TGIF!

This week has been so long! Today was a pretty awesome day though. I got several very generous gifts from parents in my class (so sweet!). I really have the best class ever.

I got to bake sugar cookies! Have I mentioned that I love to bake? They aren’t done yet, but I will let you all know how they turn out! I am most excited to decorate them. I will be experimenting with a royal icing recipe…we’ll see how this turns out!

I have a confesssion. I was talking to a friend a couple days ago and she convinced me to sign up for JDate (essentially match.com for Jews) because a lot of her friends have had success. I am very turned off by internet dating (or at least I thought) because I like the idea of meeting people because our paths crossed at the right time.  This may be a huge waste of $37 (for one month) but today alone I had 7 messages and someone added me to their “Hot List.” This all sounds so lame, I know. But really, my expectations are not high. I just want to gain some dating experience and confidence so that I will feel more comfortable when I start dating for real. Does that make sense?

How do you all feel about internet dating?

Hump Day!

Does anyone else find that this week is moving painfully slowly? At least it’s hump day! Which means, bullet points because I am too exhausted to think clearly.

• Today was so stressful and exhausting, I thought I would collapse halfway through. Luckily, I have the best class EVER and one of the parents came in to teach the kids about Hanukkah traditions and she surprised me and the teacher with coffee! I almost hugged her! She’s so sweet and such a lifesaver.
• I abandoned the idea of going to my school holiday party tonight. First of all, it was $35! Aren’t these things supposed to be free so that you can get wasted on the company’s tab? Oh right, I work at public school and I can’t drink. Plus the bar was very far downtown and lazy. Seeing a bunch of drunk teachers might have been worth it though. At least tomorrow I will get to see a bunch of hungover teachers!
• Instead of boozing it up with a bunch of teachers, I had dinner with one of my best friends from college who I haven’t seen in forever. And she also happens to be a teacher, so it was kind of the same. Sort of. It was so nice to catch up and vent and laugh. I’m really starting to feel like myself again.
• I want to bake some holiday cookies for the family I babysit for. I love to bake but I want to try something new. Any suggestions? I’m open to pretty much anything (but it has to be nut-free! The kid is allergic!).

Holiday Surprise

So on Friday morning, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker telling all Classroom Assistants (ie ME) to go to the cafeteria as soon as possible. Of course my immediate thought was that we were in trouble, we were starting to slack off, we weren’t working up to par, etc.

So imagine my surprise when I show up, bracing myself for the lecture I was sure to hear, and see a table full of Dunkin Donuts and Coffee!
The PTA put it together for us to thank us for all of our hard work! AND they gave us holiday bonus checks! It was really so generous and SO unexpected (it never even occurred to me that we might get anything–these are hard times people!).

I love my job. And the holidays!

P.S. Ex update will be coming soon. I am still trying to figure things out.

Drowning

I am so overwhelmed right now, my chest is tight and I have to remind myself to take deep breaths.

I am kind of at risk for getting fired. The teacher in my class had a talk with me today (after I almost/kind of cried in front of her yesterday) and she told me it wasn’t a threat, but basically if I don’t step things up, it won’t  work out with us. She is, by her own admission, a very difficult person to work with. But I was also thrown into a job after school started (meaning that I completely missed orientation and had no time for anyone to show me the ropes), so I was behind to start with. Then the teacher injured her finger, putting us back a few days because of absences.

The bottom line is that it is November. We are two weeks behind the curriculum (she is usually two weeks AHEAD) and our classroom is still not completely set up. Parent-Teacher Conferences are in two weeks and we are not at all prepared. She sees this as essentially my fault, and while it is my job as the assistant to keep things organized, she has not been all that helpful. For example, she did not inform me until a week or two ago that we are supposed to have a filing system in place for all their work to show at conferences. How was I supposed to know this? I’ve never worked in a classroom before. I’m essentially expected to be in sync with her scattered, disorganized brain and it is SO frustrating.

I am fully aware that I have been working too slowly, my perfectionism is slowing me down, and the two of us have not been communicating well. But it is also really hard for me to get all my work done when she stops me in the middle to ask me to do three OTHER things, kids are coming up to me asking me how to spell “the” and to complain about who hit them. I’m really on a learning curve in terms of reaching a good balance with working well and working efficiently and being able to predict her next move. She knows I have been trying, and I really have been. There have been a few days where I didn’t even take my lunch break because I was so busy working. Today I stayed an hour and a half after school (I don’t get paid overtime).

However, I don’t want to lose my job. This is a great learning experience for me and I have been enjoying it so much until now. I understand that she needs a lot from me and I am determined to try harder and be a better assistant so that we can get to where we need to be, I just hate the feeling that she is looking to get rid of me the next time I screw up.

Oh, and our classroom is infested with mice, which terrifies me beyond words.