What Happens in Cabo Gets Shared on this Blog!

The week was relaxing...occasionally. But, that's the best kind. I felt like we found the perfect balance of relaxing at the beach reading and doing fun, sportsy things.

We got into Cabo on Wednesday afternoon (we left at 7:15, meaning we had to get up at 4:30 to be there by 5:30) and had what most would call a very relaxing day. We sat and read and then went to eat at the most delicious restaurant called The Office. I know right? We thought they should definitely play The Office theme song; they'd get way more tourists at the restaurant! It was a really nice restaurant with the tables and chairs right on the beach so you could dig your toes in the sand while you eat. Plus, the food was incredible. I had the best fajitas of my life! We didn't wait long to get in our suits once we got back to the room and go out in the hot tub. Blissful!

On Thursday, we kind of had a lazy morning, which again, so okay with me! We got in a rental car and drove to San Jose del Cabo, a town close to Cabo San Lucas. We went because we heard it was a hoppin' place, but it wasn't. Maybe that's because we went during Siesta time because all we saw was a whole bunch of Mexicans under a huge canopy in the main plaza just sitting there. It was kind of funny. We walked around a bit and decided to have some lunch. Let's just say that I have never eaten at a place called Dirty Sanchez before, but I'm sure glad we did! It was awesome!

When we got back to Cabo, we got in our suits again and rented Jet Ski's. That was a blast. It was my first time on them but I got the hang of it pretty quick. We drove to the arc that is famous in Cabo, and Gary even drove through it (even though I don't think we were technically supposed to; what a rebel!) Gary and Judi saw hundreds of seals on this huge rock, but Derek and I only saw one. He was this lazy old seal sitting on top of this tiny rock. There was only room for him. I drove around it and tried to get his attention. When he finally stirred, all he did was lift up his flipper and waved at me. It was a pretty special moment in my life! Just as I was pulling away, another seal surfaced about 10 feet in front of me. I almost hit it and I screamed, which I think scared it away! It was a successful first time Jet Skiing if I do say so myself!

On Friday, we walked over to the Marina and swam with dolphins. That's right...we swam with dolphins. Well, one dolphin in particular: Frida! She was a very nice dolphin. We hugged her, kissed her and swam with her. She was very friendly and funny too. She could answer questions by nodding and squealing and she beat all eight of us in a water fight! Plus, she weighed 400 pounds but could still jump 20 feet in the air. It really was fun! We spent the rest of the day doing beach activities and reading some more!

On Saturday, we woke up early and caught a cab to go zip lining. It was a blast. There were eight cables, 400 feet and tons of fun! The longest line was 1/2 mile long and we got up to 50 mph. We did a lot of hiking too! Once you go down, you must climb back up to go down again! We went backwards, tandem, and we even did a running jump. It was a blast!

(Kind of an awkward pose, but cute picture, right?)

(Super Fun!)

As we were hiking up the last hill, Derek saw this white platform/building hanging from the sky, right smack dab in the middle of the canyon. Derek asked one of the guys what it was and he said it was the place the did bungee jumping. Derek got this big grin on his face and we knew he wanted to do it. They all asked if I would do it too, and I said, pretty nonchalantly, "Yeah, I'd like to try that! Sounds like fun!" I said this without really thinking....

Well, we paid for the extra fees to do it and we were on our way. We had to get into this cage of death, as I like to call it, that creaked a lot when it moved. It took us to the platform and when we got there, there was no floor! I mean, there was, but it was made of glass so you could see the 400 feet down to the bottom of the canyon. It's kind of like the Calgray Tower, but the whole thing was made of it, not just a little portion. So, they put the velcro things around our ankles and told us how to do it. Derek went first and he laughed the whole way down.


I screamed, he laughed!

Then, it was my turn. They asked me to put my toes over the edge. What? Are you insane? Completely out of your mind? I put my toes over the edge. They told me that when they said 3,2,1 Bungee, I shouldn't hesitate but just jump outwards, spread eagle. Yeah...right...don't hesitate. Am I human? They asked if I was ready, but my heart was beating out of my chest so I asked for a few minutes (as I read this over again, it seems that I am not sharing how completely out of my mind scared I was. These strangers were asking me to put all of my faith in them and jump out of a platform...hanging from the sky...possibly to my death. Yeah, I was pretty much hyperventilating!) I finally said I was ready so they said the magic words.

