Just call me Mrs. Schneebly

Nebo and Provo School Districts have hired me as a substitute teacher, meaning now I can fulfill my life long dream of starting a rock band made up of fourth graders. Booyah!

Actually, I think the funniest thing about this picture is unfortunately how much my hair looks like Jack Black's. Creepy...

Since I'm unemployed and all...

...I guess I can update the blog. The real difficulty with updating lies in me having enough patience for my pictures to load on my archaic computer(I may leave them out altogether), not to mention that we swindle our neighbors out of their internet (which they very unwisely left unsecured...those suckers) and this wireless thieving means I have to stand in a very specific corner of our office and in no way block the wireless card in order to get any signal. Seriously, my body is is facing like forty-five degrees in the opposite direction of the computer, and I have to stand because the computer must be placed on top of our behemoth bookcase. Ha, the joys of being young, in love, and penniless. When I try to complain to Chris about any of this, he just says really optimistically "I know, isn't this such an exciting time in our lives." Gotta love him.

Anyways, I guess I do have a bit to update in since I last wrote at the end of my student teaching. We spent a wonderful week in Washington for Christmas, where incredibly there was even more snow than in Provo. Chris and I also celebrated our first anniversary, which I was worried about because we had not planned anything yet and I didn't really relish the idea of spending our first anniversary with the in-laws. Luckily, I have an awesome mother-in-law who came to the rescue with hotel reservations for downtown Seattle. A beautiful room, with a balcony view of the Space Needle. It was awesome!

After Christmas and our anniversary, we headed out for a little family vacation in the charming town of Forks, Washington. Ever heard of it? Chris' dad booked a small cabin for two nights just outside the town on the banks of a river. It was beautiful, and we had a blast torturing the boys by talking about Edward and Jacob and making them drive to all the corny places that would be of any relevance to the books. The men were troopers for the most part; they even let us drag them to the movie on New Years Eve. We repaid their kindness by taking them to Valkyrie the next day.

Then it was time to return to Provo, oh the joy. Now I am seriously on the job hunt! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

The End of the Road

Well, I can't believe it is really over, I have had so much fun student teaching (I know, most people are glad when its over). I had my moments of animosity towards the kids, but overall I really liked them. As you know from reading this blog, they definitely made me laugh, which is all it really takes to win my appreciation. So as farewell salute to the awesome kids of American Fork High School I will leave you with some last happenings of today.

First, I have an excerpt from an assignment. They were assigned to make a civil war newspaper with articles and editorials about various events. This was a tabloid story from one of their newspapers.

Headline: "Slave Kills His Master"
Article: "Last Tuesday, John Willikins Booth was murdered by one of his own slaves! John was home alone one night when his household slave sprinted for the door in an attempt to escape. John tackled him to the floor and they both began to fight, until they ended up in the kitchen. Here, the slave found a spatula and slapped John to death. The slave did escape, but the police know it was him because there was no household slave there anymore." HA! I was almost crying, I was laughing so hard, when he presented it in class. Sounds like an open and shut case to me.

Man, these kids are great. I also got a lot of nice notes from students today, which was very sweet. And, one kid gave me his number so we could be "texting buddies." I thought that was a little weird. Anyways, it has been quite the journey and now it is on to bigger and better things (well, maybe not, but at least something that pays).

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.