My Grandma and McCallie

          I know it has been a while since I have written, sorry this past semester was super busy.  I spent a ton of time in the classroom this semester doing field work and studying.  Now I am at home enjoying my break with my family.  I am feeling really grateful for my family.  My brother is coming home in four days after being away for a while.  I am really excited to see him.  My grandma had surgery today.  She has been on my mind a lot lately.  She is a daily inspiration to me.

            My grandma has not had an easy life, but somehow each day she wakes up each day and finds beauty in everything.  Every time I talk to her on the phone she makes me smile.  She makes me feel so special each time I talk to her.  She is a very giving person.  She collects soda tabs for St. Jude.  She came for both my graduation and my brothers, which is a big deal because she lives in California, so it is a journey to get here.  She has taught me what is truly important in life.

            The other big event in my life is that my family got a puppy.  Her name is McCallie and she is full of sass.  I love her so much.  She greets me each morning.  She loves to cuddle and be held, but she also likes to chew on things.  I was upset when I found that she had chewed a whole into my PJs the other day.  My new strategy is to give her a toy when she is on my lap, so I do not become the chew toy.  She is very smart, but I might be a little biased.   My dad taught her how to high five.  It is so cute!   She also knows how to roll over.  She has brought my family so much joy.   I can’t wait to see my brother meet her.  

What I have learned Freshman year to Senior year

1.    Get involved

a.    I could have never imaged myself in some of the organizations I am in when I was in high school.  So put yourself out there, it is worth it.  You will meet so many different people.  I am involved with two service clubs.  I am also in Equality Alliance, which supports the rights of the LGBT community.  I am also in a sorority.  The service groups have given a chance to have leadership role.  It also gave me a chance to get use to speaking in front of people, which I will be doing as a teacher. 

2.    Friends teach you a lot

a.    Some friends will be there from your freshman year till your senior year and some may transfer.   One of my friends called me on my birthday last year and left a voice mail.  The reason why this is so impressive is because she transfer out of my school my freshman year.  It is so nice that she took the time out of her day to give me a call.  One of my close friends and I have been friends since freshman year it has so neat to watch us to both grow.  My friends have taught me how to be a good friend.  One of my good friends answered the phone when I called her at two in the morning when I was upset.  My friends have taught me that being there for your friends when they are going through a tough time is really important.  This summer my dog passed away and all my friends really helped me get through this time.

3.    Exercise

a.    Exercise is a great way to deal with stress.  When I am feeling really stressed I love to go for a run.  I always feel better after I run.  It is also really easy to gain weight in college.  At my school the best food at the dining hall is the deserts.  If I want to keep eating the chocolate chip cookies I have to keep running.  My school also offers exercise classes that are a ton of fun!  Last year I did Zumba, yoga, and kickboxing.  

Summer of Growth

        This summer I grew up a lot!  I worked almost the whole summer and took two classes.  The thing I gained the most was independence.  Last Fall I got my driver license, but until this summer I had not driven by myself.  Now I drive myself to work every day.  I use not be able to imagine what it would be like to live on my own after I graduate college, but now I am staring to be able to picture it.      

            This summer I also gained my teacher voice.  The kids now take me seriously, most of the time.  Sometimes I worry that I am to stern, but one day I worked in a different classroom and one of the students asked where I was all day.  I guess the kids like me if they want me back.  I have enjoyed working with these kids this summer.  They inspire me daily.  Each of them have their own personifies and they each do things that make us smile.

I think one of the scariest things about working with kids with special needs is that some of them run.  You have no idea where they are going.  My worst fear is that they will get to the parking lot.  I have learned to be quick on my feet. 

This summer has helped me see that I am going in the right direction.  I really want to be teacher and have gained an extra push to work harder in school this summer.  Last summer I worked with high schoolers.  This summer I worked with kids in elementary.  Each experience gave me valuable experiences.  

My Summer Goal

            So my summer goal may sound a little weird, but if you are an education major you will understand.   My goal is to work on my tough guy teacher voice.  You want me to in courage a kid I have you covered, but something I have been trying to work on is using a serious voice.  My biggest struggle is that sometimes kids do really cute things when they are being mischievous and I end up laughing. I think I have been making progress this summer.  I have been subbing as an aide in special education classroom.  Now when I whip out my serious kids actually listen to me.  The kids give me plenty of opportunities to practice it, but I don’t mind because it gives me a chance to practice. 

            Another thing I have been learning is that with different children you have to respond differently.  Some children you can sing songs to keep the class in order.  In a kindergarten class I was in the teacher would sing part of a song and then the students would sing it back.  It talked about a bubble.  The students knew when their bubbles were in they were to be quiet.   Other students need to know you mean business.  Some of the younger students I have worked with need their hand held when we go outside. The school is located by a major road.  Some of the kids have tried to get away from my grip.  I tell the child that they have to hold my hand when we are outside.  It is a risk to the child safety if I let them go. 

High School and Life Changing Experience

          My junior year in high school I took this class called Children’s Literature.  In this class we learned how to read books to children.  I learned the importance of practicing books before you read them to the kids.  Kids love when you do different voices for different characters, but that takes practice.  There are two different approaches to reading a picture book.  I remember loving this as a child.  You can show the students the pictures while you read it or you can have students form a picture in their own minds and then show them the picture.  Every Monday we would go to the local elementary school and go and read to the kids before they went to school.  This was one of my first experiences with kids in a school setting.  This made me want to become a teacher even more.  These kids where so excited about books.  They were really engaged with the books. Our final project in this class was a study on a author.

            This school year I was able to see kids listening to books again.  I work in daycare with preschool age kids.  After I was done with work I would go directly to my field work classroom, which was at the kindergarten level.  The amount of growth that kids make between preschool and kindergarten is crazy.  I would read books to both groups of kids and you could see how much they grow.  Many of the preschoolers had a hard time to sitting through the whole book.  The kindergartners would ask questions throughout the whole book.

