The Middle of April?!
Somehow it's already the middle of April. This is incredibly weird because I swear it was January only about five minutes ago!
I'm working two jobs at the moment. One will be closing soon; April 26th is the last day they're open, and April 19th is my last day on the schedule there. Basically this means that until April 19th, I have almost no free time - with one job Monday - Friday and the other on Saturday and Sunday. But I really don't mind because it's not for too much longer and it's a little extra money I'll be earning to pay back my student loans.
And speaking of student loans: I haven't put too much thought towards my student loans. I make the monthly payments because I have to, and I've pretty much accepted that I'll be putting nearly $270 a month towards them every single month for the next 10 years of my life. I haven't been late making a payment, and now that I have this second job, I'm not too worried right now about not being able to make a payment. But I've recently come to realize that on one group of my loans (I have 5 different "groups". I don't know how that works or why, but that's what it is), the interest rate is nearly 6%, which (according to my grandfather) is pretty close to the highest an interest rate for student loans is allowed to be. I figured I would try to put any extra money I had after making a payment directly towards the one with the high interest rate. Makes sense, right? I made my April payment about a month ago now (I make my payments as soon as it shows up that I have something due, which is 30 days before the payment is due). On April 6th, I put $50 towards the one with the high interest rate, and more went to interest than went to the principle. The interest on my loans accrues (increases) daily, so even though it's only been 4 days since I put that $50 towards that group, over $4 in interest has already added up again. I know that it pretty much is what it is, but it's ridiculous! What I'm going to do with my next payment is make the payment I have to make, and then - that same exact day so that no interest accrues yet - put any extra money I have (which I'm thinking will be about $100) directly towards the one with the high interest rate. Hopefully all (or nearly all) of the extra money will go to that and none (or nearly none) will go towards interest. We'll see what happens when I make the payment... (It should show up on the 12th that I have a payment due, but I get paid on the 15th, so I'll make that payment once I get paid).
What else is there to write about? I really don't know. Not too much has been going on in my life, other than the new job. This week was my third week there, and I actually really like it. It's a far cry from education, which I think makes some family members unhappy. They just need to realize that it's not their life, it's mine. I have a degree in childhood/early childhood education, but I'm working in packing/shipping and I enjoy it.
I had an absolutely horrible first student teaching experience. It was so completely awful that it put me off of wanting to be a teacher. I chose education as my major because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but family/friends kept telling me I would be a good teacher because I enjoyed being around kids. By the time I got to my first classroom experience (my block 1 placement/my first "pre-student teaching" placement), I wasn't sure I actually wanted to teach. I liked being with the kids, but I was so uncomfortable having to be in front of them and with the idea that I was teaching. The idea that I would have such an impact on what these kids think and know was something I didn't really like. Going into my first student teaching placement, I was already pretty sure that teaching wasn't what I wanted to spend my life doing, and after that placement, I was completely sure I didn't want to be a teacher. My thoughts and my decision have nothing to do with my second placement, with the fourth graders. I absolutely loved my time with them and I loved the team of teachers I worked with. But that first placement, with the second graders... my mentor teacher was constantly telling me I wasn't trying hard enough or I wasn't doing enough or I wasn't putting enough effort into planning lessons, when in all actuality, I was spending all of my time outside of the classroom working on things for in the classroom - not just lessons, but fun activities and different things to try to try to get any sort of control over the classroom. I was going back to my dorm room every single day in tears, and my mentor teacher treated me like I was "less than" her. On my last day in the classroom, one of the students asked me "are you and [teacher's name] mad at each other?" and I had to lie and say that everything was fine. I left when the kids went to special that day - because that's what my mentor teacher wanted me to do; she straight up told me she didn't want me in her classroom anymore - and got an email later that day saying that she thought I was "acting unprofessionally" by leaving early! I had to write a letter of apology to her because she "felt bad." After that experience, I do not ever want to be in a classroom again. I almost didn't even want to go to my second placement, even though I knew I would love it. I had been with that class of fourth graders before and had been looking forward to returning to them, but I was hesitant to after my first placement. I loved my second placement; I have absolutely nothing bad to say about that one, but I just can't ever picture being in a classroom again.
I have family members who don't seem to understand this, which is really frustrating to me. They tell me all the time to look into getting a job as a substitute teacher or a teacher's aide or basically anything having to do with being in a school, and they don't take into account that I do not want to work in a school setting. I don't want to be back in a classroom. Not ever again.
I might not have my life all planned out, but I know that right now, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. Maybe someday I'll go back to working with kids (not in a school setting), but right now, that's not what I want to do. Right now, I'm happy where I am. I just wish people understood that.
