Friday, November 30, 2012

Do what you love love what you do TEACH!

All adventures are hard! Adventures are always filled with joy and also with challenging experiences. Adventures take us places we don't always expect to be ! My student teaching has been just that an adventure and also my journey to this point has been both joyful and challenging. 
            As a student teacher, I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and a person. I have been able to see my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. I have learned the importance of all these principles in educating students from my student teaching; compassion, flexibility, good communication, humility.
1)      I have learned that good communication is a very important aspect of teaching especially for special educators. You must communicate with other teachers as well as parents to receive and give information about the student(s). I also feel Communication is important in our relationships that we develop in our lives family , friends and significant others. Good Communication is something we always need in our lives. 
2)      Flexibility is the other important principle of being an educator because schedules change and behaviors are unpredictable. Our personal lives are also always changing and seeing the positive has always helped me as well as realize that my Heavenly Father is the one that is in control of my life and he has the best in mind for me ! 
3)       I have always felt that compassion is an important principle for teaching. I implemented the principle compassion in my student teaching and have seen the positive results as it is implied daily. I continue to believe that compassion is a fundamental aspect of being a teacher and will continue to use it.
4)       Humility is another importance principle to remember well teaching. Recognizing that you can't know it all or do it all and must continue to learn and asking for help from others is a  part of having humility. We have to realize we are just human and we make mistakes and can’t always get everything done all my ourselves, sometimes we need to get students to help or possibly other teachers.   Accepting help from others or asking for help doesn't make us a weak person , it means we are human and can't always do it all by ourselves. 
5)      Another important aspect of teaching is learning from your mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities to grow and to better our lessons and way of teaching in order to engage students.  I have also applied this principle in my personal life.  
As a student teacher , I have learned a lot of new strategies for teaching and also for behavior and class management.  I have learned how important nonverbal cues are for discipline.  I also realized that I want to work on balance discipline where it’s neither too gentle nor too strict. I want to be able to show the students I care and have fun while learning but still have control of my classroom. I have learned also how important it is to be confident in what I am doing and teaching. 
                        Student teaching has been an enlightening experience!





Today one of my fifth graders from student teaching surprised me with this bouquet of Reese's Candy! Just the fact he thought of me on my last day of student teaching meant more to me than anything else because I feel like I made an impression on him. 

I LOVE SHADY GROVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calendar and the Thank you poster that my cooperating teacher had everyone sign it. 

Friday, October 19, 2012

Why are you so HAPPY?

               It's funny because I have been asked lately why are you always so happy all the time and smiling ? The first thing I think about is having The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in my life and having a strong faith in my Heavenly Father. He has truly blessed with so many blessings. The latest blessing I have received is the experience to be student teaching at an incredible school with friendly and hard work teachers. I also have a great teacher as a mentor who has been supportive and taught me so much. 

             I feel also that something else that makes me so happy is striving to make the choice everyday to see the positive. We are always going to have struggles and frustrations in our lives so why spend all our time being unhappy when we can find the positive and great joy in our lives all the time. It's something that takes work, it's still a work in progress for me.  I have also discovered though we have to find our own ways to be happy. So the way that works for me , won't necessarily work for everyone.  I feel also that for the first time ever I believe in my abilities and potential for great things and who I am.  

I also just love working with children and teaching (it definitely has it's intense and crazy moments but the sweet moments and rewards out weigh those intense and crazy moments).  


"Happiness depends upon ourselves. "
Aristotle 


Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. 
Helen Keller 
9 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

One of my niches

                I have been student teaching for four weeks now! I adore it. I am crazy busy and I definately have points where I get overwhelmed but it's great. I have always loved to learn and student teaching has been a wealth of knowledge. I have learned about not only student teaching but gained insights to spiritual matters.  I will be teaching all the lessons starting Monday. I am nervous but I realize my teacher will be right there and help me if needed and also I have taught lessons by myself before this point with her students and with my little pre k kids.  I love working with kids with special needs , it's challenging but so fulfilling.  Being busy also helps me to not have time to be down in the dumps or depressed as much. Of course , I have my moments of decompression. But being able to feel respected and helpful and more and working hard helps me feel better about myself. I have also been able to see more of who I am in the last month or two and I am beginning to like myself. What a thought! I am beginning to see those positive attributes that everyone else so and I just didn't believe it. There are things I want to change and need to work on but... I am a step in the right direction. 

I have come to some peace that change doesn't happen all at once , it happens in pieces and you have to celebrate every little piece or step you make.  I have to recognize those victories or I'll get stuck in the mode of seeing a far off goal that feels so far a way sometimes. But if every step we take is like a puzzle piece , it helps to complete our goal.

