Still the Little Things

You know, I have seen several times in my life that I am happier when I look for the little things to be grateful for. Soooo he's round two of things that have made me chuckle!

Boy stays in our room during intervention to play a dinosaur game. The way to get to this came is to disconnect to the internet and try to load a website in Google Chrome. Tricky people. Anyway, he goes "Ouch!" everytime he is killed. Then he starts talking about his brother and how he just kinda has to deal with him especially since they are going to be together forever. That's when this happened: "You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose."

I bribed one of my classes with Starburst candies. It worked like a charm! Everyone wanted to answer.

Girl: What's your name?
Me: Ms. Prestwich.
Girl: Do you have a first name?
Me: Yes.
Girl: What is it?
Me *mischievously*: Ms. Prestwich.
Girl: That's kind hard.
Me: You can call me Ms. P-wich if you want.
Girl: P-witch?
Me: It's just kind of a nick name I've gotten used to.
Girl: Why? You're not mean.....

Girl came in to class and said, "I saw you yesterday and meant to tell you you looked really good!"

I went to borrow an eraser for the white board from another random bald teacher. Since I am a Southern Belle, I asked very nicely with a warm smile and kind eyes. In essence he said, "I don't care," and rolled his eyes. I held in my Southern sass, smiled, probably curtsied, thanked him, grabbed the eraser, and got the heck out of there. After class was over, I took the eraser back, announced so as if I were telling an old friend I finally brought their knitting needles back, put the eraser back, and walked out. I think he thought I was a student. JOKE'S ON YOU PAL. I don't know why I thought that was funny....

Girl walks into class and immediately starts telling me about Friend's boyfriend and how he isn't nice when Friend isn't around, doesn't respect Friend, and is starting to like the cheerleaders. I had noooo idea what to tell her; that's a hard situation for a friend to be in. So Girl went on for while and I just nodded my head and verbally agreed at the correct times. I'm getting prettyyyy good at doing that. MT's stories can get pretty long.

A few days ago, the whole school watched a suicide prevention video. It gave a few different situations of teenagers who were having suicidal thoughts. One of the situations was about a girl who was depressed because her boyfriend broke up with her. As I was walking a packet up to the office right after I ran into one of the other Special Education teachers. She told me that during the example about the girl, a girl burst into tears and said she needed to talk to someone about her boyfriend. Why is this funny you might ask? This girl has Down Syndrome. Can you imagine that? How cute, but sad, that is!

It's a Student Teaching Miracle!

My internet randomly started working at school today. After having 3 techy people try to get it to connect. Turns out Ronald (my computer) just needed a few days to figure out whether he wanted to persue a relationship with the strong and mysterious internet.

Cue "There Can be Miracles" from The Prince of Egypt. And hearts. Lots of hearts.

It's the Small Things

Student teaching is out of my comfort zone. And I moved away from all my friends (who's idea was that?!?!). So I've been trying to focus on the little things that make it a little bit better or remind me why I chose to help these punks.

Boy was sitting by Girl (AKA not in his assigned seat) so Mrs. Teacher told him to move back. Boy put up a bit of a fight and Class Clown goes, "It's just young love, Mrs. Teacher." It made me chuckle.

While Mrs. Teacher was up taking about functions, domain, and ranges, she asked the question "Where does the domain go?" Some of the students were struggling (or "thinking") and all of a sudden, Boy confidently yells, "It's always on the left!" Us teachers were so surprised. This kid is pretty smart but goofs off a lot.
Moral of the story: More gets through to them than you think!

Boy was playing with one of those foam soda can holder things all through class. You know what I'm talking about? I think it's called a koozie. As Boy was leaving class, he chucked the koozie back towards Mentor Teacher and ended up hitting him smack dab in the middle of MT's shiny forehead. I immediately had to turn around to hide my laughter. It was probably pretty obvious because my shoulders were shaking up and down. MT just looked at Boy, said "Boy..." disapprovingly, and went on with what he was doing.

