Update: The rest of the road trip

Like I said in the last post, we headed to Colorado so Kara could get the rest of her stuff from our uncle's house and get ready to officially move her home to Georgia.

........ I just realized this is probably only interesting to me. So here's the short version and some pictures:

• We went to Columbia, Missouri for Sharon's wedding! After all the time in the car and being busy (and since there wasn't a ton to do there), we relaxed in our hotel room. The fire alarm went off at 4 AM, but we didn't evacuate? Not really sure what happened...
• We spent a few days in St. Louis with one of Kara's good friends that she met back in elementary school! She was a gracious host and lovely tour guide. Kara and I had our first (virgin) margaritas. We went to a giant playground, the arch (duh!), and the zoo! The zoo is free there people!
• At long last, we made it home!!!! And celebrated with a Braves game in a suite.
• My roommate Morgen flew out to Georgia and spent a week with my family there. We went to the Botanical Gardens, the Aquarium, Skyview Atlanta, Athens, and Auburn! 
• Kara stayed in Georgia, and Morgen and I hit the road with my new car (my official first car! that I bought with my own money). Best part: the seat warmers.
• We stayed at a bit of a sketchy hotel in Independence, Missouri, the first night. The next day, we went to the visitors' center, Liberty Jail, and saw the Community of Christ temple before heading to Loveland, Colorado.
• We stayed the night with my uncle and aunt (Thanks uncle and aunt!) that Kara used to live with and told them all about our adventures.
• In the morning, we made it back to Provo! An hour before we got home, we got a rock chip in the windshield :( BUT, we finished our audio book right as we pulled up to our house.

Seals are my new favorite

Chihuly at the botanical gardens in Atlanta

We definitely recommend the botanical gardens in Athens too! 

Update: Portland

This was a fun month!

Part 3a: Portland 2016

Kara and I left right after the school year ended on a long road trip!

From Provo, to Camas/Portland, to Loveland, to Columbia (right in between Kansas City and St. Louis), to St. Louis, to Georgia, to Independence, back to Loveland, and back to Provo. 

CAMAS/PORTLAND

Kara's good friend was getting married so we spent a few days there, and it was beautiful!

Our hotel was on the main street in downtown Camas. Very cute area and hotel, even if we did have to share the bathrooms with the other people on our floor.

We had dinner at a brewery! Their burgers were delicious though.

We went to the zoo!

And the Forestry Museum

went river rafting ;)

And the OMSI (Science Museum)

And the temple

So beautiful! My kind of place.

We drove by this waterfall on our way out

That night we stayed at a smelly, but cute, Airbnb close to Twin Falls, Idaho, for the night. Sunday morning, we found a church building online along the way to Loveland, Colorado. It just so happens we picked the building right next to the Twin Falls temple! #blessed We also drove by THE twin falls before we headed out of town.
 

Add caption

Next stop, Loveland, Colorado!

Update: The 2015/2016 school year

These ten months were kind of a blur. Below is a general summary of my first, and probably last, year teaching.

Part 2: The 2015/2016 School Year

I somehow got my classroom all set up before school started and I was so excited to make kids love math!

School started and I was way out of my league. I spent a lot of time in the summer thinking about what I needed for the classroom and how I would manage behaviors, but I should've spent way more time prepping the actual lessons. Duh, Jaci.

By the second week I was drowning in the responsibilities, but being overwhelmed was expected. I was at school until 5 pm almost every day, and I'd go home and work on lesson plans until 10 pm. I'd spend most of my weekends trying to get ahead for the next week. I spent most of my waking hours thinking about school and my piles of work. I dreamed about school on a regular basis.

As the school year continued, I changed things to make them work better for me and for my students. I learned to deal with problem students and even created a relationship with them. I balanced work and fun in my classroom. I created a positive relationship with my students. I tried to push them to become more independent. I tried to motivate them. I tried to help them. I tried so hard to make a difference.

By October, I knew I was in serious trouble. So much so I considered breaking my contract at Christmas. I talked to my principal, and he was very understanding. But he did open my eyes to the consequences of breaking my contract. After talking to him, the burden of being alone had been lifted, but I felt even more trapped than I had before.

