Addendum to Blog Post

I have realized that teaching children is where my career path is pointing 110%.  I absolutely love it.  I feel totally in my element when I'm standing in front of a class giving a lesson, reading a story to a group of kids and answering endless lists of questions.  There is nothing like having a light bulb finally go off in a student's head over something that they have never understood or if they lacked confidence in mastery it.  It doesn't matter how early I have to get to school to tutor a student, how much patience a student will test with me when they feel the need to be completely obnoxious or how long it takes for each of my students to be picked up in the carpool in over a hundred degree weather, it's absolutely worth it.  I wouldn't change a single thing about it.  

A Day Filled With Bottomless Bliss

Today was my first day as Miss Chambers, the 4th grade teacher at Spring Valley Elementary.  

One word: Perfect

I got to school at 7:30 this morning (yes, I know. Nobody in the right mind would be up at this hour, but a select few of us have a heart to teach and I've got a big one that is bursting at the seams). 

My 19 students filed into my class around 7:50.  Nervousness was plastered all over their faces.  They didn't know what to expect or how the day was going to go. Little did they know that I felt the exact same way.  My teacher, Mrs. Mataleska (try saying that name 6 times) introduced herself and welcomed everyone to 4th grade.  After introductions, she states "Now, if you turn your chairs around you will find Miss Chambers, my wonderful Intern!" 38 eyeballs were instantly on me. scary thought.  I then walked to the front of the class and did a mini get to know you worksheet where I would state a fact and the kids would decide if it was true or false. We then went around the room and everyone would say one introducing fact about themselves.  My kids are wonderful.  Full of zest of spunk. 

The morning was filled with handing out textbooks, labeling school supplies, finding homes for their backpacks and lunch boxes and learning the different procedures for school.  Next came specials where they went to each of their specials' teachers (music, art, pe, and technology).  During this hour, Mrs. Mateleska and I sat and tried to compose our sanity.  After that, we went to lunch, recess, ran through our schedules (I actually teach 76 students) and then car pool duty (100 degree weather, outside for an hour. sounds like a ball, eh?) 

Overall, it was the perfect beginning to a wonderful day.  Everyone should change their major to education. 

Miss Chambers's 4th Grade Class at Spring Valley Elementary

What a crazy last couple of days!

Tuesday, I came into Waco.  All of my roommates came in that day as well (Tinsley, Elise, Laura and Rachael) and it was simply wonderful.  It was like it was just an ordinary day, nothing has changed between us.  Except the fact that we are all more beautiful and are wiser. Then Wednesday, I had my CPR Training here at school with 30 or so other fellow future teachers.  It was so good to see people that I usually see everyday.  We are a riot, the school of education.  Full of zest and spunk.  The poor teachers who were trying to administer the CPR training and we are trying to reenact crazy trauma stories with our dummies. haha, o the ridiculousness of the future teachers.

Then TODAY everyone got their placement for next year for their internship.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning the way everyone was running around with sheets of paper telling what grade they were teaching and with what teacher.  I am (drumroll please......teaching.......4TH GRADE! at Spring Valley Elementary. It's in Midway ISD.  (sidenote.  after I finish writing this post, I am going to have to venture out and find out where this school is located because I have no idea where Midway is on a map.) Today, we had our last intern orientation where they went through all of the calendar dates that for this school year, what is to be expected of us as educators, etc. etc. etc. Then, I met my mentor Baylor professor.  She is the essence of Mr. Falker from Patricia Polacco's book (except that she is a girl and her name is Grady Cox).  She is a delight.  She gave all 20 of the interns a bottle of anti-bacterial to put on our desks (apparently we are going to get "teacher" desks next year) because she doesn't want to see any of her girls getting sick.  And she is super chill and funny! I enjoy funny people.