That Just Happened.

Below is a conversation that took place during class today. MT stands for "Mentor Teacher."

MT: I like your US Marshall shirt, Girl.

Girl: I'm not allowed to wear it in federal buildings.

MT: I thought you were here to arrest me when you walked in. You had me and Boy ready to run for the hills.

Boy: Why would I run for the hills?

MT: .......Cause I brought you into this country.

Boy: Is that some sort of race joke?

MT: I'm a [something. I'm not entirely sure what he said]. That's my night job. 

Adulthood

I thought I was an adult.

I'm not.

Well, I am.

But only partially.

Why I thought I was an adult:

• I moved out of my parents' house 3 ½ years ago.
• I even moved away from Provo- the place which constitutes my comfort zone and contains all my friends.
• I'm graduating in THREE MONTHS.
• I yelled, “I'M AN ADULT!” on my way to school a couple weeks ago because I didn't need my mom. 
• I made two comments in Relief Society the other day. Two!

How I know I'm not an adult:

• I do not know how to talk to adults. I really only know how to talk to college students...
• I sound like a child when I talk to my roommate (bless her heart, she is so kind).
• I cried about having to drive in snow. That's the hardest I have cried since a girl bit my boob in third grade.
• I curl up and watch a movie when I get home from school, forgetting about the earlier events of the day.
• I don't know what I want to do after I graduate.
• My love life is nonexistent and will be forever more.

So I should have realized this sooner, but nonetheless, I was still disheartened when I figured it out. Turns out that adulthood requires a hike that is a lot longer than I expected. The view is blocked by some tall trees currently, but the path isn't too steep right now. I'll take it. I have the rest of my life to learn and grow.

Put Me in, Coach!

Week 2 is done! Time seems to be flying by. Only 13 weeks left! I have a lot to do before then, but I am confident I can get it done. Today I do not love student teaching. MT and I are comfortable with silence and I wonder if I should be looking over his shoulder more. I'm just not curious enough..... and MT knows what he is doing. I wonder a bit if he is hesitant to let me take some control of the classroom. I think he is comfortable in his routine.

I miss Provo like crazy! It's a good place with wonderful people. I spent the weekend there and it was like I didn't move away. I really didn't want to come back to my real life. My roommates are seriously the best and I am so blessed to have them in my life! I also miss my ward down there. I have more friends there than I realized. For a little bit, I was wondering if moving to Heber was the right decision, but I am confident that I was led by the Spirit to make this decision. Now I just have to figure out why.

It's funny that I thought I was so grown up by moving out of Provo. My roommate makes me feel like a child. She is an adult, and I am distantly down the path to adulthood. Jayna is super nice and I like her a lot. She listens to me ramble about my non-existent love life and how I do not understand teaching in a school yet.

My plan for today is to watch a movie and/or take a nap. In the evening, I will go with Jayna to meet some people in the ward. Yikes. I need to be friendly and not clingy. But I don't have my main wing woman!

I think I need to get married.....

I think I need to get married- but for a different reason than I have ever thought before. In the past 4 days, I have 3 stories.

#1: A girl found out my last name was Prestwich.

Girl: That's a cool last name! Is that your maiden or married name?

Me: Maiden, I guess..... I'm not married.

Girl: I'm surprised. You're so pretty.

#2: The first thing a teacher asked me besides my name: "So are you married or single?"

#3: A student's mom thought I was MT's wife. He's in his 50's... 

Week 1

I've decided to start blogging again- hopefully more consistently this time. I personally feel like I am at an interesting phase of my life and would like to record it. Until April, I will be student teaching in a special education math class in a high school. I have moved away from Provo to be closer to the school, therefore leaving my friends and my comfort zone. In this post, I want to cover three topics: school, my new house, and my future (bum bum bum!!!).

