Drill and Kill

I haven't yet mentioned my job on "this here blog" so I am thinking that tonight might be a good time to do so. I teach elementary school. I'm currently in my 7th year as a full-time teacher, teaching my 3rd different grade level. As much as I bitch about my job, I really do love my job... but boy, there is A LOT to bitch about in education and teaching these days.
In this state, there is testing, testing, testing... and if my students don't pass, they don't move on to the next grade. Well, there is a LITTLE more to it than that, but that is the long and short of it. I'm getting so irritated by the amount of pressure we feel, and the amount of pressure we're putting on these poor kids. 8 and 9 year olds worked into frenzies because of fear of not passing is ridiculous! And I find myself guilty of pressuring them too- I mean, who knows, in another year or 2 my paycheck could depend on how these kids do! I understand the idea of NCLB- making sure we have literate children and all, but the population I am teaching needs more than the 3 Rs to be successful. They're caught in that vicious cycle of popping out babies, moving from rental to rental, crime, and failing to support their child's education. EDUCATE families and parents PEOPLE! Maybe their children will have a chance of being a successful addition to society.

Ok, test stress is starting I guess. But I promised to mention a positive for the day each time I post. Little though it may be...tonight I picked a chicken carcass and didn't get the hee-bee gee-bees... :p

To begin with...

It is January, 2011. Last summer I said I would start a blog to document how things in my life are progressing. 5 months later, I am finally getting around to it. So let's sum up what the 5 months would have contained before getting to the current. 2010 was a shitty year. I lost my mom to cancer in March (she was 59), my husband had surgery for kidney cancer in March, my father moved to KS after losing my mom in April... hmmm yeah, 2010 had not much to offer to me early on.
So then I go to Illinois to visit my best friend, who was pregnant with her first child at the time, and decide that, it is time to put the baby plans on the calendar for me, and wouldn't it be interesting to blog about life leading up to it. Well, No, I am not pregnant, and am not currently trying... but it is on the calendar.
So who am I? A teacher, heading on 30 (ewwww), married for 4 1/2 years, stuck in a state I don't particularly like because there is no way on Earth we could sell our house. No kids (yet), 2 cats (crazy), and ambition to make a somewhat interesting entry regularly. Maybe about life, maybe about the oddities of FL, maybe just a rant about some dumbass celeb's idiocy...we shall see.