DREAM BIG!!!!!

My first week was amazing! Better than I could have imagined! These are some of my co-workers:) The turtle is huge! It's as big as a basketball. The rabbit's name is Chewie and is sooooo sweet. Makes me want one:) The snake is one of four! It reminds me of my days at Outdoor Science which I love. The kids get them out and hold them as they take notes. It's awesome. The lizard is mean and crazy. The fish were given by students.



















Things are amazing for more reasons than one. After coming back from Oklahoma, I began thinking a lot about what I am going to do next. Having a teaching credential in California really opens doors EVERYWHERE. So I started DREAMING! DREAMING BIG! Teaching is my dream job so the rest is really just about where I want to do that. The East Coast came to mind, and just wouldn't go away. I started looking into teaching jobs and found a few cities that were not only affordable but whose schools are in the low-income, high-needs areas I am interested in teaching in. I remembered the "Teach for America" program. They place you in low-income regions where you work directly for the school and district, with benefits and all. After completing the two-year commitment, Teach for America pays up to $11,000 of your school loans. That would be nice! So... I applied! My first choice for location was Philadelphia, followed by Boston, Baltimore, Newark, Connecticut and Delaware. It is tough competition and I know of two people who have been declined this year. But I find out on Thursday whether or not I have been accepted into the interviewing process, starting with a phone interview.

I met with a friend to tell her about my exciting news and she was in awe. "My brother is finishing his second year with Teach for America in Philadelphia! He has loved it!" She invited me to go with her to visit him and his young family over Spring Break, to check things out.
This is Micaela and I after we got our tickets for April. We are excited to say the least! I am excited to keep you all updated! Thank you so much for your support! I think be home in Oklahoma as a family reminded me how much I have, and gave me the courage to pursue something I think could be pretty amazing! Love you guys so much!

Student Teaching: Day 1

Today was my first day at Clovis High School as a student teacher. My morning started by dressing as a grown-up (heals included) and making a travel cup full of coffee. I felt so ADULT! My Master Teacher is Todd Kennedy and he is amazing! He is extremely relational with the students. They obviously love him and expects a lot from them! He teaches Adv. Biology. Eventually I will teach two or three of his classes. The other teacher, Mrs. Walker, teaches Science 2 which is a remedial life science class for freshman and sophomores. Her students are a lot more challenging. Some are English language learners and others are troublemakers. I will teach two of her classes. Mr. Kennedy let me just sit back and observe but when I went into the Science 2 class, Mrs. Walker asked me to jump right in and help the students correct a worksheet about the cell. For every right answer, I was supposed to throw a piece of candy to them. Now, I actually have great aim so don't worry, I didn't... miss... Except one of the candies was a bag of Sugar Daddy bits, rock hard Sugar Daddy bits. So when I threw them to the girl in the back who correctly identified, "phospholipids" as the molecule that makes up the bi-layer membrane of the cell, the bag broke open. You would have thought a bomb went off inside the bag by the way the tiny shards of dense candy flew in every direction, hitting a whopping 3 students in the eye. That's right. I physically abused my students on the first day! Signs of a good, long career:) Hahaha. It was awesome. Could not have asked for a better first day!!!