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 (:

Characters

There are two interesting characters sitting in the testing room with me right now. I'm going to tell you about one of them.
She is a senior in high school. She is wearing a long-sleeved button-up red shirt with cream polka dots (the shoulders and sleeves have smaller dots than the rest of the shirt) on it and blue pants with small polka dots (all the same size). To complete the ensemble, she is wearing wool socks with bright yellow, orange, red, mauve, and baby blue patterns and penny loafers. Oh, and don't forget the glasses; nothing too crazy- just rectangular with thicker frames to complete what can only be described as the Vintage Hipster Writer look. She has a shiny pink mechanical pencil that a princess could totally use.
She erases every mark she makes on the test with a big, white eraser and picks up the eraser shavings one at a time to throw them on the floor. When she is done with her test, she packs up her pencil pouch, puts it in her purse, and collects the stray eraser shavings in her hand to throw away. "Hmmm," I think, "there's no trashcan in here. I could lay out a tissue for her to put them on. Or just tell her to throw them on the floor......"
While I'm wondering what the best option is, she has already approached me to turn in her test. She flashes me the most adorable smile and says nothing about the eraser bits in her hand.
I realized something then. Everyone is their own character that they get to design. People will judge no matter what you do or look like. They will make assumptions that may be right or wrong. And that is never going to change. So you need to decide how much you are going to let those generally unknown thoughts affect you when you are making decisions.
You know what I say? YOU DO YOU!

Change is a good, scary thing.

This week is full of a few really big changes for me that include a lot of smaller changes.
I'm starting a new job.
I'm going to be working almost 30 hours a week.
I'm quitting a job that I've been at for 2 years.
I'm moving to an apartment complex that I know almost nothing about.
I won't be sleeping on the top bunk anymore.
I will be in a room with one other person instead of two.
I'm moving out of an apartment complex that I've been at for 2 years.

Basically, I'm leaving my comfort zone and I'm a bit nervous. But not to fear! Change is a good thing!

Futile attempts with homework and boys

Imma be completely honest for a minute.
So I decided to be boy-free this semester. Well, I more decided that I wouldn't want a special man in my life. Because my attempts to find one have been futile thus far. And the one willing to put up with my craziness will eventually come around. I'm hoping. Possibly in less than 10 years if I'm lucky. And I'm willing to wait for the perfect one for me. That's why I decided to take a chill pill.
Then I sat down to do my homework. And I got bored. And my determination to not want a snuggle buddy shattered. Because I'm bored.
And that is why we shouldn't have homework. It leads to me not being satisfied even though I am blessed to have ridiculously awesome people around me (more like in my life because there is no one physically in the same room as me right now).
When homework is not on my mind, I'm totally fine. So just say "No" to homework. I do. In my head.