Flaked Out

I've been thinking over the last week of many things that I might write about on my blog, and still the doldrums have hit me in the motivation department. I'm sure it has to do with the "blahs" that have taken hold of me since the big student teaching let down.

Honestly, the big student teaching let down began with Elphaba herself, because all the anticipation that I had about getting going in the real world of teaching came to a screeching hault with her. Even though things worked out after I was moved to another school for my student teaching, there are a number of things that are working against any feelings of positivity. First, of course, there is the whole student teaching debacle; second, there is the current job market (the fact that there are are no teaching jobs . . . or jobs in general); third, there is the recent rejection for a tutoring job, which just really baffles me, and finally, there is the financial situation--Georgia Student Finances "Hope Promise" wants me to start paying back my loan, even though I don't have a job yet or have yet to graduate.

So, this Spring semester I have signed up for two rather demanding English classes that start next week, and I hope that they will keep my mind from unraveling too much. I also have one last education class, which is the reason for my graduation in Spring in the first place. It's the inclusive education class (special, differentiated, mainstreaming, whatever you want to call it) that I put off til the last, and it's all on-line. My Senior World Lit class (which is not required for my graduation) is a hybrid on-line/face-to-face class. Dr. Botelho's Theory-based Lit class (also not required for my graduation), is going to be Feminist Theory, which is not my favorite critical lens, but he's an interesting professor, so hopefully I will gain an appreciation for gender-based criticism if nothing else.

Perhaps another issue that has led to my numbified state is that it has been freezing cold this week. Not a day has gone past this week where temperatures were over 32 degrees. It snowed Thursday, and schools were ultimately closed Friday. The funny thing is, even by Georgia standards, the schools closings were over-reactionary and unnecessary. All the weathermen talked up the great snow-fall event like it was a sure thing. As I was lying in bed the other night, the snowfall situation reminded me a little bit of my own situation. All the so-called experts predicted that it was gonna be a big snow for the southeast, just like all the experts at KSU told us the school districts were "crying" for English teachers. But in the final analysis, nothing much showed up--no snow showed up this week, and no jobs showed up for us recent and upcoming grads. I have some ideas about some things that I might do in the meantime that I will write about soon, but basically, both the snow and the teaching jobs both sort of just "flaked out."