Introducing.... Miss Wood

Hello Friends,

This is a photo of my new home for next year. Say hello to JR Smith Elementary in Heber, UT. Guess what folks, I GOT AN INTERNSHIP!!!

I'm so excited and nervous that I don't know whether to shout for joy or hide in a hole so that they cant' find me. Can you believe it? Me, a teacher, in my own classroom, with my own students, listening to their new teacher, me. AUGH!!!! I'm only slightly afraid of ruining these kids lives permanently but the other side of me is so excited to finally have my own classroom where I can figure things out for myself and just love the kids.

So here's the story:

After learning that I wouldn't be able to teach in Orderville, my life became full of questions and options. What do I do now? I could still apply for an internship or I could do student teaching. Here's the difference: an internship is teaching your own classroom all year long earning half of a teacher's salary. Student Teaching is, well, being a student teacher. You are in another teacher's classroom for a term learning how to be a teacher and then you go to another teacher's classroom and do it again for another term.

There were so many factors going into this decision. There were finances, graduation dates, transportation, housing, student loans, ability to work, and other things. Way too many to process at one point. So, I hit my knees and I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. I didn't think I was getting any answers and my time was getting short. I had to sign up for an interview on Monday and still no answer. I figured I would just interview and then decide afterwards. Now came the question as to which district. I had two mind: Nebo and Wasatch. As I was flipping through the district information packet, something about Wasatch just felt like home. So I signed up for an interview there.

Last night I started to get sick with anxiety. I have never been more nervous in my life. Why was I nervous? I wasn't even sure if I wanted to do an internship yet. Here's why I was nervous: I am afraid of failure. My whole life I have made up excuses to avoid admitting to people that I have failed at something. I was afraid of admitting to people that I wasn't as good as my peers who got internships. Ridiculous, right?

So there I was, sick to my stomach (which was empty because it couldn't hold anything down) and sitting at the end of a long table with four principals smiling back at me and asking me questions about my strengths and weaknesses of teaching. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good about how it went. But that was just my opinion. I could have been talking gibberish the whole time and getting weird looks from them and would have had no idea because I was so nervous!

After leaving the building, I should have regained my nerves, right? WRONG!!! All of a sudden, the thought ran through my head: "What if they actually gave me an internship? That would make me a teacher. Am I ready to be a teacher? What if I fail as a teacher and they are stuck with me all year?" The nerves came right back and I wanted to throw up again.

Around 3, I got the call. My phone rang and it was a '435' number. My stomach did about ten flips and I answered the phone. It was Mr. Brown, a principal, asking me questions about what kind of horses I like to ride. Seriously!?! Now was not the time to be talking to me about horses, now is the time to put my stomach at ease!!! (Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate his efforts to be friendly and interested in my life) Finally, he got to the point of the phone call. He told me that he wanted to offer me a position teaching at his elementary school, J. R. Smith Elementary!!!! It was at this point that I realized that my prayer had been answered. I definitely knew that I couldn't have done what I did during my interview on my own and I would never have picked Wasatch so quickly on my own.

So that's it folks, that is the story of me and my new teaching career. Actually, there are more details to the story but I realize that my engagement level at this point is quite low so I'll leave you with just this.

New Meaning to Ups and Downs

I have heard from numerous el ed teachers that teaching is always full of ups and downs and you learn to savor the few, precious moments that occur... much like motherhood. I believed them. I believed that teaching could be difficult and there would be times when I would ask myself why I am doing this because I would be so frustrated with the students. Haha, I was so naive. I had no idea what they were talking about.

For the past month I have been teaching in a 6th grade classroom. My teaching partner and I have been responsible for the education of 34 twelve year olds for four weeks now. Augh!!!

After teaching first grade, I thought this would be so easy. I have a twelve year old sister so trying to connect with the kids would be no problem. As far as I was concerned, I would make them think I was extremely "cool" and get them to follow my every command. (I'm having a hard time not laughing out loud as I write this) Let me just say, it doesn't work that way. I have learned the power of fear and respect. I have quickly learned that you cannot earn respect from 6th graders, you have to demand respect from them (especially the male gender).

So I spent the first two weeks of my teaching demanding respect from the students and making sure they knew that when I said something they better do it. After two weeks it was coming but not very well. (What else could 'stop talking' possibly mean other than don't talk!?!) Then one day, I found the missing ingredient. I taught a lesson on brainstorming ideas for their next writing assignment, an event with a family member. For the lesson I wrote all of my family members names up on the board and told the students they could ask me anything they liked about any family member. By the end of the lesson, I had all the students pretty much eating out of my hand. They wanted to hear every detail of the George Strait concert that my dad and I went to. It was great and I was loving every minute of it.

