Imitation

They say, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Our principal seemed to take it well.

Happy Halloween, Principal de la Cruz!

Of course, with a near record high today, he was the only one not sporting the usual sweater or sweater vest.

A Lesson in Integrity

A 7th grade student walked into my classroom and insisted his friend not follow him in.  I could tell he was nervous about something.  With the quarter ending tomorrow, I asked him if he had late assignments to turn in.

He answered, "Well, sort of."  He explained that he had been dishonest and had reported inaccurate homework scores.  He gave me a handful of assignments that he had redone to make up for his error.

By his expression and his cracking voice, it seemed that it took most all of his courage to face me and admit that he had done wrong.

Without hesitation, I told him that I was so incredibly proud of him for admitting he was wrong and coming in to make it right.

This is one of the greatest moments in my teaching career so far.

As I told his mom via email, he is a great young man and will only grow to be more impressive as he works through things like this.

Impressed

One of our 7th graders painted this in her art class with Miss Bateman at Endeavor Hall.  (Check out other student projects at http://weloveartinutah.blogspot.com/ )
The art teacher selects one piece of work to hang in honor in the principal's office. This was the outstanding piece selected. It was announced in the morning, and I stopped by intentionally to view it. I was definitely impressed by her Impressionist work.
So impressed that I took a picture, posted it on facebook, and then walked around showing it to everyone else left in the building.
I like being involved in the lives of young people. I love feeling proud of their work and accomplishments. I can hardly wait to see this student and tell her how proud I was and am to know her.

Recess is my favorite

Today, like most days, I played four square at recess.

Unlike most days, today we used a slightly-flat, old soccer ball. We had to hit it higher to make it fair. But that turned it into a game in and of itself. We played slow-motion four-square.

"I just like [recess]. [Recess]'s my favorite."

"Make work your favorite. That's your favorite, okay? Work is your new favorite."

Thank goodness recess is part of work.

If you want to find out what other women from all over the world did today,

stop by communal global.

Three months in review

I can't even remember the last time I clicked on my Blogger bookmark. My last post was in mid-August. I miss blogging. I miss writing in my journal. So many things have happened, but I haven't taken the time to stop to record them. I'll have to refer back to my facebook status updates to try and remember the noteworthy things that have happened in my life recently to begin recording them. Until then, I'll generate a list of some important points. I can't promise that they'll be chronological, nor will I promise that they will make sense to everyone.

I stayed home sick today from work. I have a cold, although part of me wishes it was swine flu. I still don't believe that disease exists (despite the number of confirmed cases in Tooele County).
Speaking of Tooele County, I'm officially a resident.

I didn't vote this year which makes me very sad. It's the first election I've ever missed in all my voting years. I never took the time to familiarize myself with the candidates and proposals for this county. I didn't want to go to the polls uneducated and pick the name that sounded the best. I was ashamed that I neglected my patriotic duty to be informed and to share my voice.

I really like Tooele. Or at least I did until it started to snow.

My car broke. The transmission gave out. That wasn't the only thing wrong with it. It would've cost more to fix than it's worth. It was a blessing in disguise. Well, actually it wasn't even disguised all that well. I was certain to die in the car I used to drive if I were to have driven it in the snow.

That means I bought a new (to me) car. It's number one selling point for me was traction control. I told myself if I ever lived in the snow again then I wanted a car with traction control. I was sold on that feature years ago when I lived in Provo and dated a boy who drove a car with traction control. I was never scared when I drove his car, but I was always scared when I drove my car.

So far, I love my car.

Second only to traction control is my other favorite feature. It has a tape deck. That's right. I can listen to cassette tapes any time I want in my car. The only problem is, I don't have any cassette tapes. So I'm adding that to my Christmas List. As a matter of fact, it's the only thing on my Christmas List (since the last item was satisfied a little over a month ago). I want a mix tape from each and every one of you. PLEASE. And make this wish come true faster than my wish for a Snuggie.

Speaking of Snuggies, I got one! YAY! My life is complete now. My younger sister, Casey, got one for me. I'm using it right now. To show my appreciation for her wonderful gift, I created this photo album of me enjoying my Snuggie. View the album here. You'll be ever so grateful you did. (Of course, I have to thank Casey again for taking the pictures for this gratitude photo album.)

