Teaching is a work of heart.

I am now a college graduate.

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:32:15 -0700

Woop woop!

*insert happy GIFs that I do not have organized at the moment*

Congratulations to all graduates!

Don't compare yourself to others.

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:43:24 -0700

When you do, you diminish the growth you have made because someone has reached a certain success that you are in the process of reaching.

Look how far you have come. Think back to 5, 10 years ago where you had not reached this milestone and had to overcome so many obstacles. Be proud. Be happy. You are here and you deserve it.

I have started the process of being hired by my dream district!

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:29:47 -0700

What an emotional few days it has been…My paperwork is in with the district which means I can start going to schools and interviewing! Almost there!

—

I almost tagged this “student teaching” but I am no longer one…my tags will soon read “first year teacher”

whoa.

ktliterary: Truth.

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:04:32 -0700

ktliterary:

Truth.

My fellow teachers, do you own a domain name?

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:45:30 -0700

I am thinking of setting up a website with my own domain name and don’t want to include a grade in the domain name because a) I don’t know what grade I will be teaching and b) I want to use the same name when and if I switch grades in the future.

Any suggestions?

I know you had kindergarten for student teaching, but I don't remember if you were early childhood or anything. So...what is your dream grade level? If you got to pick, what would you want?

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:27:40 -0700

Hello! I had kindergarten this semester and 3rd grade last semester so no I am not early childhood. My credential is for k-6 multiple subjects. My dream grade level would be between K-3 but if I had to pick I would pick 1st or second. I feel like I mesh better in primary, even though 3rd isn’t considered primary. I think 4th and 5th would be more challenging for me because I have never student taught or observed one therefore everything would be so new for me. So dream wise, I would like primary. Reality wise, give me anything! :)

I just finished getting all my papers ready for my interview next week.

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:11:56 -0700

I have some free time now where I want to just unwind and be on my laptop. :)

Shoot some questions my way?

My favorite Dr. Seuss book.

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:11:00 -0700

My favorite Dr. Seuss book.

The combination of graduating, interviews, and trying to land a job are starting to make me a jumble of emotions. One minute I am happy, the next I have an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:15:00 -0700

This is normal, right?

TAG, you’re it! The rules are to state ten random facts about yourself. Then send this to the five nicest people on tumblr. (Except those are less "rules" than "mild suggestions which you should feel free to ignore if you're tired or busy or just don't feel like it".) :)

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:05:23 -0700

Oh, fun! Thanks for tagging me.

1. I am an only child. Sometimes I hate it but mostly I love it :)

2. I am a HUGE NBA fan with the Lakers being my team. We will be back and better next season!

3. I love watching beauty videos on youtube. I got into it last year. Before that I never wore makeup mostly because I didn’t know how but I have learned so much watching the videos and getting to know these girls. They’re great! Now I have makeup tricks up my sleeve, even though I still don’t wear a lot. Just enough to enhance my features.

4. I love animals. If I could, I would build a no kill animal shelter and adopt animals to be kept there because it is unfortunate that these poor animals, mostly dogs, end up in shelters and get euthanized because their owners didn’t know how to handle them. If you know you can’t take care of an animal, don’t get it. Or give it to someone that would provide the love you couldn’t. I can go on and on about how I want to save all the animals that are suffering in the world but that is it’s own post.

5. I love to write. I used to write poetry, since I was about 10, but have recently stopped because I don’t have time anymore. Poems used to come to me while I was falling asleep, driving, drinking coffee, and they would just flow so naturally into a touching piece but I haven’t written one in a year. I used to dream about publishing everything I had written, some short stories but mostly poems, but I don’t know if I have that dream anymore. I mostly wrote for myself, not for other’s reading. It was my way of making sense of thoughts and emotions. Hopefully I get back into writing again…

6. I read all the Harry Potter books in one month last summer. I remember reading the first one when I was in 6th grade, about the time it first came out, but I never really got into it. When the Harry Potter craze was going around, I was thinking, “How can you guys read that? It isn’t even interesting. Who cares about wizards and magic.” But last year, in my children’s literature class, we read the first one and I had to write a paper on it. I was hesitant at first because I remember not liking it but boy was I surprised! I loved it! I was so hooked. I went to the library right after I finished the first one and stocked up on all of them and just read, read, read. I couldn’t stop. It was so entrancing and wonderful. I finally understood what everyone saw in it. I remember lagging the last book because I didn’t want the series to end. I was thinking, “What am I going to do now? I don’t want this feeling to stop.” But I wanted to know what happened so I read it and was left content. I was sad it was over, but I was happy because the conclusion of it was fulfilling. I hadn’t watched any of the movies until after I finished reading the whole series. I am so happy that my professor had us read the first book last year because I would never have enjoyed Hogwarts if it wasn’t for him.

