wanted to make it farther, but we had to stop when we drove into a monsoon. It was a little like driving in a blizzard only it was rain instead of snow. Watching the sun rise over the mountains as we drove away in the morning was awesome!
ARIZONA!!- we finally made it to Arizona about 9:00 Saturday morning! The landscape continued to be beautiful! I think we started driving a little faster because we were so excited to get out of the car and be here!
We got to our apartment complex about 11:30, walked through our apartment and signed our lease. Its so crazy to say that Ashley and I are renting our own apartment and to be putting things away and setting up our own space. The apartment is really nice, very clean and cute. The rooms are a little smaller than they looked in the pictures, but we are getting everything put in its place and I think it is going to be perfect! I’ll put up pictures when we get things all settled in.
We also drove by the school where we will be working and it looked really nice. They are not quite done with construction, but it looked like they were working hard and hopefully it will get done quickly so they can move in and we can start setting up our classrooms!
Thank you all for your prayers for us as we drove down! The Lord definitely had his hand on us keeping us safe and guiding us as we begin this journey!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
How it all started...
This grand adventure started at the beginning of the summer when my friend Ashley Fix moved to my parents house to live with us for the summer. One of the first things she said to me was, "Let's move to Arizona!" I pretty much immediately said, "Okay let's go!" not at all thinking that on July 18th I would be packing up all my stuff to move to Arizona with her. But here I am doing just that.
Ashley and I both just graduated from Crown College in May with elementary education degrees and have been tirelessly looking for teaching jobs for this fall. Minnesota is a great state to teach in, but the problem is there are hundreds, maybe thousands of teachers looking for jobs and not nearly that many job openings. So we decided to start looking elsewhere. We choose Arizona because Ashley's dad has a house down there and we were going to rent that from him and be set to go. Ashley researched schools in the area and found Legacy Traditional School, a charter school in the same town her dad's house is in. So one rainy weekend in June we sat on the couch in my living room and filled out the rather long application and sent them in. About two weeks later Ashley got an email asking for an interview and the day after her interview she got an email offering her a job. The next week I had an interview and a few days later got an email offering me the job.
So now we are both packing our lives up, saying good bye to all our friends and family and pretty much everything familiar to us and heading down to Casa Grande, Arizona to be teachers. I have no idea what God has in store for me as I begin this journey, but I see His hand in all of it and I know that whatever He has in store is going to be wonderful. I know it won't always be easy, but it will be good. My mom has a sign hanging in our living room that says, "Faith makes things possible, not easy" I know its going to be hard to be a first year teacher, to be away from my friends and family, and to be in a new place, but I also know God is good and He is going to give me the strength I need to make it through each new day.
I'm excited to see what's around the next corner and would love to have you join me in watching what God is going to do!
Ashley and I both just graduated from Crown College in May with elementary education degrees and have been tirelessly looking for teaching jobs for this fall. Minnesota is a great state to teach in, but the problem is there are hundreds, maybe thousands of teachers looking for jobs and not nearly that many job openings. So we decided to start looking elsewhere. We choose Arizona because Ashley's dad has a house down there and we were going to rent that from him and be set to go. Ashley researched schools in the area and found Legacy Traditional School, a charter school in the same town her dad's house is in. So one rainy weekend in June we sat on the couch in my living room and filled out the rather long application and sent them in. About two weeks later Ashley got an email asking for an interview and the day after her interview she got an email offering her a job. The next week I had an interview and a few days later got an email offering me the job.
So now we are both packing our lives up, saying good bye to all our friends and family and pretty much everything familiar to us and heading down to Casa Grande, Arizona to be teachers. I have no idea what God has in store for me as I begin this journey, but I see His hand in all of it and I know that whatever He has in store is going to be wonderful. I know it won't always be easy, but it will be good. My mom has a sign hanging in our living room that says, "Faith makes things possible, not easy" I know its going to be hard to be a first year teacher, to be away from my friends and family, and to be in a new place, but I also know God is good and He is going to give me the strength I need to make it through each new day.
I'm excited to see what's around the next corner and would love to have you join me in watching what God is going to do!
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