But yes, I'm going to be having a year long internship this year.  It's mind-boggling right now.  All of my roommates have went out and bought their textbooks at the bookstore whereas I am filing out paperwork to get a teacher ID and making sure I know the guidelines on how to write my lessons.  It's like everyone else is still a college student and me and the rest of the education majors are being all adult-like.  Kinda crazy.  But totally awesome at the time same. It's like a oxymoron.  But here are some of the highlights for being an intern rather than just a normal everyday Baylor student that I feel the need to share.

1.  We are done teaching the week before Thanksgiving and that's it! whereas everyone else will have finals to study for and the rest of us will have a month or so to do whatever we please.  Same thing happens in the Spring ( we get done a month or so before everyone else).  I will probably be substitute teaching in Midway ISD.  

2.  We observe both the school we are working for and Baylor's holidays. 

3.  Fridays we have off from teaching (we just have seminars that we have to go to.

4.  We get to get dressed up everyday (okay, maybe not everyone likes this part but I absolutely love it. Dress code is pretty fierce in some school districts, especially for the boys that are teaching.  A lot of school districts don't allow guys to have facial hair.  It has to be clean shaven.

5.  You get to do something all day everyday that you absolutely love

6.  You have all of your education major sidekicks to help you when you freak out about writing a particular lesson plan.

7.  There are parties in the elementary schools. 

8.  That's all I can think of right now.  More will probably come to me when I have actually started teaching.  

Filled with Eagerness to Jump on 35 ASAP

I don't even know if Eagerness is a word but I'm just going to roll with it.

TOMORROW. I'm going to WACOOOO. O my goodness. And I will see ELISE! My long lost love that I haven't seen in 9 months. (Side note. I got a wonderful voicemail from her the other night that consisted of her rambling about 6 different things. I didn't really understand half of what she was saying. It was goodness in a voicemail.) And LAURA and TINSLEY are coming home too!! Omgosh, tomorrow night I don't think I will sleep at all. It's just going to be one big dance party slash hugging and tears of joy slash adventure story telling slash jaws dropping to hear who has done what this summer (maybe I have some jaw dropping stuff to share with the lofites....who knows.... :) ) . Ah and RACHAEL will be back in a few days!!! Ahh I'm sooo excited!!!!!!

Thursday is also when I find out what grade/school I was being doing my internship with this year!!! Also exciting!! It's like waiting for Christmas. I have been window shopping this summer at teacher stories thinking about what grade I will get to teach this fall. I have a few ideas up my sleeve for some stellar lessons. I cannot wait to meet my students!!!

Okay, that's about it. I'm on a bliss high at the moment so I'm just going to leave this post at that. Ahh, it's going to be glorious from here on out. All of my favorite people are slowly coming back to Waco, I get to do what I love most for an entire year, and I get to spend all of it in one of my favorite places in the world. Doesn't get much better than that!!

The Little Things in Life

I thought today was going to be just an ordinary day at Capital Title.

I was wrong.

I was researching Teach For America online and I was reading through the requirements of what you needed to apply. I then heard someone cough and I looked up. Matt and Parker were standing in the doorway of my office! I looked back at my computer and then thought, wait what? Matt and Parker. What are they doing at work? I look back at them and they are both standing there like little kids, not really knowing what to do with themselves in the office. I get up and we made some small talk. They had gone to lunch at Corner Bakery, so they decided to come visit me at work. (Actually, Matt said it was Parker's idea to come visit me at work, but I believe it was mutual). It definitely made my day.

For awhile, I've been anxious about the future. Not knowing what is going to happen in the next year after I gradute freaks me out. I hate not knowing the unknown. I wish I was sent a text message once a week that told me my future plans in pieces so in baby steps, I would know what was going to happen next in my life. But life doesn't work out that way. A friend once gave me this verse:

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

Easier said than done, right? But then I take a step back and ponder what I enjoy most about my life. It's definitely the small things. Like Matt and Parker coming to visit me. I think it's the small things that help us get through the rocky points. I sometimes overlook the wonderful blessings that I have given. Like my lofties. I could not have picked more wonderful girls to live with for three years. They are my strength and are so encouraging. I also adore my family. And teaching children. Silly, Claire. Too many things to appreciate to be distracted by worry.

