Jess' First Days of School

Jess had her first day with students on Wednesday of this past week, and all in all it was a great experience! She's also started her master's degree courses over at Azusa Pacific University. This means that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she works from 7:30-2:55 at Village, then dashes over to APU to make her class from 4:30-9:00! She'll be extremely busy for basically the next year and a half, but if there's anyone who's got the drive and discipline to not only make it through, but to excel, then it is Jessica! That being said, doing any more "writing" type things are not really high on her priority list, hence I'm the one writing the blog!

She has 150 students spread over 5 or so classes, that range from "moody and boring" to "rambunctious and loud." She's found so far the interaction she receives from the more rowdy classes have enabled her to be more engaging from the front (even though some of the interaction is from student distraction). She said that it's kind of hard to read the kids as far as how they like the class, or like her as a teacher, but she did hear from a colleague that the kids had given her a lot of positive feedback outside of her class! The only grading she's had to do so far has been the summer homework that was required of her 10th grade honors class, so she's still getting a feel for where her students are academically.

We're still getting the hang of the morning routine so she can make it to work by 7:30, and basically I remain "on call" for her in the morning (to make tea, breakfast, pack lunch, etc.) until she leaves, and then I can get ready for work myself. We call it the "Morning Support System" and I think I'm getting pretty good at it :).

If any of you are unfamiliar with Village Christian, you can check out their website here. Jess has her own "Faculty Page" where she gives course overviews, and a short bio with a few pictures.

Here are a few pics of Jess getting ready for school, you'll notice one of our cats, Binx, has also volunteered his help for our Morning Support System.