I am all grown up!

Last night I finished my last college class!!! After next week, I will officially be done with my Bachelor's Degree. Booyah sons!

Other highlights just from this week!

So after school yesterday I had some other highlights of teaching. I will just list them for you:

1. I was told by another teacher that he had heard several students calling me "the hot substitute in Coach Knight's class." I thought this was funny, I like to think of myself as an actual teacher, but I guess I am kind of just a glorified substitute. I would like to point out to these students if I ever meet them that I am a "hot, eternally taken substitute." Well, I guess it is better than being known as the "ugly, fat substitute with body odor." HA!

2. A student came after school yesterday to tell me that they had received their first kiss on November 7th. I loved that they knew the day, but was a little offended they had taken so long to come share the news. :) p.s. I know the use of "they" is grammatically incorrect, but I am trying to maintain privacy here.

3. I actually had a student come in yesterday and thank me for teaching. She actually told me that she appreciated me and that I did a good job of making things interesting and clear. I think that moment when a student tells you of their own free will that they appreciate you and your class is the reason people go into the profession. I am glad that my blood, sweat, and tears mean something to someone finally. And, you bet your boots that girl is getting an "A" next quarter!

Grading Papers

Grading papers will surely be my downfall. I spent A LOT of time over the weekend doing this lovely chore, and I have tons more to accomplish. My goal is to be all caught up before Thanksgiving Break, so that I can actually enjoy my vacation. Feel free to pray for me.

However, I did get one gem out of the weekend (amid a host of completely plagiarized papers). There was an optional assignment for extra credit to write about the origins of Halloween (that's how behind I am) and one girl wrote: "Halloween is celebrated on October 31st because this is the day of the year when the veil is lifted from the Earth and the dead can come back to visit." I am fairly certain this was not plagiarized, but was her own, original Utah Valley thought.

Halloween Pictures

These are courtesy of Chelsea and Burke, so they are repeats off of their blog. Burke was the photographer for the evening, and he did a splendid job as always. We went up to Brittney and Adam's cabin in Sundance and had a very festive evening. I was Hermoine (if the stick wand doesn't tip you off) and Chris was...well, basically just himself. Surprisingly, I actually had someone vote for me for best costume, not bad seeing as how I put it together approximately ten minutes before leaving the house. Enjoy!

How to become loved...

So, I spend hours everyday planning awesome lessons full of multimedia, cartoons, insightful discussion, fun group activities and, of course, witty repartee in hopes to inspire and maybe gain some respect from my students. What does it really take to become loved, you might ask?

Buy some Halloween candy and stand at the door passing it out on their way out the door. Throw in a couple "happy halloween's" and some "please be safe and don't drink tonight!" Man, they will love you forever. I got more "You're the best" and "Mrs. Herman, I love you!" comments than I think I did even on my wedding day.

Really, it's the simple things.

p.s. in order for this to be truly successful, however, you have to actually buy good candy. I think most of their excitement actually stemmed from the fact that I wasn't giving them that nasty "Child's Play" crap.

Pumpkins

One of my favorite things about fall and this time of the year, is that it is truly the beginning of the holiday season. Anyone who knows me, knows that "the holiday season" is very important to me. Even more important than the actual season, however, are the traditions that are associated with it. I will admit, I LOVE tradition. Actually, I think it extends past that into the realm of OCD. One of the best traditions to start out the season with is pumpkin carving. This year, I found a real beauty. I mean, seriously, this could be the best looking pumpkin you will ever set your eyes on. So take a while...feast on its splendor. I am not wholly convinced that this little gem isn't The "Great Pumpkin."


So, as much as I hate to tear into the flesh of this truly magnificent gourd, I feel that it must be done. The clock is ticking and I somehow have to figure out how to fit carving into my busy week before Friday night. For tradition's sake, I think I can move some stuff around. Besides, if I don't carve my pumpkin, then I can't eat my baked pumpkin seeds while I am in the process of carving. And that just totally flies in the face of tradition.

Ashlee's Birthday

So this is way overdue, but it was Ashlee's birthday not this last weekend, but the one before. (I promise, your gift got lost in the mail....)

Anyways, we went to Macaroni Grill to celebrate and then back to Ash's for caramel apples and pumpkin carving. We never got to the pumpkin carving because we got sucked in to Dumb and Dumber instead--totally worth it.

Here are some pictures of our night.Not sure what I am doing in this picture--I think I am making a sassy comment to Ty, take a look a those bags under my eyes--real attractive.

writing assignment

Ok, this is an excerpt from one of my student's homework papers I got today. The assignment was to write a paragraph about one aspect of life in either the North or the South before the Civil War. This student was to write about the role of children in the pre-Civil War North. The answer made me laugh out loud, I don't know if it is just the wording or what.

The student writes(this is exactly what was written): "The children usually wore clothes, that were either too small or way too big for them. The boys usually had high waters, and the girls had really long dresses. It was said that they looked like small adults."

I am not sure where he got this from, if it was just his own observations from pictures or what. I thought the way he put it was really funny.

Happenings

So, I just finished teaching my honors class a.k.a. "THE CLASS FROM HELL" yes, I wrote hell, and I would write it again. I am convinced these kids are the spawn of Satan himself. He probably meets with them on a daily basis to give them ideas as to how to get under my skin. They are the sole reason that I hate student teaching. Sometimes when I am in that class I wonder what would happen if I just randomly beat one of them. I would probably go to jail, that is the only thing holding me back. Anyways, enough of that rant.


My life has been pretty uneventful as of late. Chris celebrated his 24th birthday a week and a half ago. He is such a man! We went to dinner to celebrate. This translated into Chris's friends at one table and me, Chelsea, Ashlee, and Burke at another table. I was cool with it.

Other than that we don't do much except for go to bed ridiculously early every night because we are so tired all the time. Something about teaching really takes it out of me. I am still trying to adjust to getting up while it is still pitch black out. All in all, life is good, borderline great because Fall Break starts on Thursday!!! Maybe I will actually do some blogging during that time.

Why I appreciate Chelsea

She always updates her blog to give me a little bit of distraction during my prep period. I still proceed to lots of other people's blogs but she is the only one I can truly count on (funny that I am writing this since I NEVER update my blog for my reader's enjoyment). Also, thank you to Carter...you look like a model, if that was a major you would be in it! :)
Well, I guess I should actually do some work now...