I'm the in the Relief Society Presidency of my ward. I was a little, make that a lot, intimidated by the calling. I've never felt like I was the woman that I imagined all members of Relief Society Presidencies to be. As always, the Lord has helped me to grow into my calling. This calling has been the source of great happiness and countless blessings these past couple months. I look forward with great anticipation to the tremendous blessings that will continue to occur in my life as I serve diligently.

I really like my ward. It's smaller than I would like, but there are new people and visitors every week. We'll be busting at the seams before you know it.

I've made some really great friends in my ward as well. I have something to do every night of the week. We go on amazing adventures. Click here, here, here, here, and here for some photos of the great things we do.

I like teaching. Teaching is fun. The rest of my job isn't as fun. Well, I take the back. The social part of my job is fun. I have made some really good friends in my colleagues. One of the other fifth grade teachers has become one of my favorite friends. We went to St. George together during UEA and hiked in Zion and caught a couple shows. We went to The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and to Aida at Tuacahn.
Gosh, I miss St. George. I almost drove there last night. I just didn't want to drive back today. Oh, well. Thanksgiving will be here in a week-ish. I can hardly wait.

My students are amazing. They are adorable. They are smart. They work really hard. They make me giggle all the time. I had a student say to me the other day, "You laugh more than anyone I know." I took that as the highest compliment. I like them, and they like me. They like me so much, that they want me to have the finer things in life...including a dreamy boyfriend. They invented a boyfriend for me a couple weeks ago named Chad Hotpants. He has been the source of many a conversation since then. I even had a student bring in a picture from a magazine of Chad Hotpants. He clipped out the cartoon of a man climbing a ladder with the seat of his pants on fire. Hahahaha! They had a heyday the one time I ever let them write on the white board. Enjoy these photos of their graffiti.

Well, this post is entirely too long. I'll have to save some other random information for another day, but I wanted to get these posts under way so that I could post a few days worth of "I'm thankful for..." posts. I really enjoyed that last year.

Something else to read in your spare time

You're going to think I'm silly, but I've created yet another blog. I like to keep these things separated.
I really like the reflective process and want to reflect and share my experiences of my first year teaching. If you are interested, jump on over to http://teachingmyfirstyear.wordpress.com/ and read away.

Story time

Once upon a time there was a fifth grade teacher who was starting at a brand new school. This teacher was so excited about everything. Then one day, she found out some very sad news. This new school did not have enough money to install projectors in every classroom. This teacher will not have a projector in her classroom.
Although this teacher is very talented and creative, not having a projector will be a difficult adjustment. You see, this teacher loves computers and technology. Technology is a big part of her life. She imagines that many of her students also live a similar lifestyle. They probably use computers all the time. They are entertained by gaming systems that are computers. They are probably masters at the self-checkout. Whether or not they have their own cell phones, they maximize the use of any they can get a hold of, easily navigating and utilizing all the features of any cell phone that lands in their hands. They've known technology their entire lives.
Yet when the students walk into their classroom on August 24, their jaws will drop. It will be like they entered a foreign country. Not because the building will be new or their classmates will be from all over the county, it will be because they will enter an old-fashioned classroom environment where nothing is digital.
Fortunately, this story doesn't have a totally sad ending. This teacher aired her frustrations and made a cry for help via her facebook status. She was contacted by a friend who had an extra television lying around and was willing to donate it to the classroom. Now this teacher will at least be able to hook her computer up to the tv so that the classroom will not be void of visual stimulus and reinforcement. Maybe the principal will see how much a projector means to this teacher and the good she will be able to do with one and opt to mount one of the limited number in her classroom.
Or maybe the teacher can work up a persuasive argument that will convince the principal that it would actually be cheaper and educationally valuable to install a projector in this teacher's classroom. [If this teacher cannot display an image for the whole class to see, she will be forced to print copies for each student. A classroom cannot be without context. Three printed copies per student per day (assuming $0.07 per copy) adds up to over $900 per school year. One can get a mighty fine projector for that kind of money. This cost doesn't account for the time it will take the teacher to make the copies nor does it reflect the adverse impact on the environment. Also, the teacher will be forced to spend her extremely valuable time creating posters and picking up pictures at Walgreens (which also brings in more cost for posterboard, markers, glue, picture development, etc.) and less time on developing more meaningful lessons and intervening with students who are not yet proficient in particular concepts.]
This story must temporarily come to end. This teacher hopes, however, that this will not be the permanent end. She wishes with all her heart that she will be able to report a fairy tale ending before too long. Cross your fingers for her.
The end.

