Reading like a mo fo

Wow, the last couple weeks I've been in a reading frenzy. I've read Holes, R. A. Salvatore's The Lone Drow, Of Mice and Men, The Iron Man, and started reading Michael Crichton's Timeline. It just feels GREAT to be reading so much, either because the kids at the school are reading the novels or just for fun. After Timeline I'll be out of personal books to read, so I might just have to stop in the school library and swipe a book or two to read for a while. Or I might drop by a bookstore and grab a classic I've been meaning to read. So many possibilities.

As for my writing, I haven't accomplished much more than a poem and a few random lines, some brainstorming for lesson plans, and some blogging and journaling. Still, it feels good to get some of the much needed journaling done, and it IS good practice for the fiction I SHOULD be writing.

I do plan on working on Meandering Evengale this week, first writing an entry out in a notebook and then typing it and posting it--much cheaper and effective that way. I want to write a quality entry to follow up Tricia's most excellent addition to the story :) Time to get creative.

Of course, I can't forget about my student teaching and the lesson planning and formal journaling I must complete in the 4.5 weeks I have left here. Doesn't sound like much, does it? And for all I need to get finished in that time...it certainly isn't much time. I need to keep up with my daily log, do some case studies of particular students, reflect on differences between the American and British education systems, and do various other things to show what I'm doing and learning durning this second half of term.

::sigh:: And today in the staff room I saw a newsletter on the table advertising a couple teaching job openings in the district. No openings for an English teacher nor am I really looking for any jobs in the UK for that matter (though if a super sweet job was offered, it WOULD be tempting despite the complete upheaval of my life that it would cause :P), but it was a poignant reminder of the job search I SHOULD be doing. It's past mid-November, and I want to have a job by February. I've certainly got my work cut out for me.

But my work at the school is proving to be a very worthwhile experience. I may not be doing much teaching, but I AM learning to make myself useful where I can. The head teacher has me working with the English, Drama, and ICT departments, which I think spreads me pretty thin to be doing any seriously effective teaching. However, working with the Drama classes might show me a few tricks I can use in my own English classroom. And helping students during their ICT classes, answering questions about certain computer programs one-on-one with the students, could be an invaluable asset to my own computer education. And that's not all.

In addition, the ICT teacher mentioned that their website needs a lot of work, but there is no one available to devout their time to it...sounds like a door knocking to me. It would be such an awesome opportunity for me to learn more about web design! Only problem is that I might not know enough to even begin tackling such an ambtious task. But I'm willing to try if the ICT staff is willing to help me out. I'd even pick up a book or two on webdesign and do some of my own experimenting with Front Page and such. Even if I make very little progress, it's totally worth a shot if it means getting more experience in an area I'm interested in.

AND, wouldn't all of these different experiences in English, Drama, and ICT look wonderful on a resume? ::sigh:: Making a resume --> looking for a job --> hours of frustration --> many rejections --> finally finding a job that I probably won't like but I'll need to take it cuz it's the best thing I can find. Bleah, whatever. Anything's gotta be better than working in a box factory :P