Chugging Along

Yesterday was my glorious day off....and I spent a bunch of my morning sleeping. Oops. *wink* Apparently I needed that rest though. I'm not sad about it.

I did get some work done and E4's final draft is just about ready. I have a few things I want to finish up on it today but once I do that, that baby is going in the envelope. After reading and rereading info on ecgen.org and reading WhatWorks! and using Bobbie's "candy corn analogy", I feel confident in what I have.

My friend, K, is supposed to send me feedback for my E2 either today or tomorrow. The Husband is reading E2 also. He already told me one part didn't make sense to him -- "it doesn't flow" were his words -- but when I explained it in non-teacherese, he said "oh, I get it". Since it WILL be teachers reading it, I'm not too worried about them not understanding that part.

The Oldest said she would read E3 for me and I am sending it along to a friend as well to give me some extra feedback. I am not going to have a reader for E4 because as I said, I have read up SO much about this one and really changed so much of my original entry that I think I will be okay with it. 

I still haven't even started E1 (oops!) but I'm not panicking. If I can get E3 and E4 finished today, which shouldn't be a problem, then I can start focusing on E1 this week since I'm relatively appointment free, which never happens. I'm feeling really good about where I am right now, despite life getting in the way and not always allowing me to work on NB. Plus ecgen has been down for about 2 days with some internal server error and that's frustrating because I need my check-in fix. Amazing how you come to rely on that support.

I am ready for this part of the process to be over. I'm tired of worrying about my writing, wondering why I have to write in such a way that drives me crazy, worrying over length, did I include enough evidence, am I answering all of the prompts, am I making sense, etc. We have to mail our portfolio box by March 31. I have the 30th off as the start of our Spring Break (great timing!). I plan to pack up my box that week and have it all ready to go by the 30th and take it to the post office that morning and send it priority with confirmation so I can breathe a sigh of relief when I see it has actually arrived. If I'm really slick, I may even mail it the week before if I get as far as I would like to on my entries today and this week.

If I mail it early (the 23rd or 24th), I will have about 5 weeks that I can just relax and not think about National Board. If I mail it on the 30th or 31st (which is the deadline), I will have about 4 weeks to relax.  Once May hits, it's all about prepping for the assessment center. To me, if you know your content, that won't be the hard part. What will be hard is reading the prompt and the sample, providing a solid, clear response and proofreading and checking it all in 30 minutes because that's all the time you get for each prompt. Fortunately there are some great resources out there to help you prep for the AC so I'm not too worried about that part. I am going to take some time off to just relax and be myself (and enjoy my spring break!) before I worry about the AC end of it all.

I am taking my AC test on May 30 which is a Wednesday. I am super lucky that my school district allows me to take up to 2 days for the AC without taking it out of my personal time. I went as late as I dared to go even though I have until June 15. I wanted to get it done while I was still in school so that once school is done, so am I. Our last day is June 8 so once that hits, I'm home free. I won't have to think about National Board again until November when score release time is getting ready to come up. 

I think I am definitely going to go spend a couple weeks at my cabin when school is over....to be away from technology and anything school-related. Just to relax, chill at the lake and not think about anything at all.