New News!

Soooo, it's been a little bit since I wrote last, and there's been a few changes in my life... I finished

my student teaching in mid-April and then GRADUATED!!!! I got to go to the smaller, quainter Kinesiology graduation with all my family(thanks for coming!!) on Friday morning. Then, I got up SUPER early on Saturday morning to drive to the Big House through rain and thunder storms that thankfully stopped as soon as we went to wait in the extremely long security lines (we had to walk through metal detectors and couldn't bring anything in a bag or drinks or umbrellas), and why did we have such strict security for an average college graduation, you may ask?! Well cuz UofM can't stand being average! We had to go out and steal the President of the US for a day! The special occasion packed the available space in the Big House (couldn't seat people behind him now could we?), getting somewhere above 80,000 people, most there just to see the big event. While Obama's a fine speech giver, there were only a few points I felt were actually directed toward us graduates rather than possible voters and him wanting to make sure we continue to support him and understand why we shouldn't hate him. Oh, and then we had our great governor who did a nice kiss up speech to our President that had NOTHING to do with graduating! Overall, pretty disappointing when I was looking forward to a real good inspiring speech shoving us into the world from our esteemed speakers. Fortunately, there was an awesome student speaker who saved the day. He was funny and relevant, saving the day!

Now, I'm doing some more research with an old professor, working for my dad's business, babysitting my beautiful niece, and subbing! Busy, busy bee I am!

Movin on up to Middle School!

2 weeks are up at the Middle School and I'm actually loving it there! Just like the Elementary school I was at, my middle school is filled with low socio-economic families that a very transient and diverse. Compared to my background at a private Christian school that I attended from K-12, I can hardly get further away! Something my mom mentioned the other day when I was telling her about the school really struck me. She said maybe this is God's way of preparing me for this kind of work- working with low socio-economic diverse kids. I always figured I teach in a private school or at least a not very diverse school, but so far I've loved these schools and kids! I love going to school in the morning to see what's going to happen next and what else I can learn about these kids. Sometimes it breaks my heart when I hear about their backgrounds or even current lives, but it's giving God a way to work through me and into the students.

The first week at the school for me was filled with mostly observations and doing attendance so I could learn the names of the kids. The schedule set in place is Monday/Tuesday fitness, Wednesday/Thursday unit sports, Friday swimming. I think it's a good practice to have a lot of fitness days so the kids can learn lifelong ways to stay fit. Swimming was new for me. I never had swimming when I was in school but I was started in it early and always loved to do it. It was crazy to see that some of the kids had never gone swimming before! We actually had a new girl who had never been in water more than a bathtub so I got to see how she would acclimate herself to the pool.

The second week was filled with a lot more personality! By then, I knew almost all the names and I was actually getting to know the kids outside of class. I know who to stand on and who to encourage. I also know that when we put on music during our exercises, there are certain kids to watch and you can catch them dancing or singing! It's hilarious! I love seeing them doing their moves and then get caught in the act! I don't have the "homeboy" speak down, but I still get respect! I'm loving it and I pray it stays great!

End of Northside

Wow, it's been a long time! Life has been FLYING by over this past month! I'm currently finishing up my Winter Break after finishing my first half of student teaching at Northside Elementary. I had an awesome time at the school and I'm sad it's over. My last week was great and full fun games and sad goodbyes. I got cards from a lot of students that are shown on my wall. I'll be back to sub and help with a few events, but I'm gonna miss them for sure!

The next step is middle school. Since I'll be certified to teach K-12, we have to split our student teaching semester in half-one half elementary and one half secondary. I just so happen to have been placed at a middle school. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm glad I didn't get high school b/c I look like a high schooler so I wouldn't get much respect and scary stuff happens at public high schools these days; but on the other hand, I wish I'd gotten high school so I could really experience everything in such a safe environment as student teaching. I don't know... I'm sure God will work it out for the best. I've only ever met the cooperating teacher a few times but I hear great things. Plus, I'll be teaching swimming which'll be interesting since I never had that when I went to school. It all starts next week so pray for me!

