Spring Happenings, Summer Plans and a little SoJo

Yep, it's about time for my bi-yearly blog post :) Sorry, but it's going to be a long one.

I finished my penultimate semester at BYU-Idaho, and it was pretty busy. I've been working this past year as a teacher's assistant for one of my professors who teaches a Freshman Humanities class.This semester, she started working on getting her doctorate, and was going to be away from her class for three weeks while she took her big exam. She let me teach her class while she was gone. It was such a great opportunity and learning experience for me. Her students were some of the best I've ever taught. I loved hearing their ideas and opinions about the things we read.

So my semester was quite busy with teaching on top of my regular classes. I'm looking forward to my last semester in September because I only have to take 12 credits. Woot! And only 9 credits will be stressful, and the other 3 will be something fun and easy. I'm thinking about taking a dance class and then an Organ class.

Anyway, I moved back down to Utah again to live with Sheena and Mike (thanks you two!). I'm back in my wacky singles ward. I'm back at DownEast Basics in the Southtowne Mall working with some great people.

A couple of plans for the summer:

1. Getting my wisdom teeth pulled the first week of June. Yikes! I'm super nervous about this, mostly because I've never been put under for anything before and I'm not sure how I'll react. Mike wants to record it, so maybe I'll have to post it on here. I don't know, I might not want that on here for the whole world to see, but maybe I'll become as famous as that David After Dentist kid.

2. Taking my Praxis exam in July. I've registered for the test. I've bought my study manuals. I have made about 200 flashcards (with more to come). For those of you who don't know, the Praxis is the big test that teachers have to take before they can become certified to teach. Think of it as the medical  boards for a doctor, the bar exam for a lawyer, etc. Luckily, I only have to take the Content Knowledge test (as of right now), but if I don't pass it, I won't be able to student teach. Which is why I'm taking it so far in advance in case I fail and have to take it again.

3. Reading Lots and Writing Tons. I love my summer break because this is when I get to do some of my favorite things: read and write. Yes, being an English major I do a lot of this during the school year, but it's never just for fun. I've already finished a couple of books (some of them were re-reads) and I've submitted some freelance articles to a couple of places. I'm going to try and blog more on my other site Chaotic Curls but I also want to write some creative stuff.

Those are my major summer plans, but I'm sure I'll have fun doing other things as well.

To finish out, I just want to write a little bit about an experience I had today. I got to go visit South Jordan Middle School, which is where I will be student teaching at come January. I've been a little apprehensive about being placed in a middle school, just because the years between 12-15 are some of the worst and most awkward years of anyone's life. However, after visiting at SoJo today and listening to the principal talk about what the school is trying to do, I think that teaching at this level might be a great fit for me. He said that he looks for teachers who not only know their content material and pedagogy, but who want to build relationships with their students and who want to help those students build self-esteem and maneuver through the awkward stages of life. This is exactly why I wanted to become a teacher and I'm glad that I'll be at a school where this is a priority.

My cute lil' snow leopard that Mr. McLeod gave to all of us.

  I also got to meet my cooperating teacher that I'll be working with in January and observe her for the day. She is awesome, and I can tell that she loves teaching. I think I'll be able to learn a lot from her. I'm super-excited to get started!

Well, this catches up my blog for now. Who knows, maybe I'll try to update this summer! :)

Catching Up

I think it's funny that I only ever update my blog at the end of a semester, but since my sister Sheena decided to update her blog, I thought that I should as well.

I started my senior year (part 1) at BYU-Idaho in September. It's crazy to think how fast school is going for me. Even now I can't believe I have finished one more semester towards my degree.

Just to give you an idea about how close I am to being finished, I applied for my student teaching semester in December for Winter 2013. I'm hoping to end up in Utah for that, but I put Las Vegas and Arizona as my second choices. Depending on how many students apply, I could be headed south for that winter, which would be a nice change from living in the frozen tundra for four years.

I started working as a teacher's assistant for one of my professors. I helped with her Foundations Humanities class (mostly freshmen), which I actually took from her my second semester. I love this job because it gives me little opportunities to teach and it affirms to me that I'm in the right major. I love coming up with ideas to make the subject easier and more fun for the students. I love teaching!

My friend Julie got married this weekend and I designed her announcements for her back in October. Here is what they looked like:

 

 

Front

Back

 

 

My friends Merinda and Mari and I threw a bridal shower for Julie as well. There were only a few girls who showed up, but it was still lots of fun.

Other than that, nothing too spectacular happened this semester. Maybe by my next post in April (ha ha) I'll have something awesome to share with you all.

Yay for Summer Break!

It's been a really long time since I last posted, so I thought I'd give a little bit of an update. I finished off Winter Semester strong and was ready for a much needed break from school. In that last semester of school, I wrote 6 papers, read 3 novels and multiple short stories and poems, made two video projects and a slideshow, conducted a research study, taught a 15 minute lesson on Photoshop, created a grammar workbook, and created two family history projects. I endured the flu, a sinus infection, and many late-nights and even one all-nighter the last week of the semester. Even though I complain a lot about all the work that I have to do for my classes, I actually do love school and my major. I'm so glad that I switched to something I enjoy studying.

I moved down to Utah for the summer to stay with Sheena and Mike. I started job hunting in April, which led to many job applications, about 5 interviews, and then mid-June I finally got a job at DownEast Basics at the Southtowne Mall in South Jordan. I've been buying clothes from DownEast for a couple years now, and I'm so excited to be working at one of their stores. I'm hoping that I can transfer up to either the Rexburg or Idaho Falls store in the fall.



In May, I signed up on a website called Deseret Connect to be a freelance writer, and I wrote a column that was on the front page of the Entertainment section. This was so exciting for me, cause one of my dreams has been to have something I have written be published, so this was a dream come true. You can check out my column here at the Deseret News Website.

One of the best things about being on summer break, is that I can do as much fun reading as possible. It isn't that I don't love my reading assignments for school, because I do. I love reading new material and analyzing it; but there is just something about reading a mindlessly entertaining book that is just blissful. I've started to blog about all my summer reads on my website/online portfolio. It's called The Novel Nook, and after I finish reading a novel, I give a brief summary and review of the book. I'll probably be updating it pretty soon with the latest book I've been reading, so you should check it out!

That's what I've been up to so far this summer. It's been pretty good so far. I've enjoyed letting my brain get nice and empty before I start school again in the fall. I may or may not update again before I go back to school, so if I don't, I hope you all enjoy your summer as well!