The Family-A Proclamation to the World.

Today, I am thankful for this:

NO matter what happens in the world, my family will know that this is what I believe.

Les Mis on Youtube.

Brandon doesn't agree with Les Mis... yet. He'll come around. 

That said, I've been listening to it nonstop since he went to school. I found the link to the ENTIRE 10th anniversary concert, the video that started it all for us:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAVrm3wjzq8

I am coming up with a list of baby names (for future children) from this cast: Cosette tops the list only because it's the most normal. My favorite character is Fantine, but with some of her life choices I don't think that's a good example for a daughter. And for men I like Enjolras, but for obvious reasons that's not happening.

Now that my nerd is out for everyone to see, sorry to my neighbors for listening to me singing this all day.

Eleventh Week of Student Teaching.

I just have to say, spring break is heaven sent. This past week has been NUTS! Spring fever is in the air, and the kids can feel it just as well as we can.

Day 51. I have the class do a daily writing prompt, and today it was on community helpers. We listed a bunch on the board, but when I came to collect the papers one girl had written "Mrs. Gillian, because she doesn't let anyone bully us." I made sure to not get teary eyed in front of her... but I didn't give her paper back. I love it too much.

Day 52. I asked the children to write about what they want to  learn about after spring break. As I was walking around, one of the children was looking too suspicious. I walked over right as he was crossing out, "I want to learn about barf." He looked at me like he was busted. I just gave him the "teacher" look, and he erased it.

Day 53. I was being observed today, and it went pretty badly. I had pretty much zero control. I guess it's my fault, for teaching with manipulatives. But I had a good talk with my supervisor after the lesson, and DIDN'T cry too much. I've learned that how I feel about teaching varies from day to day, and that I can't expect every day to go well. Especially in my first year of teaching.

Day 54. Mrs. Stanger wasn't here today, so I was basically on my own. I had a sub, but.... she decided to not show up on time because she knew there was a student teacher. I guess they forgot to tell her that's illegal. Needless to say, it was an exciting time in my class. It was fairly normal for this week, but I had to send a couple of kids out into the hall/into the office for defiance etc. Luckily, one of the boys who I sent to the office still told me I was pretty and gave me a hug as he was leaving.

Day 55. Today was the last day of school before spring break, so we basically buckled down and tried to get the kids to do something. However, I did get a classic quote from today:

Boy: I need to talk to the principal RIGHT NOW!

Me: Why?! (Expecting that someone was bleeding or something to that effect)

Boy: Because a boy in Ms. Clark's class is going to ask his (pointing to another boy) sister out and he's too young!

Me: ......... wait what?

Boy: He's 7 and she's 14, and they're both too young they need to wait until they're 16 to date!

Me: Ok, well she's probably not going to say yes, since he's 7 and she's 14- 

Boy: No, really! He's going to bring cologne and everything so she will say yes!

Despite my telling him to sit down, he did not rest until he told Mrs. Stanger, Ms. Clark, and Mr. Keller. He even left the room without asking (a BIG NO NO) to tell Ms. Clark. I'm so glad we have the dating police in my class.



I love my class. I'm applying for jobs, if that tells you how I feel about teaching. We might end up in Houston, Mesa, or Las Vegas. That's where I"m applying for right now, at least.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today's my dad's birthday... and also the only day of the year that we celebrate our smidgen of Irish heritage.

Happy birthday to a devoted grandpa... (not of my child yet, but someday...)

(And of course, the funniest picture I've ever seen of Dane.)

Dad's also the motivation for my 5K, considering he's run many by  now and also finished a mini-triathlon. Go Dad!

Sorry about the watermark. And you're welcome for not posting the swimming picture.

Anyways, happy birthday Dad!

Color Fun Run.

I am on a quest to get back into shape... student teaching has done a number on me. But, I will do it! Starting with this...

http://colorinmotion5k.com/Rexburg

We signed up, my biggest cheerleader and I. Our friends Rachel and Cody also signed up for it. So, now I have to train. Yay for motivation!