I'm working two jobs at the moment. One will be closing soon; April 26th is the last day they're open, and April 19th is my last day on the schedule there. Basically this means that until April 19th, I have almost no free time - with one job Monday - Friday and the other on Saturday and Sunday. But I really don't mind because it's not for too much longer and it's a little extra money I'll be earning to pay back my student loans.
And speaking of student loans: I haven't put too much thought towards my student loans. I make the monthly payments because I have to, and I've pretty much accepted that I'll be putting nearly $270 a month towards them every single month for the next 10 years of my life. I haven't been late making a payment, and now that I have this second job, I'm not too worried right now about not being able to make a payment. But I've recently come to realize that on one group of my loans (I have 5 different "groups". I don't know how that works or why, but that's what it is), the interest rate is nearly 6%, which (according to my grandfather) is pretty close to the highest an interest rate for student loans is allowed to be. I figured I would try to put any extra money I had after making a payment directly towards the one with the high interest rate. Makes sense, right? I made my April payment about a month ago now (I make my payments as soon as it shows up that I have something due, which is 30 days before the payment is due). On April 6th, I put $50 towards the one with the high interest rate, and more went to interest than went to the principle. The interest on my loans accrues (increases) daily, so even though it's only been 4 days since I put that $50 towards that group, over $4 in interest has already added up again. I know that it pretty much is what it is, but it's ridiculous! What I'm going to do with my next payment is make the payment I have to make, and then - that same exact day so that no interest accrues yet - put any extra money I have (which I'm thinking will be about $100) directly towards the one with the high interest rate. Hopefully all (or nearly all) of the extra money will go to that and none (or nearly none) will go towards interest. We'll see what happens when I make the payment... (It should show up on the 12th that I have a payment due, but I get paid on the 15th, so I'll make that payment once I get paid).
What else is there to write about? I really don't know. Not too much has been going on in my life, other than the new job. This week was my third week there, and I actually really like it. It's a far cry from education, which I think makes some family members unhappy. They just need to realize that it's not their life, it's mine. I have a degree in childhood/early childhood education, but I'm working in packing/shipping and I enjoy it.
I had an absolutely horrible first student teaching experience. It was so completely awful that it put me off of wanting to be a teacher. I chose education as my major because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but family/friends kept telling me I would be a good teacher because I enjoyed being around kids. By the time I got to my first classroom experience (my block 1 placement/my first "pre-student teaching" placement), I wasn't sure I actually wanted to teach. I liked being with the kids, but I was so uncomfortable having to be in front of them and with the idea that I was teaching. The idea that I would have such an impact on what these kids think and know was something I didn't really like. Going into my first student teaching placement, I was already pretty sure that teaching wasn't what I wanted to spend my life doing, and after that placement, I was completely sure I didn't want to be a teacher. My thoughts and my decision have nothing to do with my second placement, with the fourth graders. I absolutely loved my time with them and I loved the team of teachers I worked with. But that first placement, with the second graders... my mentor teacher was constantly telling me I wasn't trying hard enough or I wasn't doing enough or I wasn't putting enough effort into planning lessons, when in all actuality, I was spending all of my time outside of the classroom working on things for in the classroom - not just lessons, but fun activities and different things to try to try to get any sort of control over the classroom. I was going back to my dorm room every single day in tears, and my mentor teacher treated me like I was "less than" her. On my last day in the classroom, one of the students asked me "are you and [teacher's name] mad at each other?" and I had to lie and say that everything was fine. I left when the kids went to special that day - because that's what my mentor teacher wanted me to do; she straight up told me she didn't want me in her classroom anymore - and got an email later that day saying that she thought I was "acting unprofessionally" by leaving early! I had to write a letter of apology to her because she "felt bad." After that experience, I do not ever want to be in a classroom again. I almost didn't even want to go to my second placement, even though I knew I would love it. I had been with that class of fourth graders before and had been looking forward to returning to them, but I was hesitant to after my first placement. I loved my second placement; I have absolutely nothing bad to say about that one, but I just can't ever picture being in a classroom again.
I have family members who don't seem to understand this, which is really frustrating to me. They tell me all the time to look into getting a job as a substitute teacher or a teacher's aide or basically anything having to do with being in a school, and they don't take into account that I do not want to work in a school setting. I don't want to be back in a classroom. Not ever again.
I might not have my life all planned out, but I know that right now, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. Maybe someday I'll go back to working with kids (not in a school setting), but right now, that's not what I want to do. Right now, I'm happy where I am. I just wish people understood that.
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