3...What am I doing?

2...Have I completely lost my mind?

1...Here I go, bending my knees like I'm really going to jump.

Bungee!

I jump. That's right. I jumped. And I screamed the entire way down. But it was fun! I probably wouldn't do it again. I've done it once; that's good enough for me but I'm glad I did it. It went quickly but it was fun.

(I don't know if you can see the complete look of terror on my face, but it's there!)

So, that was our trip. I read two books while I was there. That alone was worth it! I love getting time to spend reading! Plus, we got some son (my nose is peeling as proof). What more could we ask?

The Best Week Ever!

Let's start with yesterday. I signed up for this class awhile back and yesterday was the first day. It was scheduled to be 8 hours long so I was, in some ways, dreading it. Even though I knew I would like what I was learning, who wants to spend 8 hours the day before Valentine's Day in class. Let me tell you...if every class is as good as this one, everyone would want to spend 8 hours every Saturday. It was amazing. It is a Writer's Workshop class that will help me teach writing better. Writing is one of those subjects that is really hard for me to teach. I just never knew where to start and how to keep it going all year. I really don't think that will be a problem anymore. The 8 hours flew by and I was hoping that it would go longer. It was that good! I came home and Derek wasn't home but when he did come home, he had beautiful roses for me! What a great husband!

This next week is going to be just as wonderful! Tomorrow is President's Day so we have no school! I am planning to get together with another intern to work on our Teacher Work Samples. It's just this really big project that BYU makes all student teachers and interns complete that's not really that hard, just a bit more time-consuming than regular teaching. Most of it I do anyway, but I don't typically write up reports with graphs about results and stuff but it shouldn't be too bad. I also have to spend some time making some sub-plans because I am not going to be at school Tuesday-Friday either. Want to know why?

We are going to Cabo! Cabo San Lucas, that is. We are going with Derek's parents. We leave Wednesday morning so technically I could've taught on Tuesday but I thought, Hey, why teach one day when I could just take the whole week off? So, I did! There aren't too many plans once we get to Mexico, but I am looking forward to spending some time reading on the beach! Don't worry...I completely understand if you're jealous!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was a long day!

It was Derek's birthday, but I didn't see him until 7:00 because of parent-teacher conferences. It was good though. In fact, I love parent-teacher conferences. It gives me a chance to tell/remember all the good things about my kids! I had some really good experiences last night. Sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging.

There is one kid who was a struggle for me for about 2 weeks at the beginning of the school year. Once he figured out that I meant business and wouldn't put up with it, he has become such a different child (I wish all my kids were like that...). I was telling him mom this last night and also telling her how excited I was about all the progress he was making. (On the NWEA test, he practically reached all of the goals he set for himself to accomplish by May and it was January.) I told her that I was almost in tears as I watched him light up from the inside (because he's much too cool to show it) when he realized how much progress he had made in 4 short months. After all of this, his mom was beaming. She told me that she used to hate coming to parent-teacher conferences because all the teachers would say to her were the negative things about her son. She told me that all he needs is someone who will put their foot down with him and because I did that, he's making progress. She told me that all of his other teachers could never get a handle on him and that's why he was a behavior issue and that's why he didn't progress. She sang my praises and all I could do is say, "That's my job!" Because it is, right?

Another mom also told me about the struggles that her daughter has had in the past with teachers. Even though I knew, she told me how emotional her daughter could be and that she had been scared of all of her other teachers. When they would give her a test, she would clam up and do poorly because she was so worried about what her teachers would say to her. Her mom told me how comfortable she seems to be around me and how she can tell that she really enjoys me as a teacher (she even said that every time her daughter sees any sort of frog stuffed animal or something, she always asks if she can buy it for me. I had told my class at the beginning of the year that I loved frogs and apparently she still remembers. Even I forgot I told them that...). She told me that she wished that I could have been her son's fourth grade teacher because fourth grade was when he had fallen behind. It just made me feel so good about what I'm doing for these kids. My goal is to help them and to hear first hand that that is what I'm doing really validates me and makes me forget all the bad days I have had this year!

Another thing that I just think is really cool: I asked 2 parents what they thought about putting their children in the Advanced Learners Lab (ALL) next year and 1 parent what they thought about getting their child tested for special ed. You want to know what all three of them asked me? "Well, what do you think?" It was just so weird. They asked me because they really thought my opinion counted. And, I know it should because I am their teacher, but it just hit me like, woah, these parents who are older than me are asking my professional opinion...because I HAVE ONE. It was just funny to me because sometimes it hits me at strange times that I am a teacher...a professional...and parents are looking to me to help them know how to help their kids. It was bizarre. I told Derek this last night and said, "Derek, I'm a teacher...I do parent-teacher conferences!" And he just looked at me and said, "Courtney, you've been a teacher for 5 months. I know. It's not weird for me to know that." Well, it's still weird for me sometimes.

Just thinking that I will forever be these kids fourth grade teacher. Weird!

Job Hunting

It is becoming that time of year where I need to figure out what I am going to be doing next year. I would like to be teaching, of course, but it's a matter of where that is more of a concern. If at all possible, I would love to be at the same school I'm at now but the likelihood isn't in my favor. Because it is much cheaper to hire interns, with a 2-for-1 deal not many principals can pass up, I know for sure that my school will be hiring two new interns next year. That means that the only way I can get a job there next year is if someone else decides to retire, move, or quit. There is only one teacher that I know of who, only in my opinion, would make one of those decisions. She's a 6th grade teacher who had a baby in May and has had a really hard time teaching this year because she wants to be at home. I could see this being her last year so she could stay at home, but this is entirely from me; there aren't even rumors of that going around. Plus, being a 6th grade teacher might freak me out.

I do know one thing; well at least I think I know one thing: if there were only one position at my current school next year and both the other intern and I apply for it, I'm confident that I could get the job. The vice principal (who's main job is to help us interns) has told me that he's really impressed with my teaching and especially my management. He has told me that he has been struggling all year to get the other intern to work on hers, to care about it like she needs to. She is an excellent teacher but if the kids aren't paying attention, it doesn't really help. But, I may not even have to worry about this, seeing as I'm not sure that there will even be a position to compete over.

There is another option that has come up recently that could pose a potential job for me next year but because this is an open blog, I'll save sharing that until I know for sure. I don't want to lose any chances by speaking too soon.

I'll keep you posted...

Houston

I don't know why, but I feel like I have to write a lot whenever I blog. I think that might be one reason I don't write that often: I don't always have THAT much to say. So here's something brief:

Derek has been in Houston since Sunday. It has been harder than I anticipated. It's weird how when Derek is home, I can fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. But now, since he's not next to me, I lie awake for hours. I mean, I slept by myself for much longer than I have slept next to someone. It shouldn't be that hard to get used to.

He comes home tomorrow, which isn't soon enough. My question: how do people whose spouses are in the military or something, how do they do it? Because, quite frankly, I'm really sad, and it's only for 5 days!!!

Teaching: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The good: I don't know if I've ever talked about it before, but my school is piloting a new testing program that in my opinion is much better than end of year tests. It tests students at the beginning, middle and end of the school year so that you can truly see the progress they have made. What's more is that the test is individualized for each student. It starts them off on a typical 4th grade question and depending on if they get it right or wrong, they give them an easier or harder question. It is much like the GMAT because it hones in on exactly what the student knows and doesn't know to give an individual score. It's also wonderful for teachers because we can go in and see exactly what the students missed, what they struggle with and what they are good at so we can change our instruction accordingly. So that's the background.

Thursday, my students took the math test from this new testing program. Before we went into the testing computer lab, I sat down with each of my students individually and we set goals of where they wanted to be now and in May when we take the test for the last time this year. It was a really neat experience because the kids were really honest about how well they think they are doing in each of the subjects and they also got really excited to take the test because they wanted to know how well they did and how much they had grown. Thursday came, and I was a little nervous that some of them might not make their goal. We had a talk about how if we didn't make our goals, we'll know that we may have just made too hard of a goal and we will adjust them before May. We also talked about how small growth is still growth so if they didn't reach their goal, but they grew from September, then it was something to celebrate.

