My Classroom!

I got to see my classroom this week. There is still another teacher's stuff in it, but you get the idea. I need some desperate help with some ideas. I am so excited to decorate it, but I am not sure what to do. The only thing I've got is a word wall and a welcome sign on the door and a small section describing me.

Does anyone remember their favorite Elementary or Middle School classroom? What did you like best about it? I am sure that it is mostly the teacher that matter when making a classroom inviting and comforting, but I don't want to have bear walls.

String Cheese

I am eating string cheese right now, and I still peel it off. It seems like there is more when I do it like that. And I am all about psyching myself out.

Does anyone just eat it all at once?

It reminds me of an office quote.

Toby: [watches Ryan bite his string cheese] Wow, you just dive right in.
Ryan: You know, around age 12, I just started going for it.

Comments

I am going to do it.

I am going to beg for comments. But it is for a good reason.

I know you guys are out there. I know I get visitors, but no one comments. It could be because ya'll are shy or my blog posts are not stimulating enough to make you want to respond.

But, I am going to need some advice over the next couple of weeks. And what better place than the internet?

So don't be shy! Tell me what you think.

Mockingjay

Do you know what comes out one month from today?

I am super duper excited. Expecting not to get any sleep that night. Actually since I am now employed, i should probably wait until the weekend to read it. We'll see. 

If you haven't read The Hunger Games or Catching Fire. Do it now. And feel lucky that you didn't have to wait as long for the last one.

I am published

You can check out my name here. Further proof that I am actually going to be a teacher.

That is me, right there.

And I found out I will be teaching 5th grade Math and Science. Who would have thought?

And tomorrow we are going to see WICKED. Life is good.

What scares me

When I went to my interview last week, I was really nervous the days leading up to it. By the time the interview arrived, I had mostly calmed myself down. I had told myself that if I didn't know how to answer a question now, there was nothing I could do about it.

So I went into the school and introduced myself to the secretary. She had me take a seat while the panel prepared for me.

I was fine for about a minute, and then I realized where I was sitting. Right next to the nurse's office.

I started freaking out a little bit.

You see, I am afraid of any doctor's or nurses office. And blood and pain. Go here if you need a reminder. I am pretty sure I have only been to the nurse's office a handful of times in my school career. And never voluntarily.

I remember in kindergarten I refused to go to the office. All the time Mrs. Gibson would ask students to go to the office for various tasks and these kids agreed and even volunteered! If I was asked, I would say no.

Why? Because to me The Office=Doctor. And I was scared of it. I eventually realized that wasn't the case, but my fear of the doctor has not gone away.

And that was the most nerve-wracking thing about my interview. Sitting next to the nurse's office.

Teaching Philosophy

"I was successful because you believed in me." Ulysses S Grant to Abraham Lincoln

I saw this quote yesterday and I immediately knew that I needed to include it in my teaching philosophy.

I realized this quote was true not too long ago.

I have never been one to workout. In high school, I didn't need to. (I wish I would have known that then.) But then I started working at TCBY and we could have something free everyday we work. And then I gained weight.

I lost some of it, but later I got married. And I gained some more weight.

All during this time, I said I was going to start working out. And nobody believed me. It started to be a joke with all of us. I'd say I am going to run 3 times this week, and someone else would say "Yeah, right."

I'd joke that I got my exercise of the day by climbing the stairs up to my apartment. This went on for 5 years. The longest I ever worked out consistently was a few weeks.

Basically, nobody believed I would do it. And I didn't either.

I had to overcome that and I finally did. Now I work out. If I go a few days with out doing it, my family asks "what's wrong?" "Are you alright?"... I know that they believe I can do it. And it makes me not want to prove them wrong.

I wouldn't say that the only reason I didn't work out was because no one believed I would. But if everybody hadn't said "yeah, right" I would have had a better start.

This same principal applies in the classroom with students. They have to know that someone believes in them. And this is the number one reason why I want to teach. So many children do not have someone who believes in them. I see that in my primary class right now. One parent always apologizes that her son is disruptive and wants us to notify her if he ever misbehaves. And guess what? He is not a problem for us. I imagine that he is for her, because she expects that from him.

Teaching is my calling. And I know that I can make a difference in the lives of my students. Because I care and I believe that all children can succeed. I need to help them see it too.

I can barely contain my excitement

I am not a overly emotional person. When I am excited about something, if you didn't know me you probably couldn't tell. There are few times in my life when I have been jumping up and down with joy. One was when my favorite roommate told me she was engaged. Another is now.

I GOT A TEACHING JOB! And I am freaking out, in a good way.

I guess it isn't official official yet. But I am going tomorrow to sign the contract.

Either way, I am still so happy. I can now end the freaking out, in the bad way.

