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Officially Tired but Unofficially Hired

This past week was pretty normal for what is our new normal. The only thing that was crazy was that I was having a real challenge getting the info I needed from TEA (Texas Education Agency) in one condensed message. I finally (with the help of Paul who was able to provide me with what turned out to be the right question) was able to get it out of them that if I just took three tests, I could get my standard certification and that I could apply for a one-year certification which would allow me to be hired while I was taking those three tests. At first I was trying to get the tests waived (since I’m pretty sure the tests I took in California for my Californian credential would have covered my bases for most, if not all of them), but the process to do that was just too difficult. It’s easier just to take the three tests. I spoke to the principal and she told me that yes, she wants to hire me. I know I need to wait for my certification application to be processed before I can be officially hired, but it feels nice to be unofficially-officially hired, haha. I’ll be teaching fifth grade for the rest of this year (which I already knew I would be doing, but now hopefully we’ll be able to get the paperwork done in time for me to get at least a little bit of full-time pay as opposed to sub pay) and hopefully next year I’ll be able to start right away with a standard certification (I’m planning on trying to get my tests all done before the start of the next school year).

My students really like stickers…like REALLY like stickers. So I bought a bunch of stickers to use as positive reinforcements…but I couldn’t help but pick a few to keep. 😉 The patronus (spirit animal) one is actually from one of my students. She knows I really like Harry Potter and she noticed my purse had a bunch of patronuses on it. I walked back to my desk to grab something at some point during the day and noticed that she had put the sticker there for me to have. She had a big book of Harry Potter stickers that she had been sharing with everyone. It was nice to be included. 🙂
These two were playing a game called “Come Here and Go Away” (from the show Bluey). Joseph would basically push Abigail and every time she would get close to him, he would pretend to start a conversation with her and then get upset when she swung away from him and would tell her to come back. Conversely, with the go away bit, he would push her and tell her to go away and then pretend to be mad when she swung back towards him. It’s her favorite game, haha.
Seeing them snugglin’ was so cute!
Joseph’s friend, Adam, invited him to go to the rodeo today. They spent the entire afternoon at the carnival and had a blast!

And those are the only pictures I got this week. I told you I was tired, haha.