One Week Down

Seven days ago, I was nervously trying to fill my planner. I was typing up ideas. I was bidding farewell to life as I knew it and making last-minute preparations to dive into a new life, one that involved 24 cute faces and thirsty minds.

Six days ago, I was making Sunday dinner with my roommate and rolling my hair in socks. I thought, "This is probably the last time I will have time to make Sunday dinner for at least 9 weeks." I thought, "This is almost definitely the last time I will have curly hair at school." Six days ago, I was lying awake for a good 2 hours, stressing and wondering and smiling and remembering.

I might have been a little afraid of this happening. 

Five days ago, I was eating muffins made by my wonderful roommate for my first day of school. I was leading those 24 cute faces into my classroom. I was giving a lesson on how to use liquid glue. I was eating lunch in the teacher's lounge. I was jogging around the gym with a whistle in my mouth, surrounded by a herd of children. I was going with my friends to The Chocolate to celebrate a successful first day.

Four days ago, I was sitting in New Teacher Induction. I was being handed papers about testing and retirement and insurance. I was staring blankly at a screen that spewed information at me at an alarming pace. My mind was flitting back and forth between two thoughts: "What does that even mean" and "I wonder how my class is doing?"

Three days ago, I was praising my students for how good they had been while I was gone. I was planning how I wanted to teach literacy for the next 6 weeks. I was getting my Mac-daddy. I was putting a huge band-aid on a bloody gash that seemed to not affect the kid sporting it in the slightest.

Two days ago, I was wearing a bright orange vest over my teacher clothes and patrolling the playground. I was making copies [read: killing trees] like nobody's business. I was taking my class to assembly after assembly. I was answering e-mails from parents. I was saying, "Today, I had three students cry. Is that normal?"And I was told that yes, it is, depending on the day.

Yesterday, I was giving a spelling test. I was discovering that two of my students have met Selena Gomez, one has met Justin Bieber, and one has met Taylor Swift. I was getting a little offended and clarifying that, no, I am not 30 years old, thanks for asking. I was reading a note written with purple gel pen that said: "Dear Miss Conner I hope you like This kus you luky to have me and I'm Luky to have you."

Teaching is like, the best thing. There are downsides - like never being able to go to the bathroom during the day, making half-salary (Class, what's one-half of nothing?), and the commute, but it's the only thing I want to be doing. I love feeling so tired after a long day of teaching, planning, and driving, and going to bed happy because tomorrow I get to wake up and do it all over again. I hope I never lose that feeling.

To Teach is To....

....touch a life forever. At least, that's how the saying goes. But one might also finish this statement with any of the following: "To teach is to...."

- go to assemblies. All day, err day.

- make copies upon copies. Sometimes I think all I do is make copies.

- dream about all the things that could go wrong in your classroom. I just had a dream that my headphones at the Listening Center were getting used by student after student, and they just got grosser and waxier and gummier until I awoke with a jolt and a conviction that I needed new headphones.

- observe budding romances.
"Okay, I'm going outside now."
"Okay, um....meet me at....the slide."
"Okay. I'll meet you at the monkey bars."
"Actually, okay. Meet me at that one place for four-square?"
"I'll just be at the swings? Maybe?"
"Well, I'm just coming out now. We can walk together."
"Oh! Okay!"

- observe budding friendships.
"Miss Connor, K is pushing his chair into my desk."
"Miss Connor, M isn't minding her business."
"Miss Connor! I asked him not to and he's still doing it!"
You know these two are going to be BFF one day.

- despair over the rising generation.
"You need to be focusing on your work, I just keep seeing you sharpen your pencil over and over again - "
*flabbergasted* "But Miss Connor, I don't like work! It's not fun, I just don't like it, it's boring!"
"...........I'm sorry, you still need to do it. If I see you sharpening your pencil again, I'm going to take your sharpener away."

- rejoice over the rising generation.
I don't have a quote for this. I just have the world's cutest kids in my class.

- drive. I drive 45 minutes each way. As if this isn't enough, I've also been having dreams that I am driving. Just driving. And getting pulled over. And merging, and accelerating, and braking, and driving.

- file. I never filed before. Now I file anything and everything.

- live my dream. Fo real. In all honesty, I wake up in the morning with a smile on my face. I can't wait to go and see my class. Teaching is everything I ever hoped it would be, and more. So, so much more.

:)

Schule

I just had the following phone conversation with my little baby sister:

Me: Have you started school yet?

Her: Not yet, we start on the 27th.

Me: Oh wow! Are you excited?

Her: YES!.....sort of......no, not really.

I feel you, girl.

Although every time I see this sign, I get a little bit more excited :)

Lost and.....not found :(

So when you are an elementary school teacher, you need to have a plan book. This plan book is where you put all of your lessons, the seating chart for your classroom, the schedule for the day, everything. I had one last semester and used it perfectly, just like I was supposed to. Then I put it somewhere where it would be really easy to find it this semester, since I was going to need it again.

