a CATCH UP day in the life of me...

hi folks ... I just want to give you a little update
of what I've been up to lately! I had a wonderful vacation, for my Fall Break, in St. Louis, MO. I went to see my friend Megan Monahan Newman and her darling husband, Jared. (yep, she got a good one)















Unfortunately, the arch was all sold out, so I wasn't able to go up and see across the Mississippi, but that's okay. It gives me an excuse to go back there sometime. We did do a ton of fun things: Band of Horses concert, Art museums, gardens, Budweiser plant tour, farmers market, arch, Pappy's BBQ, shopping, Lewis & Clark sites, cozy town, cobble stone streets, yummy food (made by Megan), yummy food found in St. Louis, drives in the fall time, picking fresh herbs to use in Italian food (OK!)
It was a delightful time!!!!

In other news, last week I went with some friends: Brandon, Amanda, Chris, Melinda and Zack to see the Scarlet Pimpernell at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. I told Brandon that I was going to get "dressed up" to go to the theater. He said that he'd wear something snazzy too, so of course I had to go all out. I did my hair and was delighted to discover that my hair is long enough to curl and then pin back. I LOVED it!

On Sunday Tara, Mia and I showed up in red, black and white ... it was too good to pass up the picture opportunity. (my hair looks flat, but it's really curls and a braid :-)

a BLESSED day in the life of me ...

Well today I'm just feeling grateful for a few things.
snow
wind
friends (both at work and after work)
food
parties (the kind that I go to and the kind I throw for my students)
sleep
grapes :-)
students that achieve and are become smarter individuals!
my family
listening to God and buying an extra thing of cookies (turned out to be handy for Aimee)
my body (health)
ability to deal with stress
love
being able to recognize and count blessings

Wow! I feel better already

a SCHOOL day in the life of me...

So here's what happened today. Seriously - this is what makes me keep teaching :-)

3 events; 2 class periods; 1 happy teacher

Event 1: One of my classes played "Apples to Apples" today and loved it. I had them read the vocabulary word and then the definition ... little did they know we were working on vocabulary skills at the same time we were playing a game! At the end of the game I had them read the vocabulary words they ended up with. If you've been following my blog and know about the "Valley Girl" day boy, then you can better appreciate this. This student acts big, bad and all that. He earned three very interesting cards today. They were as follows: Energetic (active, lively) Fragile (delicate, weak) and Charming (pleasant, polite). Of course there was quite a bit of laughing that happened as he was reading them, then the cute thing happened - he blushed :-) LOVE IT!

Event 2: Next group came through, same game being played. This student is so smart and just refuses to do anything. If he applied his mind and energy, something good could happen. The one and only card that he earned was: Practical (useful, helpful). I found that so incredibly ironic, because he refuses to do anything that I ask him to assist me with. Eventually he usually buckles, but mostly it takes a lot of asking.
He started going on and on and on about how this card fit him perfectly. I was shocked, so I asked him to please remember that card when I called on him to do something :-)

Event 3: During intervention (30 minutes for the students to go get some individualized help in a class) I had a student and his girlfriend come and ask for some help. I have him in my English class, but he has recently found out that I'm not too bad at Algebra 2. His girlfriend studied Spanish, while he and I attacked his math. At one point in time I had to go to my desk for a calculator. His girlfriend made a comment about me being a math teacher that doesn't have a calculator (yes I was hunting for one) and he said, "Oh no, she's my English teacher." Girlfriend said, "What? She's your English teacher and she's helping you with your math?" He said, "Yep. Just one more reason why I like this lady." At least I helped someone!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

a FALL day in the life of me...

Hello Fall!
I'm so glad that you are back. You know, a year is a long time to be parted from such a dear friend. When your cooling rain came yesterday, it was all I could to not smile, rather laugh, in front of my class as I began anticipating all of the wonderful delights that occur during your months. I began dreaming of: hot chocolate, hay rides, the wind, pumpkin carving contests, umbrellas, a plethora of candy stored up for the youngsters that are bound to come around our neighborhood, puddles, scarfs, boots on top of skinny jeans, the crunch of leaves, sweaters, drives through the canyon, rain, taking a day to just read and listen to the sounds of nature, good movies and of course Halloween.
I have great expectations for you, this year, Fall. Please don't let me down!
Yours,
Shelley

a VALLEY GIRL day in the life of me...