July 6. Do or die.

Ninth Week of Student Teaching.

Day 41. While trying to regain control of my lesson, my teacher said, "Look, Mrs. Giullian got all ready and pretty so you would look at her and listen to her today!"

Boy 1: "She's right. You're beeeeaauutiiifuuuullllll!"

Me: "Oh why thank you. I did brush my hair out and everything today."

Boy 2: "Yeah can I marry you?"

Me: "Sorry, I'm already married." 

Boys: "AWWWWWWW!"

I just about died laughing on the inside, but had to keep gaining control of my class so I just said, "Yep, too bad. Anyways, so the lesson is....." But I sure do love those boys sometimes.

Day 42. I bought another frog for the class, and let the children who followed my directions name it. By almost unanimous voting, they named it... Mrs. Giullian. Heh heh heh yes they laugh every time they say it.
 So now we have Walter on the right and Mrs. Giullian on the left.

 
Day 43. I was playing Simon Says with my class (a perfect way to get the wiggles out). One of my kids, who was in the front row, would start playing air guitar as soon as he would follow my command. He also plays air guitar all the time, at the risk of not hearing any directions, so I've had it up to here with it. Finally, I turned to him and said, "You're out." He got mad, and said, "But I did what you said! I even  put my right hand up!" "Yes, but you're playing air guitar. I didn't say, 'Simon Says play air guitar.' So you're out!" He didn't like it, but I was right. That's the whole point of Simon Says, after all.

Day 44. I had a boy watching me as he walked by, so I followed him with my eyes. He walked back and forth, saying, "What is it, Mrs. Giullian?" I said, "Nothing, I'm just watching you!" He stopped, and said, "I know what you need." He came up and gave me a huge hug. My heart melted, and I said, "You know, you're right. That is just what I needed."

Day 45. I had a couple of funny experiences with 5th grade girls today. Our class does "buddy reading" with the 5th grade class, and here were a few conversations I had with them:
They were looking at a list of big cities around the world. They turn to me and ask, "What's famous in London?"
Me: "Umm, well I've never been there, but there's Big Ben..."
Girls: "What's that?"
Me: "The big clock tower..."
Girls: ".......?"
Me: "It's in Peter Pan."
Girls: "Oooohhhh OK! What else?"
Me: "Shakespeare was there..."
Girls: "What's that?" 
Me: "You know what, you're right. There's nothing famous in London."

Girl: "Are you a Student Teacher?"
Me: "Yep!"
Girl: "You look like you're 16!"
Me: "Well, I'm not!"
Girl: "How old are you?"
Me: "I'm not telling you."
Girl: "Well, you've gotta be like 19 or something."
Me: "Maybe!"
Girl: "Are you married?"
Me: "Yep."
Girl: "Are you 21?"
Me: "Nope."
Girl: "Well, if you're not 19 and you're not 21 and you're married then you have to be 20."
Me: "Sure o.k."
Girl: "Yeah you totally are 20. I can read you like a book, you're so easy to read!"



I sure like my job... even the days when I want to strang love individual children. I've been working on more positive reinforcement, even though I'm not perfect about it.

And tomorrow I'm going to give them an impromptu geography lesson on how far away the D.R. is from here!             
  

Elder Dallin!!!

Dallin got his mission call tonight. 

And the verdict is...

SANTIAGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!

Ok, so first of all, he's going to be so great. I've wanted to go to the Dominican Republic for a long time (ever since my uncle Brian and aunt Denice lived there in 2000/2001), and now I have a reason to. And, best part (to Brandon and I)- he's going Spanish speaking!! As much as we love hearing Austin speak French, it will be cool to hear a brother speaking Spanish next Christmas too. We're so excited for him!

Yes, I'm looking to make him a blanket right now.

Eighth Week of Student Teaching.

Well, I survived my first week of first grade. I am so tired. As I mentioned before, I now feel like I should seek forgiveness from my elementary school teachers, because I imagine that I was kind of a handful...