I'll take math

I just finished my last solo week of student teaching. Whew! Finally.
I asked my mentor teacher before I left today how she wanted to split up the day on Monday since we are transitioning back to tandem teaching. She had started a science testing preparation activity and wanted to finish that. Since she had it all prepared, she took that one right off the bat. She sat there in silence for 5-6 seconds. Finally, she said that I should definitely take math and that we would tandem teach literacy.
A huge grin covered my face as I tried to accept the math responsibility without laughing. I told her I'd be glad to take math, since they are going to be taking a test. I couldn't hold back anymore. I erupted in laughter! Bwahahahaha! I think that's the hardest I've laughed out loud in a long time.

What do you know about Tooele?

Per your request, I'm posting details about my first job offer.
I originally saw the position listed on Teachers-Teachers. I sent my application to the school and even followed up with an email address that I found on the school's website. I heard nothing.
I saw that this school was scheduled to be at the teacher job fair at BYU. I circled it on my map, but when I went by there was no one manning the booth.
After three hours of being charming, I was exhausted. I called my friend, Eliza, to hit her up for lunch plans. She said that she was waiting on Annie who was in an interview and then would be heading around the corner to eat in the cafeteria.
I decided to walk the floor one more time, with intentions to stop by the booth for Vista School to remind them that I was amazing. (Vista was my first interview and my number one preference as of right now.)
All the reps from Vista were tied up with other candidates. (Why bother looking elsewhere? You've got what you need right here.)
I circled back around and saw that someone was finally at the booth for Excelsior Academy. (There. I finally divulged the name of the school.)
The gentleman was interviewing a girl with gorgeous red hair but very little to say. He did far more talking than she did. I waited patiently, even after Eliza, Annie, and Eliza's friend, Holly, stopped to tell me their search for swag was a fail. I told them that I was going to at least introduce myself since I'd already sent my application in to this school and that I'd meet them in a bit.
When the red head finished up, I immediately took her chair and introduced myself. The gentleman doing the interview was Ernie Nix, the director (or in other words sole administrator/principal) of Excelsior.
I explained that I had already applied and he admitted that he was behind in looking at those applications.
He offered an interview right then and there. I took it.
I interviewed well despite the chaos around me at this teacher fair. He practically offered me a position at the end of my interview. He said that he wanted to make a couple phone calls but that he'd get back to me in a very timely manner.
I went home that night back to St. George. I stayed up for a couple hours looking into the Tooele area, trying to imagine if I could live there.
The next day, I went on an adventure with a friend of mine to Grafton and Silver Reef, both ghost towns in the local area. As I was about to leave the dirt roads of our adventure, I got a phone call.
It was Ernie Nix extending me a job offer. I was surprised with the timeliness of his phone call. He stated several times that I was a great match for the ideals and philosophy of this school.
I told him that I would have to think about it and would get back to him. He gave me his home and cell phone numbers.

What do I know about Tooele? It's about a 35 minute drive from Salt Lake City on the west side of the Oquirrh Mountains. The population is about 40,000. It's elevation is 4923 feet. The average summer high is 91. The average winter low is 20. The lowest recorded temperature was -16 set in 1990. (I experienced -27 working at Togwotee Lodge in Wyoming.)
There's more interesting city data here.
The local paper, the Tooele Trascript, is only printed twice a week. The local library seems nice. After two months of having a library card, a patron could check out 30 books at a time and keep them for three weeks.
The cost of living is lower than the US average. Housing seems not too difficult to come by.
If I find a potential husband, getting a marriage license is rather simple. I can even schedule an appointment to get one after business hours. They support marriage in Tooele.
They have county fair. They have an arts festival. They even have a simple recycling program.
I'm not sure what'd I'd do for a musical outlet since the only choral group I can find is the Tooele County Choral Society which seems rather elitist. They are made up of only 20 members. Oh, wait. I just found a news article in the Transcript that mentions the yearly Messiah performance. Thank goodness.
The Salt Lake City Astronomical Society hosts star parties in Stansbury Park on a regular basis. That brings joy to my heart.
There is at least on YSA ward. That's a good sign.

What do I know about the school's director, Ernie Nix? A quick Google search tells me that he used to weigh almost 400 pounds. When his wife had a cancer scare, he decided then and there he had to do something about his health. He's now a marathon runner.
His son was shot while serving in Baghdad.
He's served as principal at two elementary schools and two middle schools in the Salt Lake area with over 12 years of experience at these schools.
One of these schools had a student body that was made up of 95% in poverty and over half learning English. Within one year, their achievement scores jumped from 56 to 80, easily meeting AYP.
He seems like a decent enough guy to work for.

What do you know about Tooele? Would it be a good move for me?

The pondering begins

I got my first job offer today.
The research and the pondering begins. It's now decision time.

Front page news

Recently, I planned an activity as Vice President of Dixie Education Student Association. The club presidency wanted to encourage reading by bringing in role models to share their passion for reading with the students. The Dixie State College Athletes joined with us for a previous service activity where we repainted playgrounds at three local schools. I decided to maximize the athletes' desire to help us by arranging for them to visit two other local schools.
A reporter from the Spectrum covered the activity and we made it onto the front page of the newspaper. Read the article. My name isn't mentioned despite the fact that my advisor, Nancy Hauck, repeated over and over to the reporter that I had made the arrangements. I like it better that way. The service is about reading and about the kids. I'm glad that it was such a great success! Many thanks do out to Professor Hauck. She was a great support and was the contact between our club and the athletes.
The athletes I talked to in the hallways seemed to love it. Elmer, a yell leader, even showed off a few stunts and spotted a few third graders through some flips.
Yippee for reading! Yeah for amazing athletes!

I am smarter than a 5th grader

On July 26, I took The PRAXIS Series test for Elementary Education: Content Knowledge. That night I had a dream that I got my results back and found that I had aced the test. I had a perfect score.
Since then, I've had a whole string of dreams about my results. I dreamed that I opened my scores in front of a whole lot of people anticipating a passing score only to find that I had failed. I had to lie and make up a passing score and pretend I wasn't bummed.
Well, the day finally came. After 4 weeks and 6 days, my results came in the mail. Not only did I pass, but my first dream came true. I got a 200--the highest possible score on the test! I qualified for the Recognition of Excellence, meaning that I scored in the top 15% of all people who have taken the test.
For you skeptics out there, I didn't believe it either. I was certain that they hadn't printed my score or that I was reading the results wrong. You can see the results yourself below.

I'll teach you something

Today I taught my very first clarinet lesson. It was delightful. I taught Jodilyn's daughter a few things. She learned very quickly and should be ready for a recital by week's end. I don't know how much credit I should give myself, because I think most of the credit goes to her. She's ridiculously smart and was very excited to learn. Teaching someone something is really easy when they're as excited as she was. I'll be showing her a few more things tomorrow.
Speaking of lessons, I will be starting guitar lessons on Friday. I took a beginning guitar class years ago and absolutely loved it. I've been wanting to improve my skills ever since, but I kind of got stuck and then my playing decreased until it stopped. My short term goal for my guitar skills is to learn well enough to use the guitar frequently in my classroom. I graduate in the spring and want to spend part of my summer making up silly songs to teach my class curriculum. I also plan to use songwriting frequently for class assignments. I will teach my students about meter and have them write lyrics for a pre-written melody based on this meter. I will use songwriting for review or to introduce a new topic. The guitar will be much more practical than a piano. Although, I've already invested in a keyboard for similar reasons.
My long term goal will be to learn the guitar well enough to create more complex/creative music so that I can live my dream of being a singer/songwriter. I have a great desire to write music and to perform. I don't want to perform for sell-out crowds, but I'd love to be able to sing a song mid-lesson at church, during a visiting teaching lesson, or to perform for family or friends whenever. I'd play/sing for anyone who would listen. (This is all part of my plan to continue to become less and less shy.)

Read The Spectrum

Check out today's paper for the article on my summer camps. It's on the front page of the Southwest Living (feature) section.
For those of you who aren't local, you can read the article online.
It fills practically the whole page. I couldn't be more pleased.
Check out more pictures and information from my most recent camp here.

Maybe it really is WHO you know

The Spectrum is going to send a reporter and photographer to my camp on Monday to do a story on Aggie Adventures. It is a result of emailing a former Relief Society President of mine. The story will run on Monday the 23rd. I'll make sure I have a link to the story on the blog.