School is good so far. I have mostly been observing and helping students with assignments. And MAN am I surprised by this school. It's a strange enigma I have yet to figure out.
Let me tell you just a bit about the school that I find interesting. Each student has a laptop and a good chunk of the curriculum is digital. They have so many programs it's hard to keep up! Math XL, Geogebra, Canvas, etc. They are allowed to use their phones in the hallway and at teachers' descretion. They are allowed to leave class early if the teacher lets them. They have early release every Monday, and they get next Friday off of school so teachers can take that day to finish grading things. The students seem to get away with a lot..... but my experience in high school is very different than the students' I interact with.
Anyways, my mentor teacher is a very nice man named Chris originally from Wisconsin who loves to tell stories. I like him a lot, and I think he likes me so that makes me feel better! We are on a block schedule so there are 4 classes each day. On even days, we have 2 pull-out classes and 1 co-taught class (AKA 2 teachers and 1 student teacher in the class!). On odd days, we actually only have 1 pull-out class and 1 co-taught class (so nice) so I sit around possibly typing out blog posts while he works on stuff for aproximately 3 hours. I know I will be grateful for this time later in the semester when I have tons of assignments. Half of that time is set aside in case he wants to have in IEP meeting in the morning. I may also need to use that time for my TESOL student teaching hours once I get that figured out.
Also, I am going to a co-teaching conference next week I think! That will be interesting.

My new house! I love it! There view is amazing. I have so much room and I love my roommate! She is fun and inviting. And also clean haha. I appreciate that. It is weird only living with one person but it has it's perks. I pretty much have the whole basement to myself and I love the kitchen. I have adopted the kitchen island and sit there often. It's too cold and dark in the basement.

My future. As of right now, I do not want to teach in a high school. I don't even want to teach in the public school system. (WHAAATTT????) I would love to help at-risk kids even though most of those seem to lead to the woods. I don't know if I'm hardcore enough to live in the woods. And I think a Recreation Management degree would have gone better with that career path, but I am confident in my choice to major in special education and know that I will find a job that I love someday.
What am I going to do after graduation, you might ask? No idea. I am thinking about being an EFY counselor for the summer because I think that would be a great experience in many ways. I am thinking about applying for a year-round position at a camp in New York for kids with emotional, social, and learning disabilities. Maybe I will teach in a school for a few years and then get a masters. Maybe I will find something completely random. All I know is I want to get a real job so I can support myself. Who knows! I'm not sressing. Yet.

"You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine." 

—President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Week 1 is Complete!

Week 1 is complete! It was a lot better than I expected honestly. I am able to help kids while they are working on their assignments so at least I feel a little productive. Apparently most student teachers observe for a really long time before they do anything. I am so glad that I am in a math class so I can actually do something instead of just sitting around! My mentor teacher told me I could definitely teach high school math, and he even told the principal he was impressed with my math skills!

I've taken to playing Majong Titans a lot. That is what I do with my down time. Or mess with my lanyard. Did I mention I have a lot of down time right now? AHHH. I should just start getting way ahead on assignments while I am not stressed out of my mind about lessons plans and teaching.
I am working on knowing when to walk around and randomly pick students to help and when to wait for them to raise their hands.

Emily's party yesterday was awesome! She was stressed about getting back in time to finish getting stuff ready for the party. Dinner with the roommates was SO great though. I am so blessed to have them in my life! My favorite thing is that Bryn actually seems super excited to see me, which I did not expect. I got to see so many of my favorite people last night for dinner and the party! And Emily was really happy. Someone brought her a pineapple and someone brought her an orange hahaha. I got a watermelon for my 21st birthday so I guess random fruit is not an uncommon birthday gift.

Tonight I am heading down to Provo for a ward activity and to see my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and other sister and my awesome old co-worker.
Tomorrow, I am making my old roommates and some friends come up to Heber to see my new house! We're gonna make pizza nad hang out, and they're all gonna be jealous (: