What teachers make

My roommate just reminded me of this:

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?" Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube, or movie rental... You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.) I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. I make my students stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, because we live in the United States of America. Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life. (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)

"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make?"

I got a package from home today and put up late st patrick's day decorations
Chelsea

The Home Teachers meet the Visiting Teachers

Its the last day of the month, I haven't done my visiting teaching yet. I haven't been visit taught, and I haven't been home taught. 12:30 we're out of church. I go to my companion's apartment at one, only to find out she's in a meeting with the bishop.
Two o' clock. I try again, and success! she's home, we go over to my apartment and review the lesson before we go to our girls' apartments. OK, we're good. Two ten... Knock, Knock, Knock. "Hi is _____ home?" Score, she is home, and she is happy to have us come in to give the lesson. We talk, but aren't that good at keeping a conversation going. Oh, by the way, RS president, do you know where _-_-_-_ lives? Oh good, because we didn't know that. We go visit _-_-_-_ and get along well.
Okay, I think we're set, we have appointments for next month (not the last Sunday) and our girls are doing fine. I promise next month I won't procrastinate. Okay we're good.
Knock Knock Knock. "Who's at the door?" Jessica asks me. "I don't know" I respond as I go to open the door. "Hi, we're your home teachers, is it an okay time for us to talk to you and your roommates?" I'm glad that we aren't all taking naps right now. "yea, come on in, I'll get the others out here." I respond and let Jessica entertain them for  a minute. Diana, our Home Teachers are here, come join us for a lesson. "Kristen, come meet our home teachers." We're all there and talk for a good hour before the guys give us a lesson. By the end, we hear a Knock Knock Knock on our door. Hello to Diana's Visiting teachers. One of our home teachers gives a prayer, closing their meeting with us and opening the meeting for the visiting teachers.
At seven I decide that my visiting teachers aren't coming and change into my pjs, getting ready for bed so I can get up early in the morning. Sure enough, we didn't hear another Knock Knock Knock at the door.

Name this movie...

"Squirrel" 

Sunday is a special day, its the day we fall of our beds.

My alarm went off just like any other morning. I groaned because I didn't want to get up, but I wanted my alarm to be off NOW. So I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and, like every morning, stepped onto my desk to get out of bed. Unlike every morning, I stepped on the edge of the desk and, not realizing my danger, put all of my weight on that foot. Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud. Of course the edge of the desk wasn't the most secure place on my desk to step and I fell. 

My roommate woke to see me laying on the floor with my alarm clock still going off and unable to do anything about it. She laughed as I tried to get up (knowing it could have been her) on my own and being unsuccessful. So I crawled over and turned off my alarm. To get up, I had to pull myself up using the ladder built into my bed. I was not excited about wearing high heels to church that day.

I am glad that I landed flat on my knee instead of at an angle which could have hurt even more. That was almost a week ago and my knee is still sore and very bruised, but thats to be expected when you fall several feet and all your weight lands on your knee. This is an experience I hope not to repeat again, especially with such a long fall.

I Looked Out The Window and What Did I See?

Wait, what did I see? There's something falling from the sky. Spring didn't bring me this surprise, Winter did. It's SNOWING!!! This is the first time I've ever been in the snow as its snowing. Some of the girls in my math class think I 'm crazy for being excited about snow, but it is exciting. I felt pretty silly as I walked to the MC from the Ricks building with the silliest grin on my face. This is the first time its snowed up here since Jan 1, and it isn't even really "snowing" based off my Californian expectation of snow (it should be like in the movies, either no snow or a down pour of snow).
I'm excited and am planning on watching it snow all day while doing my work except that it just stopped :-( Oh well, I guess I just will have to do my work with out the snow distracting me

What's that white stuff on the ground?

It's been a long time since I've been in the snow. My only memories of trees with white on them are when we had white fly in our backyard and Grandma's fake tree that was white. It was a shock to see that snow actually stayed on the trees. The other day I was walking to class and all of the sudden I had snow all over me, the wind  had blown it off the branch above me just as I walked under it. My roommate and I had hot dogs last week and we went outside to grill them. We had a lot of fun (and frustration) trying to get the fire started (we had to use lighter fluid to get the fire going).

Note Cards... Or a Blog (no this isn't task avoidance)

"About the note cards, does anyone know how to make a blog?" My children's literature teacher asked our class today. Of course, since we've grown up in the age of technology, many students in the class raised their hands, not sure where Sister Steiner was going with that thought. "If you know how, you can make a blog instead of writing a note card for each book we'll be reading this semester."

I'm looking forward to the rest of this semester in this class because we get to read many good books, including  Beauty by Robin McKinley, which is my favorite book. There are lots of titles of books that I haven't heard of before that we are reading, but they sound good from what Sister Steiner has told us about them.

The one book I've read part of is The Read-Aloud Handbook by Tim Trelease and I'm really enjoying it. It is about how important it is to read to kids so that they learn to love to read. I'm grateful that my parents took the time to read to me and for giving me a love of learning. 

I've already set up a blog for class with some of the covers of the required readings for my class, if any one would like to read it, you can find it at http://booklover-robertson.blogspot.com/

Thank you Mom and Dad