My Dog

             We got my dog, Maisie when I was nine years old.  She has been around for more than half of my life.  She is a yellow lab and loves people.  Cats scare her, which is funny because all the dogs you see on t.v. are scaring the cats.  Her hair stands up on her back when she is scared.  I know this is going to sound weird, but my dog is really positive.  She is always happy and inspires me to be.  When I come home from college she has the best greeting.

            The week I came home for the summer my mom text me that Maisie would not stand up.  She is thirteen now.  My parent took her to the vet they think she has spinal damage.  She got acupuncture.  I did not know this existed for dogs, but it really seemed to help her.  She is on a lot of pills right now, but she does not mind because she takes them with peanut butter.  The time of the day when she is most animated is meal times.  Watching her walk makes me want to cry because she keeps slipping. 

            Last summer I worked in a day care and mostly in the baby room.  When I got home I would tell Maisie that she is my baby.  When I was eleven I taught her to sit and lay down.  Sometimes she mixes them up.  She loves to have her ears rubbed.  She also loves car rides.  When she was younger she would hop up into the driver seat when we were in the store.  She rode in the car when I was first learning to drive.  She is one brave dog.  She is hilarious when she goes swimming because she always forgets to hold her head up and she swallows water.   She hates baths, but sometimes she can get pretty stinky.  She gets pretty mad at my mom if she has to get a bath.  I love when my mom brings her in the car to pick me up.  She usually rolls done the back window, so when I come out I can see my panting dog smiling at me.   

Friendship

            I have been thinking about friendship a lot because graduation is coming up at my school.   Friends bring a lot of things to your life; they surprise you, they disappoint you, they lift you up, they make you giggle, they teach a new thing, they will let you down, and best of all they love you.  During the summer I don’t get to see my friends because I live far away from school, but I usually keep in contact with them.

One of my good friends is graduating next week.  She only came into my life last school year, but she has made a big impact on my life.  She has become a role model in my life.  She is an education major just like me.  Her dream is to be a preschool teacher.  She gives me really good advice on what classes to take.  She works really hard and gave up every summer to take classes.  Trust me taking summer classes are a lot of work. I have taken summer classes each summer and most of them have been online, but they are still a lot of work.

In college I have learned it does not really matter how many friends I have it’s the quality of friends you have.  In high school it seemed like it mattered how many friends you have.  I have found some friends that are true friends and they are my biggest cheerleaders.  My one friend is so sweet she is a history major, but she always asked me about my field work.  I always work in a daycare and she will ask me how the kids were.  My one friend’s mom was teacher and she always helps me what is grade level appropriate.  Another friend I have and I have awkward story time.  I know this sounds weird, but some pretty awkward stuff happens to us.

This school year I was a president of a club.  At first it was pretty stressful, but one of my good friends stepped up and helped me come up with some ideas.   I don’t think if she had helped me the club would have turned out as good as it did.  I made some good friends through this club and I found some people that I can really count on.  It’s a community service club and we do different projects to help people in the community.  

Confidence

           Confidence is a funny thing.  Some people seem to have so much.  Other people seem to have so little.  Sometimes I think the people have a small amount of confidence should have so much because of all the wonderful things that they do. 

            Every year my school has Greek Week.  I am in sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha.  I am not the most athletic person, but neither are my sisters, which I greatly appreciate.  This year the first event was Greek Sing.  This is where the different Greek groups sing and dance to a song.  I still can’t believe did this!  I do love do dance, but getting up and preforming in front of people is not my favorite thing to do.   There were seven people in our group for this event.  The song we picked was You Belong with Me by Taylor Swift.  We acted out the song.  The song is about a girl who wants to be with a boy who is a relationship.  I played the girl who wants to be in a relationship.  In the fall my school has something called Varsity Review.  This is a talent show during homecoming, but for this performance I had my whole sorority with me.  Last year my sorority did not participate in Greek Sing, so I am really proud of my sisters for getting up and preforming.  It takes a lot of confidence to do it.  I stared at the ground the whole time, but maybe by next year I can be staring at the audience. 

Religion

         Lately I have been struggling with the idea of religion.  I am a religious person, but I just don't understand how religions call them selves when they preach hate.  I a song I really like it says in it if you preach hate the words won't be anointed.  This is how I was raised.  In church they taught me to love everyone.  My church was not a traditional church.  I guess sometimes people who claimed to be the most religious sometimes go against what they are preaching and that is something I have never understood.   In high school I was told I was going to Hell because I did not go to church.  That experience defiantly changed my opinion of religion.  At my college we are required to take a class about religon.  The class I took was World Religions.    In this class we had a discussion about what makes a person religious.    It was a very interesting discussion because some people felt that if you go to church every Sunday you are religious, but some people felt that it was the way you live your life.  In my opinion it is the second.  It may not be the same for everyone.  I guess I just feel what really matters is how you behave day to day not just one day a week.

What to do when it is Cold out

So it has been really cold here.  We are talking negative numbers.  It has been really chilly here.

Here are some ideas to do when it is cold out:

1.       Wear layers – it is too hard to look cute and be warm, so focus on being warm

2.       Wrap yourself up in a blanket when you study

3.       Work out and then take a hot shower – both are warm

4.       Dance around your room – it works

5.       Watch a movie with friends

6.       Read a book under your covers

7.       Clean up your email

8.       Organize your photos

9.       Do a craft

10.   Write letters – who doesn’t like getting a letter in the mail

11.   Listen to music

12.   Get ahead on your homework

13.   Wear fuzzy socks – your toes will be toasty

14.   Plan ahead

15.   Give a lot of hugs