I know I will be teaching either 4th or 5th grade, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Round of Applause Please

I am officially finished with all my pre-service teaching requirements. I even have a letter to prove it.

Here is my to-do list for anyone who is interested:

1. Get a Job
2. ...

That's all I have to do. So, I'm ready for any school to call me and interview me and hire me.

Please?

Never Buy A Kodak

I consider myself a clumsy person, but I am very careful with expensive stuff. This one time I broke the top of an oil lamp of my parent's friends, and I felt horrible. So I try to not break the expensive stuffs. Pens and pencils I break all the time.

Well, I dropped my camera of four years last August.

Exhibit A
It has a lens error. Yes, it was opened when I dropped it. So we had to get another one. I did some research and chose a Kodak.

It broke within two weeks. And I promise that I didn't do anything. The shutter things stopped opening. We took it back to Best Buy. And they sent it to Kodak and we didn't hear anything. Well, we were about to move and I wanted my camera back. So we went back to Best Buy who couldn't really tell us anything except Kodak couldn't fix it, so they gave us our money back. Then we bought a Blu-ray player so we could watch Netflix on our big screen.

We didn't get another camera because I wanted to do some more research. And then we moved to Texas and we had to be tighter with our money. But we finally got another one and I decided to stick with Canon. It has been more than two weeks and it hasn't broke. I suspect it won't unless I drop it. But I will stick with Canon from now on.

BYU

Chris and I had our last day of training before we can get hired as teachers today. We were talking to the guy who was sitting at the same table as us and it came up that we were all Mormon.

It came up that we went to BYU. He asked us what brought us to Texas. We told him that we were both from here and just went to Utah for school. And he said,

"So you guys are the some of the ones who went to BYU just to get married."

Oh my, I wanted to hit him. No, I did not go to BYU to get married. It wasn't even in my top ten reasons for going to BYU.

He was also up in Provo for the first time last week. He said he told his wife he should have gone to BYU because there were so many pretty girls there to choose from.

Here we have a case of a guy trying to be funny, but really just making people mad.

Hire Me!

Did you know that I am looking for a job? A teaching job?

Did you also know that I am the best employee ever?

And finally, did you know that my number one weakness is interviews?

I do not joke about any of those things. I really want to be a teacher. I have for a while now and I first posted about it here.

And I am the best employee anyone will ever had. It is one of the few things I can say with 100% confidence.

BUT... I am so horrible at interviews! I do my best when I can draw upon the experience I have had, because that is how I learn best. But guess what. I have 0 teaching-children-in-a-real-classroom experience. The closest I have is teaching 9 year olds in Sunday School.

The last two jobs I had I was second choice. At SM, I am pretty sure they only hired me because they were hiring Chris and felt sorry for me. They even put me in verification, ew. But that didn't last long and soon it was clear I was a superstar. (P.S. The HR person told me before I left I was the highest paid person in my department, and our pay was based on sales.)

At the BYU Bookstore, I was literally the second choice. They called to tell me they picked someone else. And then they called later in the week to say she didn't work out. And then I ended up being Employee of the Month in January 2007. My picture was hanging in the Bookstore and everything. (I can't believe I never got a picture of that.) Obviously, I was awesome.

My point is, there is always someone who looks better than me on paper and sounds better than me in an interview. But when it comes to actually doing the work and being awesome, I do that!

How do I know I will be good at teaching? I care about children and I want to help all children realize that they can be and do whatever they want. I want to teach them to be good people and to help others.
And I can manage a classroom. And I can differentiate instruction and find ways to involve all types of students in my classroom. And I follow instructions well from my supervisors. Tell me to do something else, try something else... I'll do it.

So if a principal stumbles on my page and doesn't find me arrogant based on this post (I promise I am not.) Give me a chance. You will not be sorry. You don't want to be the one who let me get away.

I Am Vampire. Hear Me Twinkle.

Do you love Twilight? Do you hate Twilight? Then I have the thing for you. (If you don't mind a little language.)

Twilight in 15 minutes
New Moon in 15 minutes
Eclipse in 15 minutes 

This stuff just makes me laugh.

While Chris is Sleeping

Time for another episode of "Chris started talking while I was waking him up."

Chris: Did you put the rocking chair back into the stockroom?"
Me: "No."
Chris: "You better."
Me: "Why?"
Chris: mumbles "I don't know."

I am guessing no one is as amused by this as I am. But it makes waking up a little more fun.

American Crafts Ink Pad Challenge

I am not a very good stamper. I love stamps, I just never know what to do with them. It is a bit overwhelming. But the challenge this week was stamping, so here is my card.

Supplies

Embossing Powder, Rainboot Stamp, Patterned Paper, Ribbon- American Crafts

get well soon stamp- Heidi Grace

Cardstock- Walmart Cardstock

Ink- Martha Stewart