Take that

This is me [figuratively] punching my confusion in the face.



You don't think I have it in me, huh? Maybe you should talk to my home teacher.

I'm just not exactly going to let my worries and fears control my life! Hiiiiiiiiiiya!

(Hopefully when you read that, it sounded like a ninja noise.)

For the record

Just for the record, there are three books I could read over and over again.

1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting...there is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

2. The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

"My Father in Heaven knows that I have done nothing wrong. I know that God lives and He will be the proper judge of this matter. Until our happy union in a better world, I remain your friend and brother in the gospel."

Watch out. This book, based on the true story of a Hitler Youth, WILL make you cry.

3. Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert.

"The best exercise for the human heart is reaching down to lift someone else up."

SO good!

Teaching is hard.

It's really, honestly hard. It's time consuming. I wake up at 5, plan, get to school by 8, teach until 3:15, plan until 5, come home, eat dinner, and then plan again until 9:30 or 10 and do it all again the next day.

It's not just the time commitment that is hard, though. It's the caring. I care so much about those students. I want them to achieve their full potential, so I'm going to do everything I can to get them there. It's emotionally draining, really.

So it bothers me when people who are not involved in education want to have great debates. I love these quotes I found in the Readers' Digest...

"If we teach small children, don't tell us that our jobs are "so cute" and that you wish you could glue and color all day long."

"We take on the role of Mother, Father, psychologist, friend, and adviser every day. Plus, we're watching for learning disabilities, issues at home, peer pressure, drug abuse, and bullying."

Yeah, there's a lot to think about. So don't argue with me about No Child Left Behind, because I see the repercussions (good and bad) of that act reflected in the eyes of my students every single day.

I don't know everything about education--I'm definitely a rookie teacher--but I know enough and I care a lot. So let's stick to our respective areas of expertise!

Yes. Teaching is hard. But I honestly, truly love it!

EB

So I have this friend. Shocking, I know. I tell him everything, I'm sure more than he would like to hear. And somehow he always knows exactly what to say in response! The best thing is that with one sentence he can both censure and inspire me. How does he do it? Does it have anything to do with the fact that he is British?

Plus, he has nicknamed me Natkat. Does it really get any better than that?

In all seriousness, I am very grateful for a friend who doesn't beat around the bush! There is one piece of advice I try to take daily: "Chill the heck out...twice!"

Halloween...

I loved spending it with my students. Loved the costumes (we had four angry birds, some baseball players, princesses, those creepy people in black robes, and zombies, to name a few), loved seeing their excitement, loved having some mothers come in a put on a little party for the kids...

...didn't necessarily love how crazy the day was. The kids were so excited and happy and it was great, but it was hard to get them to focus.

That's okay, though! They're only 10. I think it's okay for them to have a day at school where their main purpose is to be with people who care about them and have fun.

It was hard for me to get used to that idea, but I did love spending time with my students in a setting other than a math lesson or test or something.

Oh plus, someone brought in a class pet for us on Halloween. Yes, three jumping spiders and a wasp (the wasp was for the spiders to eat). Aren't we lucky??

They're actually pretty cool to look at.

Fall Dance Fest

This isn't a picture of the dance festival--this was at our field trip! Those three ladies are my support system and team at school. They are AMAZING. I am definitely very blessed to be working with them. They are always willing to share ideas, help me think through difficult concepts, give advice, help me calm down and see the bigger picture, and they even have taken care of me when I was sick with a migraine or when I almost fainted in front of my class. They are wonderful and I am so grateful for them!

Anyway...

Today was our school dance festival. For the past month or so, every grade has been practicing and perfecting a dance to perform for the school and parents.

Our fifth graders performed the Ukrainian Koza, which I learned at BYU thanks to the folk dance teachers and that red headed TA that I dated.

The kids were fabulous! I am seriously so proud of them. We worked really long and hard on the dance, and it wasn't easy! They had to switch partners five times! When we performed the dance today, our partnering got a little off but the kids smiled and pretended like nothing was wrong. What troopers!

Even the kids who were incredibly nervous about performing went out and killed the dance! One boy in particular was almost in tears he was so anxious. After talking it through with his mom, we told him he didn't have to dance if he was too scared (even though we wanted him to!) but the choice was his.

As we filed into our seats at the beginning of the festival, I asked him what he was going to do. All he could say was, "I'm thinking...I'm thinking..." and wring his hands. It was so sad! We were the second group to dance. As we got into our circle, this little boy's face was white, his eyes were wide, and I could tell he was terrified.

After the dance we chatted. I told him how proud I was that he got up there and did it, even though it was hard. He could not stop smiling! I loved it so much. He was SO proud that he did it!

I thought this photo was okay to post since it doesn't really show faces, and I'm not using names. You can see him leaning on his knees, deep in thought.

I love that my students do hard things. I love seeing how happy they get when something finally clicks, or when they accomplish something difficult. I love teaching so darn much!

Me and Stephanie at the dance festival. The weather was perfect!!

Dating Don'ts: Part 4

I know I just barely posted 5 minutes ago but I had a "dating don't" pop into my head and I have to post it now or else I'll forget! Ah!

Dating Don't #10: Don't ask me to tell you about my past relationships on a blind date. Because I'm not gonna talk about that stuff with you until I trust you. And I don't trust you on a blind date.

I told you our ward likes to have dance parties.

So, our first stake dance ever was scheduled for this month. Our ward was put in charge, for obvious reasons (think DJ Hawk. No really, I think that's the reason).

We had a BLAST. After a month of planning, we all met at the church yesterday at five...shopped for the food--veggies and candy...set up...glowsticks in balloons hanging from fishing line on the ceiling--awesome. Cut out paper shapes (think Saved By the Bell) to put on the walls--not SO awesome, but still looked pretty cool, especially in our photo booth.

We finished decorating at 8:45, which gave us just enough time to go home, change, and run back to the dance!

The dance was sweet. We had a better turnout than we thought, people actually dressed up, and everyone was WAY into it! It was a success.

The dance ended at 11:45, we cleaned up fairly quickly, and I was in bed by 2am! Just like 7 hours at the church...nbd...it was worth it because it was fun.

My Presidency --I love these girls!

My Presidency + the EQP--we love him SO much.

The 33rd ward group!

Bishop let me wear his white rim sunglasses! It was a just in time, last minute gem. Makes me want to cry.

Our ward with the stellar DJ, Bishop Hawkins.

What a night, and what a ward! Don't want it to change, but I guess that's inevitable!