Setting the alarm for 5:30am?!

I am no stranger to waking up early. During my six years in the Army I often woke up much earlier than 5:30...but I'm no longer in the Army! I must say that it has been very difficult adjusting to these early mornings, despite my history of early wake up calls.

My saving grace is knowing what and for whom I am getting up for--student teaching a great group of 9th graders. It may take me awhile to become verbal in the mornings, but I have a 40 minute drive to school, during which I drink a large cup of coffee. By the time I step through the door of my classroom, I am excited to see how the lesson goes that day and what valuable tid bits of advice I'll get from my Classroom Mentor, or one of the other teachers in my school. I'm also excited to see the kids and find out what kind of hilarity they will provide (because they do this everyday, usually unknowingly). Today, one student sitting in the back of the classroom started playing music during the middle of class. It wasn't so much that she was playing the music that was funny (because disrupting the class is clearly not funny) but she was playing the music kind of softly, like she thought if it was low enough we (me and my Classroom Mentor) wouldn't notice she was playing Jay-Z. Needless to say, we DID notice and asked her to refrain from playing her stereo during class. Of course, it wasn't until after class that we laughed about it.

So even though it is after midnight right now, and I know I'm going to be hurting when the alarm goes off at 5:30, I can't wait to find out what happens tomorrow (as corny as that sounds!)