A little time for a quick update

Well, it has been two whole weeks of student teaching. I feel pretty good. I'm getting to know the teacher, the students, the format of the lessons, the rules of the school, all that good stuff. There are some problem children, but what class doesn't have those? Right now, I'm basically just observing and lending assistance when needed. Starting next week, I'm going to teach some lessons. We'll start slow and ease into it. My comprehensive exam is next Saturday, and I'm really nervous about it. But, once that is out of the way, I'll be able to focus on teaching and getting my portfolio together. There's so much that goes into it! One of the things I need to do is n"Impact on student learning." This means that I need to give a pre-test, look at the scores, figure out what areas need to be taught and which don't, and then come up with a plan to teach those areas. After the lessons, I'll give a post-test and find out what my "impact" was on the students' learning. I have to write a paper about it, too. This is the big project for the student teaching experience. I think I've already given the pre-test. We're waiting for the scores to come back so I can make a plan of action and design some lessons. I'll give the same test as a post-test. Or maybe I'll do something simple like give a spelling pre-test, teach a lesson on how to spell the most frequently misspelled words, and then give a post-test. It could be that simple. We'll see what I end up having time to do.

I'm so happy, because I thought Matt was going to be on "fast cruise" for the next week or so, but I found out he's coming home tonight and he goes on leave on Monday (after a Sunday duty day). Way too exciting! (This will put a damper on my study plans for the weekend, but we can work around it, can't we? ;)

Anyways, I best get ready for Matt to come home. He's on his way! Talk to you all later!

Pam

Since Kate doesn't have a camera...

I'll post some pics from our recent outing to the zoo.











So, this morning I decided that I would try to weed my garden this morning. It is starting to look more like a garden, don't you think?



But then, I saw this...


And decided that I didn't really want to weed anymore.

Can you see it?

How's this?


Yes, Kate, this is the same type of spider you had at your house, but it is smaller. I almost put my face right in its web before I saw it. :( Needless to say, I ran away screaming, and I had to force myself to go out there and take a picture of it, just so I could share with you all...

Have a great day, everyone. Those picked weeds are going to stay there until Matt gets home tomorrow. I'm NOT going out back again today!

~Pam

PS. Oh, by the way, I opened my windows last night to let some fresh air in, and the house smells so fresh this morning! It is still cool right now, but I guess I should close them before it warms up too much...and maybe turn the AC back on....

New Word

I have a confession to make. Today, I heard the word "ambivalence" on the radio, and I realized that I didn't really know what it meant. I always thought that it meant "Not caring one way or the other." I got curious, because it didn't seem to fit the sentence I heard it in (it didn't fit the context). So, I did what any good school teacher would do when she doesn't know what a word means. I looked it up. And here's what I found:

ambivalence (n): simultaneous attraction and repulsion.

So there you have it. And now the conversation made sense :)


~Pam

Efficiency

So, I was looking at a blog travelinlocal.com and I saw an awesome visual. Just what does it really take to transport 300 passengers? Well here's an idea...



Kind of cool, huh? Kind of makes you think about commuting to work in your car...at least it makes me think about commuting to work in my car. Or truck. I'm glad that I will be able to walk or ride my bike to school this fall-Every Day! :)

Have a great day, guys!

Pam

Dr. Horrible

I really don't know how I was able to survive this last year not knowing about this amazing show. I mean, seriously? Josh Whedon is involved. Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) is involved. What is not to like? Anyways, I saw this on Cake Wrecks, had to watch the whole thing, was totally worth it, and now I'm singing the soundtrack to myself. Really brightened my day. Hope you enjoy-it is about 45 minutes long, but SOOOOOO worth it :)




Pam

The Ideal Woman

I watched a documentary today. It was about mannequin makers. These artists basically decide what the "ideal" woman is-this is what we see when we go into clothing stores. What we all compare ourselves to. When we see clothing on a mannequin, we all secretly hope that the clothing will look just as good on us as it does on the mannequin (never mind that the mannequin's clothing usually has to be pinned to fit properly, since they don't really make clothing that actually FITS the mannequin...) Anyways, the artist said that they usually make the mannequins in the size 34x25x36. I was curious-it has been a little while since I measured myself. So...I measured myself. With my clothes on, in the middle of the day, and this is what I came up with:

34x26x37

So close, yet so far away?

And what does that say about me? Am I truly happy with my body yet? Or do I still feel so far from perfection that I will never reach it?

Well, what IS perfect, anyways? And who should I let decide what perfect is for {me}? I guess that's what I really need to work on. And besides. I really shouldn't compare myself to a mannequin. I mean, they're made out of plastic. They can't move, and they sure can't have as much fun in their "perfect" body as I can have in mine, right? :)

Just a thought. Thought I would share. I really am amazed at how far I've come and how much I've changed, just within this past year. I'm not sure I've ever really felt proud of myself. Not when I made it through Power School or Prototype, not when I qualified my watches, not even when I made the Dean's List every semester of my undergraduate degree. But I do feel a certain amount of pride when I look in the mirror these days. I still see my problem areas, but instead of dwelling on the problems, I try to think of solutions. Try, being the operative word.

