My First Week of Being a Teacher :)

Hello Friends!


I have to apologize for not posting anything in over a week, as you know from my last post, I got a teaching job and I started in my new classroom this past Monday!  I am in utter bliss, this whole week has been exhilarating.  My room started off as quite a dump, it was split to be two Spanish classrooms, with two male teachers, in a building built in the 60's.  There were, until I got a hold of a razor :) velcro stickers EVERYWHERE, to the point where my Assistant and I felt anxious looking at them.  So, my room has become my new favorite hobby, it is like my own Walk-in Scrap-Book, how much fun!  I go into work an hour early (7:30 am) and I stay until the janitor kicks me out at 6:00pm.  It hasn't even phased me as being "work", I am just still so pumped up of having my own room, and I could not be happier!  I will post final product pics of my room later this week. But until then, here is a picture of me and some of the kids with our class puppet, Curiosity the Cat:

As for the kids, I have ALL 4-year-olds!!! Yeyyyy, no diapers :) And, so far I only have 9 children, so I have had a lot of time to focus on the small groups and getting to know these 9 kids, until the other 6 show up.  My Assistant is fantastic, and it just so happened that we know each other, we went to high school together (in a small class of 130 graduates), and we went to Montclair State together, we are friends, and she is so much like me in her OCD behaviors that it is just a PERFECT fit.  She has her teaching certification too, so she has been a tremendous help, I don't know what I would do without her.


Last Monday was also the first day of my Nutrition class... I am sad to say, but after driving up to class (took two hours after my first day of teaching), in a crazy storm, I walked into a class with a professor who used to work for the FDA.  The title of this course was "Food Regulations and Compliances", and I was excited.  I thought, like many of my other college courses at Montclair, that this class would be as Liberal, and open to all ideas.  I thought that I would walk in and be able to proudly state my knowledge (and the reason why I eat a mostly vegan diet), and impress my professor and fellow classmates....But, I was wrong...rather this professor stood up in front of a class of future Nutritionists preaching about how it is ridiculous that when "science" and  the FDA say that something is "SAFE", like irradiating food, then the government and small groups of people should not be able to argue.  In New Jersey, Irradiating food is currently illegal.  Not because of the FDA or Science, but because of people like you and me who fight to make sure that the food that we put on our table to feel our families and ourselves is in its most natural form.  It such a scary thought that the other 20 students in this class were listening with excitement as this ignorant professor spoke. Shouldn't NUTRITION classes be about the best possible nutrition one can have?  I was infuriated, as I sat there trying to control myself from walking out! The thought of that painful 2 hours, just makes me a little queazy! I was relieved when I ran out of that class and dropped it on my walk to my car :)  I will try again in January, hopefully with better luck!


So today my mother and I are throwing my sister (whom many of you know) her Baby Shower!! My little niece is due in November, and we are so excited!! I made a delicious Quinoa dish, which I will post many, many pics next week.


I am going for the first run in over a week- I am so excited!! Have a fantastic and peaceful week! <3