A tragic post

Sadly, my former boss Dr. Juan Aleman died on Christmas Eve.  I worked for him for four years and cried every summer season when I left because I loved working for him so much.  Because I wanted to be a teacher, I had to move on from this job and pursue other things, but I visited him often since my departure a little less than a year ago.

I got an e-mail today from the girl who took my position after me, and I’m honestly heartbroken.  This man, who is one of the brightest people I’ve ever met, and the smartest doctor I have ever encountered, is no longer with us.  My prayers go out to his family: his beloved mother, his wife, his children, and grandchildren; all of whom he spoke of often and with nothing but the utmost love and pride.

Preparing for the future

Tomorrow I am going to be visiting my fifth graders at MLK.  I miss so many of them and some apparently miss me too because they have been sending me e-mails daily.  It’s going to be my last time I’ll be able to see them because after this is their winter break and then I go in to student teaching full time.  It’s sad going from place to place and saying goodbye.

However, I’m really excited about student teaching.  The school district is just as close as my own!  It’s a very large school district and they have a lot of great services.  I’m going to be in an inclusion classroom where a lot is going on.  There are one-to-one aids for students with autism, several students have learning disabilities, a lot of students get pulled out for reading and math services, and many students are mainstream.  It’s going to be exciting working in such a diverse learning environment.

Also, I started working on putting my portfolio together for interviews.  It seems silly but I feel like it’s really important how everything is arranged that I’ve even started color coding the pages by grade level.  I’m not sure if this is even appropriate but I figure the portfolio is supposed to represent you and your work.  Since I like to be creative and I am very organized, hopefully that reflects this and isn’t seen as unprofessional because even my lesson plans aren’t on standard white paper.