Day 36. First day in. I got about 75 hugs, which made me feel good. And kind of made up for the fact that I wasn't listened to all day. Phew, I even survived teaching my first lesson on frogs! Just barely though.
Day 37. One of the boys came into class after lunch recess in tears, and said, "One of my friends hurt my feelings." "What did he say?" "He said I wasn't good at basketball, and I've been working on my 2 pointers!!" I told him I was sorry, and he could keep working on his 2 pointers if he wanted to get even better.
Day 38. I had a breakthrough in my management technique. I think it won't last for forever, but for today it worked. I was getting frustrated with the kids not listening, and my teacher had left the room. Panic time. I was writing names on the board (the usual technique for kids who wouldn't be allowed to go out to recess), when I said out loud, "Ok, I'm just going to start writing the names of the children who ARE going to go to recess on time." I started writing names on the board, and when I turned around the children were all sitting in their desks and had their hands on their desks. And, best of all, they were SO QUIET. I couldn't hear anything. I told them, "Ok, here's the deal. I'm going to keep teaching, and when people are doing what they're supposed to then I'll keep writing names on the board. I want all the names on this list by the time recess comes! Ok?" They said, "OK! Can we put a smiley face above our names?" I said yes, so I put a smiley face up there so that they could see it. I didn't hear a peep for about 45 minutes.
Day 39. I taught for basically the entire day today. No big deal, right? Just my fourth day here! Today, a boy scraped his hand while he was running into the classroom (which he wasn't supposed to be doing). He told me his hand hurt, and I checked it out and saw that there was no bleeding. I told him I was sorry, and that it would feel better. I then continued teaching, and was interrupted constantly by his moaning and groaning. I finally stopped my lesson and said, "Hey, I'm sorry that your hand hurts, but you should either put some hand sanitizer on it and clean it or just sit there, but I need you to not be so loud so I can teach please!" He said, "You're right. I have to be strong. Be strong! Be strong!" And he kept repeating this for the rest of the day. I just ignored it after a while.
Day 40. It was Dr. Seuss Day today. The kids all dressed up, from Cindy Loo Who to Pipsqueak from the Lorax to Nick from.... whatever movie it was. After school, my teacher and I were about 15 minutes late leaving school because I was just telling her my fears and anxiety about failing the unit and student teaching. She is so nice, and will tell me things I should work on, which I appreciate. I don't think I would survive this without the redirection that I get from these teachers.

Frogs.

So my big work sample for student teaching is on frogs. I've been worried about not getting enough concepts in, and failing my unit. I've been planning my unit, and thought the best way to teach about a real frog is to bring a real frog in.

So, in preschool a girl taught a lesson on frogs, and brought in a toad for the kids to hold... umm, which by the way, is NOT a frog. I was shocked that could be allowed. So when I went to Petsmart to get a frog, I told the employee that there's no way I was going to "just get a toad instead".
I asked for tree frogs, because that's the example of a frog I could think of. They said, "No, but we do have some fire-belly toads for only $5.99. Do you want one of those instead?" No way. They said, "Well, we are out of tree frogs right now, but we do have some African Dwarf Frogs." I walked over and found these teeny tiny frogs in the fish tank. I mean, we missed them because they were swimming with the goldfish. But they were only $2.99, and are cared for like goldfish, so I took one. Meet Walter!
Unfortunately, he's so small that I need to go buy a few more. He's probably about 1/2 an inch long, maybe an inch if his legs are extended. The pet shop guy told me that they eat bloodworms, but the frogs have to eat sinking pellets and bloodworms don't sink. So I fed him by hand today, and it was kind of scary.
The best part? He doesn't need a tropical habitat. He's in a fish tank with the Cat in the Hat (it's literacy week).

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1859_10152639230895440_937859980_n.jpg

I'm so grateful to belong to a church's whose goodwill is public and shown everywhere. 52 countries! I didn't even know problems were happening in most of them.

It just goes to show that this church, while not run by perfect people, really does practice what it preaches. It expects us to give of our time and talents, and that's what our money goes to.