When I grow up...

This past weekend I have been thinking a lot about the Fridays events. I have especially thinking about the adults involved and their heroics. I feel proud to be heading toward a profession that produces people like Victoria Soto and Kaitlin Roig.

A couple of weeks ago one of my classmates asked everyone in the class to answer two questions so that she could compile them into a book. The questions were: what does teaching mean to you? and Why do you want to be a teacher? I would like to share my answers here so if you are interested in my reasons for choosing education, here are your answers... (It's a little long and if you decide not to read it I don't mind.)


What does teaching mean to you?

To me teaching means so many things that it is hard to classify: It means heartaches and new beginnings… It means that every year I will have to stay as my students move on but at the same time that I will always have something new to challenge me whether it be students or curricula.

It means hard work… I will constantly be working, there is no way that I can just forget my work at the end of the day when the work I am doing has an influence on multiple lives.

It means creative thinking… I can walk through the changing leaves in the fall or the flowers blooming in the spring and use those experiences to create a lesson that will have the students invested in the lesson the whole time!

It means variety… It means that I can laugh, cry, and love all in one day maybe even the space of one hour. I never know what a student might surprise me with but I know that I will hear what my students think and have good times as they share their ideas and opinions with me.

It means Challenges…It does not mean that every day will be easy or that every day will be hard. It means that I have the ability to help one student with their classwork while considering how to alter the next activity to the students’ needs.

It means that I am important… I will never go out of style because no technology can bring as much to the classroom than a teacher who loves his/her students. Students need to have at least one person to look to and I need to work to be that person.

Ultimately to me teaching means… I can make a difference in the life of someone else. If I can succeed in doing that for one person I will feel successful as a teacher.

Why do you want to be a teacher?

I want to be a teacher for many reasons: because I love seeing people learn new things, I love seeing the ‘light bulb’ come on as a difficult concept is understood, I love working with the students that are so excited about everything. But after considering everything I want to be a teacher because it helps me to better understand the Atonement. It is amazing to me how quickly I can fall in love with any group of students that I work with. I can just imagine how much Jesus Christ loves us and I can sense a portion of how he feel for us. I would do anything for my students and I want to give them all the skills they need to succeed. I want to share a scripture that perfectly explains what I am trying to say: Mosiah 28:3 “Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” I feel the same and I want to do anything I can to make a difference in my students’ lives.

When I grow up, I want to make a difference!

For those of you that made it through, here is a great clip!

Moments That Matter Most

I'll be short and sweet today but I just want to say how thankful I am for the time we have on this Earth and the knowledge that I have of life after this Earth. I hope that we may all work to make the best of our situations and learn to devote our time to others! Here are a couple of videos that I have loved this week and I hope you enjoy them too...

Heartbreak...

My heart hurts…

I was on the internet today to check my email and I saw the news. There was a shooter at an elementary school. There was not yet any news about how many had died but there was news that one shooter was dead while another was at large. After reading that article I continued to search for further information concerning this tragedy. I later found that the counts were high, so high that the deaths are much greater than the Columbine shooting. (here is the CNN report)

20 children and 6 adults…

First Graders I can’t imagine how devastating this is for the parents and families of those who were killed in this massacre. I am sick to my stomach at the thought of this happening in an elementary school where we strive to make our students feel safe.

I am heartbroken at what has happened and I am praying for those immediately effected by this tragedy. I know that Heavenly Father is looking after everyone involved and that his angels are helping the families and the children. I was talking to a woman today who shared with me her idea of the other side of things: “I often imagine the other side of things can you imagine how Heavenly Father and Christ are up there breaking the news of what has happened and preparing a welcoming for these poor children and adults who are soon to be arriving?” I think that that is a sweet image to keep in mind. I want to focus on the fact that those who have died are being taken care of on the other side. It is okay to mourn their loss but it is also important to accept that they are now in the hands of the Lord and he will take good care of them.

I just saw there was also a stabbing in China, I just feel so sickened.

I just saw this video that someone made and thought I would add it (Rather than take out the other)...

Almost there/Catch up

As for the countdown from last year (seen here) I am behind but I have finished 6 of my 7 tests... The 7th will take place Friday morning. Until then I have lots of time for work and cleaning and then I can enjoy my 3 week break!!!

By the way, last week my ward had a talent show I did something with my group (somehow the sound got off) and then I did a solo (I didn't have much practice but here it is)

P.S. I miss my first graders!!!!

Writing to kids

The last three days in my literacy class my teacher had a special assignment for us. Two days we got to be Santa's helpers and one day we edited a students paper... These kids were so cute I thought I would share.

The paper that I edited was titled "Bob Likes Banana's" It was a story about a monkey named Bob who loved to eat bananas but ate them with the peel on so when his cousins Elvis and Presley decided to come visit he was nervous that they would laugh at him because of the way he ate bananas. He explained this to his best friend Marley who said that Bob's cousins shouldn't care how he eats the bananas because it is his choice. Bob agrees and invites his friend to come visit while his cousins are in town. In the end Bob, Marley, Elvis, and Presley all eat their bananas together. How funny is that! From a third grader... I can't wait to have my own class.

On the second to last day of class we wrote letters to some second graders answering their letters to Santa. One student addressed his letter "Dear Santa (Mom and Dad)".  These students were asking for the craziest things and the sad thing is I bet most of them will get what they want and it is all electronics! Do we really need that much technology cluttering our lives? I understand it to a point but when it is the only thing you want I think it is a problem. (Sorry got sidetracked)

The Last day of class we were asked to answer letters from a fifth grade classroom. I know what you are thinking but they all wrote the letters to Santa. In the letters they explained what they wanted for Christmas and why they should get it. At the end of the letter I read the girl asked what Santa's favorite cookie was so that she could make it for him, so cute! But I think the funniest letter was the letter that my friend had to answer. The student had asked for a Blue Ipad mini, a smart phone with unlimited data/talk/text, and a large pillow pet. She said she should get the Blue Ipad mini because blue is a good color and it is cheaper than a regular Ipad. She deserved the phone because she didn't have one and she deserved the large pillow pet because she had a small one but she wanted a big one. Sounds like some pretty good reasoning, right?

I just think it is funny what students come up with and I am so excited to get the chance to work with some older students next semester and have those new experiences!

Also as a sidenote... Look at this cake I made for Megan Mitton's surprise party! It is a (homemade) three layer devils food cake with an almond frosting and marshmallow fondant and it was delicious! The black square on the front was going to be a missionary nametag but I'm just not that talented ;)