I applied for graduation! Scary stuff! I had to do multiple senior audits that I was so scared would uncover more classes I needed, but it all seemed to go through! Just waiting for a few transcripts to transfer and I'll be set! Now I'm looking into tickets for commencement which are gonna be hard to get since our very own President Obama is giving the speech. I hope it doesn't rain!

My niece is almost 5 months old! I can't believe how old she is! It's amazing how time flies when you have something like that to look at. She's rolling over now and cooing at us! We work over and over to make her smile cuz she's got one of the cutest smiles ever! I can't wait to watch her grow up!

There might be more, but that's all I can think of at the moment!

Three Weeks Up!

I can't believe I've already finished 3 weeks of my student teaching! Time is flying!! I already talked about my first week and the last two weeks have been just as eventful! I'll try to sum it up:

- I went on a "Winter Survival" field trip with the 5th grade class this past Tuesday. We drove out to a place with lots of space for us, got out and walked

half a mile through snow whilecarrying our own gear, and met up in the middle of some woods. The kids were instructed how to collect kindling, tinder and pieces of wood in various sizes in order start and feed their own fire. The adults were told to DO NOTHING many times (I guess they've had bad experiences where the parents feel bad for their kid's failure so they take over and that's not the point of the day) so we just encouraged them along. I had a group of 6 girls and I kept trying to tell them we needed more than these dinky little sticks and they should look for downed trees to get big logs, but it took a while for them to catch on. Eventually, we got the go ahead to light our fire and pull out our food. One of the girls in my group actually brought stuff to make guacamole... not sure if that's cookout food but whatever. We also had hot dogs, and special hamburgers, and grilled cheese, and ,of course, s'mores! Everyone wanted to be in our group after they smelled our spread! After our great food, the kids were taken on a walk and then played a bit of hide and seek and then we went back to school. Great cold day!

- I bonded with a student on that field trip-one of my EI kids that had so far ignored or got upset with me because I'm a girl. That day, he hovered around me and my group until my girls yelled at him to go back to his own group. Ever since he's been one of my best students!

- I had a 1st grader do some crazy stuff including hitting on me several times:

-he actually noticed that I wore my hair differently and told me I looked hot

-he looked at the rings I wear on both my ring fingers and told me I shouldn't have them since he wanted to put a ring on my finger

-he offered to find my CT (cooperating teacher) a woman

-he came up and grabbed my sides and hugs me full-out

- I saw a total meltdown from one of my EI kids... scary to watch since he was screaming and wouldn't walk and had to be dragged out of the gym in front of some 2nd graders who then asked if his legs were broken and why he was being dragged outside

- And I had a kid come into our office and tell me he's excited to give me a Valentine's Day card!

So yeah, like I said, eventful! I'll be starting to teach a lot more this week, especially my own lessons, so I hope it goes nice and smooooooth!

Lessons Learned from the Gym

This first week of student teaching phys ed at the elementary school has been full of some crazy but great things! The principle at my school missed school Monday and Tuesday so my CT (cooperating teacher) had to take over the role... there was a sub there but she didn't know how to teach PE so I got to lead the class several times on my first few days there! Scary but also pretty awesome! I thought I'd share just a few of the fun happenings with you so you can start to see what you're missing by not teaching K-5th graders PE!

-you get Kindergartners whispering to you that you're pretty

-hugs from random children that like you just because you're associated with someone else they like: their other PE teacher

-birthday treats from kids you've known less than a week

-chubby little EI kids with partial mullets trying to explain how to kneel by telling the other kids that they have to get down on one knee like the prince does when putting the slipper on the princess

-going through almost an entire song of listen-and-move (songs put with movements like running or galloping that you have to listen for to figure out what to do) before you realize you have 3 Kindergartners following you in your shadow

And these are just a few of the things my week was filled with! Jealous yet?

Long One...

Happy New Year!!

With the start of a new year, I'm going to try to be better about my blogging! There's a lot going on right now so there shouldn't be a shortage of things to talk about...

