Let the games begin my friends! School has officially begun. I am on my prep period and I thought I would take a quick second to update my blog. Kristine let me borrow an amazing book by Fred Jones that I have loved. I used it to create my seating arrangement. Some of the procedures and discipline I use came from that book.
I have to share a quick experience from last Thursday. The 7th graders came on Thursday for a few hours. We went through their whole schedule but each class was only 10 minutes long. First period was a touch longer. We had an assembly with our first period class.
There was a student named Austin that came into class full of energy and a little grin on his face. I could tell from the beginning that he was going to test me. He wasn't bad, just a little chatty. I told them there would be no talking when we walked out of the classroom. If anyone talked, we would come back.
After we got downstairs and almost to the auditorium, Austin talked. So we turned around and went back to the room so we could try it again. It worked beautifully! Today we had a meeting with 2 other classes out in the "POD" area. My class was the best behaved and one of the other teachers commented on it. GO FIRST PERIOD!!!
On Thursday Austin came and talked to me in the hallway, so I knew he was not upset with me or thought I hated him. Then today after class he came and talked to me about some students he has had problems with in the past and he would really like to stay away from. These students are in my class so he wanted me to be aware of it. He then said, "I think this is going to be a great year. I am going to work hard and I think it will be good." I was soooo excited. He seems like a great kid. I am going to get to know him better and build a better relationship with him.
Another cool thing happened in the hallway. A girl that was in my class on Thursday was disruppting. After taking role it turns out that she was in the other Utah Studies class. Today she approached me in the hall and apologized for dissrupting. I was extremely impressed! This is going to be a great year.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
My Classroom!
I cannot believe how long it has taken my to set up my classroom, and I am not even done! I was there for about 6 hours today and 5 the other day. Now, knowing me, you should not be surprised to know that within that time, I also stopped and talked to people for a good long time. Me, talk? No. Despite that, I felt I had to post pictures of my classroom. I love and I think it is beautiful! I feel very lucky to be working at such a nice school.
P.S. I am teaching 7th Grade Utah Studies for anyone that did not know what it was that I was teaching.
I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride My Bike...
Last night I got to do something I have wanted to do for a while....go for a ride on a road bike. All of my roommates have bikes. Lana and Laura are especially big fans of road biking. I thought it would be fun to try, but figured I would probably have to rent a bike to ever try it. However, my roommates are wonderful and they let me borrow one.
Laura is getting married in 2 months and she wants to get in really good shape. We decided that both of us would work out every day for the next two months, except Sunday of course. So our workout last night was a bike ride. I rode Laura's bike and she rode Lindsay's. It was the craziest thing to be riding in the bike path, sportin' the spandex and everything - I am not going to lie, it was a little awkward at first.
We rode around Liberty Park a few times. Liberty Park is beautiful and then to make it even better, the weather was perfect last night. We rode about 7 miles last night. I thought it would take a lot longer to ride that far but it went by really fast. I love the fluid motion of a road bike! It looks as though you aren't working hard at all, but we all know the truth. However, the best was when I passed a car as we were going around the park. Oh yeah! I am a little speed demon.
It was awesome and I think I may have to look into getting a bike next summer. I would suggest it to anyone. And in the words of Queen, "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike..."
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Good and the Bad
My first week of EFY was absolutely incredible! I was sure that no week would ever compare to my first week. The girls in my group and in my co-couselor's group were phenominal. The boys in our company were hysterical, knew how to have fun and also had very strong testimonies. I was really sad to see them leave at the end of the week.
One of the neatest things from that week that I will never forget was a class we went to on Wednesday. The teacher was Guy Johnson. He had heard me sing on Tuesday morning and wanted me to sing for his class Wednesday afternoon. He asked me Wednesday at lunch, so I was scrambling to find a counselor who could play the hymn he wanted me to sing. It worked out beautifully and I felt blessed to be able to share my testimony through song. I love to sing! (Suprise, suprise!)
The song set the tone for the remaineder of the meeting which was all about the Savior and the Atonement. I wish each of you could have been there because the Spirit was so strong and bore witness to the truthfulness of what he was teaching. He taught about the different aspects of our lives that the atonement applies to. Too often we think the atonement is only for our sins. He gave great examples of how the atonement heals us of all the things we experience in this life that are not joyful.
