End of the Year

Well, I have made it to the end of the school year! I have one more week left of my first year of teaching and what a crazy year it was! We have had some crazy moments and some great moments as well. We have finished our end of year testing which was an interesting experience in and of itself. Never have I felt more stressed about something I had no control over as I did for those three weeks of the school year. The kids did very well and I am very proud of all of them for working hard and doing there best.

Through all of the craziness that makes up the last month of school, I have come to realize that my crazy job teaching part 6th grade and part 4th grade was a blessing for the entire school. During the first week of testing, one of the fourth grade teachers lost her husband after a long fight with liver disease. She was gone for a week and a half and it was great to be able to take her class and help out. Then, just this morning, one of the sixth grade teachers lost her father to heart failure and I am now sitting in with the sixth graders. I am all over the place but it is nice to be able to reduce their stress level in these hard times.

Now on to the good news..although it took a while to become good news. After months of stessing and worrying, I have now been offered a full-time regular position teaching the fourth grade here in Provo at the same school. Originally, I was offered a crazy 2nd/5th/6th split job and I was considering moving to a new district. However, with much help from the staff at the school and many prayers, I was offered the fourth grade job. I am really excited about it and really happy to be able to stay (at the school not in Provo)

New Year

I know that it has been a new year for almost three weeks now, but oh well. I haven't blogged in a while merely for the fact that I had nothing interesting to say. Life has been pretty boring lately.

I went home to Tooele for Christmas break (which was not nearly long enough I might add.) It was a good break and Christmas was great this year. It was nice to see my family for longer than a weekend.

School has been going really well. I finally got my "New" eMINTS classroom. I now have 18 personal desktop mac's (which is supposed to equal out to one computer for every two kids, but with my special circumstances, it ends up being one for every student exactly). Using them is like learning to teach all over again. I really have no idea what I am doing, but it is slowly getting easier to incorporate them into my lessons every day. I wouldn't say that I love having them, but they are nice tools some of the time. I still have to attend a 3.5 hour class on most Thursday nights to learn how to use them, which gets long in a hurry. My kids are still as cute as ever, even when they try and set me up with their dads or other teachers at the school. They are more interested in my love life than I am! :)

On the note of school, I had a chat with my principal this week about the upcoming school year. I have decided that if they cannot offer me a full-time, regular classroom situation position, then I will apply elsewhere. I really don't enjoy living in Provo that much and if I have to move schools, I might as well get out of Happy Valley. The dream place would be Logan or Cache Valley school districts (and through the grapevine I have heard they are hoping to hire a lot of new teachers this year.) Either way, I feel like I am starting all over again and am right back were I was a year ago. I love Provost Elementary, but I can't do this teach a group of kids here and there thing. I'm only half way through the year and I am tired of it. I want a class that I can bond with and that will be mine. I want everyone I work with to treat me like an equal...not a second rate aide that happens to have a teaching degree (and not everyone here thinks that, but the select few make it clear they don't think I am capable).

Sorry this has taken the form of a Christmas newsletter. I did not intend for that to happen. Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post :)

Feels like going home!

I fully expect tomorrow to be one of the best days ever! Merely for the fact that I get to go to my first Aggie Basketball game of the year. This may not sound like a big deal, but believe me, it is. One cannot fully comprehend the energy and excitement that courses through your body as you stand in those cramped, ugly orange and yellow chairs, awaiting the time those big doors slam open, the boys run out, Big Blue drops from the jumbo-tron, and the entire student body starts waving their arms, "herding and milking the cows". There is no where else on earth when so many people are united in saying "I believe that we will win!" Does it matter who we play? Does it matter how good they are? No. Chances are, if you enter that building to play, you WILL lose.

There are no words to do my feelings justice. I will be there, loud and proud. Living in Provo, I hear comments all the time about how demoralizing and unsportsmanlike we are. We do not attack anyone as a person. We simply get inside their heads and become the 6th man on that floor. There's a reason we wait for hours on end every game day. We take our job very seriously.

And, as excited as I am for this game against Weber tomorrow night, I am even more excited for the game this coming Wednesday. It is not in the Spectrum. It is in Provo. I don't care if we lose every other games this season. If we can win, in Provo, against BYU on their home court, it will be one of the most glorious moments in the history of USU basketball. Once again, I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN! And I can't wait to show them the scoreboard.

Utah State! Hey, Aggies all the way! Go Aggies! Go Aggies! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Sunday Bliss

Today has been a really good Sunday. I always love Fast and Testimony Sunday's. My day started out early with Welfare Meeting. This was a new experience for me and I really had no idea what I was doing. To help the matters, I was the only member of the Presidency there...not exactly ideal. Next week is our Ward Conference and to put things mildly, I didn't know nearly as much as I should have. However, this was just another one of those "Don't Panic, it's ok." situations. No matter how badly I screw up, the Lord is always there to compensate for the rest of it.

