Survivor

Well I did it. I survived week one of student teaching... and I haven't event had any students in the classroom yet. I am in resource right now so we have just been doing placement testing and holding meetings all week. My brains want to fall out of my head. The ear wax I haven't had time to clean out of my ears is keeping them in. My experience this week with scheduling everything, and watching my cooperating teacher and the one million things she has to keep straight has convinced me I NEVER want to teach resource again after this. I talked to mom today and told her I better not end up in Utah after this. She said maybe that is where the Lord want me to be and I need to do what he says. I said I can do that, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. I really am enjoying the experience though. He is the latest trial in my life though. Finding a tote. What is it with bags? Carrying a million things in and out of school everyday has not been fun and a tote would make my life a million times easier so I logged onto etsy (thank you Rebecca!) to find the perfect one. I found 597 perfect ones. JK. But I did find one lady who makes all sorts of things in Arabic and I just had to email her and tell her how much I love her. You have to check her things out. Maybe I will be the only one who appreciates them. I am coveting the whale bag. it isn't as big as I want my tote to be, but I might just have to get it anyway. What do you think?
http://www.robbinsmarye.com/shop.html

Oh how opposite I was today

Today was a temple dedication here in Utah, so church was canceled for the entire state so the dedication could be broadcast. This meant that I had no church becasue I just moved into a new ward and can;t get a ticket. I just looked at my calender and realized that yesterday was the start of Ramadan. It is a holiday that Muslim celebrate Muhammad recieving the Koran. It is a time of great didcation and worship as they fast during the daylight hours and feast at sundown. Muslim read the whole Koran throughout the month and say extra prayers. This goes on for a month. It is also the time one year ago I arrived in The Holy Land. I miss the 12 million calls to prayer throughout the day and night. The partying going on at night. The green lights all over the Muslim parts of the city. I know I say this WAY too much, but, can I go back yet?
(The picture is of the Old City decorated with lights to celebrate Ramadan)

Keep your fingers crossed

Well, we might have gotten it all sorted out. I went to the faculty meeting on Tuesday and spent the day getting to know the kindergarten teacher and falling in love with the idea of teaching kindergarten because I couldn't get a hold of BYU-I to tell me differently. I finally got a hold of them in the afternoon and the secretary said she would try and work it out for me to stay in the kindergarten class. Not too much longer she called me back and said NEVERMIND! Apparently to be certified to teach up to 3rd grade I actually have to have some experience with children above K. Makes sense, but I was still disappointed. So I havd to break the news to the kindergarten teacher and feel like a total idiot for the mix up I didn't make. So, up until I went to school for an IEP meeting today, I have had no idea what I am doing. I went to the meeting and was able to talk to the Principal afterwards and he said he would start talking to the other teachers to see if anyone would take me. I apologized for the mix up and hoped it wouldn't reflect badly on me. So now I am teaching Spec. Ed. in a resource room for children K-6 for 7 weeks and then 3rd grade for 6 weeks. I am a little worried about the 3rd grade thing but I guess I will survive!

Why I am SO over BYU-Idaho

Yes. I am over it. I am tired of them making me feel like a failure that I am disorganized and then they can't even get their act together. So several of the other student teachers that live in my apartment complex told me they got Kindergarter too and we were so excited. Then I found out today that BYU-Idaho found out they got that placement and were told that we are not allowed to student teach kindergarten so they are getting their placements changed. Apparently some states don't accept kindergarten as true elementary teaching experience (kind of like it is preschool) so we have to teach 1-3 in order to be able to get our degree. I, however, have heard NOTHING from BYU-Idaho and have decided I better call them tomorrow and figure what the heck I am supposed to be doing because I am just ready to be done now. I am SO SAD! My cooperating teacher called me today and she sound so fun and sweet and she sounded so sad when I told her there would be a good chance I wouldn't get to be with her. So, BOO to BYU-Idaho and your inability to do something very important right.

Me and Boo Radley

At the beginning of the summer, I promised I would share entertaining stories from work, and so far I haven't done such a great job at that. Let me indulge myself and share todays adventure. I work a lot in Salem with a family I absolutely adore and I love escaping to the little country town. The girl I work with loves to just stand on one spot in the kitchen so her mom always tried to leave some sort of project for me to do to help the time to go by. Lately it has been baking projects. At first it made me nervous because I have not baked much and everything she makes turns out to beautifully and delicious. Her recipes have turned out to be simple and so yummy! Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, zucchini bread, and chocolate zucchini cake have been this weeks entertainment. I am loving learning how to make all these things and am feeling confident that maybe one day I might be able to be somewhat domestic.
After working in Salem, my boss asked me to take a boy for a few hours because his usual staff had to go to some training. When I picked him up I was a little nervous because he is so much bigger and stronger than me. He has autism and is non verbal so that didn't make things any easier. At first he wouldn't get in my car because he was convinced we were getting in the wrong one (he had never been in my car and had no idea who I was) He just kept grabbing my hand and draggin me around the parking lot. I finally lured him to my car with a cookie. We headed to the park to try and pass the time and I figured I could keep a close eye on him because he also likes to dart (he is one fast skipper). His staff warned me that he loves bathrooms so as soon at I saw the huge bathroom sign on the building in the middle of the park I tried to distract him away from it and get interested in other things. No dice. Once he locked his sights on it there was no turning back. Before I knew it, I was half way hanging into the mens restroom hoping there was nobody else in there, trying to coax a huge teenage boy to pull his pants up and quit flushing all the toilets.
I finally got him out and we started walking around the pond at the park. You know the SNL skit where the cheerleader sticks her hands in her arm pits and then smells her hands when she gets nervous? Well imagine that except with a butt crack instead of arm pits. Yeah. My hand sanitizer was very well used today. Don't worry, the story has a happy ending.
The more time we spent together, the more I realized I didn't need to be nervous, I needed to figure out how to reach him. He liked to run because he liked to be chased. So I flipped the tables around. I started running. He laughed as he caught up to me but then stopped when he realized it wasn't much fun chasing someone. After a few times of this, he no longer tried to run. He started having more eye contact with me and interacting more. I had some bubbles in my purse from a wedding reception I went to. He loved to watch me spaz out and try and pop the bubbles and he blew them.
I call him Boo Radley because he reminded me of the character from To Kill A Mockingbird. I was scared at first and didn't understand a lot of what he was doing, but I just needed to explore his world a little bit before I could expect him to try and participate in ours. By the end I got him signing simple signs (something I don't think his usual staff even know hw can do. Yes, I am bragging about myslef) All in all, it made for an interesting 2 1/2 hours and one more story to add to the books.

Just Kidding!

Well, I no longer feel guilty for all those times I procrastinated or got things mixed up while at college because I am realizing a lot of it comes from BYU-Idaho's lack of organization. I just got an email today from the lady over student teaching placements informing me they sent me the wrong packet. Yes. Two weeks til blast off and I am still a little clueless as to what is going to happen. I WILL NOT be teaching first grade, but rather KINDERGARTEN!I guess I will be doing 1/2 day kindergarten and 1/2 day speical ed. I cannot tell you how excited I am! I absolutley LOVED teaching kindergarten last semester and am so excited to do it again!
On another note...I am SO ready for a visit home. Mom informed me today that Connie Mack will be going while I am home. I have been missing New Mexico and I am so ready to get home, watch some baseball, eat some green chili, love on the little ones, and hang with the fam. Watch out New Mexico, here I come!