I decided to finish the school year. Having a known ending date lifted my spirits. I stopped stressing and micromanaging so much. I had fun with my students without their learning suffering.

Although my attitude improved, I still had to put my head down and trudge through the storm. I like to think I fought valiantly, but I definitely could have worked harder.

I have so much respect for teachers, administrators, and all staff members in schools. They deserve so much more for all their efforts, but they are not there for the money or recognition.

I regret not using my degree more. But I am happy with my decision to move on. I learned so much and got to meet amazing people, and that made it worth it.

Update: April - July 2015

Life's path has an interesting way of twisting and turning in ways you do not expect. Over and over.

Let me give you the short version of my life these past 1.5 years.

Part 1: April to July 2015

After student teaching was over, I was so excited to start life as a college graduate. I graduated, moved back to Provo, started substitute teaching, and accepted a job at a junior high school close! I would be teaching special education math; it was exactly what I thought I wanted.

I substitute taught until school ended, and I got some great ideas for my classroom. I was going to have the most organized, cute classroom ever! I had my classroom management figured out. I had the classroom layout figured out. I knew my students and I were going to get along so well. I spent hours each day thinking about what I needed and how things were going to work.

Through the rest of the summer, some friends and I worked at a call center for a company that provided Identity Theft Monitoring for federal employees affected by the OPM breach in April 2015. Job-wise, it was not fun, but we have some pretty good stories from it. First, I developed a crush on a boy two years younger than me. Second.....

There was a guy we nicknamed Luigi that worked there. He was always talking about how he was affected by the breach and his diabetes. He was harmless, until he tried to give me his phone number. Okay, he was still harmless, but I freaked out.

As soon as I noticed Luigi fidgeting with a sticky note nervously I RAN over to Emily's seat. She was on the phone so I started panicking to a cute girl that sat next to her. That was the start of a beautiful friendship between us and Lizzy. One of the nice managers, Miranda, came over and listened to the story also. Miranda talked to another manager and got my seat moved. They moved my stuff to my new seat and the sticky note conveniently "got lost."

There were also a lot of funny quotes from people I talked to on the phone. Here are some of my favorites:

• As you can see, my knowledge of the internet is vast.
• If my identity is stolen and I kill myself, is that considered suicide or murder?
• You don't have my birth year on here.
  Me: 1776?
  Him: Yeah, and that's B.C.!
• I'll have them print this out and give it to me at an award ceremony
  Me: Maybe they'll frame it.
  Him: Would you like to come!?
• First, I need 5 million dollars in consecutive bills.
• That being said, finding the winning lottery numbers shouldn't be a problem.
• You know what you can do? You can give yourself a raise.... And you can put me down as a reference. 

 Also, I had a falling out with my best friend and other close friends. I'm not entirely sure what happened...... but there were lots of hurt feelings on my end. Luckily for me, a couple of my new roommates were super great and helped me get through a rough summer. #blessed

#yolo

George: Did the bell ring?
Me: No.
George: How many minutes till the bell rings?
Me: I don't know.
George: .......yolo.

One Day More!

MT: I have to hurdle over Boy's cord. But not his umbilical cord.

In other news, ONE DAY MORE *cue Les Miserables* and I'm skipping half of it to be counseled about my career.

..................My mentor teacher just taught the quadratic formula without singing a song. My heart hurts.

Last Week of Student Teaching

I am SO ready to be done! I'm not quite ready for the decisions that come after graduation, but I am ready to be done!

As a side note, I just got goose bumps because two students were intently working on a math problem together. The student writing had his face 4 inches from the paper as he wrote and had an intense look on his face. The other student's head was only a few more inches away from the paper and watched the students work. *cue Buddy the Elf reaction* Also, I think my mentor teacher noticed that the students work well in groups because of my teaching. I like to think that I have helped him become a better teacher, but who knows if that is true!

