Thank you, Netflix. Thanks for asking if I'm still watching Parks and Recreation so that I don't have to manually pause it to take a much needed bathroom break.
Saturdays full of grading and planning. And Netflix.
#teacherlife
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
January Blues
Pretty much.
I have been so exhausted lately. I think it's just January. It has been so snowy. And pretty cold. And snowy. Did I mention that there's been snow? Lots of it.
Most adults I talk to in Utah talk about how much they hate the snow. Driving in it is the worst. Sure, sure, whatever. (I really don't even know what the problem is...there's only ever like 2 mornings a year where there's actually scary snow on the roads that haven't been plowed or salted. Otherwise it's just like rain people!) It definitely sucks having to scrape your windows and brush the snow off your car, but these people don't really have room to be complaining. They're not elementary school teachers.
I know when I was a kid, a snow day was a dream. A day that school was cancelled and you got to go play in the snow! It was the best! But here in Utah, there is no such thing as a snow day. In my 4 years of teaching there hasn't even been a whisper of such a thing existing here. So instead, kids just dream about playing in the snow all day long while they're in class. Except they don't know what they're doing. Strangely, dreaming about playing in the freshly fallen snow manifests itself in extremely chatter. Talking to each other, talking to themselves, talking out in lessons, trying to get me to talk about anything except the lesson that needs to be taught, talking to each other again. No stopping.
Thankfully we've been pretty lucky and the school I'm at is fairly lenient about outside recess. It has to be below 22 degrees or precipitating enough to get the kids wet for it to be an inside day. So most of the time they get to go outside and get a little bit of their snow energy out. But it's still not enough. Especially since we're in a portable and have to walk through the freshly falling snow and the iced over snow on the ground and be reminded of the snow at least 3 times a day. And on the days that it is an inside lunch recess...good luck getting anything done for the rest of the afternoon.
Now, I should clarify that I'm not saying my class is horrible or wild or out of control. None of that. It just takes more effort to wrangle them in, and it has to be done much more often. The snow just has some sort of crazy, strange effect on them.
Anyways, I started this post just to say I'm crazy tired and I blame it on the blah January weather.
On a good note: the days are getting longer:)
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Can you hear me now?
Sorry it's been a while. I've been off track going on three weeks, and the week before that was parent/teacher conferences, and the week before that was the lead up to conferences (just as busy, if not more, trying to get report cards and everything all ready). Anyways, enough with the excuses. I've a funny story to share.
Before we went off track, there was a school fund raiser going on, collecting spare change for a Thanksgiving drive. There was a school goal to reach $200 by a certain date and then we would have a PJ day. So I guess we hit the goal and the student council advisor just emailed the teachers to tell us to tell our students that Friday would be PJ day. Well, the first thing my students would tell you if you asked them to describe me in one word would be "forgetful" (it's kind of a running joke in our classroom that I forget EVERYTHING).
So the email came on Tuesday. That meant I had 3 days to let the kids know. Really, that meant I had 3 days to forget to tell them. Because that's what happened. I only ever remembered when I was not with them, and I failed to be smart enough to write myself a reminder on the whiteboard so that someone else could see my note and remind me. Thursday night rolled around and I was like "CRAP! I totally forgot to tell my students about PJ day, but there's no way that I'm gonna miss this day to wear my PJs to school!" And then my husband gave me the best idea. "You've been complaining a lot about the fact that your students never listen to you...."
The next morning, I wore my pajamas to school like a boss. The bell rang and I stepped out onto my lovely portable porch to say good morning and I was immediately attacked, as I thought I would be. "Mrs. Lawrence, you didn't tell us it was pajama day!" they all cried. I looked at them sadly and shrugged, saying, "You mean you didn't hear when I told you that it was today?" As they all shuffled inside with puzzled and disappointed looks on their faces I added with another shrug, "I guess you guys really need to pay better attention to everything I say, huh?" Not another word about it all day long. Ha!
Okay yeah, I'm probably gonna have to pay someday for that white lie that I told them, but seriously, they don't listen to like 60% of what I say. Maybe that will serve as a little lesson so they'll remember to listen more carefully to the things that I say!
Before we went off track, there was a school fund raiser going on, collecting spare change for a Thanksgiving drive. There was a school goal to reach $200 by a certain date and then we would have a PJ day. So I guess we hit the goal and the student council advisor just emailed the teachers to tell us to tell our students that Friday would be PJ day. Well, the first thing my students would tell you if you asked them to describe me in one word would be "forgetful" (it's kind of a running joke in our classroom that I forget EVERYTHING).
So the email came on Tuesday. That meant I had 3 days to let the kids know. Really, that meant I had 3 days to forget to tell them. Because that's what happened. I only ever remembered when I was not with them, and I failed to be smart enough to write myself a reminder on the whiteboard so that someone else could see my note and remind me. Thursday night rolled around and I was like "CRAP! I totally forgot to tell my students about PJ day, but there's no way that I'm gonna miss this day to wear my PJs to school!" And then my husband gave me the best idea. "You've been complaining a lot about the fact that your students never listen to you...."
The next morning, I wore my pajamas to school like a boss. The bell rang and I stepped out onto my lovely portable porch to say good morning and I was immediately attacked, as I thought I would be. "Mrs. Lawrence, you didn't tell us it was pajama day!" they all cried. I looked at them sadly and shrugged, saying, "You mean you didn't hear when I told you that it was today?" As they all shuffled inside with puzzled and disappointed looks on their faces I added with another shrug, "I guess you guys really need to pay better attention to everything I say, huh?" Not another word about it all day long. Ha!
Okay yeah, I'm probably gonna have to pay someday for that white lie that I told them, but seriously, they don't listen to like 60% of what I say. Maybe that will serve as a little lesson so they'll remember to listen more carefully to the things that I say!
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
And the Crowd Goes Wild
It's so late and I should have been asleep an hour ago, especially because I have a meeting at 7:45 in the morning, but I have to write this so I don't forget.
I was having a horrible day today. I got a new student yesterday who speaks little to no English. I already have one student who can speak decent English, but can't read or write. I went to bed last night and woke up this morning feeling stressed and overwhelmed about how I'm supposed to teach them and reach all of my other students on their various levels. Then I had printer problems all day and missed my entire lunch trying to get any printer in the school to print what I needed for that afternoon. (Long story short: I didn't.)
So I walked in the faculty room for the last 5 minutes of lunch, just long enough to warm up my ramen and take a bathroom break. I then let loose complaining to my team about how frustrated and overwhelmed I was. They helped me carry my armfuls of stuff and our team leader offered to go with me to talk to the principal after school. I was very grateful for their support and help, and we walked outside to go to our portables.
And then we saw my students.
As soon as they saw us come out the doors, they started just cheering and clapping and going crazy. Then they ran to make a bridge with their arms for me to run through. It was possibly one of the sweetest moments of my teaching career and almost brought me to tears right then and there.
My kids have actually been doing this most days for the past couple of weeks because one of the other classes would sometimes clap when their teacher came out after lunch and I teased my class by saying, "Come on guys, don't I deserve a warm welcome like that?" And then they decided to one up the other class by doing the bridge.
But today it was something I really needed. I needed to know that I'm loved and appreciated and that my kids think I'm a great teacher, even when I feel like I'm not.
Who cares if they all make proficiency on the end of year tests? (I mean, sure it would be awesome, but does it really matter?) As long as I can help them enjoy school, like learning, and be decent people, then I can rest well at the end of the year.