Julia gave me this Spiritual Gift Analysis test. I took it yesterday during work. Here are my results (I think they are kind of interesting.) My top 5 are...

1. Faith-the ability to see God's purpose in a situation and to trust his wisdom and power to accomplish that purpose.
2. Intercession-the ability to pray often and with unusual perseverance with the result that answers to prayer requests are experienced in a remarkable way.
3. Exhortation-the ability to bring out the best in other by means of encouraging, challenging, comforting and guilding. Essentially it is the gift of counseling others to become all that God wants them to be.
4. Mercy-the ability to feel sincere compassion beyond normal Christian sympathy for persons who are in distress and to provide practical support to meet their needs.
5. Wisdom-the unique capactiy to understand how to apply biblical truths to problems or opportunities which face a group of believers.

Interesting, huh? I feel like these strengths desribe me very well in many ways and in others not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_8hFfy1DL0
Watch this. It's one of my favorite pieces from SYTYCD

Waiting On The World To Change

It's Friday at the title company. wahooo!!! It's been one heck of a week here in the title world. Lots of stress, turmoil, uncertainty and unexpected situations have been floating around the office. But the wonderful part is that it's Friday and it's raining. I absolutely love the rain. It's so peaceful. I'm also listening to John Mayer. Two key ingredients on the start of a wonderful day.

I don't know how yall's family households are run, but somehow I am always the last one to find out some big news that everyone else knows about. My dad has decided that he needs a career change. He is the Senior Account Manager at Verizon where he has worked for as long as I can remember. A friend of his works at Cisco Systems, one of the largest accounts in the country for financial regulation. Last night, he was working on his resume and was running it by my mom and I for grammatical errors.

The resume is stellar (he has been in the finance world for over 30 years and has held many job positions) but he didn't have anything that popped. I told him that he needed to have a section on his resume underneath where he got his undergrad degree and masters and write out his interests. Because right now he looks so vanilla on paper and the man is far from it. He is so completely diverse. He loves the outdoors, camping, organic foods (he's kind of a hippie), but on another note, he loves to golf, wears seersucker shorts and enjoys watching college sports (more fratty). He is brilliant, one of those people that you tell/teach him something once and he remembers it for life. (Who Dad remembers ballet terminology?). Loves history, literature and spending time with his family. Above everything else, he is hilarious. One of the sharpest, wittiest people ever. His dry sense of humor makes life more fun.

My dad told me that people who are 54 don't add interests. But you know what? Men who are 54 should not wear Volcrom shorts and you know what? He does. So I don't what would hurt to put a few things of interest on his resume. It will make the interview go more smoothly.

I know, this post is a total shout out to my Dad, but I don't care. I love him. He's the best.

Affogato Al Cafe

Last night, I went out with my life long friend, Kelsey. (On a side note, she is probably one of my favorite people ever. We've known each other since kindergarten, tell each other everything from the good to the bad, have similiar senses of humor...I think you get the idea). Anywho, we headed up to Legacy Town Center and had dinner at Nicola's, this sqanky Italian restaurant. While we were eating our Lasagnetta (most glorious thing ever), this guy in a suit comes up to our table and asks "Have you two ever eaten here before?" We were both in mid-chewing so Kelsey shakes her head "no" and I nodded "yes." He goes, "Well then, dessert is on me!" We were like "wow, thanks!" thinking that this was the manager of the restaurant by the way he was dressed and how he approached us. False. 5 minutes later, our waitress comes to our table and tells us that the man that was at our table earlier ordered these for us and has left! I got Affogato Al Cafe (vanilla bean gelato with a shot of expresso and cantucci almond cookies) and Kelsey got Profiteroles Alla Vanigilia (cream puffs filled with vanilla bean gelato and covered in Belgian chocolate). It was definitely the highlight of our night. We were cracking up, being approached by a guy where we are sitting there eating away and laughing at each other's stories. We don't even know what his name was. Maybe he thought we were hot and wanted to impress us. Who knows.