2010 is starting off a lot like 2009 in the way that I'm about to start student teaching again! If you've been following for the last year, you'll know that I was supposed to do my semester of student teaching last winter semester, but it fell through. Well, I think I've fixed the previous problem so I should be all set to go now!! I'll be starting out at Northside Elementary in Ann Arbor just like last time, but my secondary placement has been moved to Scarlett Middle School, also in AA. I was hoping for Canton placements this time around since I'm living at home this year to save money, but I'm still pretty excited to be at both of these schools. Monday's my first day back at the schools so pray that everything goes well please!!

One major change from the beginning of last year is that I now have a neice!

Noel's the cutest baby and she almost never cries. We've got her to stick out her tongue when we do it first and she's just started giggling! She'll be 3 months old on the 3rd and she's the first grandchild/neice in our immediate family so everything seems new! We all love babysitting and we keep trying to think of new reasons to get Kyle and Danielle out of the house so we can watch her! With all of the holidays and football days recently, our days have been wonderfully Noel-filled. I can't wait to see what she does next!

Last semester, my time was filled with work and class. I took my hopefully last Math class that was a killer and yet somehow I got A-! It was one of the best surprises ever! My working situation was part-time at ITS for my dad- cleaning and doing scrap-runs, and then part-time at the local Family Christian bookstore. It's been great working there, but I'm taking a break from that while I student teach.

The last new thing in my life is the house I bought. It's in the same neighborhood as my parents' house, just a walk away, and we're redoing nearly all of the inside and some of the outside to suit my brother/sister-in-law's taste since they'll be the ones living in it when it's ready. It's pretty neat to see and help with all the changes going on over there, and be a part of the new plans for the house. It's certainly giving the whole family something else to do!!

I think that's it for now! I'll try to be back soon! Thanks for reading!!!

Busy Bee

Wow it's been a long time!! I can't believe I let 2 months get away from me! However, it's been a SUPER busy 2 months so I have really good excuses!

First off, and biggest announcement, I'm an AUNT!!!! My sister-in-law had my niece Noel Grace Archibald on October 3rd. It was an exciting 2 days in the hospital and she finally arrived and is the cutest baby ever! I've since had the chance to babysit and hang out with the cutie a lot and

I love it! Babies are a semi-new thing for me, seeing as I'm pretty much the youngest in my immediate and extended families so it's been a learning process. She's started smiling now and it's wonderful to catch her in a smile with her dimple showing! We try and try and then it happens and we're all so much more excited than she is! She hardly ever cries and just makes these squeaks and grunts. Great stuff!

Next up is I bought a house!! Kind of... we took advantage of the whole 1st time homeowner

credit and bought a foreclosed house in my parents neighborhood for a great price that we can work on for a while and fix up. It's definitely not livable right now but it will be! It's pretty exciting but there's so much work! It was a bit creepy when we got there... there was this big cage in the basement with some handmade edges coming out of the wall... we're guessing a ferret? Anyways, we've (and when I say we I mean mostly Kyle and my dad) have torn out a bunch of stuff already, trying to get to a point where we can still work in the winter. We're talking floor plans and such at this stage since we hope to change a lot. Similar to this is my sister just moved into her new house last week and she's going through totally different things! She doesn't have much to change at this point, but there's lots of painting and furniture choices in her near future.

I'm still taking my math class and it's going pretty well... I know I'll pass, but I'm really praying for a great grade to raise my minor GPA... Pray for me please! I also had a PE convention that I had to give a presentation for a few weeks ago. Scary. Mom and i drove up to Traverse City for the night and day so I could be there, but I think it went all right! Not much fumbling but we may have to do something for the national convention which would be 10 times worse. We'll see...

Finally, I got another job! I've been filling in at my dad's shop, which is fine and pays really well, but I didn't have a real position and I couldn't meet anyone new. I felt I was in a rut. Now, I've got another job on top of that at the nearby Family Christian Store! Perfect, right?! I get to walk

around and talk about books all the time! It's such a temptation, though! I want them all but then I wouldn't get to save any money. We had our employee appreciation day the other night and got a super discount so I already have most of my Christmas shopping done, but it was still a lot of money. Oh well, I think I'm getting a raise cuz it seems like I've been put on a track for management... not so sure I'm ready for that yet...

Well, that's the news! As you can see, it's been busy busy busy! Hopefully I'll be better now!