7. On the topic of reading. I love to read. As a kid, I would take a book with me everyone; car rides, bathroom, to bed, to everyone’s house. I just couldn’t get enough of reading. English was my second language and it was difficult for me when I was learning it but the good thing was that I was young so I picked it up quickly. Once English and I became great friends, I read and read and read some more.

8. I have never broken any bones. (knock on wood)

9. I might be an animal lover but overall, I am a dog lover. I had always wanted one ever since I could remember. It would be on my Christmas wishlist, it was what I wished for when I saw the first star of the night. It was all I could think about ever since I was 5. My parents were always against it, “It will dirty up the house. It is a huge responsibility. It is a lot of money. etc.” But then, for my 20th birthday, my parents finally caved in and I got just what I wanted. I was so surprised! I never thought it would happen. She is the joy in my life and currently she is snoring up a storm <3

10. I have lived in the same city for over 17 years and I love it. If I was ever to move away from this city, I wouldn’t want to move far because it is my home.

I am no longer a student teacher!

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:36:45 -0700

What a packed 2 semesters of student teaching this was…

Now, I am going to get ready for my interview with my dream district, which is in about two weeks. Then, the job hunt will begin. I already have about 14 schools lined up on my “dream” list…district needs to hire me first, though!

"It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that..."

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:05:06 -0700

“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”

- Hugh Laurie
(via thatkindofwoman)

Yup.

(via allisonunsupervised)

I love the sound of the printer after completing something huge.

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:15:48 -0700

I expect too much of people.

Sun, 05 May 2013 11:32:16 -0700

As I have already shared here, I am beyond excited to graduate and the recent news that I will be receiving honors is just the icing on the cake! I was sharing this excitement with my master teacher and she didn’t offer one “congratulations” or a “good job you have worked so hard and deserve it” no “I am so proud!” She could just see the excitement oozing from my face. All she had to say was, “Oh that’s good. I wasn’t even excited to graduate. I had honors throughout my whole life without even trying.”

Again, it was all about her.

I, too, have had honors my whole life, but I didn’t mention anything to her.

When I see someone excited about something, I bask in that and congratulate because I know it is something that means a lot to them. But I guess that is just me and I shouldn’t expect everyone to be like that.

Next week is my last week with the kindergarteners...

Sun, 05 May 2013 11:23:27 -0700

It is going to be bittersweet. I am sad to say goodbye to these kids that have become a part of my everyday life. I will always remember the silly/cute things that they said or did. The “light bulb” moments when they understood a new concept or became more fluent in their reading. The thought that I had something to do with that, I helped build the foundation for their future schooling.

But I am ready to move on and see what the future holds. I am ready for my own classroom and the journey to it.

I thank all of the students and teachers I have worked with to help me grow as a teacher, but it is almost time to remove the “student” out of my title and just be “teacher.”

"The difficulties that we experience allows us to push past the things we “think” we..."

Sat, 04 May 2013 17:59:40 -0700

“The difficulties that we experience allows us to push past the things we “think” we understand and becoming things we “do” understand.”

- Satsuki Shibuya

aseaofquotes: Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:15:49 -0700

aseaofquotes:

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

"My pencil lost itself."

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:08:00 -0700

A boy raised his hand and said this today…

The new, best, way to say “I lost my pencil.”

thinkbrit: A message from one of my students a few days...

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:29:47 -0700

thinkbrit:

A message from one of my students a few days ago.

Love it. Some of you may need this. :)

What a crazy day!

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:27:39 -0700

It was a rough one in the classroom. The kiddies were very talkative and wiggle worms. They weren’t as willing to sit still on the rug and listen in the morning. My nerves have been all shot because of my workload therefore my patience had reached it’s limit today. I was worn out by recess! That had never happened before…then my math lesson fell through because we didn’t have the necessary materials (which I should have planned better for and adapted the lesson knowing we didn’t have those materials). Long story short, today seemed never-ending in the classroom.

Then I get home, get the mail and what do I see? MY HONORS CEREMONY INVITATION. I had this whole ordeal a few months back where I found I was .01 away from graduating with honors and I was so depressed because I was so close! It turns out my university counselor recommended me for special achievement and I was able to reach honors! That was such happy news for me! If I could do cartwheels, I probably would have during that moment. I know how important this is for my parents, seeing me graduate with my model and the happiness and pride on their face when I told them was just everything for me.

Today was a roller coaster of emotions.