it's official

The 'official' call has come in and I've been offered the fifth grade teaching position at the school associated with my church. There are so many reasons that I am excited about this. One reason is that I get to stay here - in this area with family and friends. I have memories at the farm and at the cabin on Tainter Lake from has far back as I have memories. Moving to Menomonie felt like coming home - I found that I did have roots somewhere. We have also been blessed to move into the established 'root system' that has been laid by Grandpa/Pastor Les and Grandma Ruth. It seems that he knows most the town and it is an honor to link myself to their legacy when I meet people who know them. Now I have friends at Taco Johns and the library - it's delightful to live in a small town.
On preparing to teach fifth grade: where could I start?
I've been reading books (that's my preparation for most things - that's how I have friends at the library) I am excited about getting to teach all subjects. I feel that history (especially Wisconsin) would be my 'weakest' area, but I do have more than 12 credits in history of some sort. I don't think that I have retained as much as I could've. (I do remember that the French Revolution began in 1789 - my prof said we had to know that date.) One of the books that I have says that all teachers should teach preschool prior to teaching any higher grades - so I've done that much prep already. When I student taught in the high schools I couldn't help but notice that a lot of reminders I was giving the students were the same there as at the daycare. ie. 'put your feet on the floor, keep your hands to your self, we don't talk to our friends that way.' The school is looking to have a portion of the day spent doing 'integrated lessons' - which is part of my teaching philosophy already. Life and learning are more interesting and makes more sense when applied and integrated. (in all areas)
At the moment I am attempting to finish portions of the basement walls before the school year is in full swing. This means that at the moment my desk in closer to the middle of the room than the wall and the fish tank on it is closer to the middle of the desk. My own learning curve is steeper than anticipated - I thought taping the walls would be a one evening project, then Dad mentioned that the layers of drywall compound should dry between applications. Maybe I could just use masking tape.
Maybe bare sheet rock doesn't actually look that bad. I've got enough photos up to cover the sap sucker holes from drilling around to find a supporting metal strip.
All-in-all it will be quite a finish to a whirlwind of a summer, come final painting touches or not. (the final color is expected to be remarkably similar to the background of this blog - go figure.)

Thank you to everyone for continued prayers and support through these last five years. The responsibility of teaching from the platform of truth that is possible in a Christian school is one that I do not take lightly. I would ask for continued prayer that I may teach well and grace-fully.