Spring Break!

It's been an interesting spring break already, and I'm only 4 days into it. Wednesday and Thursday I had parent-teacher conferences at East. For the most part, things went really well. It was a loooooong two days though. After conferences each night, the teachers went out. Thursday I actually convinced some of my friends to come out with us. It was really fun, and I'm really going to miss those teachers.

Friday I drove home. I ended up taking home my friend's sister. The drive was fine until we got to Kansas City. It never fails that when I go through KC instead of around it I hit an accident or wreck. Of course we did, and we sat in traffic for a good 30 to 45 minutes. Normally, it wouldn't have been so bad, except I was supposed to be in Topeka to see the school I'm interviewing for. So, I finally go her dropped off and then raced to Topeka. I talked to the principal for a bit and he showed me the school, and I met a teacher or two. The school was very nice, and had a lot going for it. I interview tomorrow, so we'll see what comes of that. I toured the high school though, and I'm pretty sure I'm applying for a middle school job. I'm not even sure that I'm really a good candidate, but we'll see after tomorrow. After I got home, I went to the drive-in theater (Yes, we still have one!) with my friend and her little brothers. We saw Night at the Museum and Eragon. They were ok - I'm glad I didn't pay full price to see either one of them in the theater though.

Saturday I went out to the farm and helped them burn the pastures and grassland. Everything was fine until a gust of wind took something that was burning and started someone else's pasture on fire. It was kind of scary! We ended up burning part of two more people's fields... fortunately most people out there don't care too much. It was more exciting than I was expecting. We celebrated birthdays later, after the fun with fire.

Yesterday and today weren't too eventful- pretty much just hanging out with the family. It was gorgeous yesterday - 70 and sunny, but today it's been raining, which isn't any fun. I guess I could be working on my mystery unit for my 6th graders, but I think I have some time to get that all figured out. :)

Why Don't They Have Barns?

So, the other night my friends and I were all just sitting around talking, watching the snow fall outside and definitely enjoying the fact that we weren’t in it… I said something about how the farmers in Western Kansas/Eastern Colorado had lost about 400 head of cattle or more (that’s over 400 cows) due to the large ice/snow storm we had in December. I was saying it for sympathy, for the plight of those poor farmers, but apparently everyone else found it funny… funny because we “don’t have barns” for our cows. No, we don’t have barns because our cows are range (read, beef) cows, not dairy cows. They don’t need barns, they do just fine in the pastures. The reason the last storm was so devastating was because we had inches of ice and then three feet of snow in a few hours and the farmers couldn’t get to the cows to feed or water them due to the conditions of the road. For those of you who don’t know, Kansas does not get that much snow during the year, much less from one storm, so it was really unexpected. Generally, cows can handle cold weather, ice, and snow, but not that much of it that quickly. Anyways, I don’t know why it bothered me so much, it just did. I was concerned for the farmers and the economy because it’s very hard to come back from a loss that big, but all they could think about was the fact that we didn’t have barns for our cows. I guess it depends on how close to home things hit as to whether or not you find them serious and something to think about, or funny…as my friends apparently did.

I went to inservice yesterday for student teaching. It was really fun trying to get there in 4 inches of snow! We just got the class lists and the seating charts set up. We had a faculty meeting and I met a ton of people I’m not going to remember…. I officially start tomorrow, and I start teaching Romeo and Juliet on Monday. I’m kind of excited because I think my lessons are really fun and interesting, but kind of worried because I’m not sure how the students are going to react. My teacher sometimes makes it sound like they’re all just stupid and that I’m going to have to go slow or “dumb down” my lessons… Sometimes it gets to me how negative teachers are about their students. I feel like we should always be looking for the positive and trying to help them succeed however we can, not focus on what they CAN’T do. Maybe that’s just me talking through my naivety, but I still think there has to be some positive to outweigh all the negative that I hear.

Today is an “off” day, though I do have to go tutor and get some more R&J handouts and planning done. Should be fun, I guess we’ll see what tomorrow brings!

Hmmm

I don't want to go to bed. I didn't fall asleep last night until probably 3 in the morning, and that was kind of annoying. My downstairs neighbors are being a little quieter now than they were about an hour ago, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm not looking forward to student teaching and having to hear the parties every Wednesday and Thursday night...


I miss having people here. School doesn't start until Tuesday, so most people aren't coming back till Sunday or Monday. I have a student teaching orientation thing on Sunday though, so I had to be back. Plus, the weather is getting really bad at home, so I had to come back early. Maybe I already said that, I don't know.


Here are some pictures from Christmas...

These are my two best friends before a "night on the town." We were trying to find bars to go to to celebrate Adria's (the one on the left) bachlorette party in July. We discovered Wichita is dead. Hopefully we find something, because otherwise we're going to have to travel...