I was having a horrible day today. I got a new student yesterday who speaks little to no English. I already have one student who can speak decent English, but can't read or write. I went to bed last night and woke up this morning feeling stressed and overwhelmed about how I'm supposed to teach them and reach all of my other students on their various levels. Then I had printer problems all day and missed my entire lunch trying to get any printer in the school to print what I needed for that afternoon. (Long story short: I didn't.)
So I walked in the faculty room for the last 5 minutes of lunch, just long enough to warm up my ramen and take a bathroom break. I then let loose complaining to my team about how frustrated and overwhelmed I was. They helped me carry my armfuls of stuff and our team leader offered to go with me to talk to the principal after school. I was very grateful for their support and help, and we walked outside to go to our portables.
And then we saw my students.
As soon as they saw us come out the doors, they started just cheering and clapping and going crazy. Then they ran to make a bridge with their arms for me to run through. It was possibly one of the sweetest moments of my teaching career and almost brought me to tears right then and there.
My kids have actually been doing this most days for the past couple of weeks because one of the other classes would sometimes clap when their teacher came out after lunch and I teased my class by saying, "Come on guys, don't I deserve a warm welcome like that?" And then they decided to one up the other class by doing the bridge.
But today it was something I really needed. I needed to know that I'm loved and appreciated and that my kids think I'm a great teacher, even when I feel like I'm not.
Who cares if they all make proficiency on the end of year tests? (I mean, sure it would be awesome, but does it really matter?) As long as I can help them enjoy school, like learning, and be decent people, then I can rest well at the end of the year.
Monday, October 24, 2016
A Teacher's Worst Nightmare
Alright, I've got a double complaint for today. *I just finished typing the first complaint and decided that's more than enough for today. The other complaint won't go away, so you'll get to hear about it another day.
My complaint: Sub plans.
That's enough to make any teacher shudder. But I wish that people who aren't teachers could really understand how incredibly it sucks to not go to work. In most jobs if you call in sick or have a training or whatever the reason is that you're not going to be at work, it's not a big deal. Someone can easily cover for you, or the work just waits to get done until you're back. Not so for a teacher.
Yes, someone covers for you, but not until after you've done all the work planning and preparing what they're going to do all day for you.
That's a screenshot of my sub plans for tomorrow. Almost 3 whole pages. I'm going to a training because next year they're changing our science curriculum and also altering the way they want us to teach science. It's not exactly a mandatory training, but it seemed like a really good idea to have an idea of what I'm supposed to teach next year, plus as a teacher you do have to go to enough "professional development" classes and trainings to add up to a certain number of points/credits to renew your license every few years. (That's another topic for another day.) Anyways, my point is I don't have to go, but I feel like to be a good teacher I should.
But do I get any paid time to come up with these sub plans? Nope. Not really. I worked on them a bit over my break, meaning I filled in each subject box with the general idea of what they were going to do.
Math: dividing fraction review
Reading: story
Social Studies: Greek mythology
Then today I worked on actually typing in the detailed instructions that I feel like a sub needs and deserves in order to do what I expect. But did I have time to do that during my contract time? Not really. It was an inside morning because of rain, meaning I had kids in my room like almost as soon as I got there, plus I had a couple quick things I needed to get ready for the day. I didn't have a moment of rest all day either. It was one of those days where my kids were especially needy, even when I didn't think they would be. So it wasn't until 3:30 that I was able to fill all of this in. Although, that meant I had to actually decide what I meant by "Greek mythology" and "dividing fraction review." I had to find worksheets and activities and then go make copies of all of them too.
So 5:10 rolls around (the building closes at 5:30) and I'm not quite ready. I've got everything printed and copied, but I need probably another 20-30 minutes to finish getting it all organized and adding finishing touch instructions. So I have to go in tomorrow morning. My training isn't until 8:30 and it's only 10 minutes away from my house. But I have to go in to school (25 minutes away from my house) at like 7:30 to make sure I have my 20-30 minutes to get everything ready and get back to my training in time.
Okay, I know this is my fault because I could have been more organized and planned a little further ahead, but I really thought I'd have time during the day today. And honestly I was just tired over the past several days. I took 3 hour naps like almost every day of my break. I really needed a break from work, so I didn't do anything. And now I'm reaping the consequences. It just sucks that that's the nature of a teacher's job.
Then there's the times when you're sick. You feel like crap, but you know that if you decide to take a day off to stay home and sleep, you have to do a ton of work to get ready for that. All the plans you have to type up, all the activities and worksheets you have to find then print and copy, not to mention the cleaning you have to do because your classroom is probably a mess. At that point it often seems easier to just suck it up and come to work sick the next day. Then again, any good teacher has some emergency sub plans tucked away in the cabinet, ready to go with easy review worksheets and activities that can be done in a moment's notice. But no teacher ever really wants to have to use those emergency plans because 1) that means they have to make new emergency sub plans (which again is a lot of planning and copying); 2) it is pretty much all busy work and review, meaning a waste of a day; 3) if you don't get to teach those lessons that you had planned for that day, your whole week that you have planned is going to be off a day, which could be a big deal. Long story short, don't get sick unless you want more work.
And of course I won't even go into how much you stress about how your class is behaving for a substitute. About how it's in the back of your mind all day, and you dread coming back the next day to find the report about how horrible they were and then having to come up with a fulfilling punishment. No need to mention that.
Well, that's my rant for today. It really sucks for teachers when they have to miss work, no matter the reason. It's always just as much (if not more!) work than if they were just able to go to work. So next time you're able to call in sick, be thankful you're not a teacher.
My complaint: Sub plans.
That's enough to make any teacher shudder. But I wish that people who aren't teachers could really understand how incredibly it sucks to not go to work. In most jobs if you call in sick or have a training or whatever the reason is that you're not going to be at work, it's not a big deal. Someone can easily cover for you, or the work just waits to get done until you're back. Not so for a teacher.
Yes, someone covers for you, but not until after you've done all the work planning and preparing what they're going to do all day for you.
That's a screenshot of my sub plans for tomorrow. Almost 3 whole pages. I'm going to a training because next year they're changing our science curriculum and also altering the way they want us to teach science. It's not exactly a mandatory training, but it seemed like a really good idea to have an idea of what I'm supposed to teach next year, plus as a teacher you do have to go to enough "professional development" classes and trainings to add up to a certain number of points/credits to renew your license every few years. (That's another topic for another day.) Anyways, my point is I don't have to go, but I feel like to be a good teacher I should.
But do I get any paid time to come up with these sub plans? Nope. Not really. I worked on them a bit over my break, meaning I filled in each subject box with the general idea of what they were going to do.
Math: dividing fraction review
Reading: story
Social Studies: Greek mythology
Then today I worked on actually typing in the detailed instructions that I feel like a sub needs and deserves in order to do what I expect. But did I have time to do that during my contract time? Not really. It was an inside morning because of rain, meaning I had kids in my room like almost as soon as I got there, plus I had a couple quick things I needed to get ready for the day. I didn't have a moment of rest all day either. It was one of those days where my kids were especially needy, even when I didn't think they would be. So it wasn't until 3:30 that I was able to fill all of this in. Although, that meant I had to actually decide what I meant by "Greek mythology" and "dividing fraction review." I had to find worksheets and activities and then go make copies of all of them too.