It was definitely a good time. After dinner, we met up with our friend, Daniel. He ordered us mojitos and we chilled at Twenty Two for a bit to people watch. Have you ever sat somewhere for a period of time and just people watched? It definitely has to be one of my favorite past times because people are hilarious.

Overall, the night was excellent. Good food, free desserts and drinks, great conversation. My favorite quote of the night would have to be this. We were talking about girls's names and which was ones were more common than others. Kelsey had decided that her name was just not original anymore and wants to change it. (okay, Kelsey has wanted to change her name since 6th grade and has yet to change it. I think her name suits her). I told Kelsey and Daniel how I know a handful of Claire's and Kelsey goes:

"Wait, I think I only know one Claire and that's you!" pause "Wait, the girl on my fake id was named Claire. I know two Claire's. You and random girl from Oklahoma that I impersonated for 6 months." haha

I love being a girl. It's so fun.

Coming To a Close

I cannot believe it!!! It's August 4th!!! This summer has flown by more quickly than any other summer thus far. I don't know why though. Throughout my years of school, I have always stayed busy with summer school classes, jobs, camps, studying at different ballet schools, but this summer definitely tops the charts of the fastest summers yet!! It might be because it's the last summer before everyone has to be a grown up (unless you are an education major, then you will have summer for the rest of your lives. Sorry, I don't mean to brag, but it's one of the perks).

For the last few days, my aunt, cousin and her three boys have been staying at my house. It has been a whirlwind from the moment that there were running up the sidewalk up to our house until now! The boys are all under the age of 5. Andrew is going to kindergarten in the fall and Austin and Alex are 3. They are quite the characters. One is always screaming, one is always laughing hysterically and one is always getting into trouble. They tend to be the daredevils, always testing the limits to see what they can get away with. Growing up with a sister, I have never seen anything like it. Running around my front year in the nude and taking a whiz in the flowers, throwing toys over the banister to see if it crashes on the floor, tackling each other on the ground until one of them starts screaming just for the fun of it, aw man it's absolutely entertaining. I love it. Little boys are crazy!!

I have really enjoyed watching them explore around and try to figure things out how stuff works, listening to their questions, laughing at their comments, etc. It has definitely put what I have read in textbooks over the last three years about child development to use. On Saturday morning when I was getting ready for work, Andrew came into the bathroom and states "CLAIRE! My brothers keep playing with the electricity (aka. the cords in the wall that hook up with playstation) and won't stop it when I ask them!! :) Just imagine that for the last 4 days and you can maybe catch a glimpse of what I have been up to.

This weekend, we headed over to Hawaiian Falls, a waterpark made just for kids. They absolutely loved it, although the heat was a little too much for them (they are from Indiana where the high is in the upper 80's). The twins can't say "claire" so they call me "teacher" instead of calling my sister "grace," they call her "sassy." We have gone to the park, went to Sunday School, Gattitown, and just have been playing at the house. We have pulled out all of our old toys (aside from the countless barbie's and dolls Grace and I accumulated through the years) and our children's books. It has made me realize how much I love children and how I love the idea of teaching them!!!

On a random side note (I know, total surprise, but what do you expect?!) I am going to miss working at J Crew. I only work 10ish hours there each week, but it's such a blast!! I will definitely miss all of my metro co-worker boys that try to help me get my prep-style all in order. I cannot tell you how many times one of them will come up to me with something off the floor and make me go try it on in the dressing rooms because they think it will look cute on me. haha, and o yea, we have matching critter ties too. It's pretty rad. We should be J Crew models for sure.