Adventures in Teaching

I am proud to say that my first real teaching job has come to an end. I got to teach half a year in 6th grade at Ocean View Elementary. It was a blessing to get a full-time teaching position half-way through the year and it was a great time and a great learning experience. I was the third teacher of a difficult class but I really learned a lot about REAL teaching. By real teaching I mean that I realized that teaching is a lot more than teaching curriculum because each student comes with their own problems, personalities, and stregths. Here is just a run down of some of the fun things I was able to do the last few months with my students.

1. We had a black hawk helecopter come and visit. The kids had free reign to touch anything and everything. The real treat for me was to go ride in it at lunch time. Up into the mountains doing dips and dives was amazing. At one poit the pilot went up and then down so quickly that we were litterally weightless. I will try and post a video of the flight soon, it was AMAZING!

My team teacher Heather Short. She helped me out a ton!

My unused barf bag! My students exploring the helicopter.
My Class! Too bad nobody is really paying attention.

2. We went to 6th grade camp for 3 days and 2 nights. For this camp we drove about 2 1/2 hours north to the Matenuska Glacier. Near the glacier is Victory Bible camp where we stayed. The 3 days were jam packed with non-stop activities and the students were WONDERFUL . We had a really rough group this year but with leaving a few kids behind, that did not earn the privilege of camp, the group we did take were awesome. We took a hike out onto the glacier, did skits, went on a fossil bed hike, I brushed up on my basketball skills against 12 year-olds, and played intense games of capture the flag. Despite the sleepless nights it was a great time. This time at camp truly reminded me of why I love being a teacher. One of my really good friends Kimberly Woodward came along with me which made it even better. She had loved sixth grade camp so much 10 years ago that when I asked her to come along there was no hesitation. THANK YOU KIMBERLY you are a life saver.

Our line of students, single file, on the glacier.

Matenuska Glacier UP CLOSE
This is what the surface of the glacier looks like. The black rocks melt down into the ice when they get hot in the sun.

Kimberly freezing on the glacier. She looked cute in her new wind breaker!
My cabin of 14 girls, plus Kimberly and Lana Depape.

3. I got displaced from my current school because I am the bottom of the Totem Pole. My principal realllllllllllllly wants me to stay at her school, but for the time being there aren't enough students enrolled to keep all of the teachers. The great thing is when you are displaced you must get picked up by another school before they can hire anyone new, so I have a new job for next year. I will be teaching 4th grade at Turnagain Elementary, where Mark went to Elementary school! Out of all the interview I really felt that I liked this school the best and felt blessed when the picked me up. 4th grade sounds really fun to me right now, most 4th graders actually still like learning .

4. A huge thing for me is the fact that I was able to teach on my own and still do a good job. My education at BYU was a great start, but doing it on my own was a huge step up. I knew since I was little that I was supposed to be a teacher but never imagined all that this means. I was in charge of 29 students in my homeroom and teaching writing to 90 sixth graders. What an amazing task that was placed before me and I succeeded! Now it is time for summer and I am thankful for the time off to get everything else under control and prepare for a new year!