Goodbye student teaching! 4 more days.................. And I'm thinking about taking Wednesday off... #YOLO

#BecauseHeLives

I cannot get enough of this video.
Whenever and wherever, He is there to help you. He is our master and friend. He is in the details of our lives: the good, the bad, and the in-between. No matter who you were and who you are, no matter what you are feeling, turn to Him. He is here.
He rose on the third day and He still lives.
Find him.

Matthew 28:6

He is not here; for he is risen.....

Cue the Fireworks

In one month, I will be a college graduate. What the freak? When did that happen?

DEUCES, I'm a full-fledged  adult now. Just kidding. I'm working on it. 

Updates

Well, it's been a while. This week has been straight up cray. Next week will be cray too. And half of the next one. But it's all good!

Updates:
I applied for Teach For America. I had a phone interview with them that went well enough. Not awful, not amazing. We talked entirely too much about my leadership experience at Jamba Juice. I'm not worried about it. I don't feel strongly about it anymore. Update to the update: I just found out I have been invited to the final in-person interview. What is life?!
I'm a bit addicted to Dr. Pepper with peach and vanilla (affectionately called a Southern Gentleman). I don't even crave Cranberry Limeade with vanilla at Sonic anymore. I went to Sonic and got Dr. Pepper with peach and vanilla! I'm surprised, to say the least.

Niece Update:
She gets her own section. She is too cute! And she is just over a month away from having an equally adorable little brother!
Tary, Brad, and I babysat her a few weeks ago. The first hour I was there she was taking a nap. I wanted to wake her up to play, but that is not nice and I knew she would be grumpy when she woke up anyways. Finallllly, I hear her waking up so I go in her room and ask if she wants to play. Her response? "Of course!" I DIED.
Kate, Brandon, Avi, Tary, Brad, and I went to Outback a couple weeks ago. Brandon told Avi he was gonna get her chicken. Her response: Oh boy, oh boy! Later, Kate looks at Avi and says, "What's that on your nose?" Because Avi had been sick for a while, she says, "I have boogers" (it wasn't). As we were leaving, she starts running without looking where she's going (naturally), drops her Lamby, stops right in front of a lady, screams "Lamby!", lady goes "Oh no! Not Lamby!", and........... Moral of the story: My niece has the CUTEST little legs.

Funny/cool things:
This one isn't funny, but it meant a lot to me. I had a student seek me out for advice. She opened up to me. I dunno if I was able to help her, but I'm glad she feels comfortable coming to me. I think that kind of relationship is so important.

MT: This will help you make beaucoup dinero some day.

MT: Bueno. BUENOOOO!

MT: Yeah, dude. Look at the little man.

Boy: My mom said, "I'll drop kick you if you don't go."
MT: Haha. That's a good story dude.

A student has recently taken up the habit of squeezing or poking my head. I'm not sure how I feel about it..... Should I be worried?

Students saying to MT *mostly jokingly*:
Girl: You haven't talked to us in 3 weeks.
Dude: Who are you?
Bro: Yeah, are you a sub?

MT: Are you gonna go on a mission?
Girl: I dunno if my mom will let me.
MT shines red laser pointer at the ground in front of her.
MT: That's a sign that you're going to India.

The nickname in one of our classes. I'm called Press-the Switch. MT is Josie. Other names include Hashbrown, Cheese, Doug Fresh, Jobani, Jake the Snake, Chazersize, and Beak.

Kid (super randomly): TGIF.

Kid in class: It takes a fool to fool a fool.

Boy puts a koozie on top of MT's head and says, "Abraham Lincoln!"

Boy: Are you gothic?
Kid: No.
Boy: You're wearing all black.
Kid: So?
Boy: You look gothic.
Me (in my head): You look like a d-bag.

MT gets up and lectures for 15 minutes and tells the students it's because they were wining that they didn't finish their assignment.

Me (expecting him to be weird out or not care): I've got your back, Student.
Him: *head nod. Think of She's the Man when Olivia finds out she is Sebastian's lab partner.*

My personal favorite: Imagine me, MT, co-teaching partner, and 4 other teachers sitting at a table at a conference smelling all the smell-able markers. Note to self: Cinnamon is very strong. Mint too.  Peach is the best.