The next day, my management improved tenfold! I had established my expectations and the need to respect me, but I had shown them that I was an actual person with a life story and I wanted to share that with them and have fun in the process. This, my dear friends, was the upside of teaching. I was so excited that I had figured out how to be a teacher and I was actually getting good at it. I had finally rediscovered my desire to be a teacher again.

Well, apparently I needed a lesson in humility. The next week I got sick and had to miss school for one day. When I got back the students had done a complete 180. Or maybe it was me. I'm not really sure. All I know is that before I was sick, I was on a teaching roll. When I came back, the students had lost all and any respect/relationships I had earned/built with them. And here comes the downs again. I have now spent the last couple days battling with my students and myself to get back to where I was. It is so hard!!!

The moral of the story: Teachers and mothers are right when they say you have to cling to EVERY good moment that you have. Every time I get discouraged and want to give up on teaching I have to remind myself of that small window of time when the students and I were getting along and all was working out well.

As a side note, I got the sweetest note from one of my students today who told me how sad she would be when I leave this week and how much she wants to be a teacher just like me. Just one more 'small moment' to hold onto.

A Slight Catastophe

I had all these pictures to upload from my birthday to help you all see how fantabulous it was, but when I went to take my memory card out of my phone it was gone!!! I've dropped my phone multiple times in the past couple of days and I am assuming it fell out one of those times. :( So I have lost my photos, my videos, my ringtones, a few numbers, and other such things. :( This includes my favorite video of Benjamin dancing and saying"mmm, mmm, mmm" and all my photos from my birthday. :( Yes, this is just a slight catastrophe, :( And yes I am quite sad over it. :(

So I guess I will rely on your visualizing reading skills and my imagery writing skills to see if we can make this work...

Pretty much my birthday consisted of everyone spoiling me and showing me how much they really know me.

I woke up early to a breakfast of delicious waffles with strawberries and whipped cream from my lovely roommates. They also stayed up late the night before putting a birthday sign in my bathroom and decorating the kitchen with balloons and streamers. My favorite part was that they drew pictures on the balloons that represented me: such as a horse, boots and a cowboy hat, a ballerina, and a good lookin' cowboy winking his eye at me. How fantastic!!! To top off the morning, my dear sister, Heather, arranged to have our entire FHE group write me cards and sweet notes the night before and she put them into a larger card. Some of the notes were so fantastic, I just have to include a few...

- "I am not a grate writer, sew eye will just list pertinent things: watching you and Heather argue/have tiffs/admit you love each other, forgetting to resond to my texts, being the best co-chair ever..."

- "You have been such an example to me, probably more than you know (even thought you are opposed to having dogs in the house)..."

- "I have been informed that today is the anniversary of the day that you came into this world. How happy I am that this event transpired.."

- " I just want to say I'm glad that you were born. Welcome to being 22!"

- "Dear Terry/Terri/Tessie, I love you, even though you wouldn't rub my head while I was brain damaged. You're officially 4 years older than me."

- "A wise man once said something that was very inspirational and changed many lives. I am not that man and this isn't that inspirational message but I would like to leave you with a thought or two. Watch your top knot. Keep your powder dry. If your horse goes down, don't go down with it..."

Can you tell we all have great times together?

While I was teaching, the best surprise of all occurred. My dear, sweet mother entered my classroom with a big balloon, doughnuts, a huge bouquet of flowers, and a poster. She knew I was teaching a lesson on the different types of nouns that day so she made sure my card/poster had some pronouns, common nouns, and proper nouns and then she put some sticky notes on it for the kids to label each noun. Yep, she was definitely a teacher too. :) The kids were really excited to eat doughnuts and sing happy birthday to Miss Wood.

My dad blew my mind that night when he presented me with a gift wrapped in a towel and masking tape (surprisingly difficult to unwrap actually). Inside was a framed poster of George Strait and our tickets from the concert two years ago. Okay, I have to be honest, I wasn't really surprised at this gift. Lets just say I may or may not have dropped some hints that I wanted our tickets framed. I knew he still had our tickets and I knew he had bought a George Strait poster when we went to the concert and I knew he had already done something similar with Stephanie when they went and saw a play together. So I may or may not have prompted him to do this. Either way, it is the most fantabulous thing ever! It sits right above my bed and is a constant reminder that we get to see him again in only 6 days!!!