I also attended the CES broadcast tonight. I have two things to say about this. The first is on the actual broadcast itself. The second on the people attending the broadcast.

Elder Ballard had a fantastic message that I so needed to hear. I love the way the Lord always knows exactly what we need to hear and finds a way to tell us. I would also like to mention the 1000+ choir from the Logan Institute did an amazing job! They looked and sounded fantastic!! It was so exciting to see people I knew singing.

Now, considering the broadcast was held at the Marriot Center on the BYU campus you would think the people attending would know how to behave and act properly. Then again, this is Provo and the people here continue to amaze me. I was always taught that when an apostle or other general authority is in the building you stand when they enter and leave the room. You also wait for them to leave before you do so. When half the congregation stands and leaves before Elder Ballard stood up, I thought I was going to die! Really!?! Come on! Is having so much access to general authorities diminishing the respect you have for them? Do you not realize that he is an Apostle of the Lord and deserves the utmost respect we can give? I was SO embarrassed for those people.

I love Sunday's that leave you feeling refreshed and ready for the next week...and with my upcoming week, I'm going to need it. Parent teacher conferences here I come!

Fall Days

Can you say crazy?!? That is the word that describes life right now!

School is going really well. I love the kids I have and I love the other teachers I work with. There are obviously some students that are, lets say...more difficult, but most of them don't come from very good homes and school is the only semi-positive thing in their lives. Most of them are just adorable and so cute. I have quickly found that being a teacher makes for some long days, but I am also finding that they are totally worth it.
I have been slightly roped into a new technology program called eMINTS. By December, I will have a computer for every other student in my class (2 students per computer). I have training two times a month and those days are especially long. However, there are 3 other teachers from my school doing it with me, so it is good for getting to know them outside of school.

To make life as a first year teacher even crazier than normal, I have been called as the 1st Counselor in one of the Relief Society's in my ward. I wasn't so sure about it at first because I have never had a calling in any part of Relief Society before and I have NO idea what I am doing. However, the other girls in the presidency are great and we have fantastic ladies in our ward. It has been really good for social reasons as well. I am getting to know a lot of people.

I've lived in Provo now for almost 3 months and I can officially say, most people are crazy...everything you hear about Provo, well, it's true. Here are some things I have learned:

1. Don't go to the temple on a Saturday morning for baptisms- it takes you over 3 hours.

2. Wal-Mart is the official place for PDA. Really, I don't care if you are engaged, married, or pregnant and I especially don't want to see it while grocery shopping.

3. Leaving the "Just Married" decorations on your car for over two weeks=tacky!

4. Please don't assume that because I have graduated and am working I have served a mission and gone through the temple... and no, there is nothing wrong with me because of that.

5 (and most important). Yes, I live in Provo. N,o I do not like BYU. In fact, I will cheer against them any chance I get. I wear my Aggie apparel proudly and will happily admit to standing in line for hours to see USU beat BYU.

Parent Teacher Conferences

It's days like this that my job absolutely sucks. Especially my teaching position right now. I am technically a full time teacher and therefore required to be present at parent teacher conferences. Problem is, I don't have my own students to see. I have 10 students from two different classrooms. So at the moment, I am sitting in a rock hard, little person chair in the hallway between the two classrooms waiting for students to show up. There really is no schedule, they just come whenever. I wait for my students to come, go into the conference, sit there pretty much silently, and then return to my chair in the hallway. At least the parents get to see me. Although, most of them look at me with disdain and I can practically hear the worrisome thoughts and the get the "you're so young and new" look. Most of them don't understand that even though I don't have my own class, I am NOT an aide or a paraprofessional. I AM a highly qualified, certified, legit teacher that knows what she is doing. It's ok that I haven't taught for twenty years, in fact that may make me better...
Needless to say, I am bored out of my mind and really wish I had brought a book with me or something to do. I can't even be in my room to work on things in there...

Teachers make the worst students

Today was my first official day as an employee of the Provo City School District. I have my first "teacher class." Today's lesson was Literacy Development and Small group management. The first two hours (of seven) were very educational. I learned how to use my teacher's manual and basal reading program to its full educational potential (not necessarily what they lay out in the book). The program they use is very similar to what is used in Logan School District.
However, the next 5 hours proceeded to be a waste of time. It was a testament that Utah State provides their education majors with the finest education in the state. Everything that was taught, which it seemed most did not know, was a review for me. Most of it I had learned as early as Level II at USU. For the first time, I truly appreciate the education I received.
As I sat in this giant room looking around, I realized teachers make THE WORST students! Have are texting, the other have are on their computers fooling around. Very few of us were actually paying attention. I could hear several side conversations going on. How many of us would actually put up with that in our classrooms? Not one of us, that's how many! (Although, I do have to admit, I was one of those texting, and occasionally talking :)
Now there are just 2 more days of this and I can get back in my classroom! 7 more days til the kids come!