Does anyone know where that place might be?

I looked around today for it. My search started out pretty casual as I skipped through my room, glancing here and there. After a few minutes it became a little bit more methodical. When I still couldn't find it, I became annoyed, and then frantic. I went through every box, bag, and tupperware container in my closet. I moved everything out from under my bed. I checked in all of my dresser drawers.

I found:

*five rotten, dry, hard, deformed clementines. They had to be at least 8 months old.

*a long-sleeved shirt I'd been missing

*a sweater dress I'd been missing

*2 pairs of never-been-worn boots still in their boxes with the tissue paper around them

*1 pair of black Sunday shoes, similarly in a box with tissue paper

*my bottom retainer

*my sleep mask that I sometimes wear

*some face wash I got in the summer.

*some shirts that belong to a friend from freshman year

*a moth that was way too friendly. IHATEMOTHS.

*a math textbook that I thought I just hadn't gotten

*2 empty never-been-used 3-ring binders

*a prom dress (another thing I have never worn)

*a long-lost stash of tampons

*my 72-hr food kit from freshman year

*1 spiral notebook with like 4 dividers that has not a single word written in it

*a necklace

*a mirror Sarah made for me

*I think that's it.

Are you wondering where my plan book is on that list?

......Me too :( I'm also wondering where it is in real life.

Guys, I don't know how this happened. I have moved how many times since freshman year? Not only have I moved apartments in Provo - let's not forget that I have been home for the summer, or a large chunk of it, every year. I also lived in Florida for 4 months so I am really not sure how I overlooked these things and re-found them just now. It's not annoying that I'm re-finding long-lost items, just that everything I have hoarded since Freshman Year is suddenly resurfacing and my plan book, which I need tomorrow and which I had last semester, is nowhere to be found.

In happier news, I'm so excited about fourth grade! I love it already. I will post more on how great today was with my class later. If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it!

So Long Sweet Summer

My mom said that when she put Kelly on the bus for her first day of kindergarten, they both cried. As soon as Kelly was on the bus, the busdriver snapped the doors shut and my mom got in her car to follow the bus all the way to Forest Ridge Elementary School, a whole five minutes down the road.

I don't remember much about my first day of kindergarten, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that traumatic. Once she got off the bus and met Mrs. Robinson, Kelly had a lovely experience in kindergarten, so I don't think I was as nervous as she had been. I've always liked being the second child.

But no matter where you are in the lineup of kids in your family, I think everyone experiences a little bit of nervousness before their first day of school, and I don't think that it ever really goes away.

Today I had my sixteenth first day of school. Here's how it felt to be me this morning:

I love BYU, love being on campus, and (so far) love my classes, but I was still a little less than thrilled when my alarm went off at 7:29 this morning. (Caitlin was probably even less thrilled than me, since she woke up to it and I didn't hear it until 7:52. Sorryy...) I've just loved summer so much and I don't think I was quite ready for it to end. Ohhhh well!

Here were the main things that were making me nervous about my first day:

1. Getting lost. I've always been kind of directionally challenged. I realize this is my third year at BYU and I should know where all the buildings are. Does that mean I do? Not necessarily. Luckily, I was able to get to all of my classes on time today.

2. Sleeping in. I slept through church three times this summer. This is especially embarrassing when you consider that my ward met from 10:00-1:00 and I slept through all three meetings every time. So I was a little nervous that I would sleep in and be late to my first class of the semester. Thankfully, that didn't happen!

3. Ummm yeah that's it.

I had three classes today: Mission prep at 9, Basic Concepts of Math at 10, and Rhythm and Dance at 2. Apparently I am not used to being in school at all because by the time ten minutes of my first class had gone by, I felt a little more like this:

I was ready for my day to be over. Looking over syllabus after syllabus is just so draining.

This is going to be my most challenging semester yet. I am signed up for 14 credits and will be working two jobs, giving ten hours a week each to the Writing Center and Coldstone. I am also going to be the M.O.H. at Kelly and Dahl's wedding in November so I'm kind of going to be planning a wedding while pursuing my education and working two jobs. I'm also going to be forced to have a social life because I'm living with Caitlin and she will probably hate me and move out if I never take time to play. Can you say stressful??

The good news is that I am an elementary ed major. This is good news because it's kind of like repeating elementary school at super-speed, only you're older and recess is a little different and each lesson has a side lesson that teaches you how to teach the lesson later. Also, almost all of the teachers in the department have been elementary school teachers, and old habits die hard. They are all very bubbly and welcoming and patient. We get treats and candy in our classes probably more than any other major.

Today, in my math class, we talked about the difference between addition and subtraction. My homework was a worksheet with about ten math problems.

In my rhythm and dance class, we learned an easy dance to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We also marched around holding hands in a circle, then split off and made a snake. We just marched to the beat of "Save the Last Dance" by Michael Buble. It was wonderful!

There is entirely too many people who decided to come back to BYU campus. I want to send half of them home. I miss summertime!