The. Teacher. Fair. and the rest of that crazy day.

Guys, I was freaking out. I had been trying to research districts I was interested in so I could chat with them about something, but I couldn't find much. Turns out, if you're a special education major, they'll start talking to you and trying to sell you on coming to their district. The districts close by just say, "here's our information." The districts in rural areas chat you up, tell you everything amazing about their schools, and conveniently forget to tell you IT'S IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

I did a screening interview with a guy from the district in Colorado Kara works in! And he liked me a lot! I felt so comfortable with him and we had a nice conversation. He strongly encouraged me to apply and email him afterwards so he can keep track of me. He also said the girl before me and I made his whole trip worth it. Maybe he was just buttering me up, but, hey, it worked!

I got to see my old peeps, the Testing Department at Independent Study, and it was sooooooo good! They slipped a note (on the back of a cut out of a bear) in my bag that says "We miss you beary much!" I loved seeing all of them and hearing just a bit about their lives! I ended up talking mostly and couldn't stay long, but it was so good to know that I'm missed there. And I was reminded how much I miss them.

I got to see Jared and get the update on his life. His love life in particular ;) I also got to see Tomo! He's such a fun kid. I can totally be myself with him. Then I met with my university supervisor for my student teaching and got to become a bit more comfortable with her. Then I saw an old professor and had a quick conversation with him. He seemed kinda freaked out haha. Thennnnn I saw Megan Popperz! It was so good to catch up with her and see how married life is going.
It was a good day (:

We're finally going to Bryn's play tonight!!!
Finally, I think I'm going up to Layton tomorrow. Never been there before so that'll be fun.

Beauty School Drop Outs

I had my first experience with a student dropping out of school. Then I watched this video.

A Lesson of Cause and Effect

Cause: Looking at graduation information.
Effect: Hyperventilation

I FEEL ALL THE FEELS.

Smile.

I made a kid smile the other day. It was a big deal. He hides in the corner and tries to blend in. And it was at a joke of failing out of high school of all things! 

When I got to the temple yesterday, it was an hour and a half long wait and I didn't have time do that. But I walked out of the temple in a much better mood. Turns out it was bring peace to your life if you spend just a few minutes there. I sat out front for a few minutes but it was super windy so I took a power nap in the car. I felt weird, but it was so great.

I made a difference in an IEP meeting today! I see now that listening to the parent and validating what they’re saying is SO important. I just sat there for a lot of it because I’m “just a student teacher” but I saw the mom looking for help- I saw that look in her eyes- and I just couldn't take it anymore. So I spoke up. And I know I helped the mom feel better.

Because of this experience, I’m think I'll look into taking a conflict resolution class as some point. Maybe I can be a mediator for a school/district. A good friend once told me he really values that I am able to look at both sides of a stressful situation and give level-headed advice. He wasn't even surprised when I told him about it. My mom said, "You always were an empathetic type person." I think that is worded weirdly, but, hey, I'll take it!

My mentor teacher taught today because he had to be evaluated to renew his teaching license. He implemented using a task analysis. The importance of steps was drilled into my head at BYU so I brought it into student teaching and suggested it. A girl the other day said, "That really helps me," as I was pulling up the steps. YESSSSS. *Cue happy dance*

Anyway, I didn't have to teach at all today! Well, that's not entirely true. I LED a center in one of our co-taught classes. Granted, it was the easiest thing and the kids basically already knew had to do it, but the gen ed teacher finally trusted me enough to do that! 

I think the kids in our resource class today were a bit sad I’m not teaching, which is AWESOME. But I also may be imagining that. But a kid did say “Where are your Starbursts??” MT: "My Starburst are Cool to Care cards." Student: "Awwww." A little later, Girl asked if she could have a Starburst for catching his mistake and MT said, “Yes…......... or a Cool to Care card. Which would you rather?” She chose a Cool to Care and he was pretty pumped about that!

Girl: Let me help him get started. Maybe you should try a different browser.