So 5:10 rolls around (the building closes at 5:30) and I'm not quite ready. I've got everything printed and copied, but I need probably another 20-30 minutes to finish getting it all organized and adding finishing touch instructions. So I have to go in tomorrow morning. My training isn't until 8:30 and it's only 10 minutes away from my house. But I have to go in to school (25 minutes away from my house) at like 7:30 to make sure I have my 20-30 minutes to get everything ready and get back to my training in time.
Okay, I know this is my fault because I could have been more organized and planned a little further ahead, but I really thought I'd have time during the day today. And honestly I was just tired over the past several days. I took 3 hour naps like almost every day of my break. I really needed a break from work, so I didn't do anything. And now I'm reaping the consequences. It just sucks that that's the nature of a teacher's job.
Then there's the times when you're sick. You feel like crap, but you know that if you decide to take a day off to stay home and sleep, you have to do a ton of work to get ready for that. All the plans you have to type up, all the activities and worksheets you have to find then print and copy, not to mention the cleaning you have to do because your classroom is probably a mess. At that point it often seems easier to just suck it up and come to work sick the next day. Then again, any good teacher has some emergency sub plans tucked away in the cabinet, ready to go with easy review worksheets and activities that can be done in a moment's notice. But no teacher ever really wants to have to use those emergency plans because 1) that means they have to make new emergency sub plans (which again is a lot of planning and copying); 2) it is pretty much all busy work and review, meaning a waste of a day; 3) if you don't get to teach those lessons that you had planned for that day, your whole week that you have planned is going to be off a day, which could be a big deal. Long story short, don't get sick unless you want more work.
And of course I won't even go into how much you stress about how your class is behaving for a substitute. About how it's in the back of your mind all day, and you dread coming back the next day to find the report about how horrible they were and then having to come up with a fulfilling punishment. No need to mention that.
Well, that's my rant for today. It really sucks for teachers when they have to miss work, no matter the reason. It's always just as much (if not more!) work than if they were just able to go to work. So next time you're able to call in sick, be thankful you're not a teacher.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Teaching: The Good, the Bad, and the Funny
I am a teacher. This is the profession I willingly and excitedly chose. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was ten. I knew I wanted to share my love of learning with others and inspire them to be more.
I think about that dream I had, even as I started my first year as a naive teacher. I thought I could change the world. How different and difficult reality is. There are so many things about our education system that are broken. That seem unfixable. That don't make sense. That suck.
But having said that, it's not all bad. As teachers we tend to focus on the negative aspects of our job, I think because there are a lot of them. A lot of big, bad negatives that make our lives hell. But there are also a lot of wonderfully amazing aspects as well. The things that make us go back everyday. The things that help me realize that I am fulfilling my dream, even if only for one student.
I want to start blogging again. I want to start sharing my opinions, my thoughts, and my stories from teaching. The good, the bad, and the funny. Some days will be about the positives. Some days I'll focus on the negatives. Some days I'll just share funny stories, because let me tell you how hilarious 6th graders can be sometimes.
Today I simply want to share a meme I saw earlier that made me laugh. It's fall break right now, which means two days of catching up. Yesterday I caught up on laundry, vacuuming, other cleaning, and sleep (a three hour nap in the late afternoon). Today I'm catching up on anything else that I can do to avoid catching up on grading.... Grading really is the worst. I've been way better about it this term than I ever have in the past, but I've still managed to get far enough behind that I'm avoiding it. It's just not much fun having to waste my time looking at students' perfunctory work and taking the effort to grade it when they obviously didn't take any effort when they did the work in the first place. (I looked up synonyms for half-assed because I didn't think that sounded very professional. I thought perfunctory sounded like a good vocab work that I'm going to teach my kids on Monday when I give them their progress reports.) Anyways, the meme:
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
24 Days!
Okay. Well, you're not gonna get a day-by-day update this time, because I've forgotten. But, we're almost there.
Sometime at the end of last week Nick messaged his aunt who had offered to make our cake and said we'd love to have her do it. We had debated a bit just because I feel like with weddings it's better not to hire family or friends for anything, but in the end I decided with a cake it shouldn't be a big deal. And she might do it a little cheaper, so that would be great. We're still hashing out all the details of that, but I think it's pretty much a done deal.
I guess we spent a couple nights last week trying to get my printer up and running so we could print envelopes for invitations. I didn't want to use labels because I guess it's considered "tacky" by some (and I guess I agree), but there was no way I was gonna sit there and handwrite 300 addresses (because my handwriting would look good on about the first three), so I wanted to print them. But my printer apparently decided to be lame and not work anymore. So Saturday we went to Provo to borrow Jeff's printer, and then had to go to Walmart twice for ink. Gah! But we finally got it up and running.
Sunday was spent printing and stuffing envelopes.
Monday was a good productive day. In the morning we went to the florist and ordered our flowers. Then we went a few places to look for suits for Nick, but we realized that he'll definitely have to go to a nice suit store to get what we want instead of just a department store at the mall. Which is fine, we just thought we'd take a look. Then we got all of the invitations ready to send. That was so exasperating. Just trying to figure out if we got everyone or not is so overwhelming! And then throw in trying to figure out exactly who to invite to the sealing...it's crazy. Oh, also we had a slight mishap ordering our sealing invitations, so we don't have those yet. But we got all of the other envelopes, sealed, stamped, and ready to go. The ones that need sealing invitations will go out by the end of the week, we hope.
Today we got a photographer! I had emailed a girl that I found on Facebook who I really liked on like Friday night, but had never heard back from her. So I messaged her again and it looks like it's a go! Yay!
Also, Nick's mom got the wedding luncheon/dinner booked and planned, so that's done too! Things are really coming together. It's getting stressful though. Or at least the past several days have been.
Now, on to the reception planning! We're just gonna do an ice cream sundae bar, so we're not gonna have caterers for that. Decorations and layout kind of stuff is the big thing.
I guess in addition to that, we've gotta both have our outfits and accessories for the day finalized. OH! Mom found some lace that almost perfectly matches my dress so she can make sleeves! I'm so excited about that!
Whew, busy busy. And Nick's moving on the 30th, so that's coming up quick. Things seem to be working really well though!
Sometime at the end of last week Nick messaged his aunt who had offered to make our cake and said we'd love to have her do it. We had debated a bit just because I feel like with weddings it's better not to hire family or friends for anything, but in the end I decided with a cake it shouldn't be a big deal. And she might do it a little cheaper, so that would be great. We're still hashing out all the details of that, but I think it's pretty much a done deal.
I guess we spent a couple nights last week trying to get my printer up and running so we could print envelopes for invitations. I didn't want to use labels because I guess it's considered "tacky" by some (and I guess I agree), but there was no way I was gonna sit there and handwrite 300 addresses (because my handwriting would look good on about the first three), so I wanted to print them. But my printer apparently decided to be lame and not work anymore. So Saturday we went to Provo to borrow Jeff's printer, and then had to go to Walmart twice for ink. Gah! But we finally got it up and running.
Sunday was spent printing and stuffing envelopes.
Monday was a good productive day. In the morning we went to the florist and ordered our flowers. Then we went a few places to look for suits for Nick, but we realized that he'll definitely have to go to a nice suit store to get what we want instead of just a department store at the mall. Which is fine, we just thought we'd take a look. Then we got all of the invitations ready to send. That was so exasperating. Just trying to figure out if we got everyone or not is so overwhelming! And then throw in trying to figure out exactly who to invite to the sealing...it's crazy. Oh, also we had a slight mishap ordering our sealing invitations, so we don't have those yet. But we got all of the other envelopes, sealed, stamped, and ready to go. The ones that need sealing invitations will go out by the end of the week, we hope.
Today we got a photographer! I had emailed a girl that I found on Facebook who I really liked on like Friday night, but had never heard back from her. So I messaged her again and it looks like it's a go! Yay!
Also, Nick's mom got the wedding luncheon/dinner booked and planned, so that's done too! Things are really coming together. It's getting stressful though. Or at least the past several days have been.
Now, on to the reception planning! We're just gonna do an ice cream sundae bar, so we're not gonna have caterers for that. Decorations and layout kind of stuff is the big thing.
I guess in addition to that, we've gotta both have our outfits and accessories for the day finalized. OH! Mom found some lace that almost perfectly matches my dress so she can make sleeves! I'm so excited about that!
Whew, busy busy. And Nick's moving on the 30th, so that's coming up quick. Things seem to be working really well though!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
32 Days...
Well, silly me, thinking I'd have time to do this. Ha.
Let's see if I can do a rundown of everything that we've gotten done since the last update.
Friday, Jan 1: We took a break to pack and fly home.
Saturday, Jan 2: We got an early start and picked up our luggage from the airport that didn't make it on the flight with us the night before. Then we went and checked out the Chase Mill at Tracy Aviary and put down a deposit for the reception. After that we spent the afternoon apartment hunting and found one that we really liked. That took several days to get the application and everything done, but the deposit is down and Nick moves in on the 30th.
Sunday, Jan 3: Hmm...I don't remember that far back. I'm sure we discussed different things.
Monday, Jan 4: Got our engagements back from the wonderful Whitney Gossling. There are some of them that I absolutely love! She did great.
Tuesday, Jan 5: I was researching invitation stuff and saw a 50% off sale going on for Shutterfly, but it was ending the next day! We starting looking and putting that together.
Wednesday, Jan 6: We spent lots of time on the phone nailing down our parents on open house dates, locations, times, etc. (which apparently we still didn't get one of them scheduled as desired), as well as proofing our invitation. We were up till 1 am working on it, but but got our 50% off, AND we got 200 out of our 300 pictures for FREE! (We're keeping it classy and doing a separate picture and invitation.) Oh, and we also had our first interview with our bishop that night.
Thursday, Jan 7: I don't remember...
Friday, Jan 8: Researched suits for Nick. We decided brown or tan.
Saturday, Jan 9: Got the honeymoon booked! Nick did all the researching for this one (he's so great...I don't have the patience for that like he does). We're going on a cruise to the Bahamas. I wish it was tomorrow, I'm so sick of the cold.
Sunday, Jan 10: Took a break so I could catch up on grading that I had neglected that week.
Monday, Jan 11: Our invitations came! Now just waiting on our pictures, which will hopefully be later this week.
Tuesday, Jan 12 (TODAY): We took a break and went to see Star Wars. For the fourth time. Yep. I love it.
So, there's the low down. The next big things are: photographer, cake, florist. I'm hoping to get all of those figured out in the next week. Then we can move onto getting the reception planned and outfits finalized for bride and groom.
So exciting. So exhausting.
But, mostly exciting.
Let's see if I can do a rundown of everything that we've gotten done since the last update.
Friday, Jan 1: We took a break to pack and fly home.
Saturday, Jan 2: We got an early start and picked up our luggage from the airport that didn't make it on the flight with us the night before. Then we went and checked out the Chase Mill at Tracy Aviary and put down a deposit for the reception. After that we spent the afternoon apartment hunting and found one that we really liked. That took several days to get the application and everything done, but the deposit is down and Nick moves in on the 30th.
Sunday, Jan 3: Hmm...I don't remember that far back. I'm sure we discussed different things.
Monday, Jan 4: Got our engagements back from the wonderful Whitney Gossling. There are some of them that I absolutely love! She did great.
Tuesday, Jan 5: I was researching invitation stuff and saw a 50% off sale going on for Shutterfly, but it was ending the next day! We starting looking and putting that together.
Wednesday, Jan 6: We spent lots of time on the phone nailing down our parents on open house dates, locations, times, etc. (which apparently we still didn't get one of them scheduled as desired), as well as proofing our invitation. We were up till 1 am working on it, but but got our 50% off, AND we got 200 out of our 300 pictures for FREE! (We're keeping it classy and doing a separate picture and invitation.) Oh, and we also had our first interview with our bishop that night.
Thursday, Jan 7: I don't remember...
Friday, Jan 8: Researched suits for Nick. We decided brown or tan.
Saturday, Jan 9: Got the honeymoon booked! Nick did all the researching for this one (he's so great...I don't have the patience for that like he does). We're going on a cruise to the Bahamas. I wish it was tomorrow, I'm so sick of the cold.
Sunday, Jan 10: Took a break so I could catch up on grading that I had neglected that week.
Monday, Jan 11: Our invitations came! Now just waiting on our pictures, which will hopefully be later this week.
Tuesday, Jan 12 (TODAY): We took a break and went to see Star Wars. For the fourth time. Yep. I love it.
So, there's the low down. The next big things are: photographer, cake, florist. I'm hoping to get all of those figured out in the next week. Then we can move onto getting the reception planned and outfits finalized for bride and groom.
So exciting. So exhausting.
But, mostly exciting.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
43 Days to Go
Today was less stressful and more productive. We got our engagements done, which is a huge stress relief. I was not looking forward to going back to Salt Lake, researching photographers, trying to find one I liked who could do our pictures asap at a reasonable price, etc. So we went out to get our pictures done, and at first we were like sweet, it's nice and cloudy and not raining! (It's rained like 10 of the 11 days we've been here.) And then we got there, and it was raining. Thankfully Whitney was super flexible and was like, "It shouldn't last much longer, we can just hang out until it stops." So thankfully it cleared up and we were able to get that done. That's a HUGE relief. And hopefully they turn out well. Everybody raves about Whitney's work and what I've seen is great, so I have no doubt we'll have some great ones.
The other big thing today was I got my dress! It's so funny how you can say something all your life, like, "I'll never spend a bunch of money on a wedding dress. It's so stupid to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress you wear once, and I won't do it!" Ha. Ha. Ha. I will say I didn't spend a super crazy amount, but it was definitely more than I ever thought I would. But, it's gorgeous and I love it. Now I just need to figure out shoes and accessories. And a veil? Not sure about that either. But it's another big relief to have that taken care of.
Nick tried calling some venues today, but since it's New Years Eve it was difficult. He wasn't able to get ahold of the Aviary, but he did talk to someone about the Murray Chapel, which is another cute option. We'll have to worry about venue on either Saturday or Monday now since businesses are all closed for New Years.
We did start to research stuff for the Honeymoon though. Our idea is to go somewhere out east and then plan the Atlanta open house for before we head back home. So we've narrowed it down to either a cruise to the Bahamas, or Universal Studios (aka Harry Potter World). Still gotta think a bit more on that one. But we'll probably get that booked this weekend so we can get other plans in motion too.
I think the next big thing to start researching is invitations so we can get that going asap so we can send them out in time. We've gotta know the venue before we can do that for sure though. And open house times. Seriously, planning a wedding is just like trying to teach 6th graders pre-algebra. There really is no good starting place or order to go because everything relies on something else. It's not like a nice pyramid where everything builds off something else...it's all jumbled together and you really can't pick one place to start without it affecting 5 other things. It's going to be interesting to see how things go once we're back home and in real life again...tomorrow.
The other big thing today was I got my dress! It's so funny how you can say something all your life, like, "I'll never spend a bunch of money on a wedding dress. It's so stupid to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress you wear once, and I won't do it!" Ha. Ha. Ha. I will say I didn't spend a super crazy amount, but it was definitely more than I ever thought I would. But, it's gorgeous and I love it. Now I just need to figure out shoes and accessories. And a veil? Not sure about that either. But it's another big relief to have that taken care of.
Nick tried calling some venues today, but since it's New Years Eve it was difficult. He wasn't able to get ahold of the Aviary, but he did talk to someone about the Murray Chapel, which is another cute option. We'll have to worry about venue on either Saturday or Monday now since businesses are all closed for New Years.
We did start to research stuff for the Honeymoon though. Our idea is to go somewhere out east and then plan the Atlanta open house for before we head back home. So we've narrowed it down to either a cruise to the Bahamas, or Universal Studios (aka Harry Potter World). Still gotta think a bit more on that one. But we'll probably get that booked this weekend so we can get other plans in motion too.
I think the next big thing to start researching is invitations so we can get that going asap so we can send them out in time. We've gotta know the venue before we can do that for sure though. And open house times. Seriously, planning a wedding is just like trying to teach 6th graders pre-algebra. There really is no good starting place or order to go because everything relies on something else. It's not like a nice pyramid where everything builds off something else...it's all jumbled together and you really can't pick one place to start without it affecting 5 other things. It's going to be interesting to see how things go once we're back home and in real life again...tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
44 Days to Go
Today was a bit more stressful than it needed to be. In the morning I went with my mom to the fabric store to check in to the possibility of making my wedding dress. I had really loved one that I had tried on the day before, but my mom didn't really like that it was ivory, and I wished that it wasn't short sleeves. I would really prefer a three-quarter sleeve. But we went to the fabric store and I realized that they weren't really going to have fabric that I was going to love. And it was something that would probably stress out my mother. And probably me too. So I pretty much made the decision yesterday to just go with the dress at the shop.
The next big hurdle was getting ready for engagement pictures. Last night we went to a hockey game with a group from church, and I had sort of joked/seriously suggested that we talk to Whitney and see if she would do our pictures for us before we leave. She's a pretty highly esteemed photographer in the area among people at church and her husband is an old friend. Thankfully my mom actually did ask if she would be available and she said she's check her schedule and shoot me an email. So yesterday she contacted me and said that she would do our engagements Thursday morning. That should have been a huge relief, except that we have a very limited wardrobe here right now. My mom told us to just go to the store and buy new clothes if we wanted, but neither of us really need or want new clothes right now. But after a good nap and a fresh mind, we were able to figure out our outfits for the photoshoot. Nick continued to search for different venues a bit and actually found a couple promising ones. The old mill at Tracy Aviary and also a barn in Draper. We'll see.
And so it goes...hopefully the stress will be less and less as we get things planned and set in stone.
The next big hurdle was getting ready for engagement pictures. Last night we went to a hockey game with a group from church, and I had sort of joked/seriously suggested that we talk to Whitney and see if she would do our pictures for us before we leave. She's a pretty highly esteemed photographer in the area among people at church and her husband is an old friend. Thankfully my mom actually did ask if she would be available and she said she's check her schedule and shoot me an email. So yesterday she contacted me and said that she would do our engagements Thursday morning. That should have been a huge relief, except that we have a very limited wardrobe here right now. My mom told us to just go to the store and buy new clothes if we wanted, but neither of us really need or want new clothes right now. But after a good nap and a fresh mind, we were able to figure out our outfits for the photoshoot. Nick continued to search for different venues a bit and actually found a couple promising ones. The old mill at Tracy Aviary and also a barn in Draper. We'll see.
And so it goes...hopefully the stress will be less and less as we get things planned and set in stone.
How I Planned My Wedding in Less Than Two Months
Wow. I really dropped the ball on this blog over the past year and a half. And that's too bad, because it would have been a great time to be documenting here for the nonexistent reader (besides my future self...because I ridiculously and slightly embarrassingly love reading my old blog posts). There were some horrible times (pretty much my entire second year of teaching) and some amazing times (meeting, dating, and falling in love with one of the greatest men I've ever known), and all the in between (my thoughts and commentaries on the random things in life).
Let's do a quick catch up. Well, not much to say about teaching last year, except that it was hard. I had a really tough class, and there wasn't much good to talk about from the year, except when it was over. We switched over from year-round to traditional schedule and had to move out to portables, so that was all kind of a bummer. We went from 4 classes to 3 classes, which meant we each have almost 30 kids in our classes. It's be a rough first half of the year. I do have amazing kids who I really like, but that doesn't mean it's not hard every single day. I also love my teammates, Megan and Allison. We are all very much on the same page about pretty much everything and work really well together. That is one advantage that has come from traditional schedule: collaboration. That was hard on year-round. But anyways, enough about work. That isn't the purpose of this post.
Something much more exciting is the purpose of this post. It has to do with Nicholas Lawrence. We met July 2014. First date was September 1, 2014. First kiss was January 19, 2015. He proposed December 25, 2015. We're getting married February 13, 2016.
Nope, not a typo. We're planning a 7 week engagement. Everyone's eyes get a little wider and their jaw drops a bit when they hear that, but when you've been dating someone for as long as we have, talking about the possibility of marriage for at least 6 months, you're ready to get married, asap. And when you've got a couple of older (at least comparatively in the Mormon world), more reasonable and frugal young adults like us, you don't need that much time to plan the kind of wedding we want. Something simple, smallish, and chill. So 7 weeks seems like a great amount of time. Especially when we can get stuff done right now while on break.
So my idea for blogging again is to not only document this journey, but also see if I can relieve a bit of stress in my life. We'll see how it works. But I want to do one of my mini-series, like I've done in the past. This one is going to be: How I Planned My Wedding in Less Than Two Months. And sticking with tradition, I'm starting it at about 3 in the morning, because once again while staying in my bedroom at home I've become an insomniac and couldn't sleep. So, a quick outline of what's happened the past few days. I know it doesn't look like a lot, but it's felt like quite a bit.
Dec 25th: Talked about date possibilities. Looked online at apartments.
Dec 26th: Talked more about date possibilities. Looked online at options for dressing up a cultural hall.
Dec 27th: Weighed the options for a date. Searched for reception venues.
Dec 28th: Went to Target and Kohl's to start our registry. It was exhausting. More online searching for reception venues.
Dec 29th: Scheduled Feb 13, 2016 at 1:00 pm with the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. Dress shopping with Mom. Found 2 dresses, one that I loved, one that I really liked. Also led to the possibility of Mom making a dress like the one I loved. We're going to check out fabric tomorrow and weigh the cost. I want to make the decision tomorrow. Nick continued to look at venues online. (Finding a venue to meet our needs and budget has been frustratingly difficult. I'll get into that more later.)
Well, I think sleep has finally found me and is tugging me back onto my pillow, so that's all for now. We'll see how this mini-series actually goes. I promise I'll try to make it more entertaining than just a running list of what I do every day. And I'll try to add some fun stories about Nick and me and our relationship. Happy 45 more days!
Let's do a quick catch up. Well, not much to say about teaching last year, except that it was hard. I had a really tough class, and there wasn't much good to talk about from the year, except when it was over. We switched over from year-round to traditional schedule and had to move out to portables, so that was all kind of a bummer. We went from 4 classes to 3 classes, which meant we each have almost 30 kids in our classes. It's be a rough first half of the year. I do have amazing kids who I really like, but that doesn't mean it's not hard every single day. I also love my teammates, Megan and Allison. We are all very much on the same page about pretty much everything and work really well together. That is one advantage that has come from traditional schedule: collaboration. That was hard on year-round. But anyways, enough about work. That isn't the purpose of this post.
Something much more exciting is the purpose of this post. It has to do with Nicholas Lawrence. We met July 2014. First date was September 1, 2014. First kiss was January 19, 2015. He proposed December 25, 2015. We're getting married February 13, 2016.
Nope, not a typo. We're planning a 7 week engagement. Everyone's eyes get a little wider and their jaw drops a bit when they hear that, but when you've been dating someone for as long as we have, talking about the possibility of marriage for at least 6 months, you're ready to get married, asap. And when you've got a couple of older (at least comparatively in the Mormon world), more reasonable and frugal young adults like us, you don't need that much time to plan the kind of wedding we want. Something simple, smallish, and chill. So 7 weeks seems like a great amount of time. Especially when we can get stuff done right now while on break.
So my idea for blogging again is to not only document this journey, but also see if I can relieve a bit of stress in my life. We'll see how it works. But I want to do one of my mini-series, like I've done in the past. This one is going to be: How I Planned My Wedding in Less Than Two Months. And sticking with tradition, I'm starting it at about 3 in the morning, because once again while staying in my bedroom at home I've become an insomniac and couldn't sleep. So, a quick outline of what's happened the past few days. I know it doesn't look like a lot, but it's felt like quite a bit.
Dec 25th: Talked about date possibilities. Looked online at apartments.
Dec 26th: Talked more about date possibilities. Looked online at options for dressing up a cultural hall.
Dec 27th: Weighed the options for a date. Searched for reception venues.
Dec 28th: Went to Target and Kohl's to start our registry. It was exhausting. More online searching for reception venues.
Dec 29th: Scheduled Feb 13, 2016 at 1:00 pm with the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. Dress shopping with Mom. Found 2 dresses, one that I loved, one that I really liked. Also led to the possibility of Mom making a dress like the one I loved. We're going to check out fabric tomorrow and weigh the cost. I want to make the decision tomorrow. Nick continued to look at venues online. (Finding a venue to meet our needs and budget has been frustratingly difficult. I'll get into that more later.)
Well, I think sleep has finally found me and is tugging me back onto my pillow, so that's all for now. We'll see how this mini-series actually goes. I promise I'll try to make it more entertaining than just a running list of what I do every day. And I'll try to add some fun stories about Nick and me and our relationship. Happy 45 more days!
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
My Latest Realization
So, this weekend I had a life changing realization:
I don't like teaching all of the subjects.
I guess the realization came as a result of a conversation I had with my co-worker on Friday afternoon. I was saying how when I was student teaching, I really enjoyed teaching writing. It was fun and didn't seem that hard. But last year and this year, it's been so difficult. I have similar feelings about reading. There are so many fun things you can do with reading, but it's hard to know exactly what, or how, given the various reading levels in your class. And then there's science and social studies. I find them both extremely fascinating, but making the content interesting and engaging enough for 11- and 12-year-olds to find it fascinating is an entirely different story. And I won't even begin to complain about having to teach art, P.E. and computers. That leaves math.
And there it is...I would love it if I only taught math.
But dang it, I'm an elementary school teacher. I'd have to teach middle or high school if I only wanted to do math. But wait! I teach 6th grade math. And most places, and even some places in Utah, have 6th grade in middle school. And guess what else? The curriculum I've taught the past two years is Common Core. Most states have adopted the math Common Core. That means I could teach 6th grade middle school math just about anywhere. And I'm technically certified to teach grades 1-8. I'd probably just have to look into a couple of classes or something to get a math specialization and BOOM. I'd have a job that maybe I'd enjoy. Because the last 6 weeks have NOT been enjoyable. In fact, they've been the opposite of enjoyable.
The only problem with this new plan for my life...I still have a little more than 9 months left of this school year. Dang.
I don't like teaching all of the subjects.
I guess the realization came as a result of a conversation I had with my co-worker on Friday afternoon. I was saying how when I was student teaching, I really enjoyed teaching writing. It was fun and didn't seem that hard. But last year and this year, it's been so difficult. I have similar feelings about reading. There are so many fun things you can do with reading, but it's hard to know exactly what, or how, given the various reading levels in your class. And then there's science and social studies. I find them both extremely fascinating, but making the content interesting and engaging enough for 11- and 12-year-olds to find it fascinating is an entirely different story. And I won't even begin to complain about having to teach art, P.E. and computers. That leaves math.
And there it is...I would love it if I only taught math.
But dang it, I'm an elementary school teacher. I'd have to teach middle or high school if I only wanted to do math. But wait! I teach 6th grade math. And most places, and even some places in Utah, have 6th grade in middle school. And guess what else? The curriculum I've taught the past two years is Common Core. Most states have adopted the math Common Core. That means I could teach 6th grade middle school math just about anywhere. And I'm technically certified to teach grades 1-8. I'd probably just have to look into a couple of classes or something to get a math specialization and BOOM. I'd have a job that maybe I'd enjoy. Because the last 6 weeks have NOT been enjoyable. In fact, they've been the opposite of enjoyable.
The only problem with this new plan for my life...I still have a little more than 9 months left of this school year. Dang.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Dating in the Eyes of a 6th Grader
Today I had the funniest conversation with one of my students. We were out at recess and a couple of girls came up and asked me a question about what they should do about some girl drama. Anyways, that's not the funny part.
Somehow then we shifted into talking about boys. And Sally, we'll call her, admitted that she is "going out" with one of the boys from our class. Apparently he texts her all the time and was really upset when she didn't respond to him this morning because she's grounded from her phone. But that's still not the funny part. They then went on to tell me of two other interclass couples that I have. So my curiosity was piqued. What do they think they are accomplishing by "going out" with someone? Here is a paraphrasing of our dialogue:
Ms. G: So, tell me, what does it mean when you say that you're "going out" with someone?
Sally: Well, it means that we're dating!
Ms. G: So you go on dates?
Sally: NO! Hahaha
Ms. G: So you sit with each other at lunch?
Sally: No! *giggle*
Ms. G: So...you hang out at recess?
Sally: Haha nooo!
Ms. G: Then what does it mean?!
Sally: Well...sometimes we hug after school.
Ms. G: *nodding* Ok, I see. So I hugged a boy yesterday...does that mean he's my boyfriend?
Sally: Oh my gosh, noooo!!
I think the thing that I love most about this is that the unlogical logic of 6th graders hasn't changed one bit since I was one of them.
Somehow then we shifted into talking about boys. And Sally, we'll call her, admitted that she is "going out" with one of the boys from our class. Apparently he texts her all the time and was really upset when she didn't respond to him this morning because she's grounded from her phone. But that's still not the funny part. They then went on to tell me of two other interclass couples that I have. So my curiosity was piqued. What do they think they are accomplishing by "going out" with someone? Here is a paraphrasing of our dialogue:
Ms. G: So, tell me, what does it mean when you say that you're "going out" with someone?
Sally: Well, it means that we're dating!
Ms. G: So you go on dates?
Sally: NO! Hahaha
Ms. G: So you sit with each other at lunch?