This is a picture of all the grandkids and great-grandkids that were at Christmas for my dad's side of the family. My grandma is in the middle. There are some missing, but this is the majority of them. I love having a big family... there's always something exciting going on.






My little (ok, not so little) sister, my cousin, and I handing out presents at Christmas on my mom's side.

My godbaby opening his presents.

I went to dance today. It was nice to finally dance again, though tomorrow I will probably be sore. Oh well.



Looking forward to this weekend and next week. I'm a little nervous, but excited all the same.

Freedom Writers

Last night I went to see Freedom Writers. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good movie, though slow at times. To me, it is almost the epitome of why I want to be a teacher. I want to make a difference in the lives of the students in my classroom, I want to be able to reach them and get them interested in learning. Erin Gurwell did what I want to do despite the odds stacked against her and lack of support from the other teachers in her department. Half the time I was appalled at what the other teachers were telling her, because they did not believe her students could succeed in high school because they came in with poor reading scores. Unfortunately, some teachers today still think that way and expect those students to fail, instead of believing that they can succeed. I hope I never turn into that type of teacher. I believe everyone can succeed if given the chance and the support they need.

The movie was inspiring, in that I begin student teaching on Monday. I have Romeo and Juliet pretty much planned, I just have to finish creating hand-outs, quizzes, assignment sheets, etc. As much as I wasn't looking forward to teaching Shakespeare, I actually think this unit may be kind of fun. At least I hope so. If not, I'm only going to be there for half the semester.

It finally feels like winter in Des Moines. I drove back in the gross rain today, but at least I missed the ice and snow. I guess I'll be spending the next few days getting things ready, and then onto the last step before graduation and job hunting!

Step 1 - Done

I finally got Romeo and Juliet planned this week. Now I just have to write the quizzes, tests, study guides, assignment sheets, and whatever else that is needed to make those six weeks successful and the students won't be entirely bored with Shakespeare. At first I was a little apprehensive about teaching Shakespeare, mostly because I wasn't the biggest fan of my college Shakespeare course, but the more I plan this unit, the more excited about it I am becoming. I think it will be fun, as long as I can get the students interested in it. I'm focusing a lot on the language, so we'll see how that goes. We may have to switch halfway through...

I'm really ready to go back. Not so much for school to start, but just to be back with my friends. Most of mine here are leaving today or have already left, and the ones that are here are busy with work and school of their own. It's nice to come home every once in awhile, but also nice to go back to friends and something to do!

Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone. This year looks to be a bit more exciting than last year - student teaching, job searching, graduating, watching my friends get married this summer, starting my FIRST teaching job... going where God and life take me. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm scared out of my mind. I don't really feel like I'm ready to be an adult, esp. since many of my friends get to stay semi-adults for the next year or two. C'est la vie. It just feels like it's all suddenly moving so fast.

I spent New Year's Eve with my two best friends and their boyfriends (mine was in Milwaukee). It was pretty fun. We ate a lot of food, drank, played games, went outside and shot off the popper fireworks (the ones where you pull the string) with one of my friend's little brothers, and had a champagne toast at midnight. All in all, a successful party.

Here's to an awesome 2007 and a restful two weeks before I have to go back to school.

Merry Christmas

It seems to me that the holidays change every year. When I was little, it was definitely all about the presents and what Santa brought me. Now, I still look forward to the presents, but don't expect as much from them. I'm happy that people thought to think about me and get me something, be it small or large. It's much more about being with the people I love and care about, even if they drive me nuts every once in awhile.

It's been a pretty quiet weekend - wedding on Saturday, church on Sunday, and basically just hanging out at my house with my family watching movies. Man, I've been a slug all weekend. It's kind of nice though, to just be able to sit around and do nothing and not worry about anything else that supposedly needs to be done.

This week should be interesting. I think my best friends and I are going to go check out downtown this week so we know what's available for my friend's bachlorette party in June, if indeed, there is anything to do here in Wichita... I'm looking forward to it though, at least it will be more entertaining than planning for Romeo and Juliet.

'Tis the Season

So, I'm back at home for about a month. So far it's been kind of crazy! I had Christmas on Sunday with my dad's side of the family. It was pretty fun. This year I was a "kid" so I had a present that was just for me and not part of the white elephant gift exchange. My cousin bought me a red bag/purse thing that will be handy for student teaching! Other than that, this week so far has been busy finishing decorating the tree (since no one seems to do it but me), doctor's appointments, and last-minute shopping. I finally got to see my two best friends and my godson today - I guess we're doing Christmas tomorrow night since we all have other plans for the weekend. Each year Christmas changes just a little bit, but it's a nice change, if that makes any sense.

I finally figured out my new iPod shuffle that my boyfriend bought me for Christmas. I have to be the most technologically challenged person alive... It's really fun though, I just wish my ears were a little bigger so the earphones would stay in :)