Girl figures out math problem.
Boy: You are so smart. Your intelligence is amazing. You have really nice eyebrows, by the way.
Dude: Yeah............... Best eyebrows ever.

FUNNIEST THING: Boy just tripped over Kid's laptop cord and Kid said “Wow” in a super mellow voice and I LOST it because I’ve been saying “wowwww” in a sarcastic tone recently and a friend pointed it out to me. So now I catch myself doing it. Boy thought I was laughing at him and I just laughed harder. I had to hide my face.

Unprepared. And Plans.

Today was the first day I have ever been unprepared to teach. I knew the concept but forgot to find good example problems. My bad. I got distracted by looking at the 50 highest-paid districts for first-year teachers. A worthy alternative in my opinion.

Lesson learned: The kids can totally tell when you are having an off day. 

New plans:

• Teach in Utah. Close to Provo. Maybe in secondary, maybe not. Still debating.
• Or maybe do Teach for America?
• Live in (or near) Provo and have a private room.
• Buy a car.
• Buy a desktop computer. With a BIG, FAT screen.

A new PR.

So Jack and Ronda, the couple who own the house I live in, are visiting until Sunday for some dentist, doctor, and hair appointments. They are a very nice couple and are, not surprisingly, very fond of their house. Jayna and I were a bit nervous to have them come because.... it's their house. And we're living in it. And I've never met them. And they didn't know my name. Anywaysssss, they seem to be happy with how we have kept the house clean (thank goodness!) and haven't damaged anything.

This morning, I had my first student teaching panic attack that wasn't related to snow: I woke up 50 minutes late! After my roommate's alarms stopped going off, and I fell back into a nice slumber. I was in the middle of a very real-feeling dream. Interesting dream. We drove away from a fancy wedding reception, drove over railroad tracks, and ended up in a cabin by Lake Allatoona in Georgia. A few of us started going down the big hill to the lake when we realized we would have to hike back up in our nice clothes and heels. Then we started playing piano? But it was more like Tap Tap Revolution in a book. Needless to say, it was weird.

When I woke up, I panicked. It was 6:56 and I needed to leave before 7:15.

So I rushed; I brushed my teeth, turned on my flat iron, did my makeup in 90 seconds, straightened half my hair, jumped a foot in the air when Ronda popped up out of nowhere, applied deodorant, got dressed, straightened the other half, grabbed my "lunch," and was out the door at 7:13. Boom! Then I got to school 3 minutes before contract time started, and sat in my car for a couple minutes. I needed a little time to calm down.

Morals of the story: Don't rely on your roommate's alarms. Set a later alarm justttt in case. Showering at night is a really good thing even if you get crazy bed head. Make your lunch the night before. Always have a shirt you can wear a sports bra with and still look professional.

Good Ol' George

There is a certain student that has been making student teaching way more fun. I do not understand where he comes up with some of these things or how or why he says them out loud at school, but I am grateful for him. And I pray for him based off of some of the things he says. For this post, we'll call him George.

George: Can I fall asleep at the end of class?

George: I never knew your car would get towed if you parked in a handicapped spot....... That's what I did.

MT: It looks like you're sweet talking Student.
Boy: It's called talking.
Dude across the room: Talking. Ha! I see your googly eyes!

George: Is gambling illegal?
MT: Yes.
George: Dang it.
MT: Well, it depends how old you are and where.
George: I'm addicted to gambling.

MT: I have to get Boy caught up too.
George: He got suspended.
Student: Why?
George: I ran over him.

LOL

These three things made me LOL!

Boy keeps asking us if he'll get arrested if he gets caught in a casino. Then he added, "Down the road, at KFC, they close at 11 and play poker till 2 in the morning," matter-of-factly.

The boys are all huddled around one boy's phone.
Teacher: You guys can't look at naked pictures at school!

A couple minutes later....
Teacher: I hear you guys have a picture of Girl in a bikini.
*Girl's eyes get wide and mouth hangs open. Not gonna lie, she looked guilty.*
All other girls in the class: Ohhhhhhh. What?! Shoot, Girl! I didn't know you were like that! Why you gotta do that? Whatchu thinkin??

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.