Overwhelmed

This week has been very tough on me since we have to administer a standardized pre-test to our kiddos. Normally, it wouldn't be a huge deal except that it's only the first full week of school and that the tests have 45 questions long and that there are three tests they have to take and that there is also a writing prompt as well and that it's only the pre-test. The real deals are given once a quarter. 

I do understand the importance of having data to know if my teaching practices are effective or how schools/districts/cities/states/etc are doing as a whole, but it's just so much. I'm feeling super overwhelmed by it all. Add to that everything else that is new to me - all the school assessments and different curricula and just that things are done differently here than they are in Madison, WI, where I did my student teaching. It's just a lot of change and adjustment at once, and it's a lot. On top of that, all Arizona teachers must be SEI endorsed (structured English immersion) so I am attending a class for that. And it met this past Saturday and this Saturday for all day long when I really could have used that time for getting ready for school. And there's homework too and yikes! I wish student teaching would have prepared me for getting used to how much work being a teacher is. 

On the plus side, tomorrow is the last day of testing so Friday will be a regular day - probably with a lot of review about procedures. I've had new kids trickling in all week, and a lot of them have caught on to how we do things, but review is always good :)

Anyways, it is late (not really, but it feels late) so I am probably off to bed. Now that Evan and I are in our new apartment, my commute is now only 20 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes so that's at least nice so that I don't have to wake up super early anymore which makes for me being much happier!