I actually went into a clothing store the other day and COULD NOT find a single pair of pants to fit me. None of the Women's pants were small enough (just one size too big, but still), and the Junior's pants didn't fit right. I guess I can't shop in that store anymore, because they just don't stock the right size for me. I'm a little sad, but also really happy. More happy than sad, to tell the truth.

Well, I am coming up on Student Teaching, and this semester will be challenging and {hopefully} rewarding. Matt's going to be ridiculously busy with work, but he's only got about 200 days left, and he's counting down!

Well, I will talk to all of you later,
Pam

My Actual Birthday

Well, yesterday turned out much more exciting than I was expecting. Turning 28 was actually pretty fun, when you get right down to it. All morning and most of the afternoon was spent either studying for my in-class exam or working on my take-home exam. I got a call from a good friend, Rene, and got to have a nice little chat with her. That was fun! Then, I had to get ready for class by showering, brushing my teeth, and getting dressed. I had arranged to meet up with a girl to sell her a textbook, so I left the house, while talking to Penny. I met up with the girl, headed to class, and all the while the skies were blue and the sun was shining. It was a gorgeous day. I parked my truck, headed for class, and I heard this loud boom behind me. I looked back, and holy cow! There was a big, dark wall of black clouds looming behind me. I thought "no big deal. probably headed the other way." Boy was I wrong! (more about that later). Anyways, I walked to class, got a phone call from Beth and got to chat to her for a little bit (oh, and I got a present in the mail from Beth. Good timing! Thanks for the book!) Class started, and my professor surprised us with... a birthday cake for me! That was so sweet! She even took some pictures.




I mean, seriously? How cool is that? I've never celebrated my birthday during a class before. Never in elementary or high school, since it always fell during the summer. And never during a college class-and I think I've had a final exam on my birthday every summer I've been in classes....Needless to say, I felt very special, and the final went AWESOME! I guess some students have complained in the past that it was difficult, but I thought it was pretty straightforward. It was open book, so the answers were all there. I did some prep-work, which I highly recommend for any open book test. If the teacher gives you a study guide, I suggest finding all the things on the study guide and writing down page numbers for quick reference. That makes it so much easier during the test to reread any information you might have forgotten.

{Speaking of final exams, I'm not sure how I did on my Advanced Child Theory final, but I got an A overall in the class. I feel pretty good about it. To refresh your memory, this class was the one where everyone technically failed the midterm exam. Including me, even though I got the second highest grade in the class (I know what you're thinking, 'Second highest?' Me, too. *sigh). Since we all did so horribly, the teacher added a whopping 20 points to our raw score, so instead of getting 55/80, I got 75/80, which is an A. There were still some people who didn't pass, even with the added points.}

Ok, so back to my in-class final yesterday. I finished it first-big surprise. And headed back to my car. Only, by this time the storm had hit. It was like the sky had opened up an just let it go! Now, I park off-campus, about a mile away (I'm not exaggerating) so this was going to be fun. I rolled up my pants, wrapped my cell phone and Ipod in paper to keep them from getting wet, and headed for the truck. At least it was a warm rain. By the time I got to my truck, I was thoroughly soaked. My original plan was to go, pick up Kate, go out to eat dinner, and see a movie. Well, it was raining so hard and traffic was bad, so it would have taken us too long and we would have gotten soaked as well, so Kate and I decided to eat some deer spaghetti and french bread at her house. The boys greeted me at the door with "It's your birthday, Mimi!" and "Happy Birthday!" So cute! They had drawn me birthday cards, and Parker let out the surprise that there was a birthday cake for me. I'm so glad I got to share my birthday with them! They are getting so big.
Kate tried to take pictures of me blowing out my 14 candles, but her camera died. Oh, well....Kate gave me her present-two Scentsy bars-one Wasabi Ginger, and the other White Tea and Cactus. I'm pretty excited about both of those!
I got two and a half phone calls while I was over there. Gwen called and told me some exciting news (you'll have to ask her), mom beeped in (but I didn't know it was her b/c I didn't recognize the phone number), and my good fried Matt T. called. I wish I could have talked longer!

So, Kate and I headed out to see the movie. My shoes were soaked, of course, and like wearing two blocks of ice. We decided to watch the movie "Julie & Julia" and it turned out to be a great movie. I hope Kate enjoyed it, because I thought it was really fun. It almost made me want to buy "The Art of French Cooking" and try some recipes. Almost. I saw how much butter those recipes call for! I'm not sure I could do it.

We got back home around 10:30, I dropped Kate off, called Mom back, talked to her and Nathan, got the cutest message in the world from Jill and Jheriko (at the end he is yelling "Happy Birthday Aunt Penny!!!!"). Too fun! Then I was able to talk to my husband for a few minutes before I went to bed. This was a really fun birthday, and a memorable one! Thanks, everyone. You all made turning older that much more bearable. I'm ready for this year, the year of 28. Its going to be a good one!