Sally: No! *giggle*
Ms. G: So...you hang out at recess?
Sally: Haha nooo!
Ms. G: Then what does it mean?!
Sally: Well...sometimes we hug after school.
Ms. G: *nodding* Ok, I see. So I hugged a boy yesterday...does that mean he's my boyfriend?
Sally: Oh my gosh, noooo!!
I think the thing that I love most about this is that the unlogical logic of 6th graders hasn't changed one bit since I was one of them.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
My Two Cents on Depression
Robin William's death is absolutely tragic and he will be missed by millions of people. I'll admit, I'm not usually one to comment about stuff like this, but this one hit close to home and has left me with lots of thoughts that I actually want to share.
I have a strong belief that there are two different kinds of depression. There's the kind that pretty much everyone deals with from time to time. Life gets tough, things aren't going well, you get discouraged and kind of sad. It sucks.
Then there's the other kind. The one where you don't know why you're unhappy. All you know is that there is a dark cloud over you that won't disappear, no matter how hard you try to outrun it. It follows you and rains on you and makes life more miserable than words can even begin to describe. I like to distinguish this kind of depression from the other by calling it clinical depression. I absolutely believe that it is due to a chemical imbalance in your brain. No matter how hard you fight it, sheer will power will not conquer this kind of depression.
I have suffered from both of these kinds of depression. While the first kind is not pleasant in any way, there is no way to describe the hell that is clinical depression. Nobody on this Earth could ever begin to understand what it's like unless they've experienced it themselves. And then I really think that it's completely different for each and every case. So there is nobody on this Earth that can ever fully understand another person's depression.
I could tell you about how awful it was for me; about how often and how long I would cry; about how I didn't even know why I was really upset; about how broken and helpless I felt; about how fatigued I always was; about how I had no interest in anything except for sleeping because it was an escape from this world. But even if I was able to describe it perfectly in words, you still would have absolutely no idea what it was actually like for me.
You can't judge anyone based on the fact that they've dealt with depression. There isn't anyone who you can "target" as being depressed. There isn't anything that makes someone especially more susceptible to depression than others (except maybe genetics). I was a missionary when I was clinically depressed. There has never been a time in my life when I was living closer to God than during that time, yet I was struck with this illness. It isn't that hard to hide either. You never know who is struggling with depression.
Thankfully my experience never escalated in severity enough to make me contemplate suicide. I never lost hope in there being something better sometime. I don't know if it was my faith or my personality or just what, but I can see how it could be completely different for others.
I was able to get out of the pit though because I sought help. I had Jo and Sara, two of the best companions and friends that I could have had at the time. I went to a counselor. I went to the doctor. I think it was a combination of medication and God's will that healed me, along with time and patience. I was lucky with how short of time I had to deal with it (although I know that doesn't mean I'll never have to deal with it again). Others have to fight it for longer. And it's harder. And it's not fair. And we have no idea what kinds of demons they are facing. I'm not saying that I condone suicide, but there's no way that we know what a person feels like they have to escape from. Because it can be pretty damn terrible and you don't even have a real reason why.
Long story short, I wish everyone would stop talking about depression like they're experts. Nobody knows anything about someone else's depression.
P.S. You can read more about my personal experience with depression here.
I have a strong belief that there are two different kinds of depression. There's the kind that pretty much everyone deals with from time to time. Life gets tough, things aren't going well, you get discouraged and kind of sad. It sucks.
Then there's the other kind. The one where you don't know why you're unhappy. All you know is that there is a dark cloud over you that won't disappear, no matter how hard you try to outrun it. It follows you and rains on you and makes life more miserable than words can even begin to describe. I like to distinguish this kind of depression from the other by calling it clinical depression. I absolutely believe that it is due to a chemical imbalance in your brain. No matter how hard you fight it, sheer will power will not conquer this kind of depression.
I have suffered from both of these kinds of depression. While the first kind is not pleasant in any way, there is no way to describe the hell that is clinical depression. Nobody on this Earth could ever begin to understand what it's like unless they've experienced it themselves. And then I really think that it's completely different for each and every case. So there is nobody on this Earth that can ever fully understand another person's depression.
I could tell you about how awful it was for me; about how often and how long I would cry; about how I didn't even know why I was really upset; about how broken and helpless I felt; about how fatigued I always was; about how I had no interest in anything except for sleeping because it was an escape from this world. But even if I was able to describe it perfectly in words, you still would have absolutely no idea what it was actually like for me.
You can't judge anyone based on the fact that they've dealt with depression. There isn't anyone who you can "target" as being depressed. There isn't anything that makes someone especially more susceptible to depression than others (except maybe genetics). I was a missionary when I was clinically depressed. There has never been a time in my life when I was living closer to God than during that time, yet I was struck with this illness. It isn't that hard to hide either. You never know who is struggling with depression.
Thankfully my experience never escalated in severity enough to make me contemplate suicide. I never lost hope in there being something better sometime. I don't know if it was my faith or my personality or just what, but I can see how it could be completely different for others.
I was able to get out of the pit though because I sought help. I had Jo and Sara, two of the best companions and friends that I could have had at the time. I went to a counselor. I went to the doctor. I think it was a combination of medication and God's will that healed me, along with time and patience. I was lucky with how short of time I had to deal with it (although I know that doesn't mean I'll never have to deal with it again). Others have to fight it for longer. And it's harder. And it's not fair. And we have no idea what kinds of demons they are facing. I'm not saying that I condone suicide, but there's no way that we know what a person feels like they have to escape from. Because it can be pretty damn terrible and you don't even have a real reason why.
Long story short, I wish everyone would stop talking about depression like they're experts. Nobody knows anything about someone else's depression.
P.S. You can read more about my personal experience with depression here.
Friday, August 1, 2014
TGIF
Seriously. There is nobody that says TGIF and means it more than a teacher. Especially a teacher who just finished the first week of school.
Let me tell you...it was a doozy. The highlight of my school days? The two days that some of my students from last year came to visit me. It warmed my heart.
Otherwise, it was a bit hellish. Hmm. Maybe I'm being dramatic.
But I will give you an illustration of how annoying I'm finding it to manage my new class. On Wednesday, after stopping for the nth time to wait for them to be quiet since they didn't seem to care that I was speaking, I had the thought that I needed to get a stop watch. I would wear this stop watch around my neck so I could easily keep track of all of my time that they wasted. In turn, I would then waste their time. Yesterday I was lenient and let them work off their time before recess, but today I made them sit at their desks with their heads down for 8 minutes during recess because that's how much time they wasted this morning. And they already owe me 3 minutes on Monday. I really hope that they catch on soon that I mean business.
In the meantime, I had a lovely night. For dinner I ate some Jalapeno Cheetos, some fruit snacks, and some old chocolate chip cookies. And watched 4 episodes of Castle. Oops. I've found my new binge show. I should probably go to the grocery store and get some real food though.
Let me tell you...it was a doozy. The highlight of my school days? The two days that some of my students from last year came to visit me. It warmed my heart.
Otherwise, it was a bit hellish. Hmm. Maybe I'm being dramatic.
Yes. Definitely being dramatic.
But I will give you an illustration of how annoying I'm finding it to manage my new class. On Wednesday, after stopping for the nth time to wait for them to be quiet since they didn't seem to care that I was speaking, I had the thought that I needed to get a stop watch. I would wear this stop watch around my neck so I could easily keep track of all of my time that they wasted. In turn, I would then waste their time. Yesterday I was lenient and let them work off their time before recess, but today I made them sit at their desks with their heads down for 8 minutes during recess because that's how much time they wasted this morning. And they already owe me 3 minutes on Monday. I really hope that they catch on soon that I mean business.