Aren't these dolls the cutest ever!?! My dearest friends Brittany and Oscar gave them to me in honor of my red hair and western ways. I absolutely love them!!!

My birthday ended with a most amazing dance party hosted by the most amazing girl ever: Jenesis. I haven't danced that much since, well, last years birthday party, dance bash. A birthday is just not a birthday without dancing!!! Thank you to everyone who came and made it so much fun!

The Important Things in Life

When I see things like this I have just one thought:
Who needs to know Algebra, Chemistry, or Spanish when you have these sweet skills!?!

A Night Out With the Ladies

So, I'm not the only one who deserved/took a vacation this weekend. My parents took a long needed, quick vacation up to Logan on Friday night to go to join Jake and Kylee for dinner and a Bryan Regan comedian show. That left me with a Friday night of fun with the little girls!!! (I guess I can't really refer to them as the 'little girls' anymore seein as Becks is taller than me and Andrea is now 12!)

There are just some things that you have to do as females on a Friday night. Yep, we dressed up all fancy and headed to the Pizza Factory for dinner. Yum!!! The splendid evening then finished with watching an episode of Bones and having a slumber party and falling asleep to Pride and Prejudice. I'm so glad I got to spend some two-on-one time with my favorite girlies! Thanks for the memories!!!

Here are the successful pictures from the evening:

And here are some candid shots :)

Rested and Relaxed

Wake up, classes, work, study, go to bed, wake up, classes, work, study, go to bed, wake up, classes, work, study, go to bed...

Do you see a pattern here? Thus is the story of my life. Taking 16 credits (8 classes) and working 25 hours each week is pretty crazy, time-wise. On top of all this I am trying to get my recommended 8 hours of sleep. The craziest part about all this is that I have actually been doing it! How? Well, I ask myself the same question... It could only be done with the creation of some coping strategies:

- four calendars to organize my agenda

- never taking a moment to stop and think about anything until I go to bed

- living my life at full speed ahead and allowing my mind to do the same

- driving like a maniac to get to me next location as fast as possible so as to not waste any time

- etc.

Yeah, I have 4 calendars... One at work to remind me of appoinments I have going on after work. One on my phone so that at all times I can know my schedule and schedule things for any time in the future. One in my school notebook to tell me when each homework is assignment is due for the entire semester, and one in an agenda to allow myself to plan when I will study for what and on which day. It's ridiculous but it helps SOOOO much!

Getting 8 hours of sleep was a little more difficult than I thought because when I lay my head on my pillow at night, my brain uses it as an opportunity to do all the thinking that I didn't give it time to do during the day. Not so easy to fall asleep with.

Okay, I know this is getting boring and I'm dragging on so I'll get to the point.

I saw president's day weekend as an opportunity to catch up on some thinking so I packed my bags and headed down south... south to Holden!!!

It was the best weekend ever! I came back feeling like I had taken a trip to the Inner Soul Spa.

I drove down Saturday night and spent the evening chillin' with my grandparents and watchin the news. How relaxing!!!

Sunday was even better. First, I had some extra time before church started and took a little drive around the town. Only took me about 2 minutes but I was able to see all around one of my favorite places on earth! Second, church in a small town is just plain fantastic! All the men have white foreheads, red cheeks and noses, and boots. Everyone is oh-so-friendly and, well, it's just plain hard not to feel like ya fit right in. Lastly, I had no meetings or anything after church and I spent the whole day relaxin and not thinkin bout anything. I had time to read a few good books including Return From Tomorrow. This book was so good and sparked an interest in so many other books. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's a quick read and very excellent! What a peaceful day!!!

Monday started out bright but not so early cuz I didn't wake up til 8:30! It felt so good to sleep in. I woke up to the smell of my grandma making me pumpkin spice pancakes with homemade syrup. The best! After breakfast I pulled out my books and started chippin away on homework. I continued to work on it til about 5 pm and got sooo much done. I didn't get stressed or restless at all cuz I didn't have a deadline and there was nothing to distract me from it. Totally relaxing! Crazy, right? Well, about that time some cousins of mine showed up and I got the chance to play with them (and, unfortunately, tell them I won't be livin with them in the fall) and have some good girl talk with Angelique and Jessica. I can't believe how grown up those two are gettin. About this time it was gettin late and I had to head back to real life but no worries cuz I was heading back with my head cleared and my homework done.

When I laid my head down on my pillow Monday night something was different... Something didn't feel right... I wasn't thinking a million miles a minute! My brain was relaxed and I had nothing to stress and think about! Weekend vacation... success!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking care of me this weekend! And thanks for the shoes Amber. :)

P.S. I'm even drivin slower. I hope y'all realize what that means as far as the changes that took place this weekend :)

Cultural Snapshot Assignment

*DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS AN ASSIGNMENT FOR MY CLASS. IT WAS CREATED FOR THE READING ENJOYMENT OF MY PROFESSOR.

(although you can read it if you want to)

Read, watch, and consider the following information:

While searching for pictures on Google, typing "Muslim" brings up pictures of happy, Muslim people. Typing in "Muslims" brings up pictures of bloody Muslims, wars, and protests.

Hyscience - An article discussing the percent of Muslims that believe in suicide attacks

Muslim Media Review - A blog discussing the portrayal of Muslims on Bones (a television show)

Muslim's on TV, No Terror in Sight - An article that discusses whether or not Muslim's are kindly portrayed in television shows.

So how are Muslim's being portrayed in mass media?

I find it very interesting that one small letter makes such a difference. An 's' changes a word from representing individuals who are happy and content with life to representing a group of people who are associated with terrorism, violence, and war. Go ahead, try it. Google images for 'Muslim' and then google images for 'Muslims'. Do you see what I am talking about? The images that appear have a completely different feel to them. Is this a valid representation of the Muslim culture's identity in America? Do we really feel like Muslims are normal, friendly people and that their culture is dangerous? I'll try and answer this question as I look into other ways that Muslims are portrayed in mass media.

After reading the above articles and thinking back on shows that I have watched in the past I have come to a conclusion about the racism of the Muslim culture in America. It exists, but not in the way that you would assume.

Many articles and movies show Muslims and do not label them as terrorists. However, this doesn't mean that the Muslim culture is accurately portrayed. What is the common theme of this culture on television? It is Muslims being mislabeled as terrorists. The media doesn't show all Muslims as terrorists, instead they show all Muslims being accused of terrorism. So how does this affect the racism toward the Muslim culture?

There are two options for these portrayals. The first is that it acts as passive racism. It is not coming out and supporting racism against this culture but it keeps the idea alive. It constantly reminds us that Muslims are or can be associated with terrorism. This is demonstrated in the Hyscience Article. The author of this article still believes that the majority of Muslims should still be considered a threat.

The other option is that, as Americans, we recognize that Muslims are not terrorists and those that believe they are are made to look like fools on national television. Take the "Little Mosque on the Prairie" clip for example. The individuals who accuse the Muslims of terrorism are over the top and are shown as wrong. Thus, the American minds are taught that being racist towards Muslims is just plain ridiculous.

The Bones episode also teaches us a lot about biculturalism and how Muslims are doing it here in America within the work place. This episode caused me to ponder upon my own classroom and how to properly deal with cultural differences. I may be lucky enough to have a Muslim student in my class. How will I deal with it? Will I do anything different or make accommodations for them?

I do not feel that the deficit theory would apply to this situation. The media doesn't portray Muslims as unintelligent people nor do I believe that they will struggle more than others in the learning environment. From what I know, most of them speak English and so teaching them also will not include a bilingual education.

If I had worries about teaching Muslim students, I believe they would come from a cultural perspective. These students will not be from the majority culture. This can cause a problem for all my students if I do not learn to acculturate the Muslim students into my classroom. It will be important for me, as the teacher, to let the cultural difference be recognized and accommodated for. I will want all of my students to be aware of and appreciate the differences in the cultures. I will also want to familiarize myself with the culture so that I can make any learning accommodations that would be necessary. These accommodations would be made so that the students from the Muslim culture do not feel like they are being assimilated into the classroom and their cultural identity will not be suppressed.

It's important for me, as the teacher, to be aware of how this culture is portrayed in the media. If I have the opportunity to teach a child from this culture I will need to be able to understand where they are coming from. The media affects how people are treated and I need to be informed so that I do not make the same mistakes or that I do not use any cultural assumptions that are incorrect but used all the time publicly. All students should be able to see their school as a safe haven because they know they are a part of a community at school, even if their community outside of school is different. School is their right to an accepting, unbiased community.