Never before had I thought of the atonement as something that could heal me of my fears, doubts, worries, sicknesses, feelings of loneliness, all of it! Christ suffered for all of it so that I could be happy. The atonement truly became alive to me after that class. I was able to attend it twice because I was singing for it. My entire company went to the class as well and we were talking about it for the rest of the week. That class was life changing for me as well as many of the youth who attended it. I was able to attend many great classes this summer, but none had as great of an affect on me as that one.
One of the boys in our company, Brandon, really took it to heart. The next day while we were having our gospel study, he shared a little of what he had been thinking about after Brother Johnson's class. It was clear that Brandon now had a new understanding of the atonement and he wanted to live his life differently because of what he had learned. Brandon is already an amazing young man, so the fact that he wanted to become even better was great. I was lucky enough to see Brandon a month later. He was back at the U for football camp and I ran into him. It was so rewarding to be able to talk to him and find out how he was doing and see how he was doing in his gospel study since EFY. That was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.
Another thing that was incredible from that week was something the boys in our company did. They each memorized a paragraph from the Living Christ and recited the entire thing. There was such great power in hearing these young men recite the Living Christ. Greg, one of my co-counselors recorded it and it is on YouTube. You can look it up: Light of the World EFy 2008 The Living Christ.
By the end of the week I was spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
One of the neatest things from that week that I will never forget was a class we went to on Wednesday. The teacher was Guy Johnson. He had heard me sing on Tuesday morning and wanted me to sing for his class Wednesday afternoon. He asked me Wednesday at lunch, so I was scrambling to find a counselor who could play the hymn he wanted me to sing. It worked out beautifully and I felt blessed to be able to share my testimony through song. I love to sing! (Suprise, suprise!)
The song set the tone for the remaineder of the meeting which was all about the Savior and the Atonement. I wish each of you could have been there because the Spirit was so strong and bore witness to the truthfulness of what he was teaching. He taught about the different aspects of our lives that the atonement applies to. Too often we think the atonement is only for our sins. He gave great examples of how the atonement heals us of all the things we experience in this life that are not joyful.
Never before had I thought of the atonement as something that could heal me of my fears, doubts, worries, sicknesses, feelings of loneliness, all of it! Christ suffered for all of it so that I could be happy. The atonement truly became alive to me after that class. I was able to attend it twice because I was singing for it. My entire company went to the class as well and we were talking about it for the rest of the week. That class was life changing for me as well as many of the youth who attended it. I was able to attend many great classes this summer, but none had as great of an affect on me as that one.
One of the boys in our company, Brandon, really took it to heart. The next day while we were having our gospel study, he shared a little of what he had been thinking about after Brother Johnson's class. It was clear that Brandon now had a new understanding of the atonement and he wanted to live his life differently because of what he had learned. Brandon is already an amazing young man, so the fact that he wanted to become even better was great. I was lucky enough to see Brandon a month later. He was back at the U for football camp and I ran into him. It was so rewarding to be able to talk to him and find out how he was doing and see how he was doing in his gospel study since EFY. That was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.
Another thing that was incredible from that week was something the boys in our company did. They each memorized a paragraph from the Living Christ and recited the entire thing. There was such great power in hearing these young men recite the Living Christ. Greg, one of my co-counselors recorded it and it is on YouTube. You can look it up: Light of the World EFy 2008 The Living Christ.
By the end of the week I was spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
That bad refers to my second week. You will not see any pictures on here from that week because I didn't take any! The girls in my group were not interested in being at EFy, in meeting new people or in learning more about the gospel - perfect for EFY! THe boys in our company were the exact same. My co-counselor and I had the hardest time working with them. We were at a lose as to what to do for them. I am just glad it is over. I honestly don't know if they learned anything that week.
I Am Alive!!!
This is just a quick note to say that I am still alive. I was not abducted by EFY participants nor was I kidnapped by the scary homeless people around Pioneer Park...(mom I had to put that in there for you because I knew you would just love the thought of that happening.) I am going to do a blitzkrieg of updates, so prepare yourself for a million entires and pictures. I am certain that I will forget something as I am writing, but I will do my best.
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