In the meantime, I had a lovely night. For dinner I ate some Jalapeno Cheetos, some fruit snacks, and some old chocolate chip cookies. And watched 4 episodes of Castle. Oops. I've found my new binge show. I should probably go to the grocery store and get some real food though.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
A Lesson of Year 23
So, today was not the greatest day, let alone birthday. The first day of school for Ms. G was not very fun. I'll spare the details beyond saying I had 5 girls and 13 rambunctious boys today. Heaven help me figure out how to get a handle on them. Soon.
Despite the lameness that the majority of the day held, it ended up being pretty good. My awesome new roommate, Hailee, posted on the ward Facebook page that it was my birthday and invited anyone who felt so inclined to come get ice cream with us. I was a little skeptical as to whether anyone would come. I've briefly met lots of people, but don't really have any actual friends yet, you know? But there were a few of us that met up and went over and I was okay with just getting anyone to come...that's how pathetic my life has been the past year or so! But then...there's like a whole group of people waiting when we get there! I was so happy that I got to meet some new people and that some of the people I've gotten a bit acquainted with were there too. And there was ice cream. Which means it was good. Duh.
But, that wasn't the purpose of this entry. At one point, it was down to just a few of us left, and the conversation turned serious (after our semi-intense conversation about the Star Wars saga, of course). One of the guys turned to me and said, "So Stephanie, what is the life lesson you learned this past year of your life?" Wow, what a fantastically deep question! I responded with a laugh and said, "Well, where to even start?! It was a hard year and I learned a lot." I quickly racked my brain to decide what lesson was worthy to be shared, and I was quite pleased with the one that I came up with:
The love that I had for my students over my first year of teaching was incredible. I had this bunch of impressionable kids that were mine. I was in charge of them. I was responsible for what went into their heads, and also their hearts. And I came to love them so much and care so much for their well being and their future. And around the time that school got out for me in June I had this wonderful aha moment. I realized that I was getting just a glimpse of what the Savior's love for us feels like. He loves us so incredibly much and has done so much for us. More than we can even begin to imagine. And after all He has done, He just has to sit and watch us, hoping that we'll take advantage of His labors, but it's all up to us. But in the end, no matter what, He still loves us unconditionally and just hopes we'll make the right choices. And that's how I felt as a teacher. I had done so much for my kids, but in the end I just had to hope that they'd make the right choices. And that was an incredible thing that I learned this year.
Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that speech insured some future dates.
Despite the lameness that the majority of the day held, it ended up being pretty good. My awesome new roommate, Hailee, posted on the ward Facebook page that it was my birthday and invited anyone who felt so inclined to come get ice cream with us. I was a little skeptical as to whether anyone would come. I've briefly met lots of people, but don't really have any actual friends yet, you know? But there were a few of us that met up and went over and I was okay with just getting anyone to come...that's how pathetic my life has been the past year or so! But then...there's like a whole group of people waiting when we get there! I was so happy that I got to meet some new people and that some of the people I've gotten a bit acquainted with were there too. And there was ice cream. Which means it was good. Duh.
But, that wasn't the purpose of this entry. At one point, it was down to just a few of us left, and the conversation turned serious (after our semi-intense conversation about the Star Wars saga, of course). One of the guys turned to me and said, "So Stephanie, what is the life lesson you learned this past year of your life?" Wow, what a fantastically deep question! I responded with a laugh and said, "Well, where to even start?! It was a hard year and I learned a lot." I quickly racked my brain to decide what lesson was worthy to be shared, and I was quite pleased with the one that I came up with:
The love that I had for my students over my first year of teaching was incredible. I had this bunch of impressionable kids that were mine. I was in charge of them. I was responsible for what went into their heads, and also their hearts. And I came to love them so much and care so much for their well being and their future. And around the time that school got out for me in June I had this wonderful aha moment. I realized that I was getting just a glimpse of what the Savior's love for us feels like. He loves us so incredibly much and has done so much for us. More than we can even begin to imagine. And after all He has done, He just has to sit and watch us, hoping that we'll take advantage of His labors, but it's all up to us. But in the end, no matter what, He still loves us unconditionally and just hopes we'll make the right choices. And that's how I felt as a teacher. I had done so much for my kids, but in the end I just had to hope that they'd make the right choices. And that was an incredible thing that I learned this year.
Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that speech insured some future dates.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Just Another Day
Tomorrow is the first day of school.
Actually, it doesn't really matter to me. It's just another day, right?
Well, not really. Because it's the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
I keep bouncing back and forth between being really kind of excited and being a little nervous. I should really be more nervous, I think. It will probably kick in tonight when I'm going to bed, and I'll be super nervous. But, I think I just have a super good feeling about this year because it's not my first year anymore! I actually have a bit of a clue of what I'm doing. It's still going to be a lot of hard work, but I think I'll be better at managing my time and I do already have a lot of lessons from last year I can reuse.
I even already have a great adventure story that I can tell my kids. I went dumpster diving in the school dumpster. This past week, the sixth grade team had just been chucking anything we didn't want out into the hallway and we were going to decide what to do with it later. Well, during our lunch break one day, the custodian decided to just help us out and he cleared it all out to the dumpster. Which was totally fine and we were really grateful...until we realized that a pile of science poster activities we had just bought from the district media center had been in the hallway and were now gone. Whoops. Our bad. Thankfully the dumpster wasn't very full and it was all just boxes and posters. No smelly lunchroom trash. But as I'm sure you can figure out, I was the hero and saved the day by fishing our moon and solar system posters out of the dumpster. Yet another reason why working custodial for two and half years paid off later in life. No reservations whatsoever about just jumping in a dumpster. Now I should apply that principle to other aspects of my life. No fear, I'm just gonna jump right in! Ha...we'll see.
Tomorrow is also my birthday.
Happy birthday to me.
Actually, it doesn't really matter to me. It's just another day, right?
Well, not really. Because it's the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
I keep bouncing back and forth between being really kind of excited and being a little nervous. I should really be more nervous, I think. It will probably kick in tonight when I'm going to bed, and I'll be super nervous. But, I think I just have a super good feeling about this year because it's not my first year anymore! I actually have a bit of a clue of what I'm doing. It's still going to be a lot of hard work, but I think I'll be better at managing my time and I do already have a lot of lessons from last year I can reuse.
I even already have a great adventure story that I can tell my kids. I went dumpster diving in the school dumpster. This past week, the sixth grade team had just been chucking anything we didn't want out into the hallway and we were going to decide what to do with it later. Well, during our lunch break one day, the custodian decided to just help us out and he cleared it all out to the dumpster. Which was totally fine and we were really grateful...until we realized that a pile of science poster activities we had just bought from the district media center had been in the hallway and were now gone. Whoops. Our bad. Thankfully the dumpster wasn't very full and it was all just boxes and posters. No smelly lunchroom trash. But as I'm sure you can figure out, I was the hero and saved the day by fishing our moon and solar system posters out of the dumpster. Yet another reason why working custodial for two and half years paid off later in life. No reservations whatsoever about just jumping in a dumpster. Now I should apply that principle to other aspects of my life. No fear, I'm just gonna jump right in! Ha...we'll see.
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