"you're a good teacher"

My favorite question to hear from the students in my practicum classroom is "are you here because you're learning to be a teacher?" (If they have a 2nd grade speech impediment, trust me, it is that much sweeter.) I love telling them "yes, yes I am!"

Why I am going to be a teacher:

Most people going into education were influenced very heavily one way or another from one of their past teachers. Sometimes their experiences are positive and sometimes negative. Either way something has happened to them that has guided their passions to teaching and to the classroom. This is the same for me.

All through elementary school I had great teachers. I always knew that my teachers cared about me. There are countless experiences where I can remember specifically my teachers going out of their way- beyond the school hours they were getting paid for. It wasn't just me they cared for but it was my whole class.

Fourth grade was probably when I realized how much I needed the love and consistency that my education provided for me. My teacher treated each and every student as an individual with different needs. She treated us equally but differently. She wasn't afraid to speak openly to the class about things in our personal lives. Most teachers would be worried of offending students. I almost feel like she helped me face my life rather then trying to hide from it. In times of trouble I could tell that I was deeply cared and loved for.

I will never forget seeing my principal walk into my mothers funeral. I was a nine-year-old in disbelief that teachers and principals had a life outside of school. And I was also surprised that my principal even knew who I was because after all Elementary school seems pretty big when you're four feet tall. I have never felt so much love and compassion from individuals who had nothing to do with my home life at all. I'm certain that these teachers and administration have no idea how much of an impact they have really had on my life of helping me succeed and not letting me slip through the cracks.

I want to have a job where I can be an added resource of kindness, love, and support to a child's life. I want to make a difference in the lives of young children.

Educational blogs:

here, here, and here

The title of this post was inspired by the cutest little 8 year-old who walked up to my practicum teacher and said, completely out of the blue. "Mrs. Dahle, you're a good teacher."

Insanity

No, silly i'm not referring to the workout insanity. Because who has time to exercise these days? And in all honesty if I get one run in for the month I feel pretty dang accomplished. I'm all about the small victories lately it seems.

As of recent:
I can often be found with some sort of caffeinated beverage in hand. And just now when I realized I left my little bag of Doritos in my car I nearly cried.... and I will be the first to tell you I'm not a crier. Really, meg?.... really. And best of all anytime time i'm just sitting I almost always nod off into sleep.

I like being busy. I like being productive (which for me usually occurs when I'm busiest) but this has been a little much. I just think about the people in my major who have spouses and kids....like how are they not totally neglecting them? I'm confident they are better at this whole balancing life thing. I gave a lesson in Relief Society a couple of weeks ago on keeping a balanced life. And I have been the worst at applying it into my life. So i'll just keep on trying until I find that balance that works for me.

Meanwhile life is wonderful isn't it? If you surround yourself with good people it actually helps you live a more balanced and happy life. That is something I have always been sure of doing because it brings so much joy into my life!

I live for moments like these, these kids....they just get to me.

I'm going to be better at taking things just a day at a time. And be proud of even my small victories. 

Mid semester slump- here we go! it's all down hill from here. 

This talk is amazing! read it. And this one I just came across is on my to-do list of things to read.

OH I almost forgot! This week I started my practicum in a 2nd grade class! My new little kiddos are the most adorable things and say the funniest things ever! They also give me hugs like 2 min. Sometimes I wish I was able to be more loving and so genuine like them. There is truly so much to be learned from a child. 

advice from a mother

This is something a mother wrote to her daughter...what she wants her to know and remember. I think it is just the sweetest.  I have got to start living by this...words of wisdom they are.

“The main thing is just to try to be nice. You already are – so lovely I burst, darling – and so I want you to hang on to that and never let it go. Keep slowly turning it up, like a dimmer switch, whenever you can. Just resolve to shine, constantly and steadily, like a warm lamp in the corner, and people will want to move towards you in order to feel happy, and to read things more clearly. You will be bright and constant in a world of dark and flux, and this will save you the anxiety of other, ultimately less satisfying things like ‘being cool’, ‘being more successful than everyone else’ and ‘being very thin’.

Choose your friends because you feel most like yourself around them, because the jokes are easy and you feel like you’re in your best outfit when you’re with them, even though you’re just in a T-shirt. Never love someone whom you think you need to mend – or who makes you feel like you should be mended.

Whenever you can’t think of something to say in a conversation, ask people questions instead. Even if you’re next to a man who collects pre-Seventies screws and bolts, you will probably never have another opportunity to find out so much about pre-Seventies screws and bolts, and you never know when it will be useful."

Read the full article here.

fat kid camp..but not really

I just had this realization...hope it makes sense not just to me.

As a human being we store many thoughts. New thoughts are constantly being formed we can't help it. Usually I don't know how to interpret anything I feel because I just feel so jumbled all the time. There are thoughts bombarding us daily from different places. Good thoughts, uplifting ones even. Ones that motivate, encourage and possibly inspire. But then confusion tends to set in when the good is conflicted with negative, bad, and discouraging thoughts.

I think just being consciously aware of the two sources of thought can really make all the difference. Realizing that everything unfavorable stems from the adversary-our number one cheerleader for failure and misery. We all have days i'm sure where the whole worlds seems to be against us. I remember one day over the summer when I was laying in my friends bed in tears, crying to her. I hadn't the slightest idea of why I was crying until it hit me. I was about to embark on something very spiritually uplifting and Satan was trying to get me down. He threw at me every discouraging thought in the book. And they were entering far faster then my little brain had capacity to process. Once I remembered that big bully I was able to fully open up a channel to positive thoughts. And remember all the good and positive things I had once felt instead of failure and discouragement.

Just a couple of nights ago I was walking home from campus. It was 8:30 pm and I was finally done for the day which started exactly 12 hours earlier with a one hour break in the middle. When I was just about home I so casually thought that I should stop by and see friends who live very close to my apartment.(we used to be neighbors and now I don't get to see them very often.) Then almost immediately my idea was spoiled by "but it's been a long day and I should just go home" That thought was accompanied by feelings of self pity. Like I "should" be in a bad/complaining mood just because it's been a long day. WHY? I thought for a minute.Those thoughts of "woe me" crept in but I was able to push them out. My day was good, it was great in fact and I wasn't going to let something as insignificant as a teeny tiny negative thought turn that sour. Guess what! Taking ten minutes to stop by was completely worth it. It left me feeling even better and hopefully they were able to recognize my genuine concern for them. I felt that it was reciprocated and that's why I left having an even better day.

Positive thoughts will lead to positive actions and positive outcomes. I think that sometimes our postive thoughts seem too casual and unimportant sometimes in comparison to the negative, self belittling ones that too often creep in and spoil the goods. All it takes is a little nudge to those mean little guys or even a firm GET OUT and STAY OUT!

and because my favorite blogger once said "every blog post deserves a picture" here is a little TBT to that one time I worked at fat kid camp.

okay, so I never worked at fat kid camp but I have secretly been waiting my whole life to say that.  Also my friend Jane here, her camp name was Lars. (I guess it's from heavy weights...) so I thought maybe it was fitting/appropriate. This is totally not related to my blog post at all but every monday Lars and I would make jokes about Oakcrest being fat camp....for no particular reason, honest. It just helped make Mondays really great.