I was so happy (as were my kids) when some of their scores came up on their screens. There were several of them that had not only reached their goal for January, but had met or even exceeded their goal for May. It was incredible. They got so excited to see those scores on the screen, they could hardly contain themselves. And I was so happy for them that I was almost in tears. One of my lowest students surpassed his January goal and is only 2 points away from his May goal. I could see the light in his eyes as he realized that he had made so much progress in four months. Even one of my highest students surpassed both her January and May goals. It made me so happy for them, but it also gave me a boost in the self-esteem area as well because I realized that these kids are learning from me. Even when I feel like the world's worst teacher, they are still learning something! It was a very rewarding day, to say the least. This is why I became a teacher and this is definitely the best part about it!

The Bad: One not-so-good experience with the whole testing thing is I did have one student who scored lower than his September score. I still haven't figured that out because he is really low, and usually the lowest students make the most progress because they have more room to grow. This kid in particular is doing so much better in math than he was before. Just yesterday, he was zipping through his problems without a single mistake, while I was working with five or six other students because they were still lost (some of the students are typically really good in math too!). It was very disappointing to him. I didn't technically tell him that he scored lower, but he knew that he didn't reach his goal (and by a long shot) so he was really upset.

The Ugly: I had to deal with my first fight at school yesterday. And both of the boys were in my class so it was kind of a tough situation. I was coming to pick them up from recess and when I turned the corner, I saw one boy (let's call him Dustin) on top of the other (he'll be called Alex) with his fist raised like he was going to punch him. When Dustin saw me, he lowered his hand but still gave Alex a good push before getting off of him. At first I thought that they were just playing (I still would have talked to them because they shouldn't have been doing that either) but when I realized that it was for real, I had to call them both out of the line to talk to me. Alex was hyperventilating and crying really hard and so I asked if he wanted to cool down while I talked to Dustin. He did, so I was able to get the perspective of the instigator. He told me that Alex had taken a ball out of his hand and someone had pushed Alex into him but he didn't know that it was someone else and had thought it was Alex trying to pick a fight. So, he pushed him to the ground and was about to punch him when I showed up (just in the nick of time, I guess). I talked to him for awhile and it seemed like he felt really guilty because his anger had gotten the best of him (I should just say that this situation was tons worse because neither one of these kids is a "fighter" type. They are both extremely good kids so it was surprising).

I went back to talk to Alex. Meanwhile, my other students are still waiting in line and they were getting a bit out of control but I seriously didn't know what to do with them...He told me his side of the story which was pretty much the same: that he had taken the ball away from Dustin and then Dustin threw him to the ground and pushed him around. Finally, after a few more minutes, I could take the rest of the students back to the room. At this point, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to handle the consequences for the boys. I mean, I had never dealt with this type of a conflict. I didn't know if I was supposed to send them to the principals office, call their parents, give them pink slips or what. So, I had to call my vice principal (his first job is to help me and the other intern during this year) to my room. He came, I told him the situation and he told me that I should just give them pink slips since this was both of their first offenses. So, that's what I did.

It may not sound as bad as it was, but it was super tense. The other students all knew what was going on and they were all wanting to know what was going on. Dustin felt completely terrible and guilty. Alex was scared and emotional. And all the while, I was supposed to keep my cool and handle the situation. I must say that I was pretty proud of how I handled it. I was very calm and collected. I talked to both boys without anger and with respect. Both of them understood the consequences for their actions and accepted it whole-heartedly and I think both of them felt like it was handled the way it should have been. To end the day, I asked the kids if they thought it was a good time to read some compliments (we have a box where kids can write their compliments) and they all thought that was the best idea so the tension was released and we were able to get on with everything.

Well, that's my novel. Till next time, I guess!

Curse Inside Recess Days

I hate inside recess days more than just about anything. In fact, I dare you to come up with something that I hate more than inside recess days. They are terrible! Not only do I not get the time away from the kids which is really needed, but I don't get time for lunch. Also, the kids get way too crazy and cooped up and it is literally impossible to teach anything. The kids can't stay focused on anything and it just makes for a really long day.

We had 3 inside recess days this week, and I can't say enough how glad I am it's Friday! This week was way too long and I'm sure the weekend won't be long enough.