Another funny story:

So today, one of my students (we'll call her Amy) walked into class with a nice story. She said, "I just saw a student teacher in the hall who was taking deep breaths as she walked down the hall, saying 'okay, I can do this. I can do this.' " Needless to say, she was laughing, and I was laughing until I realized that if Amy was seeing that side of another student teacher, it wasn't going to help her confidence in me. :-) Of course I occasionally feel this way, but hopefully my students cant see it. And I hope that I'm not as dramatic visually.

My lessons today were a bit more complicated and frustrating; therefore, I solved my sorrows with Mr. Snickers the candy man. Later, I went to a professional development meeting that taught me to read more expressively. The presenter, Dr. Love (a name she hates) reminded me that there are many voices in my head. Apparently watching all those movies over and over in have created a store of voices that I can use when I read. She basically charged me to give life to words--to color them--when I read so that I can engage students. I now have permission to let all those voices and noises in my head escape! AH!!! HERE THEY COME!

A Love/Hate Relationship

I love running. Well, to be honest, I hate the first ten minutes of it, but once I get through that, there's nothing like the cool air paired with melting snow, a warm sun, and trickling water off the roofs as I jog through the old houses of south Provo. I love feeling active in the world. I hope that one day the hate part of the relationship will fade, but until then: Dear Diary, I'm working on it.

High school kids writing

I Love It When...

I love it when I find out that there are twins in my class, and that's why I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get David's name right. There were two of them!

I love it when students spend an entire journal entry writing about why they hate doing journals. they write to the last line so that they won't get points taken off; if I had to do that, I would be annoyed too.

I love it when students read a print-out of Sparksnotes just before a reading quiz. Like I wouldn't see him sitting in the front row.

I love when I hear them announce their dates for the girl's preference dance. "You're the Inspiration."

I love it when students ask sincere questions.