Call me impulsive.

Today I had quite the change of plans. Initially, I was planning on completing my dual placement of 18 weeks (10 weeks in Elementary, 8 in Early Childhood) in Chicago through the program; however, after a round of phone tag and a chain of e-mails, I came to the decision to only do my elementary placement in Chicago. My stay with the program will be traditional, meaning I wouldn't need to come early and stay later than the other interns, housing will not be an issue, and I wouldn't miss the week-long orientation into the program. On the other hand, I will need to return to Michigan to complete my 8 week early childhood placement. Here's the killer: the placement coordinator at Spring Arbor suggested that I split my placement in two - 3 weeks at a Headstart program in the Detroit area in January before I leave for Chicago, and then the remaining 5 weeks after the program is over at a pre-school or Headstart program in Jackson. Whew! I am almost certain that I would be able to stay in the same apartment I'm in now when I return; however, that is still something I need to check into. If this works that would be great since I could begin my job search right after graduation, not to mention experiencing the pure bliss that comes with knowing that I would be completely done in May! We'll see how it all works out, I guess. I'm just so thankful that both placement coordinators (through Spring Arbor and the Chicago Semester) are so amazingly kind and determined to work things out to my best interest! I feel like I'm finally beginning to see the fruit of my hard work! It's about time.

On another note: I will be traveling to Chicago on Halloween for a visit with the other student teachers for the spring 2009 semester. We'll meet at the program offices downtown and then travel together to 3 different schools where current student teachers are working. I'm pretty sure we'll be ending the visit by going over and completing official applications from the Chicago Public Schools to student teach.

It still feels surreal. Whew!

Hi!

Here it begins - October 17th. I should be keeping up with a countdown, I guess. That day will come, I'm sure of it!

I made the decision to begin blogging now for the following reasons:

1. Things are FINALLY beginning to come of all the hard work I've put into my preperations for the semester - finally. I am beyond excited and I would love to share the details with you all!
2. January will arive before we know it and I would like to get in the habit of updating before I am in too deep of a hole to remember! [Hey, I have to prepare myself!]
3. I, for once in my life, am finished with my homework early [yes, early.] and even had enough energy left to want to do something constructive with my time! [Or I have a few papers I could get started on but, of course, I fell into the charms of procrastination, yet again. You decide.]

I'll post again soon!