My first week as a teacher

I have now been a teacher for 3 days now! I can say my experiences have been, well, for lack of a better way of explaining them, learning experiences. The first day went great, the second day was not the greatest, and today- aside from a few classroom management problems, was great. I am really enjoying the teaching part and really hating the classroom management part. I am not very good at being a disciplinarian... Maybe this is why I have no kids (just kidding- but an interesting thought!). I am excited to see how things progress as I get deeper into this whole experience. I am grateful for an STE (site teacher that I am working with) that is VERY supporting and encouraging... and at the same time I am grateful that my other (I have 2) STE has pretty much given me the reigns and let me run with it. I never realized- ok, I got a bit of a clue last semester but only a small clue- how time consuming it all is. I teach only 4 periods a day and yet I still have a TON of grading and planning to do every night... Guess I know what my life is going to be like for the next few years as I really get into this profession!

Anywho, so far so good... I am really happy it is Friday though! I hope you all are doing well and I will post again soon! Ciao a tutti!

Question of the day...

Ok, so I am not really posing a question I just needed a catchy title for the crazy story about my morning. I woke up this morning and was actually in a great mood and excited for the week- which honestly, never happens.. really- NEVER! I hate mornings... and Mondays... Anywho, so got all ready to head to the Jr. high today and I go out to my car and start it up hoping it would be nice and warm by the time I got done scraping off the windows... Boy was I wrong! It was freezing! And because the heater was actually an air conditioner, I had a nice layer of frost on the inside of my car by the time I got back in... So I sat and waited for the frost to clear at least enough that I could kinda see out and left on my merry, freezing, way. I no sooner made it up the hill to the capitol building when I realized that the temperature gage was on the red and about to over heat. What luck... so what do I do? What any daddy's girl would do... Called Dad with the question of the day! We figured we just needed to add more antifreeze (which I had just added a whole bottle last week) but just to be safe, he decided to meet me in Salt Lake and follow me back to Bountiful. So after waiting at the nearest gas station for a good 30 mins, Dad arrived and we put antifreeze in the car and headed to Bountiful. By this time I was already an hour late for school/work (whatever you want to call it). My poor car! So after dropping the car off at the shop and all that jazz, I finally made it to the school. Luckily Mrs. A is great to work with and understands that life happens. Crazy day that is for sure! Thanks Dad- you are the best. I don't know what I would do without you! Man, I am going to be in trouble when I move to Indiana!

Anywho, I thought it was a great story for a Monday- but you would all be pleased to know that the rest of the day went great. I got a lot of planning done for my student teaching which I start doing full time next week. I am pretty excited about some of the lessons I have planned. I just hope I can manage a class full of 30+ 14 and 15 year olds! That is going to be tricky! So wish me luck!


Ciao a tutti!

So, yesterday was the big day. Test day. After a week of studying/ freaking out, I can finally say I have taken the PRAXIS. It was so hard knowing what to study for these exams because they cover such broad topics. I think I lucked out though. I have a great roommate that made me dinner almost every night and he cleaned the apartment "so it wouldn't be a distraction to my studying". I thought it was really nice of him. Debbie and Tessa surprised me on test day. When I went out to my car I found a cute card in the window.
Thanks chicas! That was really sweet and much appreciated! Thanks to everyone rooting for me!

I'm not sure how I did I just hope and pray that I did well enough to never have to relive the experience. It was brutal. My first exam started at 730 am and I was not done with the last one until after 4pm! By the time I got home I wanted to do nothing but sleep. Which is pretty much what I did- and it felt great! Now we get to play the waiting game- 4-6 weeks till I find out my scores... Lets hope and pray for at least a 160!!!

Bucco is home! Christmas and other fun adventures

Merry Christmas!

I had a great Christmas this year especially with the extra unexpected present of Derek coming home from his mission on Christmas Eve. It is good to have him home!
I had a lot of fun spending time with the family playing in the snow and just relaxing (since that is something I don't get to do very often!) It was a lot of fun seeing Kaden get a little more into the whole Christmas thing. It is amazing how quickly he is growing.

The year ended with a bang- especially when I got my final grades from my crazy semester of 18 credits and working 40+ hrs a week. I received some of the best grades of my college career ~ 4 A's and 2 A-'s!!! Yay! I was sooo stoked to see that I had done so well. Once the grades were in I was able to relax a little for a few days anyway.

New Years this year was incredibly fun! I went out to the club with a few friends then to another party and yet another. Good times! Though, I could have used an extra day to recover from all of the excitement of bringing in a new year...

I am excited for what awaits me in this coming year. There are a few things on my to do list and I am sure it will grow as time goes by but so far I am predicting a great 2008!

Today was my first day back at school for my final semester as an undergraduate! Hard to believe but it is true. I will be graduating from the U in May!!!!! It was a good day. I am still kind of nervous about student teaching but at the same time I am really excited and can't wait to really get started.

Well, that is about it for now. I will try and post again soon!
Ciao ciao!

School's out for.... well, 2 weeks anyway

Finals have been over with for about a week now. And I must say, I couldn't be happier! It was a semester from hell and I survived! After surviving all nighters of writing lesson plans and unit plans or 10 page Italian papers, I think I could do anything! I am happy to say though I have officially finished everything for my minor in Italian!!! I am pretty excited about it.

A few weeks ago I realized that this was my last semester of classes on campus, buying books and finals. It is pretty crazy to think that I am this close to the end. I can't wait to be able to say that am a college graduate. A life long dream is about to come reality!!!

I head back to school and student teaching begins on the 2nd of January so wish me luck!!!!

My car has an owwieee!

Two weeks ago I was in a car accident. It definitely could have been a lot worse than it was. The guy that hit me was driving an old Ram Charger SUV and decided to cut across a lane of traffic (where I happened to be driving) to turn right and hit me. It could have been a lot worse than it was. Here are some of the pics we took of the wreck and the damage. Thanks for taking the pics Debbie!
Now is the fun part... Dealing with the insurance company. So far I haven't had much luck with them so hopefully things will get fixed soon!

Christmas is in the Air

This weekend while Mony was back in town he and I decided to check out the lights downtown. Here are a few pics from Saturday night. It was freezing cold out but the lights were gorgeous!!