Thursday, August 21, 2014


We spent a beautiful week in Montana and John finally got a nice cowboy hat! We have spent a lot of time floating the river this summer :) We're hoping to get one more trip in.

My second year in grad school and working for the school district is about to begin...

So I found out yesterday just how busy my school year is going to be. It's always busy because I like to stay busy and I'm involved in a lot, but it's busy in a different way this year. Summer is wrapping up and that means summer camp is just about over and school(mine and the kids) is about to begin. I remember last fall semester being much busier than the spring semester and wondered if it was just because it was my first time at grad school. But maybe it's just the fall semester, because I'm expecting this fall to be crazier than last spring. I'm finishing up my regular course work including a disability law class, an assistive technology class, and a language/communication disorder class plus working on my final project. On top of course work I'm still working two days a week as a teaching assistant with my professor and we are on our second stage of submitting our article...revisions. And of course we can't forget about my lovely math and science test coming up again. I'm even luckier this year because I will be assisting my professor teach the 300 course I was before, her graduate special ed. curriculum course, that I took last year, and her doctoral course on Autism. Although she puts in all of the work getting the class set up and does all of the work teaching the class, it's nice to be part of a little more. I've been really lucky to TA for Alex, my professor, because she is so understanding and flexible but honest and real as well. She has blessed me with the opportunity to be an author and write an article in an area I feel very strongly about...adaptive PE and the collaboration of PE and Special Education. We are on our second go around and will submit it once again this weekend and hopefully have it accepted. So with two days a week keeping me busy with Alex, what do I do with the other 5 days? Well this year I managed to keep my temporary para-professional job at Troy Elementary and stay on as a permanent employee three days a week. The majority of the time I will be working with a young boy who's starting kindergarten and is very excited to be there. He has a very rare chromosome disorder called mosaic triploidy syndrome that makes it difficult for him to move around as much or speak. You can see pictures of him and some information on him attached. However this kid is tough and he has gotten so much stronger in the time I've known him and is very independent. I am really excited too because he has PE on the days that I am with him so we get to do that together :) We will have very busy days together starting at 7am on the bus to school and ending at 4:30 on the bus ride home. Both of our days will be longer than last year because he was in preschool and I was getting to work at 8 and leaving at 3ish. So we will be very busy throughout the week. So every day I will be a busy busy bee and when I get home I will be working on class work. I'll have to work pretty hard to get my exercise in, but I have some yoga videos, free, weights, a bike trainer, and a nice trail near my house so all of these help me to get it in enough. Hopefully I'll occasionally be able to make it to our running group on Wednesdays too. I have a feeling that we as a classroom will grow pretty close through all of this because it will be a tough year for all of us, with all of the cuts, but we will get through it together. I'm incredibly blessed to have such a supportive and loving husband who listens to me when I'm sad, angry, jumping for joy, or none of the above. Following trends, I expect us to grow even closer this year because we are both being challenged and growing in our careers. Plus we don't see each other as much this time of year so when we do we are very happy :) I'm expecting this year to be jam packed and difficult, but I'm very grateful to have these opportunities and to have such blessings working in such passionate fields that I love. Since I joined the school in the middle of the school year last year, I missed all of the "new school year" stuff, tomorrow and Monday are my first days of school orientations, training, and welcomes. This weekend is the Lentil festival and the last hoorah of summer and then next week will start with a bam. Grad school, teacher Emily, crazy...er life ready or not hear I come!    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzEZVVu2e_GOVk5QeUVHb2l2LW8/edit?hl=en&forcehl=1