Okay, so contrary to what the title says, it was not me being a Valley Girl. I know, I know, it just fits so well :-)
Right now, I'm actually at school and what I'm about to write happened about 30 minutes ago. It's so funny that if I don't cement it in the blogging world right now I might forget it.
So there I was, explaining to my class what the word devoted means and how we can use it in sentences. I was using a student as an example. She is completely devoted to doing her hair each and every morning. I said the following (names have been changed), "Based on this we know that Sally is totally devoted to doing her hair."
A student of mine that is a typical punk teenager, loves: bmx biking, boarding, talking about alcohol and drugs, pretending to be bad a**, etc. pipes up, "Yeah, like totally; she's totally devoted."
What?! Where the heck did he learn how to talk like a Valley Girl, much less deliver it with such finesse? Oh the things that never cease to amaze me as a teacher.

a TEACHING day in the life of me...

Today in my 8th period class (co-taught English) I had an AWESOME day of teaching ... by making a total fool out of myself.
I was leading a co-discussion with my co-teacher, Boyd, about a short story called "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. It's quite a suspenseful little one ... if you ever feel the desire to read it.
We get through the first page.
I'm doing a great job "thinking aloud" my thought process of what is building the suspense, vocabulary instruction, etc. Boyd was doing a great job of showing them how foreshadowing was happening, why Jacobs chose specific words, etc. The class was engaged and all was going great!
We moved onto the second page; at the bottom of the page I read this passage, "He took something out of his pocket and proffered it. Mrs. White drew back with a grimace, but her son, taking it, examined it curiously."
The it was the Monkey's Paw.
I stopped reading right then and said to the class, "you know if someone brought out a monkey's paw, I think I would look at it curiously too and then I might, ya know ... as I made an awesome throw up/gagging sound ... and continued on. Meanwhile, Boyd chuckles and says, "Then it will be a Monkey's Paw with throw up on it." Well that hit my funny bone super hard! I started giggling, then laughing, then I squealed. Yes, folks, that's what I did ... S.Q.U.E.A.L.E.D.
I was standing at the front of the room, Boyd was to my right over by the wall. I looked over at him and said, "I just squealed didn't I?" The look on his face was - don't laugh at her - but all he could do was say, "Yes."
Well that was enough license for the entire class to burst out laughing. I started walking towards the door and said, "Okay I'll go be embarrassed outside ... be right back." To which a darling student of mine replied, "Too late for that."
I was BRIGHT red. It was delightful. It provided some comedic relief and, thankfully, we were able to get through the rest of the lesson.
It has been officially decided that I have a contagious laugh and that it's okay that I laugh with my students before Christmas break. p.h.e.w. for that one!

I LOVE TEACHING :-)

a FRIDAY day in the life of me...

Well folks. I've done it. I've been in school for 3 weeks now. It's hard to believe that my summer came and went and now I'm back in the swing of things and it feels as if I was never even gone from them - weird.
My students are darling, if not challenging. But hey, if it wasn't for that, my job would be too easy. It's so nice being a second year teacher. I feel so much better prepared for the situations that confront me and for the arguments that the students give. I feel like I heard it all last year, yet they still amaze me with what they can make up.
Already I've had some funny comments:
We sitting at a small table. I was working with 5 students. I had one student write something down super fast - I figured he probably didn't get it correct, so I turned to him and said "What's your answer." He gave it to me. I started to say "That's not correct." but he interrupted me and said "I wasn't done writing yet," as he continues to elaborate on his answer. We all started laughing so hard, himself included, and he almost fell off of his own chair. It definitely made me smile.

Besides school I've been having some fun too. My Steiner family went on a camp out up in the high Uinta's. It was so fun and beautiful. I forgot how much better everything tastes around a campfire.
I've had a BBQ at my cabin with my friend Wendee and her husband Gian. We roasted hot dogs and had an awesome salad, chips, drinks, etc. It was so relaxing to just sit and listen to the river, listen to each other, and just enjoy life for a minute.
My Steiner family went for a day at Yuba. Besides the water being 55 degrees and outside being 72 degrees, it was a fun day. I was on the wave runner with Aimee, just enjoying ourselves. We were chasing some waves, when all of the sudden, one decided that it wanted to fight back. We were engulfed with freezing water. It hurt. My teeth started aching, because I was so cold. We got hit with a second wave and that's when I decided that we needed to go back to shore. Burr - I didn't warm up until after I'd taken a hot shower that night.
I've moved into a new ward and am enjoying it. There are some very NICE and FUN people! It's going to be a great experience.
I finally get a paycheck again - that summer was long.....
I'm back in my dance class. We are focusing on skills and technique for a little while. I had it on Wednesday and was so sore after the class. My posture, balance and muscle strength is sadly lacking; however my arms in leaps and turns are great! hahaha. I love dance.

Well that's a brief catch up :-)