Friday, August 31, 2012

It's finally here

                    So this week was my last week of work for awhile because I will be student teaching coming up next week. Between student teaching and taking two classes to do a synthesis and doing lesson plans , it wasn't going to be possible to work even part time unless I was going to clone myself. It's not excited about having to live off loan money for the next several months but I have heard of worse. I am so happy for new experiences and learning and experience the area of my field: special education. I met with my teacher that I will be working with today and she is wonderful. I love her already. She is so dedicated and nice and I am so excited to work with her and learn from her. With changes and new beginnings anxiety does come but I am just going to take it a day at a time. I am still in shock that I am finally here... I knew I would reach this point one day but now it's here.  I bought the flowers in this picture to celebrate a new beginning and sort of an ending as well.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Life is a learning and growing process.....

I feel like I have learned so much in the last few months about : myself, dating and guys ( just beginning to understand a small amount), life , God's Plan for me and his love.  I have always been one to overreact and over think things. I have learned that the end of the world will not come if you don't get everything cleaned today or you make a mistake. I have finally have realized it's ok to have moments of sorrow and grief or where you just scream as long as they level out and you have more good days where you feel happiness and joy.
               I am still trying to balance my days out but... I feel like understanding these things are at least 1/4 or more of the battle.  I have had kind of lazy day. I didn't get out of bed until late and I got homework done and that was about it.  So I didn't climb Mt. Everest but I got something done and tomorrow is another day. Life is a learning and growing process where will fall but we must keep getting back up. We are all works in progress and we expect perfection in ourselves or others or we will continue to be let down. I am not saying to give up and not believe in achieve great things , I am just saying... we need to be more gentle with ourselves.
          Heavenly Father loves us so much , he sees great potential in us all. One of many struggles is to see that potential in myself . I have always based my happiness on other's acceptance of me rather then loving myself more.  I am writing about this because I know I am not the only one who struggles with self doubt or fear. Heavenly Father sent us here to succeed and not to get out the boxing gloves and start a boxing match with ourselves.  We must make our own happiness in our lives. So our lives aren't exactly the way we expected them to be right now : marriage, family, big house and big yard and more.  Is life ever the way we expect it to be ? If God let us plan our lives would we be trully as happy as we will be with God's plan for us ? I know it's hard  !It's definately especially for me to realize I have to let go of that control in my life.  The Lord wants us to take action to be proactive but realize if we are following his way we have to sacrifice some things like pride and understanding go on faith and know he will take care of you.  I struggle to give that will to God everyday because I want to know what will happen , I want to know the unknown about the details of my life but... guess what I won't know , I have to go on faith and know God loves me and he will take care of me. 


          I have learned that it's ok if you have days where every second of every day you are praying to God for strength because that means you are relying on him and finding strength in him.  As I have done this , I have also seen the hand of God in my life. I remember a day last week where I was feeling really down and it was hard to just get out of bed much less do anything else. I got up and I got on my knees and I prayed. I prayed before I got out of my car at work too. I said get me through this day... give me strength. It turned out that I was able to work with the little babies that day about a year out at my daycare. I was so busy I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself and by the end of the day I got in my car and said wow! this morning I felt like crap and the Lord got me through it by keeping me busy. I said a prayer and thanked him for getting me through the day. I have a great deal to be grateful for in my life : a degree and soon to be two degrees, a roof over my head, family and friends that love me and cheer me on, a car , a full time job with benefits of experience in my career and much more.  I know that it's going to be hard but because the Lord is my strength, I can get through anything.  I am grateful for all the experiences (good, bad, indifferent, crazy) and people that have lead me where I am and made me who I am and helped me learn so much.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Cry or Celebrate

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father, he has blessed me so much, but I must also say I get pretty impatient and frustrated with his plan for me. I realize after some fighting that he knows best. I always come to that conclusion that he knows best but I still often doubt and lack faith in that plan.
My life of course like anybody's life is unpredictable and some times or I should say often hard.
I definately don't understand it all but I know Heavenly Father loves me and would never forsake me.
I have to simply trust in him and his plan. I pray for hope and faith every day to understand what he is having me do and often times to just get through the day. Some times we must just put him first and put one foot in front of the other. I know these are simple principles but it seems like we tend to have the hardest time with the simpliest things.

I have felt alot of ups and downs lately and I realize fighting what I am feeling doesn't help, that the feelings I am having need to happen to help mold me. I am not saying you keep negative thoughts and let them get you down. What I mean is : Let yourself cry or celebrate when you need to.  I have done plenty of crying and celebrating. I am so grateful for my friends and family who have been there for me. I am so grateful also for prayer because having that relationship with my Heavenly Father has been what has strengthened me and given me the peace I need. I wanted to write about this because one I know I am not the only one that has felt this way or is feeling this way, and also I find writing helps me think and get things out as well as is a history and some thing to reflex on later on.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

A Bipoem I wrote about me!


Jennifer

Compassionate, Strong ,   Intelligent, and Creative

Half my heart belongs to Virginia and the other half of my heart belongs to Colorado.

Love God , Education, my Family and Friends



Believes in seeing the good in everyone,  and education to be so important to us all.

Need more Faith and Peace , Strength and Money

Gives all she has ; her time , love and ideas.

Fears failure and rejection

Would love to see Scotland, Ireland and the People of the World to show more kindness to each other.

Lewis