Aggie Adventures has begun

Camp Slimy, Gooey & Disgusting started on Monday. The experience has been great. I have nine kids ranging from 8-11 attending this week. They are crazy but a lot of fun.
As the name suggests, we have been learning about everything gross. The first two days were spent discussing the disgusting things about our bodies. We answered the questions what is that oozing from my body and why does my body do that.
I can't even pick out a favorite activity. I have enjoyed every single one of them. We made fake blisters and wounds yesterday. As you can see, our campers are ready for jobs in Hollywood makeup.

Edible Vegetable People

I'm teaching a lesson for the Water Conservancy in the morning. The activity is Storytime in the Garden. My book is called No More Vegetables. In the story, the little girl has a dream about vegetables. The picture depicts people made of vegetables. For my activity, I will have the children draw people on paper using their favorite vegetables. I decided to create some real examples with my friend, Celina. This is how they turned out. The kids will leave with their own edible vegetable person; they won't be nearly as big.

Amazing Summer Ahead

I landed an amazing summer job today. I'll be working for the Utah State Extension Office planning the Aggie Adventures Summer Day Camps. The camps are designed to give students the opportunity to explore the world of science through fun hands-on activities.
I'll be planning five camps with a teammate and will be assisting on five others. The five camps I'll be planning are

1. Slimy, Gooey, & Disgusting: Discover all kinds of slimy and gross things through experiments and investigations. Learn about worms, snot, smells, bats, and more!
2. Inventors Laboratory: Learn to control the elements as we explore the awesome power of water, heat, and air. Create gliders, hover crafts, and much more.
3. FUNdamentals of Science: This camp is full of fun, hands-on science experiments that teach basic science ideas. Activities include: crazy chemical reactions, rocket lauches, animal investigation and more!
4. Shooting for the Stars: Have you ever wanted to fly into space? Join us for a spacey adventure as we learn about the stars, planets, and a trip to the moon!
5. Owls, Spells, and Potions: Enter the magic of fantasy! In this camp, youth will explore the science behind the imagination. Chocolate frogs, potions, and flying brooms are just a taste of what we will explore.

This is going to be an amazing summer! I can hardly wait. I start planning tomorrow at 1:30.

Go to dixie4H.org and check out summer camps or stop by 44 N 100 E in St. George for more information.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu

Today was my last day of Practicum at George Washington Academy.
Three of my classmates and I were assigned the two fifth grade classes there. Today, the four of us taught the entire day. We had to go out strong. We split the classes into groups and rotated them through spelling games. Mine was a team spelling game involving a Scrabble board and tiles.
I also taught an amazing lesson about the Underground Railroad. The students went on an adventure outside doing numerous team-building activities.
For PE, the students voted on their two favorite activities that we had done this semester, and so we played Front of the Boat/Back of the Boat and Reverse Charades.
My favorite part of the day came at the end. My Practicum class always ends their Wednesdays with Show and Tell. We decided to combine the two classes and have the college students do their own Show and Tell. Jodilyn drew an amazing picture on the white board (since her Photo Story of her artwork wouldn't play). Jana read two of her favorite poems. Ashley, who had a hard time coming up with something despite being ridiculously amazing, stood up and let the students ask her 10 questions. They wasted most of them by asking things like, "Do you want to be a teacher?" and "Do you like pickles?"
My Show and Tell was sharing my love for singing--especially karaoke. I busted out my karaoke machine and sang "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick. I encouraged the students to sway their arms and join with me on the chorus. They loved the karaoke thing so much that they requested an encore. As a class, we sang the sappy Celine Dion hit, "My Heart Will Go On." The students took turns with the microphone while the rest busted their chops singing this song with so much passion. I wish I could post pictures or a video--but posting pictures of other people's children without their permission is CREEPY.
It was such an amazing day. I was definitely tired at day's end, but it was well worth it.
To my dyad partner and the neighboring dyad: Thanks for a rockin' Practicum experience. I had so much fun every week.
To all the fifth graders at George Washington Academy: I had such a wonderful time in your classroom. You are all amazing kids. I got tickled every Tuesday night thinking about going to your class the next day. I was sad to leave. I hope we cross paths again in the future.